I happened upon this old standard in a nursery recently and bought it for myself as a treat!  One of the easiest and longest blooming clematis out there, its millions

	Clematis 'Betty Corning'

of clear blue bells drape over the climbing vine in a most wonderful way.  

You may be noticing orange spots on the leaves of your apple or crabapple tree.  What's wrong, you ask.  

In a wet, cool spring like this one, Cedar-Apple Rust is rampant.  This fungus is passed back and forth between our native cedar, Juniperus virginiana, and members of the rose family.  Fruit trees are the most prone to spotting, but we have also seen it on hawthorne and quince.  Sometimes the developing fruit will be orange, too.  This is mainly a cosmetic issue and is not fatal to the plants.  Usually the fruit falls off early.

The native cedar will develop odd brown galls that swell in wet weather to produce orange gelatinous horns that look like something from outer space.  Young boys will be very intrigued!  These lie at the tips of branches and quite literally blow the fungus over to the leaves of the apple, crabapple etc.  

What do we do about Cedar-Apple Rust?  The fruiting bodies can be cut off the cedar and bagged if seen on a dry day.  We also recommend raking up the fallen orange leaves (which will drop early) on a dry day, bagging and removing from the site.  Also remove any damaged fruit early from the trees.

Further, promote good air circulation when pruning these plants and especially when siting them at planting time.  Rust resistant varieties are available in the marketplace. We also recommend our compost tea program for these plants to build soil microbiology and help members of the rose family resist fungal diseases in general.

We often pass by Walden Pond and followed the progress of construction on the new Visitor Center these past two years.  A lovely native plant landscape was installed between the street and parking lot.  I happened by one foggy grey Saturday in April at the moment when all the Amelanchier canadensis were in full bloom (shadbush, shadblow, serviceberry or saskatoon, to mention a few common names).  This brilliant display drew me in for a visit.  Interesting understory plantings lie beneath the shadbush canopy, completely knitting together the ground layer.  Over 5,000 plants were installed!

Trees cleared from the site were salvaged for wood which has been cleverly used for indoor furniture.  There is a view directly to the pond across an outdoor deck!  Indoors, floor to ceiling triple-paned windows greet you, along with friendly park staff.  The large windows allow the building to be lit during the day by natural sunlight rather than electricity.  It is cooled by natural breezes rather than air conditioning.  A Ken Burns introductory film is shown in a side room, and there are activities galore to celebrate Henry David Thoreau's 200th birthday this year.  Worth a stop!

Kyle Hagen hails from New Hampshire and has quite literally grown up in a garden with his mother, a retired extension agent specializing in horticulture.  He also has a knack for small engines and enjoys anything related to outdoor activity.  Kyle has been working on our large planting installation crew as well as maintenance.

Tessa Awalt-Conley also grew up in the garden and most recently interned on two fiber farms in southern Vermont, learning about sheep from many angles.  She loves outdoor work and will attend Barnard College this fall.  Tessa has been a real asset to our maintenance crew.

Alfred (Lee) Gadway leads night hikes, is active with the Boy Scouts, and is serious about growing food - may become a farmer!  We use Lee on our large planting installation crew and for ongoing garden maintenance.

Jimmy Finnegan just joined us to help us get through mulching season and the heavy work of this time of year.  He has experience in construction work with his father's firm but is happily learning the ropes of landscape gardening.

With the wet weather has come an abundance of ticks.  Al and Carmine are kept busy with our organic spray program which helps manage the tick population in your yard on a monthly basis.  Ticks are active any time the temperatures is above 32 degrees!

You can also help reduce the habitat they most prefer in your yard:  moist, wet environments such as around a woodpile, accumulated leaf litter in corners or at wooded edges.  Keep these areas picked up and cleaned up.  Reduce the amount of understory canopy at edges, as this is just another hiding place.  To really make your yard tick safe, create a mulched border of woodchips or gravel at the periphery as ticks do not like to cross such surfaces.

Be sure to locate play sets and seating well away from the woods edge, too.  After being outside, check yourself, your children and your pets for ticks.

Please let us know if you would like to join our tick and mosquito spray program on a monthly or special event basis by contacting Al Newman, our Plant Health Care Manager, or Doris Huxley, our Office Manager.  We will arrange for an estimate.

	Almost blueberry time!

I look forward to seeing you in the garden as we make our summer rounds!  Enjoy this great weather,

Priscilla