Our Sponsors
These businesses are good sources of native plants and other items of interest to habitat gardeners.
The Plantsmen:
The greatest diversity of native plants in CNY
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Featured Article
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Thank you!
Thanks to all the people who step up to the plate, creating a fun, educational, and interesting program year! (If I've missed anyone, please let me know.)
John Allen Greeter and Jack-of-all-trades, picking up the slack when needed; organizes plant sale.
Carol Biesemeyer Arranged our programs during the year, and already hard at work on
the coming year's programs. (This is not a trivial job!) Also organized
our very enjoyable and successful field trip to Chaumont Barrens!
Peter Huntington Besides being Secretary, staffed our CNY Blooms booth.
Larry Keassa Besides being one of our advertisers, Larry offers professional advice and donates plants!
Hope Kuniholm Staffed our CNY Blooms booth as well as our booth at the upcoming Montezuma festival.
Beth & Dave Mitchell
Offer their home for our planning meetings and staff our booth at CNY Blooms.
Randi Starmer Staffed our booth at CNY Blooms and at the SRC Environmental Fair; organizes our Clark Reservation picnic; participates in our community outreach projects; organizes plant sale.
Ronda Tambusco
One of our most outgoing and enthusiastic booth staffers, both at CNY Blooms and at the upcoming Montezuma festival.
Michelle Welcher
Dedicated treasurer! |
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June Habitat Garden Tours
Free and open to the public. Join us!
Check dates, times, locations and other details on our meetings and events webpage ...Rosamond Gifford Zoo's Habitat Garden - Sunday June 28 at 2:00 pm. Guided by Kate Woodle, Art Director of the zoo and creator of the Habitat Garden. Homeowner Tours - You can arrange with some of
our HGCNYers to tour their gardens at a mutually agreeable time. Janet's Habitat Garden -  Sat. June 20 between 10:00 and 11:30 am Thurs. June 25 between 6:30 and 8:00 pm Tues. June 30 between 6:30 and 8:00 pm |
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6th Annual Wildflowers and Wine Festival - Sunday June 21
The Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge will host a variety of activities at the Montezuma Winery.
And this year, HGCNY will be an exhibitor, too, with Ronda and Hope staffing our booth!
Activities will include Refuge walking tours; family-fun activities; a
barbeque; live animals; live music; vendors; wine tasting; and, of
course, displays presented by the Complex and its partners.
The Montezuma Winery will create a specialty wine for the event -
a percentage of the proceeds will go directly to the Friends of the
Montezuma Wetlands Complex, tagged for habitat restoration projects on
the Refuge and the NYS DEC lands. This year's bird of focus is the osprey.
For details and more
information, visit their website.
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Look before you leap!
Don't leap into eradicating that invasive plant before you confirm that it is what you think it is. It could be a look-alike native. For example, Norway maples (invasive) and sugar maples (native) are easy to confuse. So are porcelain-berry vines (invasive) and grape vines (native).
 A handy new publication called Mistaken Identity?: Invasive Plants and Their Native Look-alikes can help you determine which is which for a some of these look-alikes. It's available on the web as a free download.
New York invasives
And here's a list of invasive plants compiled specifically for New York by eNature.com. Many people are surprised to see such familiar plants as burning bush, Norway maple, buddleia, Japanese barberry, privet, non-native honeysuckles, and rosa rugosa on the list of plants to avoid! But these plants are non-native plants that invade natural areas and decrease biodiversity. Please don't plant them!
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Creating a Healthy Yard
Audubon at Home has excellent resources to help you create a healthy yard. Start here, then use their Habitat
Inventory and the Priority Worksheet to create your individual Habitat
Action Plan. Read helpful information on Gardening Basics and Bird
Habitat Necessities.
Links to other useful information such as this is on our HGCNY website in our Resources Section.
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Four little words kids don't hear
"GO OUTSIDE AND PLAY," is a familiar phrase to many of us, but the simple truth is that kids today aren't heeding this call. Research shows that children today spend half as much time outside as kids did 20 years ago. In fact, they are spending an average of 6 and a half hours a day "plugged into" electronic media. We're raising the first generations of kids growing up isolated from nature!
~ From the National Wildlife Federation
One way to get kids outdoors is to participate in the Great American Backyard Campout on June 27. For more information...
Another way is to have kids attend local nature camps. Baltimore Woods has summer day camp for kids as does the Rosamond Gifford Zoo.
For more ideas for involving kids with nature, visit the Be Out There website.
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National Pollinator Week June 22-28
 Celebrate National Pollinator Week by learning more about pollinators and how you can help them.
From Pollinator Partnership at pollinator.org:
Pollination is vital to our survival and the existence of nearly all
ecosystems on earth. 80% of the world's crop plants depend on
pollination. Pollinators, almost all of which are insects, are
indispensable partners for an estimated 1 out of every 3 mouthfuls of
food, spices and condiments we eat, and the beverages we drink. They
are essential to the fibers we use, the medicines that keep us healthy,
and more than half of the world's diet of fats and oils. Insect
pollinators, including honey bees, pollinate products amounting to $20
billion annually in the U.S. alone.
 To find out more about how you can help pollinators right in your own yard, enter your zip code and download this free ecoregional guide. It provides detailed information about native plants that will help pollinators right here in Central New York.
Just a few examples of plants useful for pollinators: serviceberry (Amelanchier), common winterberry (Ilex verticillata), brown-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta), columbine (Aquilegea canadensis), wild bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), beardstongue (Penstemon digitalis), and others.
Equally important, provide shelter and nesting places. Leave some snags (dead trees) if you can, and leave some ground uncovered for nesting sites. To provide homes for native solitary bees (not honey bees), purchase bee boxes (here's one source) or make your own: plan1, plan2, plan3, plan4.
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Liverpool is the Place to Be
Here's a chance to help Liverpool Library's summer concerts and spread the word about HGCNY. Liverpool Public Library is asking for 2-3 members from local organizations to
work at the refreshment stands with their own volunteers, assisting with setting up, making popcorn,
selling soda, and putting things away at the end of the concert. (The time
commitment is 6-9pm.) They will thank HGCNY from the stage and describe our organization. Let me know (hg.cny /at/ verizon.net using the @ sign) if you're interested.
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