In This Issue

Both this issue and the Calendar are chock full of wonderful fall events. Click here to plan your schedule. A special session of Environmental Studies School will take you onto Long Island Sound October 14-16. Then you won't want to miss the Fall Awards Meeting where we honor the accomplishments of our members as we enjoy a standard Flower Show mounted by the Judges Council!

Next comes plenty of great information and opportunities to make a difference, with children, butterflies, bees, trees, invasives and rain gardens. And we have another installment of our virtual trip around the world with the quickly approaching 2015 CT Flower Show, Ports of Call.

Jump in and enjoy!

Our National Garden Club President, Linda Nelson, has urged us to promote and protect our environment.  One of the best ways we can do this is to engage our children in gardening, to introduce them to the natural world and to educate and inspire them to become more actively involved.

We need to have our youth look up from their I-Pads, cell phones, game boards, Kindles and computers.  Everywhere you look...on the bus, at the table in the home or the restaurant, at the ball park, waiting in line or standing on the street corner... children are engaged and focused on an electronic device.

Our Garden Clubs are filled with former teachers and scout leaders, experienced gardeners and people who love flowers. Your garden club youth project does not have to be large or lengthy.  You can do something as simple as bringing plants or bulbs to a classroom or planting containers for a school entry.  

Inner city children rarely get out into nature; your club can sponsor a trip and pay for the bus to a park or nature trail.

You can do a project that is as involved as meeting weekly with a group to teach gardening skills and grow vegetables.

Your group can be any group of children: an after-school program, a classroom, a scout troop or a boys' and girls' club.  Be creative and use the talent in your club.

The National Garden Club promotes the Smokey Bear, Woodsy Owl poster contest and a poetry and sculpture contest.  You can contact me for information about these.

Check the NGC Web site www.gardenclub.org*  Ann Germano
Youth Chairman

Would you like to join our Federation's Board of Directors? Currently we have three Board members who are finishing up their six-year terms, so the following Board positions will be opening up by April 2015:      
    

• Environmental Concerns/Conservation
• Legislation
• Public Relations. 

If you think you might be interested in applying for one of these positions, I will be glad to send you the description of their duties.

The following members have joined my committee and we plan to meet right after the October 29th Awards Luncheon to review any candidates who have applied for one of the above Board positions:

• Ronnie Schoelzel    [email protected]
• Theresa Waltz         [email protected]
• Rodney Hayes        [email protected]
• Carol Steiner           [email protected]
• Jane Polacco           [email protected]

We hope to hear from you.

*Inge Venus
Nominating Committee Chair

The effort to save the Monarchs is a national one, affecting all states that are part of the monarchs' migratory route.  

Fall is here and it's a great time to help our butterflies. The fourth stage Monarch butterflies are hatching and are about to begin their long journey south to Mexico for the winter. National Garden Clubs has partnered with the University of Kansas' Monarch Watch program and Marian McNabb, NGC's Butterfly Chairman, has asked for our participation.  As part of this project, we are asking that individuals or clubs collect Milkweed seeds.  Milkweed is the ONLY host plant for the Monarchs. Monarch eggs are laid on the leaves.  The caterpillars hatch, eat the leaves and eventually attach to the milkweed plant and form a chrysalis.

Our national milkweed habitat is in jeopardy.  If you can collect at least � ounce of milkweed seed and label it with the variety name, as well as your club and contact information, we will forward it to the University of Kansas.   In the spring they will send us plugs from those seeds that can be planted for next year's Monarchs.  If you can participate, send seeds to

* Leslie Martino
Second Vice President

BEE KIND TO POLLINATORS

Gardeners Adding Pollinators has become the rallying cry for National Garden Club members recently.  NGC, in partnership with Crown Bees, is promoting the role of native bees, the mason bee in particular.  

Crown Bees is in the business of educating the public about mason bees, and selling nesting boxes and materials for them.  The Crown Bees website includes an interesting video of its founder being interviewed for a public TV program, Growing a Greener World.  The video includes excellent filming of the bees at work.  Visit www.crownbees.com or click here to learn about the BeeGAP project.

