Preschoolers Get Early Start on Growing Season

By Carol Kagan



On Saturday, led by Master Gardener Rebecca Keller, twelve young gardeners gathered with their fathers, mothers or grandparents for a Family-Friendly workshop to make mini-greenhouses for milkweed and sunflower seeds to start growing outdoors now.

The youngsters first learned about how a seed becomes a plant and then nestled lima bean seeds among damp cotton balls in a zip lock bag to germinate at home. Roots and leaves should soon appear and give them a real-life view of what they saw on their handout.

Keller showed pictures of Monarch butterflies and talked about how they need to have milkweed plants to lay their eggs.

She then guided them, and their grown-up assistants, in making two mini-greenhouses using recycled gallon plastic bottles.

During the process the children measured and marked the soil line on the bottle,

gleefully scooped the dampened soilless growing mix inside

 

 

and carefully added both milkweed and sunflower seeds.

Labels were added and the bottles were taped shut with duct tape, the most popular color among those offered was pink.

 

The little greenhouses will be put outside in a sunny spot and watered if there isn’t enough snow or rain.

Keller’s assistant, Master Gardener Cathy Campbell, told them the scientific name for the milkweed they planted - Asclepias tuberosa (Ass-KLEE-pee-us  too-bur-O-suh) – and had them practice a few times in hopes they would still remember when they got home.

 

The workshop ended with grown-ups carrying out armfuls of the plastic bottles. Workshop evaluations completed by the parents indicated this was a successful workshop and there were requests for more tailored to this age group.

 

More Family Friendly Workshops

 

The next Family Friendly Workshop on the schedule is Container Gardening on May 2, just in time to come and plant a pot with beautiful flowers for Mother's Day.

 

Two more Family Friendly programs are

 

Bug ID: What's Buggin' You? on June 13

 

and Cornhusk Wreaths and Dolls on October 17.

 

For information about or registration for any of our classes or workshops, please call 717-263-9226.

 

Also, visit the MG Facebook page for a current listing of classes and workshops as well as upcoming events. Of special note are the annual plant sales in May.

RAIN BARRELS, SUCCULENTS, BUGS, HERBS and more

Franklin County Master Gardener Workshops offer a range of topics.

Still time to register and attend the ATTACTING BUTTERFLIES workshop on Sat., June 21 from 9-11 am ($10). Learn how to attract these beauties to your yard and keep them coming back.

Of special note is the upcoming RAINDROPS KEEP FALLING ON MY HEAD rain barrel workshop on Sat., July 12 from 9-11 am. Participants are given the option of making a rain barrel to take home ($40-such a deal!) or just sit in ($10) and learn how to do it. These are great way to store and use water in your garden.



Our Master Gardeners purchase all the materials needed to make a rain barrel to take home. Pre-registration is required to make sure we have enough materials.



A truly unique offering is RAILROAD GARDENING held at the Clark's Knob Freestyle Garden Railway at Master Gardener Bob Hyatt's Orrstown home on Sat., June 28 from 9-11 am ($10). Learn about starting a railroad garden, designing the layout and adding special touches. Bob's layout has a natural garden look and he has incorporated miniature and dwarf plants to maintain scale. Call to register and get directions.

Railroad Garden at Bob Hyatt's House

Herb Series #2: USING YOUR HERBS is a hands-on workshop offering cooking and crafting ideas on Sat., July 19 from 8:30 - 12:30 ($15 incl. materials). Harvest herbs from the demonstration garden, watch refreshments being made for the break and then make herbal scrubbies and sachets to take home.

Family-friendly BUG OUT! invites children and families to have "buggy" adventure on Sat., July 28 from 10-noon ($10 per child-must be accompanied by an adult). Meet at the "Clubhouse" next to the barn for a short lesson on bugs then grab the nets and head outside. More fun than a Mason jar full of fireflies!

TOMATO TASTING DAY - Moved to Saturday by popular demand.

If you were never able to make this fun and informative event in the past, join us on Sat., August 23.  Do a blind taste tests on tomatoes and rate them, enjoy the salsa contest and vote on your favorite, see who wins the biggest and the ugliest tomato contests and more. Public event. No registration required.

