For more than a decade, Sandy Morrissey of Hartsdale has been working to bring Eastern bluebirds back to Westchester.

On Wednesday, Feb. 13, she’ll be giving a free talk on bluebirds at the Bronxville library.

I wrote an article for the paper last year on Sandy and a few blog posts, too. I’m a huge fan, needless to say.

Here’s a post from last year about bluebirds in general with a couple of good photos and info on how to clean out bluebird boxes in winter.

And a post from last June after a day out in the field with Sandy and her bluebirds (more photos).

And a post with an update from Sandy later that month.

Lastly, here’s a link to my colleague Mike Risinit’s “Nature of Things” blog, with photos of Sandy helping a group of North Salem Girl Scouts build bluebird boxes.

Sandy says she needs volunteers to help monitor the bluebird boxes this summer:

“I am really looking for more people to be involved in the bluebird project. Top on the list are monitors to check on the bluebird houses – especially golfing monitors who can monitor birdhouses on a golf courses and know enough not to get hit by a golf ball (Ideally monitor birdhouses on their own course while they play – like I do). In addition, I am available to do bluebird presentations and projects to interested groups such as school classes, Scout groups and adult groups such as Rotary clubs.”

Interested in helping out? Email Sandy at sandym@cloud9.net.

Here’s a press release on the program in Bronxville:

“Bringing Back the Eastern Bluebird – a Personal Quest

“Wednesday, February 13, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
Bronxville Public Library, 201 Pondfield Rd., Bronxville, NY
Speaker, Sandy Morrissey

“Bronx River-Sound Shore Audubon Society, Inc. member, Sandy Morrissey, will describe her ten-year quest to bring New York’s State Bird, the Eastern Bluebird, back to Westchester.

“The slide program will include ecological information about the Eastern bluebird, a discussion of why its population declined by 90%, and how bluebird enthusiasts are reversing this decline by building nestboxes and placing them in good bluebird habitat.

“Sandy, along with help from the BRSS Audubon, has placed over 180 nestboxes in lower and central Westchester. She has involved the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Senior citizens, elementary and high school students and others in her mission.

“The area has gone from having NO nesting Eastern bluebirds to a record high of 19 nesting pairs in 2006. Come and learn where you might spot an Eastern bluebird (cemeteries are top on the list) and how you can bring the “bluebird of happinessâ€? into your life by helping in this important conservation project.

“This program, presented by the Bronx River-Sound Shore Audubon Society, Inc., is free and open to the public. Refreshments are served at 7:00 p.m., preceding the program.

“Sandy Morrissey is presently Vice President of the Board of BronxRiver-Sound Shore Audubon Society and Coordinator of its Eastern Bluebird Project. She is an avid birder and has a lifelong interest in nature and environmental education and conservation.”

Tuesday was the annual Plant-O-Rama trade show at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It’s become one of my favorite winter events.

It’s a free-wheeling day of slide lectures, catalog displays, exhibits by public gardens and wholesale nurseries and presentations about new plants coming onto the market.

The attendees are a great mix of garden and landscape professionals—from groundskeepers at public parks to high-end designers.

The main speaker in the morning was Brent Heath from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs in Virginia talking about summer bulbs (dahlias, agapanthus, cannas, caladiums, lilies, eucomis, oxalis).

In the afternoon, we heard Elizabeth Lamb, coordinator of the NYS Integrated Pest Management Program for Ornamentals, talking about herbicide alternatives (“Imagining Life After Roundup”).

Among the many great things I learned… did you know that nepeta (catmint) has allelopathic properties, meaning that it tends to suppress other plants around it? Black walnut trees do this, too.

Now I know why everything around the exuberant nepeta in my sage bed did so poorly last summer. A dwarf spruce shrub seemed to be actually shrinking by the end of the season.

But these same properties make nepeta a particularly good groundcover for weed suppression (no weeds means no Roundup). Lamb said that some of the hardy fescues have allelopathic properties, too, making them particularly good turf grasses.

During lunch, I wandered around the Steinhardt Conservatory (yes, that’s Michael Steinhardt, the one with the 55-acre estate in Bedford) looking at tropicals and taking a few photos.

A clivia hybrid:

Great color, no?

I love this lilac vine.

So robust—and another great color.

And even closer.

A calla lily.

Heliconia angusta ‘Holiday’

Cactus

Lots of orchids on display.

A little closer.

I like the orchids that seem to be floating in the air.

And another.

The bonsai house has long been one of my favorite parts of the Botanic Garden.

A mix of evergreen and deciduous trees.

All are beautifully maintained.

Last one.

Here’s a list of some of my favorite garden catalogs, with snail mail and Web addresses.

What are your favorites? And what are you on the hunt for this winter?

Also, be sure to check out the Mailorder Gardening Association’s Web site for lots more addresses.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, 2278 Baker Creek Road, Mansfield, Mo. 65704, 417-924-8917, www.rareseeds.com.

