DECORATING FOR THE HOLIDAYS-Simple & Natural

Join the Master Gardeners for the next

FREE WALKING TOUR OF THE ARBORETUM

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Starting at 10:00 AM

Meet under the Shelter in front of the Ag Center

(MAP)

They will be showing how to gather all those forest-y elements from shrubs, trees, and vines to use in your holiday decorating.

The tours last about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours and are given rain or shine (or snow?)

Happy Thanksgiving

For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, for love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Read more at: http://cathy.snydle.com/thanksgiving-quotes.html | Cathy

 

For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, for love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Read more at: http://cathy.snydle.com/thanksgiving-quotes.html | Cathy

For each new morning with its light,

For rest and shelter of the night, 

For health and food, for love and friends,

For everything Thy goodness sends.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, for love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Read more at: http://cathy.snydle.com/thanksgiving-quotes.html | Cathy

FALL CHORES

This past week found our Master Gardeners busy at the Arboretum with final fall chores.  Much of the work done consisted of cutting back the perennials that were nipped by the frost, raking leaves, some light pruning, planting strawberries, and the ever constant weed pulling.  Here are some pictures where you may note that there are lots of smiles (because they are a happy bunch of volunteers)!

 

Want to do some clean up in your yard?  Here is a list to get you started:

FALL CLEAN UP

COMPOSTING FALL LEAVES

As you might imagine, we have lots and lots of leaves to rake up at the Arboretum.  We turn this gift into compost.  The decomposed leaves along with other yard waste becomes a 'free' soil amendment or mulch.  We use a three-bin system and two self-contained plastic bins. 

Click on the link below to see how easy it is to start your own composting at home:

BACKYARD COMPOSTING

PLEACHING CREPE MYRTLES

In the beginning......

Yes, we mean pleaching.  You may find when you 'google' pleaching you get an autocorrect with a result of either preaching or bleaching.  But, no, we mean pleaching.  So what is pleaching?

According to our Pleaching Guru, Carol:
"One winter a few years ago we started a shade garden in a narrow strip next to a wall only to find out that in summer it was not shady! A lesson in planning right there. At the end of the May plant sale we had several crape myrtles unsold so we decided to create our own shade by planting the same. The trees had to be pruned back to prevent them interfering with trucks going to the adjacent utility room. We decided on the ancient method of pleaching. This can create tunnels, arbors or our design to have a "hedge in the air". This fall we pruned away most of the lower branches and excess trunks. The trees were topped below where we want the top edge to be allowing for new growth in the spring. As some branches were still flexible we tied these firmly together laterally  so the bark touches, this will create the opportunity for pleaching. That is the bark will degrade and the wood will fuse together. This is something we always try to avoid in caring for trees but this time we want this to happen. Crape Myrtles seem ideal for this sculpting  as they often pleach themselves naturally. Our experiment is just starting. Next summer we will tie more new flexible branches together and include some temporary support poles to shape our shade hedge. When we have sufficient lateral branches the structure will be pruned in summer to reduce vigor and keep it's shape. Hopefully this will be the shady garden we imagined a few years ago."

Here you see the shorter, thinned out branches with a pole inserted to train them along.  The vine growing on the wall is Ficus pumila (creeping fig) and it is a bit hard to distinguish it from the pruned crape myrtles.  You'll have to come out and see it up close!

FOLLOW THIS LINK FOR MORE INFO ON PLEACHING

FALL COLORS in GREENVILLE

 Featured here is Muhlenbergia capillaris (Pink Muhly Grass) and Gaillardia aristata (Blanketflower). These are always a showstopper in our fall Wildflower Garden. 

You don't need to drive to the mountains to enjoy such sights.  Join the Master Gardeners this Thursday, Novemeber 7th for a Free Walking Tour of the Arboretum highlighting trees, shrubs, grasses, and perennials that make fall gardens glow.

The tour begins at 10:00 AM under the shelter in front of the Ag Center.  Bring your camera for some great Fall pictures!

MAP TO ARBORETUM