North Country Master Gardeners – UW Extension announce Kids in the Garden, a FREE summer program for kids 5 to 14 years of age.
Dates: The program will be offered on Monday afternoons from 4:00 to 5:30 pm; and repeat on Tuesday mornings from 9:30am to 11am. Each program will have an educational presentation, an activity, a nutritious snack, and end with a topic-related story read on story boards while walking around the garden.
Where: Spooner Agricultural Research Station Display Gardens, W6646 Highway 70, Spooner, WI 54801 (Children’s garden – raised beds area of the gardens) In case of rain– we will meet at the Spooner Agricultural Research Station large meeting room. To Pre-Register & for more information call the Spooner Agricultural Research Station @715-635-3506. **A parent or an adult is required to stay with children under 10 years of age. ** For more information on Event click here for the full brochure
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Hello Gardeners, ”You deserve a Break Today…” Busy as bees, our Spring routines have begun here in the Northwoods as we aspire to the challenge of another exciting growing season. Whether your garden undertaking is large or small, eventually we all feel we’ve extended some muscles beyond the norm. On occasion, perhaps you like me, have cast aside the importance of “ergonomic” gardening, only to be reminded of it later when you reach for the Tylenol! Here’s an idea to interrupt that routine… lay down your rake or hoe, invite a friend and head to Cable, WI to spend a couple of hours visiting the new “BEE-Amazed...by our Native Friends” Exhibit at the Natural History Museum. I did just that on May 2 for the Grand Opening and was warmly welcomed by Emily Stone, Naturalist/Director and Mollie Kreb,Curator Naturalist of the Museum. Their team of creative volunteers have been designing and constructing this exhibit for months. I personally believe it should be nominated for the Natural History Academy of Exhibits Award! Did you know northwest WI is home to 166 species of pollen seeking native bees? Visitors of all ages will be enlightened with many useful facts and stimulating visuals throughout the interactive exhibit from the mural tracing a year long bee cycle to “Play Pollinator” at the pinball machine. Set your GPS and be on your way - you will BEE Amazed! The Cable Natural History Museum hours are as follows: Tuesday through Saturday 10 - 4 pm & beginning June 17, Sunday and Monday 10 - 2 pm. Phone 715.798.3890 www .cablemuseum.org And another opportunity...As part of the “Save the Pollinators” initiative, the certified Monarch
Way Station, established in 2016 by the North Country Master Gardener Volunteers, is an outdoor classroom with walking paths among the native flowering plants and shrubbery. This is a perfect segue to observe the bees and pollinators in action at the Spooner Agricultural Research Station Teaching and Display Garden, Spooner, WI. Kay D. Childs, North Country Master Gardener Volunteer Let us Celebrate Pollinator Week by heading to the plant sale on Saturday, May 19th! This year the NCMG will be offering a Pollinator Six Pack. A perfect way to get started in celebrating Pollinator Week! Gov. Scott Walker signed a declaration celebrating Pollinator Week June 18-24, 2018. Our pollinator plants are growing well and will be ready for your gardens.
Our pollinator six pack features the following.. Lupine Butterfly Weed Swamp Milkweed Blazing Star Liatris Black eye Susan New England Asters You will receive planting instructions and other helpful tips in your pollinator six pack. See you at the sale! The North Country Master Gardener Plant Sale will be on May 19. This is the culmination of many weeks of volunteer effort starting with seed acquisition in the middle of the winter.
Peppers are started ahead of the tomatoes because of a typically little longer germination period and a little slower rate of growth. The tomatoes were started on April 10 as part of a learning opportunity for the new class of Master Gardener Volunteers. With the seedlings up and wanting actual sunlight, they are relocated into the Spooner Ag Research Greenhouse. There were earlier starts for native plants. The greenhouse tends to overflowing so some plants were transferred to friendly volunteer homes and greenhouses. Volunteers visited the greenhouse each day to maintain a watering schedule for the six weeks between planting and the sale. As the weather warms and the plants put on growth, the daily watering expands to twice a day. As the seedlings grow they eventually need to be transplanted into larger pots. Finally, the temperatures are warming, the sun is out, and the seedlings are on their way. May 19th will be the Annual Plant Sale 8am until sold out! Heirloom Tomatoes and Pepper Plants and new for this year 6 Pack Pollinator Garden The following plants will be in the six pack. Wild Lupine Lupinus perennis Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata Blazing Star Liatris Liatris spicata Butterfly Weed Asclepias tuberosa Black-eyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta New England Asters Aster novae-angliae (In some references, it will be listed as Symphyotrichum) Swamp Milkweed During Twilight Garden Tour of 2017 a question came up from some of the attendees, "Where do you find Swamp Milkweed?" That was the start of our inspiration to offer a Pollinator Garden Six Pack. As we get excited to start planting and creating our gardens we have to remember patience is key. Year one of your Pollinator Garden is going to require regular weeding and watering. Your plants will take root and begin to thrive. Year two again will be a year of patience, weeding and watering. Year three and beyond will bring you joy, beauty and a banquet for pollinators.