Burgess Seed & Plant Co., 905 Four Seasons Road, Bloomington, Ill. 61701, 309-662-7761, www.eburgess.com.

Burpee, 300 Park Ave., Warminster, Pa. 18974, 215-674-4900, www.burpee.com.

Cook’s Garden, P.O. Box C5030, Warminster, Pa. 18974, 800-457-9703, www.cooksgarden.com.

D. Landreth Seed Co., 60 E. High St., No. 4, New Freedom, Pa. 17349, 800-654-2407, www.landrethseeds.com.

Dutch Gardens, 144 Intervale Road, Burlington, Vt. 05401, Phone: 800-944-2250, www.dutchgardens.com.

Harris Seeds, 355 Paul Road, P.O. Box 24966, Rochester, N.Y. 14624, 800-514-4441, www.harrisseeds.com.

Jackson and Perkins, P.O. Box 5002, Hodges, S.C. 29653, 800-292-4769, www.jacksonandperkins.com.

John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds, 23 Tulip Drive, P.O. Box 638, Bantam, Conn. 06750, 860-567-6086, www.kitchengardenseeds.com.

Johnny’s Selected Seeds, 955 Benton Ave., Winslow, Maine 04901, 877-564-6697, www.johnnyseeds.com.

Jung Quality Seeds, 335 S. High St., Randolph, Wisc. 53957, 800-247-5864, www.jungseed.com.

Miller Nurseries, 5060 West Lake Road, Canandaigua, N.Y. 14424-8904, 800-836-9630, www.millernurseries.com.

Nichols Garden Nursery, 1190 Old Salem Road NE, Albany, Ore. 97321, 800-422-3985, www.nicholsgardennursery.com.

Park Seed Co., 1 Parkton Ave., Greenwood, S.C. 29647, 800-213-0076, www.parkseed.com.

Pinetree Garden Seeds, P.O. Box 300, New Gloucester, Maine 04260, 207-926-3400, www.superseeds.com.

Renee’s Garden Seeds, 6116 Highway 9 Felton, Calif. 95018, 888-880-7228, www.reneesgarden.com.

Stokes, P.O. Box 548, Buffalo, N.Y. 14240-0548, 716-695-6980, www.stokeseeds.com.

Territorial Seed Co., P.O. Box 158, 20 Palmer Ave., Cottage Grove, Ore. 97424, 800-626-0866, www.territorialseed.com.

Thompson & Morgan, 220 Faraday Ave., Jackson, N.J. 08527-5073 800-274-7333, www.tmseeds.com.

Totally Tomatoes, 334 W. Stroud St., Randolph, Wisc. 53956, 800-345-5977, www.totallytomato.com.

Wayside Gardens, 1 Garden Lane, Hodges, S.C. 29695, 800-845-1124,
www.waysidegardens.com.

White Flower Farm, P.O. Box 50, Route 63, Litchfield, Conn. 06759, 800-503-9624, www.whiteflowerfarm.com.

Have you noticed how you can hardly get the Christmas decorations put away before the avalanche of garden catalogs begins to hit your mailbox?

Each year brings a few new seductive little numbers overflowing with impossibly colorful images of gigantic fruits and flowers.

Hooray for Photoshop, I suppose. But I’m sure I’m not the only one left wondering why my smallish and not particularly sparkly flowers don’t quite match the glossy, goosed-up ones in the catalogs.

January, by the way, has been declared National Mailorder Gardening Month by the Mailorder Gardening Association — no surprise there. It really is the perfect time to curl up by the fire with a pile of catalogs and dream away about spring and summer.

Here are a few of the ones that have come my way in the last month or so:

Americans are expected to spend more than $3 billion on mail-order and Web garden products this year, according to the association. Its Web site is superb, with links to more than 100 garden catalog Web sites.

I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, but I do tend to ruminate about my garden in January and February, walking around in the cold and wondering what I might like to do differently.

This year, I’m determined to grow more plants from seed, especially annuals. They really do so much better over the course of the summer than the ones you buy in flats or 4-inch pots in May.

By August, my seed-started annuals are often nearly twice the size of the ones I bought as plugs from nurseries and home centers — healthier, too.

In past years, I’ve liked Burpee, Stokes, Johnny’s, Jung and Park for seeds, but this January I’m really taken with the catalog from D. Landreth Seed Co. The 50-page catalog is loaded with hundreds of seed choices (and the expected ridiculously luscious color photos).

For the vegetable patch, Territorial Seed Co. and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds look pretty swell this year.

And you can always count on old standbys like Burpee’s, White Flower Farm, Cook’s Garden and Renee’s (she’s got the most attractive packaging).

I’m also determined to curb my tendency to over-order. What looks so enticing in winter can get pretty overwhelming in May, when the UPS man pulls into the driveway day after day after day.

