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This Month at Mass Hort
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Mark your calendar for more exciting adult education at Mass Hort this month.
Ornamental Grasses in the Home Landscape
Thursday, August 8
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
From three inches to ten feet or more, the variety of perennial ornamental grasses available to the home owner now numbers in the hundreds if not thousands. This versatile and diverse plant group can be used to offer the home gardener structure, screening, ground cover, sound, seasonal interest and so much more. Join Wayne Mezitt of Weston Nurseries and member of the Mass Hort Board of Trustees, as he discusses choices of grasses and their use in a variety of places in the home landscape. This presentation will be a walk through the one acre Bressingham Garden at Elm Bank where a wide variety of ornamental grasses are used throughout.
Wayne Mezzitt has worked in the nursery business since the mid 1960's, is a regular contributor to various publications including Metrowest Daily News newspaper and Yankee Magazine, has written articles for Newton Magazine and People, Places & Plants magazine, and is the horticultural consultant for GrowingWisdom.com with Dave Epstein. Involved in many aspects of horticulture including plant propagation, invasive plants, and general nursery production he is also the owner and Chairman of Weston Nurseries located in Hopkinton and Chelmsford. Weston Nurseries is committed to being a center for horticultural knowledge offering "best of class" plants and products, providing the greatest possible long-term results for our customers. They are adamant about supporting activities in our local communities and being responsible with how our operation affects the environment.
Cost - $10.00 for members, $15.00 for non-members
Register Now
Thursday, August 15, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm: Thursday Night at the Hort To Be Announced
Creating Herbal Alchemy: An Introduction to Local Plants and Their Uses
Thursday, August 22
10:30 am - 12:00 pm
featuring Steph Zabel We are surrounded by an abundance of plants that are both food and medicine. Some of these plants are considered "weeds," some are purposely garden-cultivated, some are wild natives, but all have unique gifts to offer. In this dynamic introductory class you will learn how many of the plants that grow all around us can be used in various ways to improve our health and add joy to our lives. We will discuss, taste, and create preparations such as herbal infusions, tinctures, oils, and wines. We will also identify some of the most under-appreciated yet prolific plants and learn how they can be used as nutritive teas, healing poultices or delicious wild edibles. Knowing our local plants connects us more deeply to the landscapes we inhabit and increases our awareness of the botanical world. Come learn what gifts the herbs that surround us have to offer!
Steph Zabel is a community herbalist and educator based in Somerville, MA. She has always had an affinity for the plant world and studied horticulture, biology, and ethnobotany throughout her undergraduate and graduate years. Steph is a practicing herbalist and also works as a curatorial assistant at the Harvard University Herbaria. In addition to leading herbal classes, Steph offers individual holistic health consultations, hand-crafts herbal medicines, and runs her small business Flowerfolk Herbal Apothecary. She is also the founder and organizer of Herbstalk, a local educational event that teaches people about herbalism.
Cost - $20.00 for members, $25.00 for non-members
Location: Elm Bank, Wellesley, MA
Register Now!
Seed Saving as Part of Your Harvest
Thursday, August 22
7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
Featuring Bryan Connolly: Ma State Botanist
What better way to make the most of your harvest than by saving seeds to guarantee a similar success next year. Bryan Connolly, botanist for the state, joins Mass Hort to teach home gardeners how to make the most of their garden and its bounty. Brian will discuss the benefits of seed saving and will teach the basics of saving your harvest. Bryan Connolly is the Massachusetts state botanist for the Natural Heritage & Endangered Species Program, Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. He is also the author of "The Wisdom of Plant Heritage," the Northeast Organic Farming Association's handbook on small-scale seed production. His professional experience includes working as a botanical consultant for the Connecticut Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, surveying rare plant populations for the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, and instructing botany classes at Connecticut College and the University of Connecticut. Cost - $10.00 for members, $15.00 for non-members
Register Now
Thursday, August 29, 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm: NO CLASS
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Letter from the President
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Kathy Macdonald, President of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society
Photo by Andy Caulfield
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Dear Friends,
The first few days of August have felt like fall. Here in New England, the weather is always a guessing game, as June and July demonstrated with record rainfall, followed by record heat. Let's hope August stays on track to be the perfect New England Summer we look forward to all winter.