See you at the plant sale to pick up your Pollinator Six Pack! The Power of Yellow and Orange in the Garden This year at our Plant Sale we will be offering a Pollinator Garden Six Pack for $12.00. We have shared in past posts the importance of our pollinators and giving them a banquet to feast on. We shared the power of purple in the garden and today we will look at yellow and orange. Orange is a not a color for the faint of heart. It demands attention, as if shouting out, “Hey, look at me! Take notice!” Pam Roy shares the following quote in her article Bright colors add boldness to your garden and attracts pollinators. I think that is a win, win!
Butterfly Weed Black-eyed susan Both of the above will be available in our Pollinator Six Pack. Power of Purple
Did you know purple flowers attract pollinators. Read the following from Jason Griffin, Associate Professor of Nursery Crops and Director of K-State Research and Extension's John C. Pair Horticultural Center in Wichita. www.k-state.edu/media/newsreleases/feb11/purplehorticult20811.html Jason Griffin, associate professor of nursery crops and director of K-State Research and Extension's John C. Pair Horticultural Center in Wichita, says the importance of the color purple in plants is measured not only in ecological and evolutionary impact, but also by its pleasing appearance. "From a human perspective, we love purple plants," he said. "Purple is one of the most popular flower colors, yet one of the rarest colors in fruit and foliage." A great amount of research has investigated the synthesis of purple and how to manipulate it, Griffin said. The color is highly desirable in flowering landscape plants. Purple foliage plants, despite their rarity, are extremely popular. The green leaves of autumn give way to red, orange and yellow. However, a few lucky species will turn a shade of purple, which is rare in the fall color palette. "Purple is both rare yet highly sought after by consumers and landscape professionals alike," he said. The color purple also functions as a guide for pollinators. Flowers of many species have purple stripes on their petals, which are called nectar guides. These guides clearly lead toward the reproductive structure, or center, of the flower, increasing the chances for pollination, according to Griffin. Purple seed, pods and other forms of fruit then influence the reproductive cycle. The color purple will attract herbivores, which consume the seed and deposit it elsewhere. After reading just a few fun facts about the power of purple. I bet you are ready to add some purple in your garden. This year our Plant Sale will feature our Pollinator Six Pack. In that six pack you will find three purple plants. Lupine, Liatris and Asters. Lupine Lupinus perennis Lupine's dense spires of bright flowers signal the coming of spring. Lupine is the only food plant for the larvae of the endangered Karner Blue butterfly. Blazing Star Liatris Liatris spicata The Blazing Star is one of the most spectacular and majestic of the prairie plants. Liatris blooms from mid to late summer. New England Aster Aster novae-angliae The New England Aster is one of the tallest and most magnificent of the fall asters. It serves as an important late season source of nectar. May 19th will be the Annual Plant Sale 8am until sold out! Heirloom Tomatoes and Pepper Plants and new for this year 6 Pack Pollinator Garden The following plants will be in the six pack. Wild Lupine Lupinus perennis Swamp Milkweed Asclepias incarnata Blazing Star Liatris Liatris spicata Butterfly Weed Asclepias tuberosa Black-eyed Susan Rudbeckia hirta New England Asters Aster novae-angliae (In some references, it will be listed as Symphyotrichum) Why Have a Pollinator Garden?
Butterflies, bees and other insects are attracted to flowers in search of nectar. They brush up against the anthers of a flower, get pollen grains on their body and carry the pollen from flower to flower. A Pollinator Garden is a garden predominately with flowers that provide nectar or pollen for a range of pollinating insects. A pollinator garden can be any size. You might only have a balcony or a small yard, but you can still plant a pollinator friendly flowers there. Some people think of heirloom tomatoes as being superior in taste to hybrids. These two terms however do not refer to taste but to how the plant is propagated. Heirloom tomatoes are old-fashioned varieties that are open-pollinated. They were usually selected for their superior flavor and not other desirable traits such as disease resistance or prolonged storage. Seeds saved from these varieties should retain those desirable traits.
Hybrids are the result of cross-pollination of several types of tomatoes. They are often developed to resist specific plant diseases, for uniform size, and long shelf life. Seeds saved from these fruits usually do not result in a similar plant the next year. Both types of tomatoes are offered at the North Country Master Gardener annual plant sale. The full list is available at: https://www.northcountrymgv.org/uploads/6/9/3/7/69377869/tomatoes_2018.pdf Learn more about “Homegrown Tomatoes in Wisconsin” with the UW-Extension bulletin A1691 https://learningstore.uwex.edu/Assets/pdfs/A1691.pdf ![]() It's that time of year for a trio of workshops on pruning and grafting.
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