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Each spring there is a beautiful display of wildflowers in our forests and other habitats in central New York. If you're interested in learning what these spring flowering plants are, their identifying characteristics, and habitat requirements, join Joe McMullen for his presentation on spring wildflowers.
Joe is always a popular speaker at HGCNY. Don't miss it!
WHEN: Sunday, February 28 at 2:00 pm
WHERE: Liverpool Library, 310 Tulip St., Liverpool (Directions)
Our meetings are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. Come and bring a friend!
National News: Join the Wild Ones Facebook group Wild Ones has created a Facebook group for dues-paying members to share information about articles, photographs, videos, and so forth. To join the group go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/wildonesnativeplants/ and once you there, click "Join Group" in the upper-right corner. Wild Ones is expecting a large number of requests initially so please be patient while they verify your Wild Ones membership. Another benefit of membership
Official dues-paying Wild Ones members can get a discount and an additional rebate for attending the Ithaca Native Landscape Symposium. Newsletter readers can get a small discount, too. Details in the article below.
~ Janet Allen, President, HGCNY Wild Ones Chapter |
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How are the monarchs doing?
"Our" monarchs left Central New York last fall and have been overwintering in Mexico. How have they fared?
Although the official announcement has not yet been made, Journey North reports that conditions have been favorable this winter and there hasn't been unusual mortality from severe winter storms.
Temperatures at the overwintering sites are starting to rise, and the butterflies are breaking out of their colonies and filling the air during the day.
You can see a beautiful 2-minute video of the monarchs on the Journey North Feb. 11 news page.
As the air becomes increasingly dry, the butterflies are leaving their clusters and traveling to water sources. For more information about monarchs, mountains, and moisture, visit the Journey North Feb. 18 news page to see beautiful photos by Dr. Lincoln Brower. |
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Think better with nature!
Excerpt from The Shallows: What the Internet is doing to our brains by Nicholas Carr (p. 219 - 220)
A series of psychological studies over the past twenty years has revealed that after spending time in a quiet rural setting, close to nature, people exhibit greater attentiveness, stronger memory, and generally improved cognition. Their brains become both calmer and sharper. The reason, according to attention restoration theory, or ART, is that when people aren't being bombarded by external stimuli, their brains can, in effect, relax. ...
An example study:
Univ of Michigan researchers recruited people and subjected them to rigorous, and mentally fatiguing, series of test designed to measure the capacity of their working memory and their ability to exert top-down control over their attention.
The subjects were then divided into two groups. Half of them spent about an hour walking through a secluded woodland park, and the other half spent an equal amount of time walking along busy downtown streets. Both groups then took the tests a second time.
Spending time in the park, the researchers found, "significantly improved" people's performance on the cognitive tests, indicating a substantial increase in attentiveness. Walking in the city, by contrast led to no improvement in test results. ...
Spending time in the natural world seems to be of "vital importance" to "effective cognitive functioning."
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How plants work
We gardeners know a lot of how to plant and maintain our gardens, but how much do we know about how plants work?
Nature's Notebook, a project of the USA-NPN (National Phenology Network) has produced a nicely-illustrated user-friendly botany primer that can be downloaded (or a hard copy can be purchased).
It's not a comprehensive botany textbook, but focuses on the basics -- just what people need to accurately report plant phases. But if you're interested in learning more about plants, it's a wonderful FREE resource. (And you might find that your new knowledge inspires you to participate in either Nature's Notebook or Project BudBurst, citizen science efforts to document a changing climate.)
Download or purchase it at https://www.usanpn.org/pubs/reports#Education.
Help with plant ID
And if you need help identifying a plant, Go Botany can help. Since it's a project of the New England Wild Flower Society, it focuses on plants of New England, but we have a lot of the same plants. Observe closely, collect a sample or take a photo, answer some questions, and narrow down to the correct identification.
More about climate change and the future of plant life How will plants respond to the predicted changes in temperature and precipitation from a warming climate? Five noted botanists and ecologists present the state of New England's plants in a series of free videos presented by the New England Wild Flower Society.
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Dead forests and living memories
Excerpt from NYTimes Magazine by Helen MacDonald:
People of a certain age tend to look back elegiacally at the things that have gone: the store you used as a kid that closed, the room that became a memory.
But those small, personal disappearances, however poignant, are not the same as losing biodiversity.
Brands are not butterflies. Changes to city skylines are not the same as acres of beetle-blasted trees: Though they are caught up in stories about ourselves, trees are not ever just about us. They support complex and interdependent communities of life, and as forests slowly become less diverse, the world loses more than simply trees.
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Ideas to Reality: True Stories and Real Models for Regional Success in the Native Plant Industry
When: March 4th and 5th
Where: Cinemapolis, 120 E. Green St. Ithaca
The Ithaca Native Landscape Symposium is based on a simple idea: the use of native plants should remain an integral part of sustainable landscapes.
The Symposium offers alternative ideas, knowledge and perspective presented by experts and professionals form our region and beyond. It is for landscape architects, designers, educators, Master Gardeners, government employees, homeowners, gardeners, naturalists and anyone else eager to learn more about this growing movement.
Some of the speakers:
Jesse Hoffman will discuss his comprehensive efforts for the Albany Pine Bush, where he collects seed, proagates, and raises native plants from local seed sources, for their APB's own restoration efforts. Jesse also works to make those plants available for local landscape use and helps local people understand how to use them.