As the weather begins to feel comfortable, the Gardens at Elm Bank are more welcoming than ever. Walking around the grounds this past week, I've been struck by how vibrant the gardens are. Our plants are flourishing in all their glory, and we want people to enjoy them! Now is the time to join the hundreds who come out weekly to relax and learn in Mass Hort's gardens.
I often hear from visitors who wonder how Mass Hort maintains its 36-acre property, including 12 gardens, buildings and the grounds. The answer is simple, but important: We couldn't do it without generous support from all of you. We do not receive state or federal support for the care and upkeep of Elm Bank. By purchasing memberships, donating to the Annual Fund, and support from various private foundations, you make it possible for Mass Hort to provide educational lectures for adults, Plantmobile outings and other kids' activities around Massachusetts, community events like Mass Market Place, and the upcoming 15th Anniversary of Elm Bank. Not to mention, our gardens - the best resource we have for hands on learning, and appreciation of horticulture.
Your support keeps Mass Hort running, but we would not thrive without our dedicated volunteers. Our many volunteers, especially our Master Gardener friends and Garden Keepers, are responsible for what you see and enjoy.
If you have not already done so, please consider an unrestricted gift to this year's Annual Fund. This serves as the bridge over the gap between what we receive in revenue from programs, enterprise events (such as wedding rentals) and membership dues, and what it really costs to run Mass Hort. Without these unrestricted dollars, we would have to cut back on programming and other mission-based efforts.
As we all enjoy a delightful start to August, and the beautiful grounds here at Mass Hort, please remember to make a tax deductible gift by September 30th so we may continue our education mission and our stewardship of this beautiful property for all to enjoy.
Thank you in advance. I'll see you around the gardens!
Kathy
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You Think You Have Problems in Your Garden? Let Me Tell You About Ours...
by Betty Sanders Garden-to-Table Vegetable Garden 
This hasn't been the best year for New England vegetable gardens, including the one at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. As many of you know, the garden is 6000 square feet. There are 42 raised beds plus a few fruit trees, a potted herb garden and a couple of dozen pots of flowers to attract pollinators. Approximately half of the space is the Pantry Garden, consisting of the large 'production' beds where we strive to maximize the yield of vegetables for two local food pantries. The other half of the garden, the Home Chef Garden, illustrates the wide variety of vegetables you can grow at home-beets and beans to tatsoi (an Asian green) and tatumi (a South American squash) in even the smallest garden. Further we attempt to show different techniques for growing an organic garden. We have two experienced vegetable gardeners who choose the varieties to be planted, plan the layout and oversee the work of a summer intern and a cadre of volunteers. With all those veterans on hand, you'd think everything would go smoothly. You would be wrong. Our first problem was a combination of unusual weather and a failed well. April and much of May were drier than normal. At the same time, a well pump experienced a stream of problems, ultimately needing to be replaced. With no rain, and no irrigation, the spring crops that had been planted in early April did not germinate or sputtered in the dry soil. Other cool-weather crops, such as peas, didn't get planted until it was past their time and produced poorly. By early June all was going well and crops were growing quickly. But so, too, were the weeds and insects. Each year we top the beds with an inch or two of compost to feed the crops (being organic, we try not to use supplemental fertilizer). After two years of quality compost, this year's supply was apparently full of weed seeds-bringing us a bumper crop of weeds that needed to be pulled before they took light, water and food away from the vegetables. We were also fighting a truism: vegetables grow slowly. Weeds have just one goal: produce as many seeds as quickly as possible. If we let the weeds go to seed we would compound the problem for years to come. The sheer volume of weeds and insects led us to realize the compost must have carried with it the eggs or larvae of destructive insects. We brought the weeds under control the only truly effective way-we weeded and weeded and will keep weeding until the end of the season. We are still fighting the insects. Then came the extreme heat of July. Our hilltop garden gets full sun from dawn to dusk and working in the garden was torture. Vegetable gardens must be sunny. Full sun and 90+ degrees meant workers could only last a couple of hours before risking heat stroke. Other, usually dedicated volunteers wisely stayed home. And neither did plants care for extreme heat. Many stop growing as they become overheated. Lettuce quickly bolted (suddenly growing tall on the way to producing seeds) and became too bitter to eat. All at once, every lettuce, arugula, and spinach needed to be pulled. The row covers that protect beans and squash and cucumbers from the moths and beetles that fly in had to be removed because the extra degrees of heat they added were more than the plants could take. And heat-loving plants like tomatoes saw their leaves curl-not from a lack of water, but from heat stress. The plants survived, but the leaf damage may mean there will be fewer and smaller tomatoes this year. So what does a gardener do when all these problems strike a garden designed to provide fresh food to those in need and education for everyone? They work on new solutions. We will redesign the drip watering system to deliver water more evenly throughout the beds. To fight the borers, we are spraying a fine clay (Surround) over the stems of squash to foil those trying tunnel into the plant. We have replaced row covers with fine mesh covers that are cooler. And we are trying a new organic solution called Oxidate that promises to control (but not eliminate) tomato blight and other fungal diseases. Beds emptied early because of the heat are being replanted with fall crops, hoping for a long harvest in September and October. After all, gardeners are, and must be, optimists. |
Art in the Garden - the Wellesley Society of Artists
 | | By Bobbie Surratt |
"The Wellesley Society of Artists is thrilled to be a part of the 15th Anniversary celebration of the Massachusetts Horticulture Society at Elm Bank," said Wellesley Society of Artists president Yale Nicolls. "Over two dozen WSA artist members will be exhibiting paintings with an 'Anything Elm Bank' theme."
