Seminar on Native Plants for the Home and Community Landscape

Of interest to all Middletown gardeners!

 

F13/19 NATIVE PLANTS for the Home and Community Landscape

Classroom Hours: 2

Monday, September 16, 2013 6:00 – 8:00 PM

Middlesex County Extension Center, 1066 Saybrook Road, Haddam, CT 06438

Instructor: Kathleen Connolly

FEE: $50.00 Non-Master Gardener
$40.00 Master Gardener

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: September 9, 2013

As home and community gardeners, we make planting choices all the time. Why should native plants be prominent among our selections? And what is a native plant? In this two-hour seminar, landscape designer Kathy Connolly will offer a definition of "native" and discuss the important role of native plants in supporting birds and pollinators. The seminar will cover approaches in a managed landscape, as well as resources for identifying and buying native trees, shrubs and perennials. Handouts will include several original plant and resource lists. Useful books will be available for purchase on the night of the seminar (cash or check).

For registration details, please visit the UConn Home and Garden Center MasterGarden Classes catalog.

Kathy Connolly is a landscape designer and garden coach from Old Saybrook, CT, as well as the author of the "Green & Growing" column for The Day in New London. She has a master's degree in Sustainable Landscape Planning and Design from the Conway School of Landscape Design. She is also an Advanced Master Gardener through the University of Connecticut Extension System and an Accredited Organic Land Care Professional through the Northeast Organic Farming Association. She is a member of the New England Wildflower Society, Connecticut Forest and Park Association, and the Garden Writers Association. Visit Kathy's website.

Gail Kalison Reynolds
Coordinator, Master Gardener Program, Middlesex County
Middlesex County Extension Center
1066 Saybrook Road
Haddam, CT 06438
860-345-5234
gail.reynolds@uconn.edu

UConn Extension Master Gardeners Available for Garden Questions

Do you have questions about your vegetable or flower garden, about something in your yard, or what you’ve seen along a roadside or trail? University of Connecticut Master Gardeners are available to answer your questions!

Stop by or call the Master Gardener Office at University of Connecticut Middlesex County Extension Center on Route 154 in Haddam.

Insects should be secured in containers with lids. Plant specimens can be in a plastic bag or loose. Please bring a clump of turf for lawn questions.

Both healthy and damaged sections of plants help with diagnosis. Also be prepared to describe the growing conditions, fertilizer or pesticide applications, and other environmental questions to help resolve your question.

Master Gardeners also give advice and offer printed information about improving soil, good gardening practices, weed and unknown plant identification, and information about environmental threats such as emerald ash borer, Asian longhorned beetle, and mile-a-minute vine.

The Master Gardener Office at the Middlesex County Extension Center at 1066 Saybrook Road in Haddam is open Monday through Friday from 9 am to 5 pm. Stop in at the office, call 860-345-5235, or email.

Submitted by Gail K Reynolds, Master Gardener Coordinator, Middlesex County

ARTFARM's Toothpick Gardening

ARTFARM announces TOOTHPICK GARDENING

A Hands-On workshop in Starting your Vegetable Garden from Seeds

Saturday, March 17,

2 – 5 pm

at 218 Jackson Hill Road, Middlelfield

Led by Eleanor Poole and Sioux Wimler

Octogenarian Eleanor Poole, who is ‘the best gardener I know!”(says ARTFARM Artistic Director, Marcella Trowbridge) and homeschool wiz-mom, Sioux Wimler, will teach various techniques for starting your home garden from seeds.

These two experienced organic gardeners will share ideas from home-made seed pots to hand-mixed potting soil, as well as time lines for planting, natural and artificial lighting, when to move seedlings outdoors, and more!

This workshop should be a treat for the green-thumb and the greenhorn. Plan to bring home a spring start to some of your own summer veggies.

Please bring a $5 materials fee, a few small plastic containers and a note pad, and if you are inclined to bring a healthy potluck snack- we wouldn’t turn you down!

This workshop is nearly full. Please call or email to make sure there is still space.

Marcella@art-farm.org or 860.346.4390 (day of event, call 860.202.2872)