May 2016 Tips

Dear Gardening Friends,   Upcoming Garden Events: For your convenience I’ve listed upcoming events 1st.                     Lessons from Nature Annual Perennial and Native Plant Sale:                    Saturday, May 21st from 9:00 – 2:00, 170 Pine St., E. Aurora   Our plant sale is a great opportunity to get healthy, large perennial divisions and a wide variety of native plants at modest prices. Ellen Fultz from Amanda’s Garden (amandasgarden.com) will also be here selling natives which she propagates. You can check out her website for a list of what she carries. She will accept pre-orders.   I’ll send a list of available perennials as the sale gets closer. So far I have over 300 plants potted up representing 40 varieties. It looks like it will be a really tremendous sale.   Master Gardener Plant Sale:           May 27 – 28, Fri.: 8:30 – 3:00, Sat.: 8:30 – 2:00, First Presbyterian Church, Symphony Circle, Buffalo   Sale includes perennials, annuals, vegetables, herbs, Hypertufa planters, concrete items, decorative planters and more. Dug fresh from the gardens of Master Gardeners with donations from local nurseries.   E. Aurora Garden Club Perennial Sale:                         May 28th at Ames Street Plaza (South East corner under the roof. 9:00 – 2:00             A good selection of fresh dug perennials at reasonable prices, cards and garden gloves.               Lessons from Nature Classes:                    Hypertufa Planter class: Hypertufas are a light weight concrete planters Saturday June 4th, 11:00 and Monday June 6th at 7:00. The cost is $30/person including materials. Each person makes 2. Registration required. Top register call 652-2432 or e-mail [email protected].   Dr. Doug Tallamy, author of Bringing Nature Home will be speaking at the UB Center for the Arts on Tuesday May 10th at 7:00. This excellent presentation is being sponsored by the WNY Land Conservancy. For information: (716) 687-1225 or www.wnylc.org. I have heard him speak a number of times, He is not to be missed. His book is interesting, informative and will change your attitude on gardening!   Garden tips:  After this nice rain it’s a perfect time to get out and weed. Take the time to use a trowel and get all the roots out. When stepping in your garden beds watch out for those tender shoots coming up!  I’ve noticed a lot of bulbs and daylilies that were damaged by the heavy frost a few weeks ago. You can cut the brown tips off with scissors. Making the cut at an angle looks much more natural. This won’t hurt the plant and looks ever so much better than a blunt cut.  If you have lots of bulbs with tip burn you can just leave them as they will soon start browning anyway. It’s up to you.  It’s still too early to put greenhouse/nursery plants in the garden. This includes perennials, annuals and vegetable starts. Keep in mind the soil and the night temps have to be 50° degrees or more. We’ve had some really heavy frosts and may have some more. Keep in mind, the final average frost date is late May. That’s why planting is traditionally done Memorial Day weekend.  Lettuce, peas and other cold weather plants can be started now, but don’t be tempted to start tomatoes, peppers and other warm weather crops too soon. In the long run, annuals put out better roots and are stronger plants if you wait till the soil and night time temps are over 50° degrees.  It’s still a good time to divide and move perennials in your garden. They are used to the soil and air temperatures. If we have a dry spell like we just had be sure to keep them well watered. I moved a lot of plants the day before it was supposed to rain last week, then it didn’t rain and I spent the next week watering daily.  If you have extra perennials, share them with a friend or check with your local Garden Club to see if they can use them for a plant sale or community project.   Garden Consultation: Now that most of the perennials are up, it’s an ideal time for a garden consultation. I can help you decide what needs to be moved, divided or removed from your garden. We will cover whatever questions and concerns you have from maintenance to disease and insect control. Just give a call or e-mail.   Sustainable Lawn Service: I recently met Eric Chase, owner of The Greener We, a sustainable lawn mowing service. He uses cleaner, quieter, all electric equipment. Check him out at www.greenerwelandscaping.com.   Happy Gardening! Lyn Chimera Lessons from Nature 170 Pine St., E. Aurora, NY 14052 716-652-2432 [email protected]     Copyright © 2014 Lessons From Nature, All rights reserved. You're receiving this message because you requested to receive Lessons from Nature newsletters. Our mailing address is: Lessons from Nature 37 N Union Rd Williamsville, NY 14221 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences