The NY Botanical Garden will host a free Career Information Session on Wednesday, November 11, 6–8 p.m. in the Arthur and Janet Ross Lecture Hall. Pre-registration is encouraged; call 718.817.8747 or 800.322.NYBG (6924). More info at nybg.org, under EDUCATION.

Here’s a link to the nybg blog, with a post from Sarah Lusardi about how the school helped her floral design business.

Nov. 9
Crompond: Herbal Solutions for Getting Through the Flu Season. Speaker: Andrea Candee. $15. 7 p.m. Garden Road School, 99 Baron de Hirsch Road. 914-526-4033.

Nov. 11
Armonk: Bow Making and Table Arrangement. Green Acres Garden Club. Free. 10 a.m. North Castle Public Library, 19 Whippoorwill Road East. 914-273-3887.
Yonkers: Hudson River Audubon Society Field Trip. A tailgate party for birders. Free. 8 a.m.-2 p.m. Lenoir Nature Preserve, 19 Dudley St. 914-968-5851.

Nov. 12
Katonah: “Farmerettes” Lecture at John Jay Homestead. Elaine F. Weiss will discuss her book, “Fruits of Victory: the Woman’s Land Army of America in the Great War,” about the nationwide movement movement that began in Bedford in 1917 to train women to farm when men were going off to fight in World War I.  Registration, 9:30 a.m.; lecture, 10, reception to follow. Free. Reservations required. 400 Route 22. 914-232-8119, friends@johnjayhomestead.org.

Nov. 18
Chappaqua: The Taconic Garden Club. Topic: “Provocative Perennials.” Speaker: Ellen Zachos. Discover some of the best varieties for form, color and texture, and learn which plants do best in sun and shade. Free. 7:30 p.m. Chappaqua Public Library, 195 S. Greeley Ave. 914-238-4779.

Nov. 19
Spring Valley: Become Acquainted with Rockland County’s Water Birds. Speaker: Lorrie Pallant of the Rockland Audubon Society. Free. 7 p.m. Finkelstein Memorial Library, 24 Chestnut St. 845-352-5700.

From the folks at Wave Hill, the great public garden in Riverdale:

“November events at Wave Hill:

Sun, Nov 1

Sunday Brunch
Family Art Project: River Masquerade/Celebrando el río Hudson
Andree Brown Jewelry Trunk Show in The Shop at Wave Hill
Wool-Dyeing Demonstration with Artist Robyn Love

Fri, Nov 6
Memoir Writing–Seasonal Writing Series: Session 5

Sat, Nov 7
Family Art Project: Dances with Leaves/Baile con las hojas del otoño
Garden Walk: Trees of the Muhheakantuck Read more of this entry »

“Alliums All Season Long,” by Stephanie Cohen in Fine Gardening

Perennials: Continue planting bulbs. Mulch loosely with leaves or straw. Protect from squirrel foraging with plastic fruit boxes, screening or soak them in a deer repellent. A scattering of mothballs might help, too. It is too soon to mulch beds, but collect fallen oak leaves and pine needles to use later, after the ground freezes.

Flowers: Clean out patio planters, tubs and window boxes. Clay containers should be stored in a dry place where they won’t be subject to freezing. Start paperwhites indoors for holiday blooming.

Vegetables and fruits: Cleanup in the vegetable garden should be complete. Continue harvesting carrots, parsnips, leeks and Brussels sprouts. Trim broken branches on fruit trees. Finish cutting raspberry canes if weather permits. Sawdust makes a good mulch for blueberries. Read more of this entry »

This time, we’ve got enormous pumpkins grown by Frank Mucci of Harrison.

Here’s a note I got from Ward Olmsted, Frank’s next-door neighbor (the one with a computer), along with photos of the pumpkins he displayed in the recent “It’s Great To Live In Harrison Day” parade. Here’s Ward:

“As seen here in the photos, his parade float said “Move Over Roy, Our Pumpkins Are Coming”. Roy Aletti buys his 1300-pound pumpkins in Canada, and displays them every year in the parade. Frank grew his in his backyard.”