The artists have been at work all summer, creating work inspired by the incredible beauty of Elm Bank. The work will be hanging in the Hunnewell Building, from noon to 7pm on the 22nd, and WSA members will be there to answer questions. Most of the artwo
 | | By Nan Rumpf |
rk will be for sale, with part of the proceeds benefiting Mass Hort. There will be oils, watercolors, acrylics and more, and a range of sizes and styles. We hope you come and enjoy our contribution to this exciting event!
The Wellesley Society of Artists is a community of artists, founded in 1933 for the purpose of encouraging and supporting local artists, and for promoting fine arts. Our members come from all over the Boston area and beyond, and represent many styles and mediums.
 | | By Dottie Laughlin |
WSA objectives are to give members an opportunity to exhibit their work, provide a supportive environment that will stimulate personal creativity, and encourage the sharing of ideas, knowledge and skills. Three times a year, the WSA accepts new Exhibiting Artist Members,
through a juried process. The WSA also welcomes, as Non-Exhibiting Members, those interested in supporting the aims and activities of the Society.
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Guy Wolff Pottery and White Flower Farm
Massachusetts Horticultural Society, White Flower Farm, and Guy Wolff Pottery Studio are teaming up to develop a limited edition Mass Hort Pot for White Flower Farm's holiday Amaryllis. This limited edition white pot will be available for this holiday season to Mass Hort members only.
 Mass Hort president, Katherine Macdonald, met Guy Wolff and Margret Delves-Broughton of White Flower Farm in Guy's Bantam, Connecticut studio to look at designs for developing this special holiday gift.Guy's craftsmanship and knowledge of various historical potters and their materials is evident throughout the shop. His attic gallery displays pots from around the country and the world that he uses for inspiration. Guy notes: "The architecture of the piece is my passion and is why I can look at 18th and 19th century English flowerpots and centuries old Asian vases with the same eye and ask the same question: What makes this antique pot so wonderful? The answer always comes back to the architectural integrity of the pot and the potter's reverence and knowledge of the materials he is using. The potter knew where he was going in the making of that particular pot. This is where traditional craftsmanship is born: The knowledge of a particular material and its attributes after years of working with it and respecting the true potential of that material."
White Flower Farm has long partnered with the Society to provide member benefits and donations. Mass Hort's members receive a $25 White Flower Farm gift certification with membership. White Flower farms sponsors Mass Hort's Gardeners' Fair in May and brings their Tomato Celebration to Elm Bank.
Additionally, when purchasers mention Mass Hort at the time of online or telephone sales, Mass Hort receives a percentage of the sale as a donation to the organization.
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This Old House Visits the Italianate Garden
at Elm Bank
 The crew from remodeling and home improvement show 'This Old House' filmed a segment on Italianate Gardens in the Olmsted Brothers historic Italianate Garden at Elm Bank on July 25th. Italianate Garden expert Marion Pressley of Pressley Associates Landscape Architects was on hand to meet with Roger Cook of This Old House to discuss the key elements of the formal garden, and help people understand and appreciate its beauty.
