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Leaflet eNewsletter
April 2014 Edition
In This Issue
Plantmobile at Wellesley Science and Technology Expo
Marathon Daffodils
Ikebana at the Boston Flower and Garden Show
Special Mother's Day Gift Offer
After the Flower Show, Still Bringing Smiles
Notes from the Vegetable Garden
Flower Show Highlights from the Mass Hort Exhibit Committee
Book Review
Frost Family Gathers at the Flower Show
Mass Hort's Patriots
Talk and Taste
April Hort Hints
Tools of the Trade
SAVE THE DATE! 
For the Annual
Gardeners' Fair

  Our annual Gardeners' Fair is coming to The Gardens at Elm Bank on Sunday, May 18th from 9am to 3:30pm, with a special Member Hour from 8am to 9am.  White Flower Farm will be back, offering an array of interesting plants and will feature more than 50 varieties of tomatoes to choose from.  We'll have the Society Row Plant Sale and other specialty vendors along with entertaining lectures, food and fun for the kids.  Hope you can join us!  Admission is free for members and $5 for the general public.

Upcoming Lectures and Events at the Hort

 

Garden Tours Every Tuesday beginning April 30th through October
10:00 am
Members: free, 
Non-members: $10. 
Group meets at the Welcome Garden 
 
Thu, Apr 10th, @7:00pm - 08:30PM  
 Starting Seeds Indoors 

 

 

Fri, Apr 11th, @9:30am - 10:45AM 
Yoga in the Garden 

 

 

Sat, Apr 12th, @10:00am - 01:00PM 
Build Your Own Cold Frame Workshop 

 

 

Thu, Apr 17th, @7:00pm - 08:30PM 
No Lecture Scheduled 

 

 

Apr 23rd, @7:00pm - 08:30PM 
Creating Chocolate From The Garden 

 


 

Thu, Apr 24th, @7:00pm - 08:30PM 
Spring Care of Trees and Shrubs 

 


 

Thu, May 1st, @11:30am - 01:00PM   
Spring Greens with Community Herbalist Steph Zabel 

 

 

Thu, May 1st, @7:00pm - 08:30PM  

Home Composting Network 

 

 

Fri, May 2nd, @9:30am - 10:45AM   

Yoga in the Garden 

 

 

Sat, May 3rd, @10:00am - 11:30AM   

Mushroom Walk and Talk 

 

 

Thu, May 15th, @7:00pm - 08:30PM  

Pots with Pizzazz! 

 

 

Wed, May 28th, @11:30am - 01:00PM  Spring Lunch Celebration in the Garden 

 

 

Fri, May 30th, @9:30am - 10:45PM  

Yoga in the Garden 

 

 

Thu, Aug 21st, @11:30pm - 01:00PM  Tea Blending Basics with Steph Zabel 

 

 

Wed, Sep 10th, @1:00pm - 03:30PM  Infusing Your Life with Herbs 

 

 

Sun, Sep 14th   

Get into the Spirit! 

 

 

Wed, Sep 17th  

A Day in Support of the Garden to Table Program 

 

 

Wed, Oct 1st, @7:00pm - 08:30PM  

Learn Floral Design for Flower Show Competitions 

 

 

 


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If you are a Mass Hort member- please recommend membership to a friend! Forward this newsletter.

 

CLICK HERE TO JOIN

Letter from the President

 

Dear Friends,
  
Snowdrops are dotting the gardens at Elm Bank--a sure sign that spring is on the way. We are now focused on the gardens and grounds and would love your support volunteering in the gardens and helping with capital needs to support the gardens. Spring finds Mass Hort in need of a new tractor, roofing maintenance for the manor house roof, and new panels for our three seasons tent. All important to the stewardship of this beautiful place. I hope you will call me if you can help or make a donation. Imagine, a tractor in your name....

Looking forward to seeing you at Mass Hort!