Dan Segal, The Plantsmen Nursery will address the real relationship between plant traits as we perceive them, and their environmental origins, which we often don't think about. He will explain how traits, and their environmental basis, often influence plant availability, and how the chain of relationships -- traits, environmental origins and availability -- can and should guide our use of most native species as well.
FOR MORE INFORMATION about the speaker schedule and the symposium, visit http://www.ithacanativelandscape.com/.
Even more affordable for HGCNYers!
To help spread the word about the value of native plants, INLS and HGCNY are each offering discounts to people who would like to attend either one or both days.
Dues-paying members get the biggest savings, so join today. It's easy. Just join Wild Ones at
http://www.wildones.org/wild-ones-store/join-renew/
and you'll become an official dues-paying HGCNY member.
DISCOUNTS from INLS:
Non-HGCNY members who receive this newsletter can get a flat $10 discount whether they apply it to Fri. only, Sat. only, or both days. On the registration page, there is a box labeled PROMO CODE. Enter HGCNYNEWS (all caps) to receive this discount.
Dues-paying WILD ONES HGCNY members can receive a $20 discount using the promo code HGCNYMEMB (all caps).
Additional REBATE from HGCNY: In addition to the discount available from INLS, HGCNY is offering an additional $25 rebate ** for dues-paying Wild Ones members only ** attending one or both days of the conference.
Dues-paying Wild Ones members can obtain this additional rebate from HGCNY after registering for the conference. Just email your symposium receipt to our Treasurer Randi Starmer at randi.starmer@gmail.com before March 12 (include your mailing address), and she will mail you a check for $25. Or, you may mail the rebate request to Randi Starmer, Treasurer, 8022 Bush Rd. Jamesville, NY 13089.
If you would like to carpool or arrange to lunch together, send your email address to hg.cny@verizon.net and we'll put you in touch with the other HGCNY attendees to make these arrangements.
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Pollinator Pathway Workshop
What is a pollinator pathway? A series of small gardens planted with native species that provide pollinators with distinct habitat pathways in urbanized, scattered or barren landscapes.
When: Sat. March 5 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Where: 203 N. Hamilton St. Watertown
FREE! Snacks will be provided. Free seeds, too!
Hosted by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County and the SLELO PRISM.
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Onondaga Audubon presents The Endangered Migration of the Monarch Butterflies WHEN: Wed., March 9, 7 pm
WHERE: Fayetteville Free Library
Monarch butterflies are well known and much beloved, but their abundance has declined significantly over the past 20 years due to changes in their overwintering colonies, summer breeding habitat, and migratory corridor. Dr. Ernest Williams, Professor Emeritus of Biology at Hamilton College and co-author of The Stokes Butterfly Book, has spent the past 10 years focusing on these butterflies in New York, Wyoming and Mexico.
He will describe several conservation efforts underway to try to counter these losses as well as discuss what is known about the current state of monarchs.
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2016 Raptor Academy
Onondaga Audubon is making plans to offer its second annual Raptor Academy.
The class will likely occur around early/mid March to early/mid April. Initial plans are to hold four to five weekly evening classes in the Syracuse area and weekend field sessions at Derby Hill Bird Observatory. Registration will likely be in the range of $60-$75.
So that they can gauge participation, those interested should submit their contact information and any comments or questions to OARaptorAcademy@gmail.com
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Annual Onondaga County Soil and Water Conservation District Plant Sale
These are the natives they're offering:
Balsam fir
White cedar
White pine
Elderberry
Black cherry (a biodiversity all-star!)
Black walnut (use care when siting this tree)
Red oak
White flowering dogwood
(NOTE: We do not recommend the Conservation Pacs.)
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Become a Master Gardener
Onondaga County is currently accepting applications for new Master Gardener Volunteers.
Master Gardener Volunteers complete a 2-year, approximately 45-hour basic horticulture training course to build a common foundation in soil science, composting, botany, insect biology, plant diseases, Integrated Pest Management (IPM), wildlife management as well as best practices in cultivating vegetables, fruits, herbs, houseplants, tree and shrubs.
Upon completion of the training program, each Master Gardener provides Cornell Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County with 50 hours of service per year. There are numerous ways to volunteer: answering gardening questions from the public, teaching gardening classes, mentoring youth, writing articles, and many others.
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| Hemlock wooly adelgid
Photo: Maine Dept of Ag
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Hemlock Woolly Adelgid Awareness and Monitoring Hikes
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Onondaga County (CCE) will be partnering with the Finger Lakes Land Trust, Central New York Land Trust, and Cornell University to offer hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) awareness and monitoring hikes.
Citizens who appreciate hemlock trees and forests can help by learning how to identify HWA and report possible infestations during one of two winter hikes.
Winter is the ideal time to see the insect.
On Sat. March 19, 2016 at 10 am hemlock lovers, property owners, volunteers and stewards, are invited to visit the Bahar Nature Preserve to see HWA firsthand, and then monitor hemlock stands at the Elbridge Swamp Preserve. This full-day event will start at the Skaneateles Library to hear more about HWA from Mark Whitmore, and how to monitor and report HWA from Jessi Lyons, environmental educator at CCE. After a break for lunch, the group will carpool to Bahar Nature Preserve and then Elbridge Swamp Preserve.
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Join Wild Ones
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. |
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Join us on 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. |
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Learn more: 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. |
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Learn more: Edible gardening
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. |
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