During the late 19th to mid-20th centuries Elm Bank, was as a prominent garden estate owned by the Cheney/Baltzell family. The Baltzell's hired the Olmsted Brother's firm as their landscape architects and the Italianate Garden was designed.
Mass Hort took over the site in 1998, and hired Pressley Associates in 2000 to restore the Italianate Garden, after years of ruin, using the historic Olmsted plans. At that time, the beautiful Copper Beech Hedge was added to the garden and outlines the "garden room", an important feature of an Italianate Garden. Bartlett Tree Experts have supported Mass Hort with the care and pruning of this beautiful hedge, and was on hand to get the hedge ready for the filming of This Old House.
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Italianate Garden being prepared for the photo shoot with This Old House
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Marion has graciously donated her expertise to help guide Mass Hort with the current restoration of the garden. In 2012, the long beds were leveled and outlined with sod, and three Hicks Yews were added to each of the four beds. In 2013, extraneous trees that had been planted in the garden were removed to bring back its formal Italianate character. Hartney Greymont donated expertise to present a class on "removal of unwanted trees" for Mass Hort's Thursday Night at the Hort lecture series and followed up with the removal of eight trees and stumps the next day.
Additionally, this past spring Mass Hort brought back the Italian marble baptismal font to the lily pond that had been restored by Daedelus, Inc. This key piece is the central element of the garden.
Watch for the upcoming episode of This Old House and come visit the Italianate Garden in person this summer.
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Save the Trees - Spot Their Enemies
From the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources
August is Tree Check Month, so be on the lookout for invasive forest pests in your parks, schools, urban forests, and where you live!
August 1, 2013 marks the 5th anniversary of the discovery of the Asian Longhorned Beetle in Massachusetts. Since that fateful day in 2008, more than 30,000 hardwood trees have been removed because of this invasive pest. Recently, another wood-boring beetle, the Emerald Ash Borer, was found in Berkshire County, and now threatens millions of Ash trees in our state. Join your fellow citizens during the month of August and check your trees for signs of damage caused by Asian Longhorned Beetle and Emerald Ash Borer, and learn to recognize the beetles themselves. For more detailed information, visit http://massnrc.org/pests/blog/ or contact Stacy Kilb, ALB Outreach Coordinator at stacy.kilb@state.ma.us or (617)780-1371.
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 Exploring Design & Perennial Selection for the Landscape Northeast Region Perennial Plant Symposium September 11, 2013 Elm Bank Horticulture Center in Wellesley, MA Presented by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society & The Perennial Plant Association Massachusetts Horticultural Society is thrilled to partner once again with The Perennial Plant Association for "Exploring Design and Perennial Selection for the Landscape", held at Elm Bank on September 11, 2013. Featured lecture topics include: mixed borders: perennials and shrubs, garden design, American residential landscapes, new ideas about edibles, container gardening, problem-solving for the perennials we love, what's new and what works in perennials in Massachusetts, and more. While you are here, enjoy The Gardens at Elm Bank! We have twelve gardens for you to tour. Don't miss the Bressingham Garden, a one acre magnificent four-season display perennial garden. Bressingham contains a mixture of perennials, trees, and shrubs with a specific focus for creating functional and beautiful residential landscapes. Designed by Adrian Bloom, horticulturist and English garden designer of the Bressingham Gardens in Norfolk, England. REGISTER EARLY AND SAVE! Registration Fee: $99/person before August 25. $109/person after August 25. This price includes lunch. Please join us at Mass Hort for this great PPA Symposium! Register today by clicking here: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07e7v6zd8oae2b0c87&llr=8swoa7cab SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE: 8:00 am - 8:45 am - Registration 9:00 am - 10:00 am - The Layered Garden: Design Lessons for Year Round Beauty David Culp Sunny Border Nurseries Downington, Pennsylvania Brandywine Cottage is David Culp's two-acre garden where he has mastered the design technique of layering interplanting many different species in the same area. David will illustrate a basic lesson in layering: how to choose the correct plants, how to design a layered garden, and how to keep it maintained. 