Warm regards,
Kathy

Plantmobile at Wellesley Science and Technology Expo                             
Katie Folts, Mass Hort Education Coordinator

Massachusetts Horticultural Society joined over 80 exhibitors at the Wellesley Science & Technology Expo on Saturday, April 5, 2014. Over 800 students pre-registered to attend the event and the high school venue was packed with families enjoying the many science exhibits. At the Mass Hort/Plantmobile exhibit, Katie Folts, Mass Hort Education Coordinator, April Daley, President of Massachusetts Master Gardeners Association and Elsa Lawrence, Master Gardener were very busy helping children discover the wonder of plants.
April Daley, President of Massachusetts Master Gardeners Association
 
Elsa Lawrence, Master Gardener
 
 

 

The 118th Boston Marathon-Monday, April 21,2014
Peter Isberg Marathon Runner

,  

Support Our Marathon Runner
Peter Isberg has been training all winter despite cold, ice, snow, and pot holes in the roads. But, he is ready to go and run his first Marathon, running for Mass Hort Society! Please donate to his run. All proceeds help Mass Hort and the Gardens at Elm Bank.masshort_marathon_daffodils.jpg
 
 
 
 
Marathon Daffodils
 
Runners and visitors along the 26 mile route will enjoy over 100,000 daffodils, poised to blossom in time (we hope) to celebrate this wonderful Boston tradition and all the people who are involved in it. The daffodils were planted by volunteers from Hopkinton to Boston last fall.
Ikebana at the Boston Flower and Garden Show

Sogetsu School, free-style massing of lines using green bamboo by Joanne Caccavale

March 12 - 16, 2014

Reported by Joanne Caccavale, Chair

 

Ikebana International Boston chapter #17, under the auspices of Massachusetts Horticultural Society, participated in the 2014 Boston Flower & Garden Show.

 

Members from four schools, Ikenobo Society of Boston, Ohara School, Sogetsu School and Ichiyo School made a total of 31 arrangements in two entry days.

 

A special hanging arrangement was made by the chapter President, Madhu Agrawal, President of the Ikenobo Society of Boston, Jorge Padilla-Zamudio made a large stunning Rikka Shofutai. Chair of the Flower Show, Joanne Caccavale, Sogetsu School made a large free style arrangement using bamboo

Ohara combined style arrangement by Russell Bowers

to mass lines.

 

Sogetsu School Director, Tomoko Tanaka gave an hour long demonstration during the Show. 

 

A total of 34 members volunteered as hostesses.

 

We were honored with a visit by the Consul General of Japan to Boston, Mr. Akira Muto and the Consul (Culture and Information) Mr. Masaru Aniya.


Ikenobo School Rikka Shfutai by Jorge A Padilla-Zamudio
mothers-day-header19.jpg
 
SPECIAL MOTHER'S DAY GIFT OFFER!
                             
Treat your mom or loved one to a Mother's Day Gift of Membership to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society!

SAVE $10 OFF REGULAR MEMBERSHIP RATES!*

GREAT BENEFITS FOR MOM!

Discounts at over 70 nurseries and garden centers, $25 gift certificates to Weston Nurseries & White Flower Farm, free Flower Show ticket(s), early and free admission to our Gardeners' Fair on May 18th, free/discounted admission to over 300 gardens and arboreta, discounted lectures, workshops and events, 
and much more!

Individual Membership: $40
Family Membership: $75
Supporter Membership: $165

We will also send a special Mother's Day card with her membership materials.

TO GIVE A GIFT CLICK HERE
& enter the promo code: Moms

*Offer expires on May 11, 2014. Applies to new or rejoining members only.

 

After the Flower Show, Still Bringing Smiles
by Susan Hammond

 

Did you ever wonder what happens to plants after the flower show?

Hyacinth in a new home

 

Since they have been "forced" to be in leaf or bloom for the show, even plants that are normally grown outside in our area can't go outdoors right after the show.   Perennials like the trees and shrubs go back into a greenhouse to wait for warm weather. But this is not always practical for the large quantities of bulbs like hyacinths and

Going to a new home

crocuses that are used by an exhibit like "Eden on the Charles".

 

At the end of the show, Mass Hort volunteer Jennifer Thornton gathered up a carload of pots of spring bulbs and brought them to the Life Care Center of Leominster. These plants have brought a touch of spring to over 100 residents who would have difficulty attending the Flower Show and are delighted with this gift!


Notes from the Vegetable Garden
by Susan Hammond

 

The weather has kept us from being able to work outside in

Clark Bryan test-drives a wheelbarrow 

the garden, but we are still getting ready for the season.

Our volunteers told us that they would like new wheelbarrows. The large, landscaping wheelbarrows that are used in many of the MHS gardens were hard for some of our smaller volunteers to use. We found a new wheelbarrow that should be much better for our needs, and two of them have arrived and will be ready to go once the ground thaws.

