Archive for the 'Organizations' Category

ACGA: Growing Through 30 Years of Experience

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Susan Smith-Durisek
on August 5, 2009
in Organizations
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Rebel Tomato!A growing interest in building community through gardening togehter has people searching for information about just how to get projects going.  That search can take you down many different paths.  Here’s one worth exploring: the American Community Gardening Association, currently holding its 30th annual conference, this year in Columbus, Ohio.  Click on the name fo discover their Web-site, which is packed with interesting and useful tidbits, including an interactive map for identifying community gardens across the U.S. and Canada, a history of the organization - which has been around since 1979, support for networking to get a garden game plan together in your own community, and kid-friendly information, my favorite being the Rebel Tomato toting a sharp 3-pronged garden fork.  Like layers of an onion, this site reveals information a little at a time, so peel through a few pages for the full impact.

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Community Garden Tour & Potluck Dinner

Published
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Susan Smith-Durisek
on July 24, 2009
in Events & Expos, General chronological posting and Organizations
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Lexington’s 3rd annual Community Garden Tour, which you can read about  at SustainLex.org, will be held on July 30th.  Check out the information and register for the event there. In addition to the starting and dinner location at The Rock/La Roca United Methodist Church on North Limestone, a bus tour will make the rounds of 5 other gardens.  Organizer Jim Embry likes to call community gardens “Gardens of Eatin’”. 

The idea of growing your own food has gained popularity in recent years, but gardening as a spiritual exercise has deep cultural roots.  A couple years ago, Fayette County Master Gardener John Murray  wrote a moving essay about what gardening means to him.  I’ve been saving it for just the right moment to share.  Click A Way to Peace of Mind to read the essay.

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Hooray for the Red, White & Blue Petunias …

Published
by
Susan Smith-Durisek
on July 2, 2009
in Organizations
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Red, white and blue, for the 4th of July! 

 Petunias are one of the most popular annual bedding plants.  Hybrids have been developed in a rainbow of trumpet-shaped blossom colors and patterns, as well as growth habits which are great for planting many different settings, from hanging baskets to spreading over ground beds.  They’re members of the sun-loving Solanaceae family, which makes them cousins to tomatoes and nicotiana. So plant them in full sun, and them pinch back when they become too leggy, to encourage lateral blossoms to develop.

The National Garden Bureau provides more about the history and cultivation of petunias HERE.

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International Iris Competition: Florence, Italy

Published
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Susan Smith-Durisek
on May 19, 2009
in Iris and Organizations
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Have you notced all the iris plooms I took a vacation to Italy earlier this month, just in time to see the International Iris Competition in Florence.  It makes sense that this region would be a great place for an Iris Competition.  The city symbol, like that of France, is a fleur-de-lys, or iris blossom, and the city’s name itself means ‘flowering’.  Tuscany was once a major agricultural iris grower, because the climate is perfect, and  the plant’s roots or rhizomes are a source of orris powder, which was a fixative once used in the perfume industry.  Synthetic products eliminated the need for the plant material, and now only wild survivors can be found along roadsides.  Still, every May since 1954, hybridizers of tall and German bearded irises have competed for the the premier prize in Florences’ International Iris Competition, and the irises are gorgeous.  Rhizomes are planted and tended for three years by a gardener in the park’s Iris Garden, just below the replica of the famous statue of David standing in the Piazzale Michelangelo, which overlooks the city from atop one of the surrounding hills.  The third year, when the irises have reached a strong point in their growing cycle, they’re judged by an  team of experts.   For more information about the Italian Iris Sockety, check out this  Website  The photos were taken at year’s competition, held earlier in May.

Want more Iris Info? 

For a book review of the new publication  

The Iris Family: Natural History and Classification  

by Peter Goldblatt and John C. Manning    … click HERE.

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Down to Earth Plant Sale Goes Native

Published
by
Susan Smith-Durisek
on April 22, 2009
in Events & Expos, General chronological posting and Organizations
. 2 Comments



One of my favorite plant sales is the annual Down to Earth Garden Club’s May event.  There are great native plants at really reasonable prices, and the club uses their profit for donations to local garden-related clubs. 

This year, the sale will be held rain or shine on May 9, 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the Woodland Christian Church parking lot, 530 E. High St. in Lexington.  In addition to herbs, vegetables, hostas and iris, the list of some of the perennials that will be available includes Grey Headed Coneflower, Switchgrass ‘Heavy Metal’, Great Blue Lobelia, Small’s penstemon, native columbine, yellow columbine, cranesbill geranium, New England aster, bluestar, wood poppy, wild ginger, downy scullcap, lyre-leaved sage ‘purple knockout’, Carolina allspice, sweet coneflower, purple coneflower, blazing star, spiderwort, purple poppy mallow, tall phlox ‘Eva Cullem’.

Check out the club’s Web-site at www.downtoearthky.org for up-to-date information.

 Member and organizer Jannine Baker writes: In 2008, we raised almost more money than the previous three years combined!  As a result, we donated garden carts and cash totalling $2100 to the following community groups:
Walnut Woods restoration at the Arboretum
Port Royal Neighborhood Assoc for the Roanoke Greenway project
Squires Elementary
Sandersville Elementary
Community Gardens
Floracliff Nature Sanctuary
Women’s Prison Garden Project
Legacy Trail
In addition, we will be using money raised to help us continue to improve and maintain the perennial garden at the Waveland State Historic Site, our club’s ongoing Civic Project.

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Hortus Bulborum

Published
by
Susan Smith-Durisek
on October 31, 2008
in Organizations
. 0 Comments

Planting bulbs has been on my mind lately, because the time is growing short for getting them

Fall Bulb Planting for Spring Blooms

Fall Bulb Planting for Spring Blooms

in the garden and established a bit before the ground freezes.  Looks as if we’re having a bit of a reprieve with warm temperatures lately.  One Web-site I love to visit is Hortus Bulborum, www.hortus-bulborum.nl, which is a garden and gene bank dedicated to preserving over 3,500 antique bulbs.  It’s located in Limmen, the Netherlands.  You can check out photos of unusual blooms, as well as think about ‘adopting’ a bulb … maybe as a holiday gift for your favorite gardener.  But don’t spend too much time on-line … you’ll also want to search out some late-season discount bulbs at local garden shops.  Be sure to sniff and squeeze a bit to be sure the bulbs still are firm and haven’t degraded.  Then plant them soon.

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