 | Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) is on this goldfinch's shopping list!
(More info: Our Habitat Garden) |
Summer is winding down, and it's about the last chance to send in your requests for particular plants you'd like to purchase at our fall sale. (More details below.)
Although our official HGCNY programs don't begin again until the last Sunday of September, you'll see in the sidebar that there are plenty of ways you can keep busy learning about native plants and the natural world in general.
Save the dates for our 2014-2015 programs
Mark your calendars for all our programs from September through April (except for December). They're all held the last Sunday of each month at 2:00 pm at Liverpool Public Library. And they're all free and open to the public, so bring a friend or two!
Janet Allen, President, HGCNY
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Black walnut trees in the landscape
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 | Black walnut (Juglans nigra)
Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons |
At our last Show Me Help Me (SMHM) tour, we saw a beautiful black walnut, a tree that provides food and nest sites for birds as well as food for mammals, pollinators, and caterpillars.
(And as Andy Saunders demonstrated in one of our past programs, it provides delicious food for humans, too for those determined enough to crack those sturdy nuts!)
So why do so few people plant them?
People have heard that nothing grows under or near them because they produce the chemical juglone, an allelochemical that inhibits nearby plant competitors.
It's true that black walnuts -- as well as hickories to a lesser extent -- produce juglone, BUT it's not true that nothing can grow under or near them.
Our SMHM landscaper, Laura Shaddock, passed along a link to Fiddlehead Creek, a NYS nursery that has a very useful list of NY-native plants that will grow near or even under black walnut trees. Here's their list.
Some examples
Here's just a small sampling of the many native plants on the list:
Herbaceous plants: coneflower (Echinacea), several joe-pyes (Eupatorium), several beebalms (Monarda)
Groundcovers: wild ginger (Asarum canadense), wild geranium (G. maculatum)
Ferns: sensitive ( Onoclea sensibilis), cinnamon ( Osmunda cinnamonea)
Vines: trumpet honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens), virgin's bower (Clematis virginiana)
Shrubs: serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis), pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia), spicebush (Lindera benzoin)
Cultural requirements
Light: Sun to part sun
Soil: Moist, fertile, with a pH above 6.5
Size: 70-90 ft tall; 30-60 ft wide
Other facts and tips
* The highest concentration of juglone is under the canopy of the tree.
* If the tree is removed or dies, juglone remains in the soil for several years, so delay planting sensitive plants even after the black walnut is gone.
* If plants planted near or under a black walnut yellow or wilt, it may be due to juglone or it may be due to lack of water. Try watering before concluding that it's due to its proximity to the walnut.
The bottom line:
Black walnut is a beautiful and productive native tree that can work in your landscape if you're willing to accommodate it.
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About Birds: Identification, Windows, Cats
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As you increase the number of native plants in your yard, you'll see more birds in your yard, maybe some you've never seen before.
It's a lot more interesting to put a name with a face when you see birds.
Merlin is a free app developed by Cornell's Lab of Ornithology -- with the help of many citizen scientists! It's available for iOS devices and now for Android devices, too.
Answer five easy questions about a bird you've seen and it will give you a list of the likely possibilities, complete with high-quality photos.
Windows and birds Collisions with windows cause hundreds of millions of bird deaths per year. But new techniques have made it possible to create glass that birds can see and avoid while remaining crystal-clear for humans.Read about the solution in Cornell's Living Bird magazine.
People have criticized the new Minnesota Vikings stadium for its hazards to birds. To learn more about this issue go to www.audubon.org/newsroom/press-releases/2014/new-minnesota-vikings-stadium-threatens-minnesota-s-birds. If you're interested in submitting a comment, go to Audubon Action's website at www.audubonaction.org and click on "Change Glass, Save Birds."
Ever wonder where your cat travels?
From Discover Magazine: Cat Tracker, a new citizen science project,seeks to find out where cats go and what they may eat along the way. (Birds are likely one of the things they eat.)
The scientists of Cat Tracker are a team of professors and students at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences, in NCSU Biological Science, and at the NCSU Veterinary School. Cat owners outfit their pet with a tiny satellite tracking device on a special collar. Together, a GPS unit and harness costs about $50. Each cat wears the gear for about a week. Then, while their pets feign innocence upon return from numerous excursions that week, the owners remove the collar, attach the GPS unit to their computer, and download the secrets movements of the silent footed. The cat owners submit the tracking information to a public data repository on animal movements, called Movebank. More info at blogs.discovermagazine.com/citizen-science-salon/2014/07/25/cat-tracker/ including a map showing the movements of one cat.