One trick I’ve learned over the years is to let my wish list age for a week or two before actually mailing or calling in the order. First I turn down the edges of lots of pages, then I draw up a list of gotta-haves on a legal pad, then I wait and give it all a hard edit a week later.

You might also try getting together with another gardener or two or three to make your order. You’ll get a break on postage and handling, and you can split up the seed packages into more reasonable numbers. Who needs 200 seeds of the same tomato plant?

Thought I’d share a note from Brad Gurr about a new invasive insect on the prowl. Brad, an Ossining resident, is a certified arborist with the Care of Trees in northern WestchesterSavatree in Ossining.

Click here for more info on the wasp and a picture.

Here’s Brad:

“Mega deals at the mega mart lead to increases in invasive forest pests. Improvements in transportation mean that a forest pest that laid eggs in packing crates on one continent can have its offspring delivered to the other side of the world just a few short weeks later. Add one more to the list of infamy that includes the Asian long horn beetle and the emerald ash borer.

“The Sirex wood wasp is the latest unwelcome guest that has hitchhiked its ways to our shores in the cargo hold of high speed container ships.

“Sirex noctilo F. is a native of Europe, Asia and Africa where it is considered to be a minor pest of stressed Scots pine. When it was accidentally introduced to pine plantations in South America it was no longer a bit player in the world of forestry.

“In South American pine plantations mortality rates of up to 80% were recorded. Most of these plantations are planted with native north American trees such as Ponderosa, jack and lodgepole pine. White pines are less affected but are subject to attack.

“In North America we have at least a dozen native wood wasps. Wood wasps are typically 1 to 2 inches in length, wasp like insects and generally are black and brown in color. The Sirex wasp has characteristics that distinguish it from the native species.

“Sixex adults are generally blue to blue black with the males displaying an orange mid torso. The females have large reddish yellow feet which will be black on the rear legs of the males. The antennae on both the males and females are black.

“If you think you have spotted one please contact an expert for positive identification.

“Native wood wasps attack dead and dying trees but Sirex wasps attack living trees.

“The actual feeding of the larvae causes some of the damage, but a symbiotic fungus, Amylostereum areolatum that the female injects into the tree as she is laying eggs does the bulk of the damage.

“The wasp completes its life cycle in one year. Adults emerge in mid to late summer and the females make an initial flight to a stressed tree. The females have been reported to travel up to 90 miles making quarantine efforts ineffective. Given that many trees are drought stressed in August hosts will not be difficult to find.

“The female drills her ovapositor, a specialized egg laying appendage, into the bark of the tree and deposits up to 250 eggs and the symbiotic fungus under the bark of the tree. Fertilized eggs develop into female wasps, unfertilized develop into males. The larvae tunnel into the interior of the tree for up to a year.

“Pupae form close to the the surface before the adults emerge the following summer.

“With the large number of two three and five needle pine in North American forests this pest is expected to have a substantial impact.

“Another hitchhiking newcomer, the emerald ash borer has just been located in Toronto, Canada as it continues to spread.”

Trees and shrubs with berries add lots of interest and color to the winter garden — and your birds will say thank you very much.

Winterberry, with its long-lasting large red berries, has long been one of my favorites. It’s absolutely maintenance-free and always covered with berries by Thanksgiving. Some years, the berries last all the way to spring.

This large deciduous shrub or small tree can reach a height and width of 6 to 10 feet. I’ve got an old one that’s easily 10 feet tall and its branching habit has become much more treelike over the years.

Known botanically as Ilex verticillata, this hardy American holly likes rich acidic soil and it doesn’t mind wet spots. Mine is right by a natural spring and it’s often got wet feet in winter and spring.

Young shrubs stand rather stiffly in the landscape, but with age winterberry takes on a nice round and wide shape. New growth emerges from the crown and roots.

In the spring, winterberry has inconspicuous greenish-white blooms on its silvery branches, followed by deep green leaves in summer.

Lots of new varieties have come onto the market. This one that I shot last week at the NY Botanical Garden is called ‘Winter Red.’

Here’s a file photo from our library of more winterberry shrubs at the Botanical Garden. Wow, snow really does them well.

The berries make good arrangements indoors, especially for the holidays when set among a few boughs of evergreens.

Outdoors, give it a backdrop of evergreens to really show off the berries.

For years I’ve wanted to see Pepe Maynard’s great garden in Bedford. When I heard she was giving a lecture on her 8-acre garden as part of the Wave Hill horticultural lectures, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to pay a visit.

I’ve got an article in today’s paper on the way she and her husband, John, have transformed a very difficult site into a four-season garden that really glows in winter.

One thing I forgot to mention is that she and her friend and fellow garden designer Page Dickey founded the Open Days progam more than a decade ago. It’s a great way to see some of the best private gardens in the country.