Frank told me they weigh over 300 pounds each.

Way to go, Frank! And thanks to Ward for sending.

Here’s a news item from Chris Beytes of the GrowerTalks newsletter. Makes me worry about the budgets for our Cornell extension offices, with financial woes across New York state.
“Big budget cuts coming to MSU
“Times are tough all over, and the academic world has been hard hit by ongoing budget cuts in recent years (anyone seen an extension agent lately?), but Michigan State University is really up against it: Recent reports say that major budget cuts are coming to the college of agriculture and all of its departments, including horticulture. And a new report is circulating, saying that Michigan’s extension service could shut down completely as of November 1 if Michigan Governor Granhold vetoes the line items that fund MSU Extension (MSUE) and the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES). If that happens, both operations will close immediately and all extension programs and services—including things like 4-H—will cease.

I spoke with Dr. Vance Baird, new professor and chair of MSU’s horticulture department (he came from Clemson July 1), for details on the cuts: Read more of this entry »

In case you haven’t noticed, daffodils have moved way beyond basic yellow and white. Now home gardeners can choose from a palette that includes salmon, soft peach, fiery orange, mustard, apricot, even mauve and rose.

This year, a daffodil called ‘Tickled Pink’ comes to the table. It’s so new that “it was still in the process of being registered as our 2009 catalogue went to press!” reads a description on Whiteflowerfarm.com.

This handsome new large-cupped daffodil — officially, Narcissus ‘Tickled Pink’ — features lemon-yellow petals that age to white, forming a soft ring around the coral-colored cups.

(photo from Bluestone Perennials)

Whatever color you choose, daffodils are a great plant for the Hudson Valley — they’re deer resistant and a reliable return bloomer, unlike finicky tulips. The bulbs will also naturalize and spread over time. Sentinel flowers, daffodils announce to the world that spring has finally arrived.

Like other spring-blooming bulbs that require several months of cold weather to set their blooms, daffodils need to be planted in the fall. You can still plant bulbs through the month of November.

Yes, they want full sun, but they bloom before the deciduous trees begin to leaf out, so you probably have more sunny sites for these bulbs than you realize. Daffodils are not fussy about soil as long as it’s well drained.

Bouquets of daffodils look particularly good under spring-blooming trees and shrubs, such as cherries, crabapples and viburnums.

Don’t be shy when ordering them. Order 25 — or even 50 — and plant them all together in a big hole. You’ll love the effect next April.

Perennials: Prune back chrysanthemums as soon as they finish blooming. Finish cutting down all perennials except those with interesting seed heads, which can be left for winter interest — and for hungry birds. Rake up and destroy fallen leaves under rose bushes to reduce the carryover of insect and disease problems. Prepare to mound up soil to 10 to 12 inches around the base of hybrid teas after the ground has cooled completely. If rambling rose canes are waving in the wind, tie them together, but do not prune. Continue planting bulbs.

Flowers: If frost has blackened foliage, dig and store dahlias and other tender tubers. Leave vines like moonflower and love-in-a-mist for their seed pods and capsules that will cling all winter and provide winter appeal. Store dried and cleaned seed collected in late summer in small glass jars or film canisters. Label and store in a cool dark place.

Vegetables and fruits: Continue harvesting apples as they ripen. Clean up leaves under crabapples to prevent disease next year. Protect trees from deer antler attack, which can severely damage branches and trunks. Use wire fencing or posts placed close together. Read more of this entry »

“Planting Bulbs in Containers,” from Fine Gardening

On Sunday, I potted up two containers of daffodils, for spring forcing. It’s so easy — plus I’ve got a dark, unheated basement that’s ideal for storage over the winter.

Don’t know how? Here’s a link to a post from last year with photos etc.