All workshops and events are held at 181 Franklin Farm Lane unless noted. Call 717-263-9226 to register. Credit cards accepted.

BEAUTIFUL BUTTERFLIES

by Carol Kagan

Red Spotted Purple Butterfly  (Laurie Collins)

There's still time to sign up for the "Attracting Butterflies" workshop Sat., June 21 (9-11am).

Join Master Gardener Laurie Collins and learn about the basic design principles and important requirements to maintain a successful butterfly garden. The class will review the basic life cycle of butterflies and review some found in our area.

Monarch on tithonia (a great flower for  butterflies)

The workshop will end with a walk through the demonstration gardens to observe and identify visiting butterflies.

Pollinator Garden July 2013

All course and events are held at the Agriculture Heritage Center, 181 Franklin Farm Road, Chambersburg, unless noted.

Our programs are growing in popularity and now require pre-registration. Call 717-263-9226 for more information and to register. You may also request to be added to our regular emailing of our events.

Visit to Hershey Gardens

by Carol Kagan, Franklin County Master Gardener

Hershey Gardens

Since this weekend was the last for the Butterfly House at Hershey Gardens and the weather was fantastic, we headed out Friday. The gardens are only 1 ½ hours away and well worth the trip.There are over 23 acres of garden including a beautiful Rose Garden of over 3 acres started in 1937.

Only a few of the 5,600 roses of 275 species

Areas include ornamental grasses, Japanese garden, herb gardens, Native American, rock garden, nut and oak groves, and arboretum. The extensive Children’s garden has many interactive stations, hideaways and a hedge maze that is so much better for youngsters than the challenging commercial corn mazes. 

Ornamental Grasses

We headed to the Butterfly House first and spent over an hour, mostly with me chasing butterflies around or patiently waiting for the Malachite butterfly to get warm enough to open its wings. My favorite was the Malachite, beautiful on the underside with wings closed. I’ve included an Internet picture of it open. Oh, I wish I could have waited.

Malacite with wings closed

Malacite with wings open (from the Internet)

Others that I enjoyed were the Julia (Dryas iulia Fabricius), native to south Texas, Florida and Brazil,

Julia

the Great Southern White (Ascia monuste), native to south Texas, Florida and Gulf Coast,

Great Southern White

the Zebra (Heliconius charithonia), official butterfly of Florida,


Zebra butterflies feeding on brown-eyed Susan seed heads

the Mexican Bluewing (Myscelia ethusa), native to Central America but obviously enamored of my blue pants that day,

Mexican Bluewing

the White Peacock (Anartia jatrophae), native to the southeastern U.S. and Central/South America,

White Peacock

and the Atala (Eumaeus atala), native to Florida, the Bahamas and Cuba, and like the Malacite, refused to open but was beautiful when closed. It is their smallest butterfly.

Atala with closed wings

Atala with open wings from Internet

A fun event coming up is the Pumpkin Glow nights in October, geared toward kids 12 and under, costumes and flashlights encouraged. Over 150 illuminated pumpkins throughout the garden and floating. Check the link below for more information. There is also a Bonsai exhibition from October 10 to November 10.

Here’s a sampling of flowers currently in bloom.

For more information about Hershey Gardens

Hershey Gardens

Pumpkin Glow at Hershey Gardens

The Beauty of Pollination

MG Mary Crooks sent me a link to this wonderful video by director and cinematographer Louie Schwartzberg. Here's his Wikipedia page, and Personal Biography.

You can view more of his work via his Video Website, Moving Art.

Learn more about Pollination by visiting our Pollinator Friendly Demonstration Garden or attending one of our annual workshops on the subject.  Penn State Extension also has created a Pollinator Friendly Certification Process where you can join an ever-growing number of people who have taken the steps to certify their landscapes as "Pollinator Friendly" and help to protect our pollinator friends in need.

