We're extending the plant sale this year for two reasons:

1) We have some plants remaining from our sale, some donated and some from Nannyberry Nursery. We have some asters, sneezeweed, pagoda dogwoods, a variety of goldenrods and others.

2) We just received our shipment of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) from Monarch Watch. They're small plugs, but look healthy and should get established this fall and be ready to grow next spring. They're very affordable at $2 a plant. Be ready for the monarchs next year! Common milkweed is their favorite plant!

Come to the Allen's house on Friday Sept 18 in the afternoon or evening or any time Saturday or Sunday Sept 19-20. (Directions)

Thank you to everyone who participated in our annual plant sale. It was a fundraising success, which is important since it helps finance the cost of this newsletter and our speakers' fees, but our plant sale is much more than this.

Most important, it makes native plants available and gets them planted by people who will be good stewards of their habitat gardens. Just as important, it's an opportunity for people to talk to other people about plants and get excited about the benefits of habitat gardening with native plants. The plant sale was abuzz with activity!

Special thanks go to our plant committee people John Allen and Randi Starmer, and also Soule Leiter, who returned unsold plants to Plantsmen. In addition to these people, Carol Biesemeyer and Dave and Beth Mitchell helped at the sale.

We also thank our faithful vendors: Amanda's Garden, White Oak Nursery, The Plantsmen Nursery, and Maple Hill Nursery. We also welcome Nannyberry Nursery, a new nursery dedicated solely to propagating native plants and getting them planted here where they belong!

Thank you also to the many members who generously donated native plants and, of course, to everyone who bought natives and planted them. Thank you!

The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared non-lethal, chronic exposure to glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup and other herbicides, to be "probably carcinogenic to humans." (The Lancet Oncology)

Other studies have linked this chemical to a range of health problems such as Parkinson's disease and even to antibiotic resistance. Its high water-solubility has caused problems for aquatic life, bees, and indirectly for other wildlife, such as the monarch butterfly, as it disrupts habitat. (Beyond Pesticides has a number of articles on this issue with links to original sources.)

Alarmingly, some weeds have become resistant to glyphosate, requiring ever more potent products.

Some countries, such as the Netherlands, have banned the chemical, and California just declared glyphosate to be carcinogenic. However, the controversy over its safety, risks, and benefits is likely to continue for some time, and many more studies focusing on the impact on agriculture and ecosystems will be done. (And it's always worth noting funding sources of studies on this or any issue.)

As Jane Hoppin, an environmental epidemiologist, says, the report should remind people that "they should be careful and thoughtful about how they use these chemicals," because some of their biological effects remain uncertain.

As NPR reports, "The risks, whatever they may be, mainly affect the people who work with them or who come in direct contact with areas where they are applied. This includes farmers, gardeners or children who play on lawns where pesticides were used."

"Gardeners" and "children who play on lawns" -- that's us and the people we care about!

In home landscapes these products are often used abundantly and unthinkingly just for convenience or to achieve a "perfect" lawn or landscape (which, coincidentally, often are the landscapes that support the least life).

Given their potential risks, do we need 100% proof of harm to choose to be less casual in our use of these products in our home landscapes?

We welcome everyone to our meetings, but we encourage you to become an official member.

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 organization, 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.

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.

This is an example of a local habitat garden. It also includes links to more information and inspiration to get started on your own habitat garden.

This is an example of a local edible garden. It also includes links to more information and inspiration to get started on your own edible garden.