I learned that mason bees land on flowers with a belly flop, becoming coated with pollen in the process.  On to the next flower, another belly flop, and the pollen is spread around.  They don't make honey, but are very efficient at pollinating crops, both commercially, and in your own garden.  If you are a do-it-yourselfer, the video includes instructions for creating your own mason bee abode.

Using these mason bees on crops takes some of the pressure off honeybees to do all the pollinating.  Hopefully that will give honeybees a chance to recover from the various ills that have been decimating their numbers.

*  Lois Nichols
Special Project Chair

Native Trees

As the Native Tree Contest comes to a close, let's recap why we are planting Natives and which are the very best trees to enrich our home habitat.
    
We have been following the advice of Douglas Tallamy, entomology professor at the University of Delaware.  In his highly recommended book, Bringing Nature Home, Tallamy clearly describes the interactions between plants and wildlife, the relationship of planting natives to the whole web of life in our backyards. 

Native plants attract hummingbirds and butterflies and a host of other insects and animals and they provide valuable habitat and preserve biodiversity.  Natives usually require less water and maintenance and little or no fertilizer.  They also "offer a glimpse of the world as our ancestors saw it."

Professor Tallamy and his students have spent years calculating which of our trees are most utilized by butterflies and moths and therefore supply the highest levels of food sources for birds and other predators.   Here is their list of:   

Oak Black cherry  Willow Birch Poplar Crabapple Maple Elm Pine Hickory Hawthorn Spruce Alder Basswood Ash Filbert Walnut Beech Chestnut

Quercus Prunus Salix Betula Populus Malus Acer Ulmus Pinus Carya Cretaegus Picea Alnus Tilia Fraxinus Corylus Juglans Fagus Castanea

534 456 455 413 368 311 285 213 203 200 159 156 156 150 150 131 130 126 125

Note: This will be our last regular column profiling native trees in this series.  In the next few months we will profile native shrubs, perennials and ground covers.  Together with trees these furnish the whole landscape from the tall canopy down to the understory small trees and shrubs to the ground level.

* Jacqueline Connell

Frogs are a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura.  (Definition from Wikipedia.)

As some of you may know, my husband, John, and I had some health issues this summer, which forced us to stay home and enjoy our backyard.  In so doing, we discovered we had two frogs in our pond.  For lack of imagination, we called them Little Freddie and Big Freddie.  You can imagine how excited we were - here we thought all we had to look at was each other and now we had the Freddies.  Let me tell you - it has made us a stronger couple and our relationship soared.

We found Little Freddie first and then Big Freddie.  For a while we didn't see Little Freddie and thought Big Freddie had used him for a meal.  But that is not the case.  They are happily living in our pond.

Of course, I had to do some investigating about frogs and I found that they, like all of the critters in our backyard, have four basic needs - shelter, moisture, food and a place to breed and raise their young.  

A pond provides all of these needs.  The pond should have shallow edges to allow frogs to get in and out of with ease.  At least one of the shallow edges should taper off into surrounding rough, moist vegetation such as a leafy mulch which will offer them food, shelter and hibernation.  Although frogs require shelter from the heat of the summer sun, you should ensure that this isn't provided by too many overhanging trees, as ponds need direct sunlight to thrive properly.  Buy a good mixture of native pond plants such as water violets and marsh marigolds, which thrive in ponds. Also the pond should be at least two feet deep.

One of the benefits of having frogs in the backyard is that they eat insects that are not beneficial.  They'll eat moths, mosquitoes and their larvae, snails, slugs, flies, and beetles.  And, of course, they are a source of amusement.

If you would like additional information about frogs, check the National Wildlife Federation website, www.nwf.org, for an article entitled - "Want to Host a Garden Party for Frogs? Create a backyard environment the amphibians won't be able to resist."

Don't forget to send your NWF certification information to Barbara Romblad, the FGCCT Office Secretary.  Her email: [email protected]Hope you are lucky to have a Little Freddie or Big Freddie in your garden.  If so, let me know.  Maybe we can plan a "play date."