   

Garden in a box as delivered-
 THANK YOU JOHNNY'S SELECTED SEEDS!

And we have had a real sign of spring: the Johnny's order has arrived!   Johnny's supports the Garden to Table program by donating the bulk of our seeds - and we use a lot of seeds to raise over 4000 pounds of food. While planning work for this year's garden started months ago, the garden year really begins when the seeds arrive. Once the order arrives, we cross-check it against our garden plan, sort the seeds into categories to make it easier for everyone involved to find what they need, and create a spreadsheet with estimates of planting or transplanting dates and quantities needed.

Garden in a box sorted and ready for planting

 

Johnny's chard sprouted

In New England, many vegetables do well with a head start in a greenhouse.   Shortly after the flower show was over, the first flats of vegetables were sown, including the brightly colored Swiss Chards for our "Grow the Rainbow" bed. In just one week, the seedlings are up and you can already see some of the different colors the chard will show in our garden.

Flower Show Highlights from the Mass Hort Exhibit Committee
by Suzanne Higham, Chair
Team members

 

Each of the designers would say that throughout the Show, there were highlights associated with being a member of the Exhibit Committee. The first satisfaction came from the decision to develop the design concept around the love story of Ray and Betty Frost. When we all had the same vision, it was an ah ha moment.

 

All the work associated with the graphic presentation of the design, changes and modifications to the design, sourcing all the materials and plants, and writing the storyboards was interesting and challenging. Being able to install the design would be the high point of the experience. Creating the pond and each of us running around to plant and put the finishing touches on the bridge, picnic area and boat added to the excitement. Stepping back and looking at the finished product as observers, we each said under our breath, "It is pretty." The exhibit was more than we ever imagined.

 

Having 15 minutes of fame brought the experience to a whole different level. First a reporter/videographer from the Wellesley Community TV came to interview us during the installation. It was thrilling to peek through the window as the judging was occurring, and to see many of the judges posing to have their photos taken in front of the fringe tree and the canoe. Finally, getting home and receiving email after email about the awards was so unexpected. Texting the team during the judging and learning about the awards was a lot of fun.

 

Throughout the week there were many other moments; for example, sharing the story of the Frosts with Flower Show visitors and meeting four generations of the Frost family. Ray Frost's remaining sister, who had also lived at Elm Bank, said that her father and Ray would be pleased.

 

For me, the most rewarding part of this project was being able to grow in respect for each other and to realize that we had a common vision that resulted in a product that was bigger than its individual parts. This has been a great collaboration with the Landscape Institute. Thank you to our advisors, Heather Heimarck, Director of the Landscape Institute at Boston Architectural College, and Kathy Macdonald, President of Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 

   

Book Review:
Mariana Griswold van Rensselaer: A Landscape Critic in the Gilded Age                              

By Judith K. Major

University of Virginia Press, 2013

 

Reviewed by Pamela Hartford

 

Mark Twain coined the term 'Gilded Age' as a satiric metaphor for the prosperous 30 year period following the Civil War, when the glitter of advantages for some was a thin layer overshadowing the consequences of poverty and suffering for many.

 

As a member by both birth and marriage of a historically entitled class, Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer forged a career as an art and architecture critic, offering a voice of taste in an environment of rampant consumerism and ostentatious display. Writing in the most important journals of the day,Van Rensselaer strove to raise the standards of bourgeois newcomers.

 

Through friendship with Frederick Law Olmsted, Van Rensselaer became very interested in the then growing field of landscape gardening. In 1888, Charles Sargent, Director of the Arnold Arboretum and a close associate of Olmsted's, began to publish a weekly magazine, Garden & Forest, A Journal of Horticulture, Landscape Art, and Forestry. Over the course of its ten-year run, Van Rensselaer contributed over 380 pieces, including a seven article series on the art of landscape design, and a twenty-one article series on landscape. Her critical voice was brought to bear in an outpouring of writing about landscape gardening (as it was then called), at a moment when the professional discipline was in the throes of justifying and defining itself.

 

Judith Major's biography chronicles the development of Van Rensselaer's scholarly approach, and acknowledges her substantial influence on the practice of landscape architecture. Focusing on her Garden and Forest contributions, Major credits her with establishing the landscape gardener as an artist rather than a gardener, and therefore on a par with architects and painters.