There are lots of great pictures and information about pollinators elsewhere on the blog from Jenn Wetzel and Laurie Collins, our Pollinator Friendly Demonstration Garden MG Team Captain, that you can view by clicking on the links below:

What's in Bloom - June 2012, Pollinator Garden
Look What's Blooming - July 2011
What's Blooming - August 2011
The Last Hoo-Ra - September 2010
Uncommonly Beautiful Milkweek
Titillating Tithonia

Here are all our posts on butterflies, including a great series by MG Kathy Engle on "Gardens with Wings."

Flight of the Butterflies

New IMAX documentary "Flight of the Butterflies" tracing the efforts of Fred Urquhart and a team of volunteer "Citizen Scientists" to track and discover the winter congregations of migrating monarch butterflies.

From the Washington Post review:

It took decades of tagging and research to uncover the mysterious sanctuary, and Urquhart’s hard work is the filmgoer’s gain, enabling director Mike Slee to capture millions of butterflies in one place. Their constantly beating wings sound like raindrops on a forest floor, and when they converge side by side on branches, trees appear to be composed of orange and black butterfly bark. It’s an arresting visual that looks like something out of a Tim Burton film.

Here's the Smithsonian Website:

The monarch butterfly is a true marvel of nature. Weighing less than a penny, it makes one of the longest migrations on Earth across a continent to a place it has never known. Follow the monarchs' perilous journey and experience millions of them in the remote mountain peaks of Mexico, with breathtaking cinematography from an award winning team including Oscar® winner Peter Parks. Be captivated by the true and compelling story of an intrepid scientist's 40-year search to find their secret hideaway. Unravel the mysteries and experience the Flight of the Butterflies.

Nearest locations to see the film which opened this week in DC:   

• Harrisburg
• Baltimore
• Washington DC

Check the links for opening dates and showtimes in Harrisburg and Baltimore.

Earlier blog post from Kathy Engle:  Monarch Monday
All butterfly posts, including Kathy's wonderful Gardens with Wings series.

Butterfly Weeds as Larval Hosts

Monarch Butterfly Larvae on Butterfly Weed

Master Gardener Janet Sharp downloaded her camera recently and sent us pictures of Monarch Butterfly caterpillars on her Butterfly Weed.



Monarch Butterfly Larvae on Butterfly Weed



Another Butterfly Weed

In Ray E's  Nov. 6  post he shows two different butterfly weeds in his yard.

Here's another plant marked butterfly weed in the garden center. A reminder to look for the scientific binomial name. I thought the plant I bought was the Asclepias tuberosa and that it had died. These beautiful flowers came up and I liked them. Then I noticed the pods.

This is Asclepias curassavica, commonly called Mexican Butterfly Weed, Blood-flower, Scarlet Milkweed or Tropical Milkweed. It is a species of flowering plant in the milkweed family, Asclepiadaceae and native to the American tropics.

According to the USDA plant profile, it is an evergreen perennial subshrub which only grows in CA, FL, HI, LA, TN,  and TX. It must be an annual here in PA.

I have saved a number of seeds and, like Ray, I'll see if I can get some plants going in the spring. If successful, look for some at the May plant sale.

Bob's Train Garden

Master Gardener, Bob Hyatt, along with his wife Janet hosted a lovely open house for Bob's Train Garden today.  They could not have ordered up a more beautiful day.  Bill Schoch who is the spouse of Master Gardener, Evelyn Schoch, brought his train along to add to the festivities.  Bill and Evelyn also have a beautiful Train Garden at their home.  It was a wonderful afternoon sitting under the shade of a Magnolia Tree, talking with friends and watching grown men's eyes sparkle like a young boys, and young boys eyes sparkle with the wonder of it all.  The following are some photos of what I saw.

Master Gardeners, Bob Hyatt and Elmer Greey.

From left to right:  Master Gardeners Sue Bowders and Evelyn Schoch, Bill Donaldson, Master Gardener Mary Donaldson, Janet Hyatt.

Bob and Janet manage to grow lovely and quite large Zinnias.

I believe this is a Tawny Emperor enjoying the Gaillardia.

I have exhausted my books and looked online and can't seem to quite hit it exactly.  If anyone would like to submit other suggestions, please feel free to do so.

This happens to be one of my favorite features in Bob's garden.

My rainbarrel now seems so inadequate.

I want one!