From Helle Raheem of the Bedford Audubon Society:

“Programs Sponsored by the Bedford Audubon Society
September 2009

“Nature Hike at Hunt-Parker Sanctuary With Tait Johansson
Wednesday, September 9, 8 a.m.-10 a.m. Meet at Bylane Farm, 35 Todd Road, Katonah.
Join Bedford Audubon naturalist Tait Johansson for a walk through the sanctuary’s meadows and woods with a focus on migrant birds and butterflies. Autumn wildflowers should be in bloom in the meadow. Level of Difficulty: Easy. Please register with Joan Becker: jebecker@bedfordaudubon.org or 914-232-4806. Website: www.bedfordaudubon.org

The Leafy Menace in Our Backyards: Invasive Plant Species of the Northeast
With Robert F. C. Naczi, Ph.D.
Wednesday, September 9, 7:30 p.m.
Katonah Memorial House, 71 Bedford Road, Katonah
Invasive plant species are a nuisance to gardeners and land managers. Even worse, they infest natural areas, leading to disruption of ecological processes and decreases in plant and animal diversity. In this presentation, we will consider what defines invasive plant species, how they become established in our region, their impacts on habitats and populations of native plants and animals, their identification, and their control. Though the management of invasives consumes much time, energy, and money, dedicated individuals can and do make a difference in the struggle against invasive species. Learn how!
Dr. Naczi is the Curator of North American Botany at The New York Botanical Garden. His professional service includes seven years on the invasive plants working group for the Delaware Department of Agriculture. A recently published product of that service is Mistaken Identity? Invasive Plants and their Native Look-Alikes: An Identification Guide for the Mid-Atlantic. Naczi also served four years on the State of Delaware’s Nuisance Plant Committee. He is a member of the Council of the Torrey Botanical Society.
Bedford Audubon’s website: www.bedfordaudubon.org

The program is free and open to the general public
The Katonah Memorial House is wheelchair accessible

Ask the master gardeners

Q: When do I harvest Brussels sprouts for best flavor?

A: Brussels sprouts are a cool weather crop that grow best at around 60 to 65 degrees. Warm temperatures will cause the sprouts to open up and lose their firmness so don’t plant them so early that they are sprouting in August.

Sprouts can be harvested about 3 months after planting, but they are best after a frost or two in October. You can pick almost into November, depending on weather conditions. Pick the sprouts when they are about an inch in diameter or as soon as the lower leaves on the plant start to yellow.

Cut the sprouts off the stem and remove any loose leaves. Store the sprouts in a cool dark place. Sprouts taste best when they are fresh, but they can be frozen, too.
Barbara Fischer, master gardener, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester

“10 Shrubs for Summer Color,” from Fine Gardening

Ask the master gardeners

Q:  By the time August comes, my garden has a tired look. Can you suggest some late summer plants for color?

A: As the heat of summer beats down on our gardens and many spring and early-summer plants fade, we can choose from the following annuals, perennials, shrubs and vines to maintain beautiful color from mid-summer into the fall.

Well-known annuals that can tolerate heat include cosmos (Cosmos spp.), marigolds (Tagetes spp.), sunflowers (Helianthus spp.) and salvia (Salvia spp.) for sun and impatients (Impatiens spp.) for shade. Another good annual is nicotiana (N. alata and N. sylvestris), which grows from 1 to 4 feet with pink, red or white star-shaped flowers that are fragrant at night. Nicotiana often reseeds for the following year.

Dahlias (Dhalia spp.) are tender perennials that come in a wide variety of sizes and colors. The tubers must be dug out after the first frost and stored for the winter.

Good perennials for late summer include asters (Aster novi-belgii and A. novae-angliae), tickseed (Coreopsis spp.) and coneflowers (Echinacea spp.). They prefer full sun, and many are deer resistant and attractive to butterflies.

Among the native perennials are pink culver’s root (Veronicastrum virginicum ‘Fascination’), growing 4 to 5 feet tall and bearing large branching spikes of lilac-mauve flowers, and Joe-pye weed (Eupatorium maculatum and E. purpureum), which grows 6 to 10 feet tall with large heads of tiny dusky pink flowers.

Late-blooming semishade perennials include bugbane (Cimicifuga racemosa), a tall native with white flowers; Japanese anemone (Anemone x hybrida, A. hupehensis var. japonica); Hosta ‘Prairie Sky,’ with powdery blue leaves and pale lavender flowers; and fragrant H. plantaginea, with stunning white flowers that glow in the dark.