10:00 am - 10:30 am Break and Visit to the Elm Bank Gardens 10:30 am - 11:30 am The Path to an Exciting Mixed Border: Perennials and Shrubs Stephanie Cohen Perennial Diva Collegeville, Pennsylvania Creating a garden for four seasons is always Stephanie's goal. In recent years, adding flowering shrubs that play nicely with perennial plants has added a new dimension. Interesting flowers, lovely bark, fall color, berries, interesting shapes make shrubs and perennials perfect buddies in the border. "The Perennial Diva," is not only opinionated about perennials, but she has added shrubs to her love'em or leave'em list. 11:30 am - 12:30 pm American Home Landscapes Dr. Denise Adams Stony Point, New York American landscape design certainly has evolved over the years--from Colonial subsistence gardens to Victorian gardens of excess to 1980s backyard barbecues. This lecture will provide a survey of American residential landscape history. Learn about the major landscape design trends and most popular plants since our country's establishment to the present with special emphasis on the New England landscape. 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm - Enjoy networking during lunch. 1:30 pm - 2:30 pm Bringing the Awesome Every Day Lloyd Traven Peace Tree Farm Kintnersville, Pennsylvania When you go shopping before a fancy party, do you say to yourself, "I hope I can find the same dress as everyone is buying."? Do you want your living room just like everyone else's? Of course not! Your garden should be no different. All want their garden to stand out, to shine, to stop traffic. We all need fresh ideas, new choices, different methods and a whole new design concept. Water-friendly, edibles, foliage, container combinations--the rules have changed and a new world awaits. Come along with Lloyd as he shows some of the best of the new and fantastic ideas. 2:30 pm - 3:00 pm Break and Visit to the Elm Bank Gardens 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm - Perennials for Problem Areas Jennifer Brennan Chalet Nursery and Garden Shop Wilmette, Illinois Whether it is for our own gardens or for clients and customers, there are always those problem areas that need recommendations of perennials that do not just survive but thrive. Heavy clay soil and deep shade are also included. Whatever the conditions, there are perennials that will work. Expand your problem-solving palette with these selections. 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm Tell Me What's New! Tell Me What Works! John Friel Emerald Coast Growers Lancaster, Pennsylvania The growing zones of Massachusetts and region encompass great diversity. John will present a roundup of perennials and ornamental grasses, new and known, that will provide great punch to the landscape. Come learn what's new and what works! |
The Payoff Month
by Neal Sanders
Leaflet Contributor
This has been an awful summer for New England gardeners. It wouldn't stop raining in June and three weeks of July were blisteringly hot and dry. Much of what we first planted in our vegetable garden never germinated and the blooms of many of our perennials were dramatically truncated first by rain, then by heat. Only the weeds flourished.
It has taken until now for some semblance of horticultural equilibrium to be restored. Only a third of our first square of corn broke the earth's surface but our second square has ripened nicely and the third is already tasseling. Our green bean harvest was awful and our lettuce bolted too quickly (leaving us the humiliating necessity of making our July salads with store-bought lettuce) but our beets are luscious, our zucchini is firm and sweet, and hundreds of tomatoes are growing plump. There will be chard until the first frost.
Around our home, the Orienpet and rubrum lilies as well as the rudbeckia and helleniums have exploded. The clethra shrubs are heavy with their bottle-brush flowers and the phlox stands tall and proud. White and purple Stoke's asters and yellow coreopsis and corydalis are spreading into every empty space. The hydrangeas are voluptuous. Ferns have run amok.
 | | Our garden at the beginning of August |
Gardening is about being patient and rolling with what nature gives you. We replanted our corn not once but twice and kept our green beans under row covers until what was underneath bulged against the fabric (the bulge turned out to be mostly weeds and the bean beetles managed to sneak their way into the crop despite our best efforts). But we are now enjoying four ears of corn a day; a pace that seemed destined to last into September.
Nature has also held some surprises in reserve. Our astilbe is usually a June and early July event. This week, there are still an abundance of purple plumes. An unusually large number of hostas in their glory at the beginning of August. With all these blooms, the bees and butterflies are having a field day.
After two lean months, this August appears to be shaping up as one of
 | | These tomatoes will be ready in two weeks |
excess. It is almost too much, really. The late crop of lettuce and spinach has already sprouted and will be pickable by mid-month. We will soon have more tomatoes than we can possibly eat or process and so our local food cupboard will be the beneficiary of our excess. The flowers in bloom today are built to last through both heat and heavy rains that define this month.