 

Depicting Van Rensselaer's life within a narrative of the social life of a gilded age doyenne, Major illuminates the career of a woman who charted a path for the likes of Jane Jacobs and Ada Louise Huxtable,

 

Readers who would like to explore Van Rensselaer's writing can visit the Massachusetts Horticultural Society's library, where Art Out of Door, a collection of essays and articles,is available in both the 1893 and 1959 editions.

 

And on May 19, 2014, Ms. Major will be speaking about Mrs. Van Rensselaer at the Arnold Arboretum.

 

Pamela Hartford is an independent landscape historian, designer and writer living in Salem, MA.

 

Frost Family Gathers at Flower Show 

Massachusetts Horticultural Society's exhibit, Eden on the Charles, highlighted two love stories that took place at Mass Hort's Elm Bank Estate in Dover, MA,  illustrating the show theme of "Romance in the Garden". The exhibit's design depicts the courtship of Ray and Betty Frost canoeing down the Charles River at Elm Bank and stopping for a picnic along the shore. Descendants and family of Mr. & Mrs. Frost attended the show on Saturday, March 15 to see the exhibit that honored the Frosts.

 

Ray Frost's father, Henry, was superintendent of the Elm Bank Estate 1935-1938, and was also an avid flower show exhibitor. Ray and his sister Betty (pictured in the white sweater) lived in the Superintendent's Cottage at Elm Bank.

 

 

Mass Hort's Patriots
Maureen Horn, Librarian

 

     During this year and month, as historians continue to

Edward Everett
commemorate the American Civil War, and as we approach Patriots Day, it is good to remember the 19th century members of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society who kept the heartbreaking conflict in mind as they maintained their determination to beautify the state. In January 1861, with the clouds of war thickening, the Society's leadership declared that their only policy was to avoid heavy expenses. After the War began in April, they noted that in their spring shows the number of plant and flower exhibits was small, which they believed would be natural in such a time of distress. Attendance at the shows was likewise small, as was the resulting income. But by June 29th, they had netted $200.00, and all of it was given to the soldiers' relief fund.

      

The Massachusetts Horticultural Society could boast that among its members were several public servants who had long promoted the ideals for which the Civil War was being fought. Francis George Shaw has been overshadowed by his famous son, Robert Gould Shaw, the commander of the racially-integrated 54th Massachusetts regiment, but he was a prominent reformer, who was one of the original advocates of the abolition of slavery. Theophilus Parsons, a Harvard law professor, was an untiring recruiter and supporter of African-American soldiers who joined the Massachusetts Fifth Cavalry Regiment. They agitated all during the War to be mounted on horses, but their aspiration was granted only when the Confederacy was about to surrender. Another of our members who advocated for the Black soldiers was U. S. Senator Henry Wilson, who lived in Natick, close to Elm Bank, and ultimately became Vice President.

      

Our member who was most closely identified with the Civil War was Edward Everett, whose speech preceded President Lincoln's at Gettysburg. With the eye of a horticulturist, he compares the cemetery at Gettysburg with that of ancient Athens, "whose gardens were kept forever green by the streams from the neighboring hills".

 

Horticultural Hall etching
  

 

In  early 1862, the fury of the War was at its height, and as the members were engaged in patriotic pursuits, the Society began to be reduced in size, whereupon there was a vote to continue those who were away despite their non-payment of dues. Still, there was fear about large expenditures of funds, but courage won out, and in 1864 the leaders laid the cornerstone for their Second Horticultural Hall on Tremont Street in Boston. The goddesses, Pomona, Ceres, and Flora watched over it, and it was called the Temple of Horticulture. The magnificent building was dedicated the next year and hailed as evidence that in the midst of a terrible struggle, the arts of peace were not neglected. Those same goddesses still stand in Mass Hort's Elm Bank gardens.

 

Talk and Taste 
Lisa Kamer
Recent photo of lobby garden

The Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University (HNRCA) is a 14 story research facility on the Tufts, Boston campus in Chinatown. For more than 30 years, 60 scientists and nearly 200 staff, working in 18 thematic labs, (obesity, cancer, neuroscience, vision, bone etc.) have been analyzing how the foods we eat and the exercise we do/don't get help or hurt us as we get older.   