We’ve got good photos by Mark Vergari in the paper today, and I thought I’d share some of mine from from my visit with the Maynards last week. They couldn’t have been lovelier.

Just up from the driveway, espaliered pear trees on a stone wall.

Yellow-twig dogwood.

And red-twig dogwood.

Lots and lots of rhodies and other broad-leafed evergreens. And yes, the whole property is deer-fenced.

Stewartia tree, near their bedroom. Great bark in winter.

They’ve got beautiful stonework everywhere.

A view of the house from the pool area. See the octagon-shaped room that extends out from the main house into their garden? That’s their bedroom—what a great idea.

Chairs near the pool.

Wow, they must have their masons on retainer. Pepe likes natural-looking walls with mortar hidden inside.

Beautiful stone pathways through the hillside.

All of the fieldstone came from the site.

A pair of ‘Edith Bogue’ magnolias frames the steps up to the pool area.

That’s Mark Vergari at the top of the steps, shooting video for an upcoming tv segment on the garden (I’ll post a link when it’s up.)

The walled vegetable garden. Beautiful winter light on the stone.

A pair of hawthorn ‘Winter King’ trees near the vegetable garden.

Berries against the blue sky.

Closeup of the berries.

This hawthorn has great bark, too. I like this tree a lot.

Canopy of old oaks over the garden.

More of the terracing.

Umbrella pine.

A little closer.

This tree’s a keeper, too.

One of many stone step vignettes in the garden.

Lots of retaining walls, too.

Beautiful work by their masons, a pair of brothers from Italy.

Top of the wall.

Pepe devised this trick with stone to protect the young trees.

The annual Wave Hill series of horticultural lectures will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. on three winter Wednesdays at the New York School of Interior Design at 170 E. 70th St.

Wednesday, Jan. 30: “Constant Gardens: 500 Years of Plants in Art� by Patricia Jonas. After the lecture, guests are invited to a complimentary reception and viewing of the School of Interior Design’s exhibit of botanical paintings from Highgrove, the Prince of Wales’ garden in England.

Feb. 27: “Jardins de Métis: Making an Historic Garden Hip� by Alexander Reford.
March 19: “Portrait of a Garden� by Pepe Maynard of Bedford.

Tickets: $25 per lecture, or $20 for members and students; $60 for the series, or $48 for members and students.

Information: 718-549-3200, Ext. 216, www.wavehill.org, anna@wavehill.org. Seating is limited; reservations recommended.

Here’s a link to a post on lectures at Brooklyn Botanic Garden and another to a post on Westchester master gardeners’ series and one at NY Botanical Garden.

Pam Freeman asked me to get the word out about two free upcoming programs the Institute of Ecosystems Studies in Millbrook is hosting.

I notice that since the new year, it’s now the Cary Institute of Ecosystems Studies. (No relation, which is too bad because I would love to be one of Mary Flagler Cary’s heirs. She inherited one of the great Standard Oil fortunes and her former 1,900-acre estate is now the IES.)

Here’s email from Pam:

“Sunday, January 27th, 2008 2-4pm

“Explore the Galapagos at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Join us on Sunday, January 27th for an afternoon exploring the beauty of the Galapagos Islands.

“The Institute will offer a slide show that captures the unique plant and animal life found on the islands that Darwin made famous. Learn about an Institute-led trip in 2007, as told by Donna Rutlin and hear more about the upcoming Costa Rica excursion this fall.

“Free and open to the public, the event will be held at the Institute’s Auditorium, located at 65 Sharon Tpk., Millbrook, New York. Questions? Please contact Vicki Doyle at (845) 677-7600 ext. 203 or e-mail doylev@ecostudies.org. Light refreshments will be served.

“Sunday, February 24th, 2008 1-3pm

Microcosmos Film. Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies
Join us on Sunday, February 24th for an award winning film by Claude Nuridsany and Marie Perennou. The film brings us right into the world of insects and arachnids with extraordinary and unique images.

After 15 years of research, the directors bring the audience up close to some of the little creatures that run the world. All ages welcome to attend.

Free and open to the public, the event will be held at the Institute’s Auditorium, located at 65 Sharon Tpk., Millbrook, New York. Questions? Please contact Kim Notin at (845) 677-7600 ext. 303 or notink@ecostudies.org.”

Don’t you hate it when plants just up and die on you?

You do everything right and then you watch them peter out right before your eyes.

Here are four amaryllis bulbs that I potted up in early December—then nothing. Not one sign of green or new growth.

As you may remember from an earlier post, these were bulbs that I dutifully took proper care of since last Christmas. No matter.

My best guess is that they froze to death when I was away for 10 days in early December. I turned the heat way down and they were in a very cold mud room right by a drafty back door.

Some very good gardeners I know say never give up on a plant until you kill it at least three times.