Most of our annuals are in containers. They were planted in May and early June and, through the incessant rains of June they suffered; stunted and sullen. Then came July and they grew rangy. In the past two weeks they have been trimmed and shaped and now, finally, they are fulfilling their promise.
Finally, there are the 'winter' crops - winter squash, principally, but spinach, kale, carrots, turnips and beets as well. The winter squash vines are still relatively modest - a product of too much rainfall and too little sun, but they have taken off in the last two weeks. As quickly as we pull out spent corn stalks, the squash vines claim the empty space. Last September, we picked dozens of huge Butternut squash that filled several wheelbarrows. Stored in our cool, dry basement, they were a tasty reminder of summer until April.
 | | Mass Hort's Daylily garden is at its peak |
All this bounty will all be over too soon. The New England flower gardening season is effectively over shortly after Labor Day because, here at 45 degrees north latitude, the daylight starts to shrink at an alarming rate. Perennials turn their attention to putting food into their roots to provide the 2014 season's display. Because frosts appear with impunity in September, any evening could be the final one for tender annuals.
So, I intend to enjoy this excess of August. It's the payoff month for New England gardeners.
Neal's newest mystery, Deal Killer, was published in March. You can learn more about it here. That book, plus his five other mysteries, can be ordered through Amazon.com.
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August Horticultural Hints
by Betty Sanders
BettyOnGardening.com
In the Vegetable Garden. Harvest daily to prevent squash and cucumbers from getting too big and  | | In August, pick crops daily to keep them from getting too big and seedy |
seedy, and collect other vegetables at their peak. Plant lettuce, spinach, chard and kale now for autumn harvest. Begin your vegetable garden clean-up as crops finish. Compost, aged manure or shredded leaves added anytime from now until the soil freezes to unplanted areas will make for a better garden next year. Late this month, plant winter cover crops to hold soil, reduce weeds and add organic matter to soil. Harvest herbs before their flowers open. Do so early in the morning and then freeze or hang them to dry for winter use. Parsley and basil can be sowed in pots now to grow on a sunny windowsill during the winter. [Did you have a tough year in the vegetable garden? Read about our challenges, failures and successes at this year's Mass Hort Garden-to-Table vegetable garden in this issue.] In the Flower Garden. Deadhead perennials and annuals to keep them blooming and to reduce the potential for disease. Do not cut back woody plants (such as roses or hydrangeas) now. Begin clean-up of gardens as annuals and perennials pass. Improve the garden soil by adding compost, aged manure or shredded leaves to any empty areas. Stop fertilizing roses to prevent additional  | | Deadhead annuals and perennials to keep them looming through the month |
growth which will not have time to harden off. Take cuttings from coleus, geraniums and begonias to grow indoors over the winter. If the heat and humidity bring on a plague of mildew, a spray of one tablespoon of baking soda in one gallon of water works on roses and many perennials. Don't allow weeds to set seeds (here or in the vegetable garden) because they will germinate in greater numbers next year to cause you more problems. Lawn renewal or renovation. Late August is the time to work on a lawn in need of attention. Annual weeds do not germinate during the shorter days so the grass seed has little competition. Start with a soil test. You don't know how much lime or which fertilizer to add without reliable test results. Go to http://soiltest.umass.edu/ordering-information for instructions. Do it today and you'll have the results before you need to get started. Prepare the lawn for overseeding with a stiff raking to remove any dead plant material and to rough up the soil surface. Use a high quality seed mixture appropriate for the area - sunny, shady, high traffic - and consider new eco-grass mixtures that reduce the need for chemical fertilizers and lawn upkeep, even reducing mowing! A weed-free light mulch applied after seeding will help keep the soil moist and If you are going to lay sod, have the area prepared before the sod arrives and then put in down immediately. Tree Check. Trees that begin coloring prematurely or losing leaves early are showing signs of stress. If you do not know the source of the problem, bring in an arborist who will be able to diagnose the problem and offer a solution. Houseplants. Begin bringing houseplants back indoors as the days  | | As you bring houseplants indoors this month, check them for 'wildlife' |
shorten, but always check them first for any 'wildlife' they may have picked up. Wash them with a strong stream of water to remove any surface pests. An application of an organic drench to the soil can prevent bringing problem insects indoors. It's a small precaution that can prevent more serious problems this winter. _____________________________________________________________ Look for more gardening tips at BettyOnGardening.com.
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