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Order NOW for our plant sale
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 | | Verbena hastata |
The annual HGCNY plant sale will be held on Sat., Sept. 13 from 9:30 am to noon. Plants not sold on Saturday will be available on Sun., Sept. 14 from 1 pm to 3 pm. Location: At the Allens ( directions). We will have an assortment of plants from The Plantsmen, Amanda's Garden, and Maple Hill Landscaping in addition to plants donated by HGCNYers. Check out our Native Plant Shopping Guide (below) to see what is available from these vendors. If there are particular plants that you want please let us know and we'll try to acquire them and, if numbers are limited, hold them for you. Send your requests to John at eg.cny@verizon.net. Special note on shrub and tree seedlings Tree and shrub seedlings will also be available ONLY by ordering in advance. These pre-orders will be available at the sale on Saturday. To see what shrubs and trees are available go to www.whiteoaknursery.biz and click on "Potted Seedlings". To cover the additional costs of the container and delivery and as a small contribution toward the cost of our monthly programs, our price will be $5 more than the price listed on the White Oak Nursery website. To order the seedlings, email John listing the name of the tree or shrub, the number you want, and the price, i.e. the White Oak Nursery price + $5. (And if you have White Oak Nursery pots from last year, bring them along and Jim will credit us for them!) If you're not able to pick them up during the plant sale on Sept. 13 or 14, indicate that you need to arrange another time/date. Plant donationsIf you have plants to donate, you can bring them between 8 am and 9 am the day of the sale . People who bring plants between 8 am and 9 am on the day of the sale will have the opportunity to buy plants prior to the 9:30 am starting time. Contact John if you want to bring plants before September 7. Thank you for participating in our plant sale! It not only gets native plants planted in CNY to benefit both people and wildlife, but also funds this newsletter, our programs, and other projects!
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2014 Native Plant Shopping Guide
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 Our 2014 Guide has the same general format as our previous Guides with a few new codes:
- F indicates Pesticide-Free plants - BB indicate plants especially good for bumble bees. Both qualities are important. Click on the photo above or HERE to download the entire Guide as one .pdf file. OR you can download any or all of the parts separately for printing. Here are the THREE PARTS of this guide: If your computer downloads the files, but you don't know where they are, look in your browser settings to find your Downloads folder. Still having trouble? Contact us and we'll email the .pdf file to you directly. The Introduction section Whether or not you print it out, please read the Introduction for Shopping Tips, contact information for the vendors and other helpful information. We recommend that you CALL AHEAD before you set out on your shopping trip! Confirm the hours the nurseries are open and confirm that your selected plants are currently in stock. What is available in May, for example, may not be available in July. Call ahead to avoid disappointments and wasted gas! Thank you for patronizing our local native plant nurseries. Supporting these nurseries is an important way to grow the native plant movement. |
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 | | Wild ginger |
Baltimore Woods
Sat. Aug. 23
10:30 - 11:30 am
Our local forests have a number of plants with medicinal and culinary properties. Find out how to identify and use these practical and delicious plants.
$5 members, $15/family;
$8 non-members,
$25/family
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NEW! A Little Naturalist Backpack Program at Baltimore Woods
Preschoolers and their families can explore Baltimore Woods through activity-based backpacks available for sign out at the Interpretive Center.
Preschoolers will receive a prize after completing all five backpack activities to become a Little Naturalist!
Free to the public.
Call the Woods at
(315) 673-1350 for details.
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Beaver Lake Nature Center Sat., Sept 13
The NY Flora Association is sponsoring a Bark ID Workshop with the author of BARK, Michael Wojtech (see knowyourtrees.com)
To register go to:
Hurry! Space is limited! |
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The Honorable Harvest: Indigenous Knowledge and Conservation
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 | | Robin Kimmerer |
Wed., Sept. 24, 7:30 pm at the Gateway Center
(Directions)
Admission to the lecture and reception if FREE and open to the public.
Parking will be available on campus.
In 2014, we commemorate the 100th anniversary of the extinction of the passenger pigeon as Professor Kimmerer shares insights from indigenous environmental ethics on species conservation. Dr. Kimmerer, author of Braiding Sweetgrass and Gathering Moss, will sign copies of her books after the talk. Her books will be sold from 6:00 to 7:15 pm at the ESF Bookstore in the Gateway Center prior to her talk, and for an hour after her talk.
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Since HGCNY is a chapter of the national organization Wild Ones, when you become a member of Wild Ones, you're automatically a member of HGCNY, too. And since Wild Ones is an official not-for-profit, your membership is tax-deductible.
It's easy to become a member, receive the bimonthly Wild Ones Journal, and support our mission.
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As more of us participate on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/hgcny, this will become a useful resource for asking (and answering!) local HGCNYers' questions about habitat gardening.
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 Visit Our Habitat Garden website for information on providing habitat, earth-friendly gardening practices, plants, and various creatures here in Central New York. |
Visit Our Edible Garden website to see an example of a local vegetable and fruit garden. An edible garden is a perfect complement to your habitat garden.
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