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July 8, 2015                                                                                    www.hgcny.org
 

backyard pond
Show Me Help Me Tours

Our Show Me Help Me tours give us a chance for some of our members to SHOW their habitat gardens and also a chance for us all to HELP if the host has some landscaping dilemmas.

Two tours are scheduled:
Sue's Yard in Fayetteville:
Sat. July 18 between 10 am and noon
Sue's description:
When we moved to Fayetteville in 1994, the yard consisted of a half-acre of lawn, shrubs and a few native trees. We added three annual flower beds in 1995 and three gardens containing mostly non-native perennials the following year. The yard now contains 14 perennial beds, three rain gardens and a small arboretum, and over 200 species of native plants or cultivars. We've used a variety of fencing strategies to keep the deer from neighboring Green Lakes State Park out of our gardens.

RSVP at least one day before the tour by calling 315-637-0069 and leaving a message on the answering machine or by email.

Diana's Yard in Onondaga Hill
Sat. Aug. 8 at 10 am (Details in next newsletter)
 
Our Habitat Garden / Our Edible Garden tours
I'm hosting a number of tours on the following dates. Feel free to attend more than one if you're interested since different things are blooming each week.
Friday July 10 at 6:30 pm
Sunday July 12 at 4:00 pm
OR BY APPOINTMENT (email me at hg.cny@verizon.net to set up a time); Directions

FREE Presentations
I'll be giving free presentations open to the public:

Tues. July 14 at 5:30pm Habitat Gardening for Life
Hamilton Public Library 13 Broad St., Hamilton

Wed. July 22 (Tentative - check with the library) Creating a Monarch Waystation Manlius Public Library 1 Arkie Albanese Ave., Manlius

Fri. July 31 at 2:00 pm Our Future Flies on the Wings of Pollinators Manlius Public Library, 1 Arkie Albanese Ave., Manlius

Milkweeds!
Thank you to everyone who has planted milkweeds. HGCNY has distributed close to 2,000 local ecotype milkweed plants over the last few years.

No milkweeds, no monarchs!
Remember to keep talking with people about monarchs' need for milkweeds. Many people and towns still haven't gotten the message that milkweeds:
1) aren't "weeds,"
2) are ESSENTIAL for monarch caterpillars, and
3) help other butterflies and pollinators in addition to monarchs.
 
Native Plant Shopping Guide
See details below to get your free Guide to finding native plants in Central New York. We welcome feedback on your experiences with the vendors and the plants.

Janet Allen, President
Listening: Singing two notes at once?
Wren singing
Wren singing
Have you ever wondered how birds can sing two notes at once? Learn about a bird's syrinx (voicebox) and how they communicate.

From Cornell Lab of Ornithology's All About Bird Biology:

When you hear that "tweet, tweet" up in a tree, it's not just a pretty noise -- the bird is trying to send a message. This animated video explores how and why birds communicate using sound. From the soft notes used by Northern Cardinals to keep in touch, to the fast trills of a Swamp Sparrow attracting a mate, birds use sound to send all sorts of messages. Their specialized voicebox, or syrinx, helps them do it, allowing birds to sing complex songs quickly. From the woods to the grasslands you hear birds wherever you go, and once you tune in you can begin to decode the language of birds.
See the 10-minute animated video on the Cornell Lab website.

And learn about the cardinal's song specifically in this 3-minute "Built to Sing" video on the Cornell Lab website.
Listening: Noise Pollution
Water pollution. Air pollution. As a nation, we've tried to reduce these pollutants (however imperfectly) because we know they're harmful.

But there's another form of pollution that isn't often discussed, though the American Tinnitus Association, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Centers for Disease Control, Children's Environmental Health Center, National Institute of Deafness and Communication Disorders, and US EPA all warn of its dangers: Noise Pollution.

One of the many sources of noise pollution that affects our communities is yard maintenance tools. Our communities are drowning in the racket produced by lawn mowers, leaf blowers, edge trimmers, and weed whackers.