* Anne Harrigan

Acorus americanus    Rush                      
Angelica purpurea   Angelica                    
Chelone glabra   Turtlehead
Clethra alnifolia Sweet pepperbush    
Cornus sericea   Red osier dogwood          
Elymus riparius  Wild rye            
Eupatorium spp. Hemp agrimony       
Hamamelis virginiana Witch hazel    
Helenium autumnale  Sneezeweed
Ilex verticillata  Winterberry
Iris versicolor  Blue flag     
Lobelia spp.  Lobelia    
Myrica gale    Bog myrtle
Rosa palustris  Swamp rose
Rudbeckia laciniata  Cutleaf Coneflower
Salix discolor  Pussy willow
Sambucus canadensis  American elder
Veronia noveboracensis  Ironweed
Viburnum dentatum   Arrowwood

Add texture with:
Matteuccia struthiopteris  Ostrich fern
Onoclea sensibilis  Sensitive fern
Osmunda cinnamomea  Cinnamon fern
Scirpus cyperinus  Perennial sedge
                  
Prefer damp feet:
Caltha palustris   Marsh marigold        
Cephalanthus occidentalis    Buttonbush
Sanguisorba canadensis  Burnet
                        
Please see the UConn pamphlet above for additional, more common plants.

* Jacqueline O'Connell
    

Sedum telephium 'Matrona' and Pennisetum orientale 'Karley Rose' make a lovely combination in the fall garden.

As I write this column, our October weather is a great big Unknown. Will we have a long, warm Indian summer, or will it turn cold quickly? Warm or cold, here are some chores to consider doing in the garden.

Dig and divide peonies
October is the perfect time to dig and divide peonies. Remember that peonies are long-lived and nutrient needy so begin by digging a large hole. Supplement the soil with plenty of compost or composted manure. The growing tip should be one or two inches below the soil surface.

Lime lovers
You can apply a large handful of ground limestone around the crowns of plants that prefer a sweet soil. Lime-loving plants include baby's breath, bellflower, clematis, delphinium, dianthus, candytuft, German or bearded iris, lavender, lilac and scabiosa. Over the winter, the lime will work its way down to the plant roots.

Fall lawn care
Many lawn experts consider fall the most important time of the year to fertilize your lawn. You can fertilize anytime from Labor Day until October 15. Choose an organic or slow-release fertilizer.
     
Research conducted at UConn has shown that 60% or more of the nitrogen in fertilizer applied after October 15 will not be picked up by the grass roots. Instead it will leach into our groundwater or surface waters.

Divide and plant
As a rule, plantings should be completed about 6 weeks before the ground freezes. As we don't know when that will be, think November 1 in zone 5 or November 15 in zone 6, in case freezing weather comes early.
     
Garden centers are full of bargain plants at this time of year. After they have been planted, they will benefit from a layer of winter mulch, which will keep the ground frozen. When soil freezes and thaws, plant roots can heave out of the ground, where they can die from exposure to cold air and drying winds.
     
Winter mulches can be any kind of loose mulch material (pine needles, horticultural straw) or branches from your Christmas tree. Apply them after the ground has frozen.

Cut down and clean up
As long as the leaves of your perennials are green, let them remain to feed the roots of the plants. When the leaves turn yellow and brown, it's time to cut them down.
     
Pick up all diseased leaves, especially peony, iris, phlox and rose leaves. Iris borers, black spot, mildew and other leaf diseases will overwinter in the infected leaves. Do not compost these leaves; treat them as garbage and put them in the trash.

I am a relaxed fall gardener and don't do much else to end the growing season. Indian summer is my favorite time of year and I'm hoping for some comfortably warm weather ... with plenty of time to sip my coffee and enjoy the beauty of my garden.

* Pamela Weil
Horticulture Chair

Nowadays if we want to look something up we do it digitally, via computer, tablets, or smart phones.  And The Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut, Inc., has been right at the forefront with our CF NEWS, which we send out to you electronically via Constant Contact.

We also strive to be current with our FGCCT website www.ctgardenclubs.org by updating each page as often as possible. In the password-protected Clubs Only page-accessed by logging in as a member on the home page--we have posted our Board of Directors List as well as the Club Calendar.

In order to be of even more service to our Connecticut garden clubs, we have now posted the Club Directory and the Judges Roster as well - all in an effort to achieve a paperless society.

If you currently do not know the user word and the password to access this protected part of the site, you will need to check with your Club President or you can get in touch with our Office Secretary, Barbara Romblad, by calling her at 203-488-5528.

* Lynn Hyson and Inge Venus
Webmaster and Website Chair