 

Mass Hort's Garden to Table program has been incredibly lucky to have found such an amazing partner.  Working together to create the vegetable garden in the lobby of the HNRCA's downtown office building has been a truly enriching experience, and it has produced 8 impressive harvests in just 5 months, with all yields going to the St. Francis Day Shelter in downtown Boston.

 

Victoria Taylor - Founder and President Victoria Gourmet, Inc

To date we have harvested the following from the indoor garden:

185 bunches of beet greens

350 radishes

283 Turnips

256 heads of tatsoi

12 bags of kale

8 bags of mint

 

Making excellent use of the building's extensive window frontage has been a great way to get the public passively involved in nutrition and horticulture (in the dead of Boston winter no less).

 

Our recent Talk and Taste lecture featured Victoria Taylor, president of Victoria Gourmet, which is one of our Garden to Table sponsors, and Dr. Moshen Meydani, who has published extensively on the health effects and benefits of turmeric and black pepper. We learned how easy it is to grow turmeric and enjoyed a fantastic demonstration on how to cook with it.

Dr. Moshen Meydani, Lab Director and Senioe Scientist HNRCA Vascular Biology Lab

If you haven't had a chance to see the garden, please stop by the next time you are in Boston. Our next Talk and Taste will be held on Wednesday, June 4th, from 6-8:30, at the HNRCA, 711 Washington St. in Boston and will feature Dr. Jose Ordovas speaking on Mediterranean cooking.

April Horticultural Hints                    

 

by Betty Sanders

www.BettyOnGardening.com

 

 

It's raining, it's pouring outside my window as this is written. With the ground already soggy from melting snow, it may be many days before you can safely walk on lawns or garden beds. Walking across soggy ground compacts the soil and may damage plant roots, so don't do it. Wait to begin any work until lawns are solid underfoot and flower or vegetable garden soil crumbles (like chocolate cake) when gently squeezed in your hand.  

 

When you can get around the lawn without damaging

Wait and see if Daphne made it through the winter

the soil, don't fertilize! Your grass is a perennial, most weeds are annuals, so fertilizing now gives the weeds a good start. The time to fertilize is in the fall when the weeds are not growing and the grass will build up strength for the following year. In fact, many weeds will begin growing while the grass is still dormant. That makes it easy to pull or dig then out now when they stand out against the lawn.

 

If your lawn did not look good last year, get a soil test and find out what it really needs. No matter what the ads say, adding fertilizer, herbicides and pesticides to the lawn is not the way to a healthy, green lawn. Consider overseeding a thin lawn later this month.

 

When your lawn is no longer soggy, it will need a good raking with a spring rake (the kind with flexible tines) to remove the winter accumulation of small branches, leaves that have blown in, and the dead grass or weeds that come up easily. This raking also serves to also stand up the grass matted down by snow cover, telling it spring has arrived.

Lawn leaves cleanup

As they break ground, put a small circle of organic fertilizer (or a thicker circle of compost) around your spring bulbs and perennials. Fertilizing them this month will feed them this summer and help ensure another bright spring next year.

 

Prune back fall blooming hydrangeas and clematis, butterfly bush and roses. Prune forsythia as soon as they finish blooming. Don't be too quick to prune off browned branches on evergreens. Give them time: they may recover and green up again. Any broken or damaged branches should be removed as soon as possible.   Look for rodent damage on trees and shrubs. Hidden by the snow and looking for food, they may have gnawed off bark and even into the living tissue of the tree. A few bites won't seriously injure a tree or bush, but if it has been girdled half or more of the way around, it may not survive. Put a reminder in your calendar for November to put tree guards around the bottom two to three feet of young trees. Or, spray trees and shrubs monthly throughout the winter with deer and rabbit repellents.

 

On a day when the temperatures will be above 40 degrees for several hours, spray fruit trees, hollies and arborvitae with horticultural oil which smothers the eggs of many pest insects.  

 

Vegetable gardens also need to dry out before you begin planting. This is one advantage of raised beds that dry out and warm up faster in the spring than do conventional gardens. As soon as the soil is dry and workable, it will be time to get in the peas, spinach, lettuce, kale, cabbage and many oriental greens. Toward the end of the month, plant beets, carrots, parsnips, potatoes and swiss chard.

 

Annuals at the nurseries may look appealing, but use common sense. With the exception of some cold-hardy plants like pansies and osteospermum, leave them behind. We will still have more than a few freezing nights. No matter how wonderful it would be to have petunias and geraniums and marigolds, or get a head start with tomatoes, save your money and leave them on the nursery tables until the danger of frost has passed.