From Quiet Communities.org:
Noise is not simply a nuisance, it is a health hazard causing conditions ranging from annoyance and sleep disruption to cardiovascular disease and hearing loss. It affects not only our physical health and mental health, but also our ability to think and function.  Results of studies show that noise exposure is responsible for health problems in tens of millions of Americans at a cost running in the billions of dollars each year (Hammer, 2014; Swinburn, 2015).

Landscape maintenance equipment - mowers, blowers, edgers, trimmers, brush cutters - produce 90-115 decibels at point of use - comparable to a rock concert! These levels far exceed safe levels (55 decibels) set by the World Health Organization, US Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (85 decibels), and National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health. And, this noise often persists for hours at a time around our neighborhoods, schools, parks, shopping areas and workplaces. Workers, children, seniors, and people with disabilities are at special risk.

Ecosystem impacts
Besides the noise itself, Quiet Communities notes that  "toxic fumes, high speed airjets, and hot air or surfaces of gas-powered equipment can have a damaging impact on our ecosystems." And the National Park Service has found that noise reduces biodiversity.

And sadly, these landscape tools are used solely to produce sterile, lawn-dominated landscapes that do not support life.

For links to more info about noise, visit OurGreenGoodLife.org website...
2015 Native Plant Shopping Guide
Shopping Guide The most common question people have asked over the years is "Where can we get native plants?"

Central New York does seem to be behind other areas of the country in making native plants available, but each year there are more plants available, and our Native Plant Shopping Guide will tell you where to find them.

Download it for free on our website
The Guide is in three parts: Or you can download the complete Guide (Introduction, List by scientific name, and List by common name).

Please read the introduction!
In addition to information about the vendors, it suggests guidelines for choosing plants. For example, it's beneficial to choose species rather than cultivars. The Introduction provides additional information.

New this year is a link (the asterisk in the left hand column) to a map of each plant's distribution county by county as part of the Biota of North America Program at http://bonap.net/NAPA/Genus/Traditional/County.

If you're looking for a particular plant, be sure to call ahead to be sure the vendor has them in stock on any particular day.

Thank you to our vendors for taking the time and effort to provide a list of their native plant offerings.

Special thanks to Randy Nonenmacher, Carol Biesemeyer, and Randi Starmer for their assistance.

And THANKS to all of you who choose native plants!
In This Issue
Baltimore Woods
Summer Nature
Day Camps
boy in woods
Visit their website to REGISTER online.
July 6 - August 28
A variety of camps for all ages. Check the website for details.
You can be part of this
Wildflower Workshop
Bloodroot
If you attended our field trip to Skaneateles last month, hosted by Randy Nonenmacher, Geoff Griffiths, and Dr. Greg McGee (not "Bob" as I had renamed him in the last newsletter), you know about this interesting and important project.

Whether or not you attended our field trip, you're invited to join Geoff Griffiths, an ESF student and Baltimore Woods Nature Center staff for a two-part workshop and training session on native woodland wildflower restoration.

During Part I, participants will explore the diversity of native plants at Baltimore Woods Nature Center, learn proper planting techniques, and discover how they can participate in an ongoing restoration project as "citizen scientists."

During Part II,  attendees will plant native seeds and rootstocks of wildflowers under the guidance of ESF students in a restoration area.

Attendance at Part I is recommended, but not required for participation in Part II.

If you have any questions, or would like to sign up, please contact Geoff Griffiths at gegriffi@syr.edu or call (631)241-2009.
Sara Stein on Noise
leaves
Surprisingly, silence is the most recently understood of the woodland services. Noise abatement studies designed to discover how best to mute the roar of traffic along highways have found that woodland leaf litter muffles sound better than any manmade barrier--or than the trees themselves.

~ Sara Stein,
Noah's Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Back Yards, 1993, p. 26  

Become a member
Wild Ones Logo
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.

Just go to the Wild Ones website or call toll-free (877) 394-9453.
HGCNY on Facebook
Facebook
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.

Our Habitat Garden 
OHG website
Visit Our Habitat Garden website for  information on providing habitat, earth-friendly gardening practices, plants, and various creatures here in Central New York.
Our Edible Garden
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. Email me if you want to receive a vegetable gardening e-newsletter.