Shrubs can also provide late summer color. Try lavender cotton (Santolina chamaecyparissus), a small compact evergreen shrub with silver gray foliage and bright yellow flowers, and Endless Summer hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla).

Lastly, there are many vines that thrive in the heat of the summer, including morning glory (Ipomoea purpurea), the night blooming moonflower vine (I. alba) and trumpet vine (Campsis radicans), which blooms until fall. Sweet autumn clematis (Clematis terniflora) produces a cascade of small white flowers in late August and September.
Anita Dreichler, master gardener, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Rockland

I’m off the next couple of weeks, back in the office on Sept. 14.

I’ve got stuff coming out on time delay while I’m out.

Happy gardening!

By the end of August, so many of my annuals, especially the ones that looked so good in May and June, are looking tired and ratty. But not my coleus plants.

Their best month, in fact, seems to be September, when I’ve long given up on my wilting pansies and leggy petunias.

One of my favorite coleuses for the past couple of years has been a cultivar called ‘Inky Fingers.’

I love the contrasting scalloped leaves, with bright green edges and blackish-red, almost purple centers.

Unlike most shade-loving coleuses, ‘Inky Fingers’ can take a lot of sun. But it also does fine for weeks at a time on my screened porch that gets indirect light most of the day.

Then I move it back into the sun for several days to sharpen up the contrasting colors. Known botanically as Solenostemon scutellarioides, coleus plants are grown for their foliage, not their rather insignificant flowers. Keep pinching them back all summer to maintain a robust, bushy plant.

By the end of the summer, the fast-growing varieties, including ‘Inky Fingers,’ will grow 2 to 3 feet tall and wide.

The first fall frost will kill your coleuses, but it’s easy to propagate them by taking cuttings and growing a new plant indoors over the winter.

Perennials: Evaluate the gardens with an eye toward improvements. There is still time to fill in bare or lackluster areas with fall mums, sedums or Japanese anemones. Bulb orders should be in the mail, but there is still time to purchase a variety of bulbs from your local nursery. Cut back ragged looking perennials and those that have mildew or major slug damage. Begin dividing phlox and day lilies. Continue weeding to prevent seed formation.

Flowers: Collect and save seeds for next year’s garden. Cleome and nigella bear seeds in capsules that are ready to harvest when the capsules turn brown and begin to split. Dry the capsules in a brown paper bag, label and keep in a cool dry place until next spring. Pull up spent annuals and add them to the compost pile.

Vegetables and fruits: Continue harvesting cucumber, eggplant and peppers as they ripen. Cut fruits from the plants instead of pulling them off. Prune to the ground berry canes that have finished fruiting . If the strawberry bed is three years old, rotate it by detaching runners from the mother plants and replanting in fresh, rich, well-drained soil amended with compost or well-rotted manure. Discard the old plants. Read more of this entry »

Perennials
Evaluate the gardens with an eye toward improvements. There is still time to fill in bare or lackluster areas with fall mums, sedums or Japanese anemones. Bulb orders should be in the mail, but there is still time to purchase a variety of bulbs from your local nursery. Cut back ragged-looking perennials and those that have mildew or major slug damage. Begin dividing phlox and day lilies. Continue weeding to prevent seed formation.

Flowers
Collect and save seeds for next year’s garden. Cleome and nigella bear seeds in capsules that are ready to harvest when the capsules turn brown and begin to split. Dry the capsules in a brown paper bag, label and keep in a cool dry place until the spring. Pull up spent annuals and add them to the compost pile. Read more of this entry »

Retail may be in a drought, but for many garden-supply stores, it’s been a green season in more ways than one.

We’re paying a lot more attention to beautifying our own backyards, perhaps because we’re traveling less. Americans are spending about 20 percent more than last year on planters, benches and outdoor accessories, according to online sales tracker CSN.
Click here to read the rest of the AP story in The Journal New.

Seems to be the season for giant vegetables. This happens every year in the newsroom, when we start getting calls from excited readers about the big boys in their gardens. Heard about a giant pumpkin in Harrison earlier this week (will post the photo when it arrives) and a monster cucumber from another reader this morning.

And we just got email from JoAnn Dalessandro about her father-in-law’s garden in Harrison. Apparently Joe D’Alessandro has been quite the champion tomato grower in past summers. But the late blight fungus wiped him out this year.

Here’s JoAnn:

“My father-in-law had 50 tomato plants this year he planted and none of the tomatoes were edible.  He has had his garden for years and years in Harrison and has always had hundreds of tomatoes each year. Due to the fungus this year….none.  What a shame.  He was able to grow an exceptional large zucchini (see attached picture).”