 

It is, however, a great time to plant many trees and shrubs, giving them a chance to begin establishing their roots before the hot weather of summer strikes. Take a look at any notes you made last year, and get to those nurseries to purchase the plants you want or need to add more beauty to your property.

 

Tools of the Trade

By Neil Sanders
Leaflet Contributor

If, as T.S. Eliot wrote, April is the cruelest month, then the first half of April is, hands down, the rottenest fifteen days of the year. It is spring, or at least the calendar says it's spring. The days are lengthening and we've turned the clocks ahead. I've put away my heaviest winter coat.

What I'm not doing is gardening. The lawn squishes if I walk on it. There is still a three-foot-high bank of snow and ice along the driveway. The soil temperature is 35 degrees and the ground is frozen two inches down. It may be spring somewhere, but certainly not in New England.

Unable to plant anything, I am reduced to poring over the mound of gardening catalogs that arrive in a daily avalanche. I suspect the people who write these catalogs realize how desperate we are because the items for sale on these pages are unlike what you'll find at your favorite nursery or garden center. For example:

  • How about a lifelike, 37-inch-long coyote decoy made of resin? According to one catalog in front of me, it unfolds and sets up in seconds, then assumes a realistic shape that changes position in the breeze. It even has a furry tail. It's designed to repel Canada geese, rabbits, skunks and ducks and is only $64.99 plus shipping. Unfortunately, as the accompanying newspaper photo attests, the decoy seems not to faze the chick inches from its bared teeth.
  • Or, how about a pickup wizard? You've seen them on tennis courts: gizmos with a wire mesh that you plunk down on tennis balls. Well, someone has adapted the principle to nuts, fruits, pine cones and other stuff that collects on your lawn. You roll it around
    Pickup Wizard
    outdoors and watch the cage fill up with nature's detritus. There's one size for acorns and hickory nuts for $52.99 and another for apples and walnuts in their husks for $61.99. I don't have a lot of apples on my lawn, but I do have some branches that came down over the winter.
  • Do you have a problem with unwanted felines in your flower beds? Well, for $59.99 you can get a motion-activated device that emits a sudden burst of ultrasonic sound that startles cats and teaches them to stay away. It covers an area of about 280 square feet which, if I remember my algebra correctly, means an interloper has to come within 9.4 feet of the sensor. For another ten dollars, though, you can get a motion-activated sprinkler that releases a blast of cold water at intruders, and it promises to be effective out to 35 feet. The catalog photo shows a dog running away in fear, though most of the canines of my acquaintance would think such a device was the most wonderful thing humans had ever invented.
  • Are you expecting an urgent email while you garden? Do you feel the desire to Instagram while you weed? Are you unable to leave Angry Birds alone long
    Touchscreen Gloves
    enough to deadhead? Then you need a very specific set of gloves; one that has a special texture that allows you to use a touchscreen device without taking off your gloves. Amazingly, the gloves are just $6.99. Ummm, when I garden, my gloves are generally encrusted in dirt or mud, which tend to leave smear marks on anything I touch.
  • Then there are the gardening implements that are useful, but at a price that seems to defy logic. For example, how much is a fold-away potting bench worth? The purpose of such a bench is to facilitate putting plants and dirt into pots (and vice-versa). Betty puts together 50-plus containers each year by throwing a sheet of leftover plywood over our garden cart. Cost: zero. But what if the bench has been crafted from a salvaged German biergarten table? And what if it further uses reclaimed wood for eco-friendliness? Including shipping, would you pay a nickel short of $760? That's the asking price.
  • In my humble opinion, the prize for the most dubious gardening device may go to a portable electric leaf shredder. It weighs 17 pounds and is powered by an electric motor. You pour in leaves at the top and a string trimmer inside a plastic tub chops up the leaves which can then be bagged or spread as mulch. It is not that I have anything against shredding leaves and using them as mulch; each fall we cover our perennial beds with finely-chopped leaves which make both a great winter mulch and a spring soil enrichment. My astonishment is that someone would pay $209.99 for a device that performs exactly the same task - and without the raking - as a bagging lawnmower.

Neal's latest mystery, "A Murder at the Flower Show" is now available in book stores and at Amazon.com in print and Kindle editions.