WINTER 2010


Fall at Kyle Albee's neighbors' house, featuring Molinia Skyracer & Winterberry

CONTENTS:
• Letter from Kristina Bielenberg, President of the Board of Directors
• Going Green
• AmeriCorps Helps Paint
• Collections and Facilities Report
• Teas For The Season
• Gardening Down Low
• 2010 Calendar of Events
• The Rubies of Fall
• Some Great Hardy Maples
• 15th Annual Plant Sale
• Membership Form

Download PDF of Newsletter here

Letter from the President of the Board of Directors

Greetings from Your President:

It is a pleasure to be a member of the Board of Directors of The Friends of the Horticulture Farm after a hiatus of ten years. I am so impressed by the dedication and skill of the people who serve the organization as volunteer officers, curators, committee members, interns, and worker bees. Despite the financial and other setbacks of the past couple of years, The Friends remains a strong and respected partner in the stewardship of the Hort. Farm. A recent letter from Dean Thomas Vogelmann of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences underscores the long-term commitment and on-going contributions of The Friends. Dean Vogelmann wrote, “Numerous students, faculty and staff have been and are the direct beneficiaries of the generous charitable gifts you have provided over the years. Citizens from the Greater Burlington community have also derived tangible benefits from the resources and educational programs at the Horticulture Farm that your gifts have helped to support.”

I want to particularly thank the staff at the Hort. Farm and Terry Bradshaw, in particular, for their unflagging support and hard work. They have the difficult task of managing this land grant facility under the constraints of a tight budget while accommodating the needs of researchers, faculty, students, and the visiting public. We appreciate their willingness to work with our Directors and the many volunteers (Friends' members and Master Gardeners) on projects that maintain and enhance the plant collections and natural areas at the Hort. Farm.

Nate Sands and the members of the Friends’ Collections and Facilities Committee are particularly grateful for their cooperation and assistance. For Nate’s report on accomplishments in 2009 and plans for 2010, click here.

I also want to thank Board members Lee Diamond, Jen Mills, Stephanie Miner, and Ron Krupp, who have worked diligently to put together a great program of events for this year. Please check out the Calendar for details of upcoming workshops, lectures, tours and more. Lee and Jen have also done a stupendous job in putting together this quarterly newsletter, and member Sarah Montgomery keeps our web site running, despite her personal health challenges. This team keeps you informed and involved in Friends’ news and activities, whether you live in Chittenden County or California!

Behind the scenes, Treasurer Will Voigt and the members of our Finance Committee have put in extra time this winter scrutinizing our spending patterns and proposing budget changes to help the Board use the organization’s resources wisely in pursuit of activities that support our core mission. Like many non-profit organizations, The Friends has been hit by rising costs and shrinking revenues. We are grateful to our members and special donors for their continued support. One of the best ways, that you can help our organization is to become involved by keeping your membership current, attending programs and special events and volunteering to help with one or more of our many projects. Contact our Volunteer Coordinator Stephanie Miner today by calling (802) 863-1876.

I am always eager to hear from members who have suggestions for how we can improve our operations and services. You can e-mail me at krisbiel3@yahoo.com or attend one of our upcoming Board meetings. We gather at 6:00 pm on the second Monday of each month, at the Hort. Farm’s Blasberg Building in South Burlington. See you there or at one of our upcoming events and help The Friends “grow” in 2010!

Best Wishes,

Kristina (Tina) Bielenberg

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REMINDER - We Are Going GREEN!

By going to an electronic format, we hope to be more efficient, more cost-effective, and environmentally friendly in the distribution of this quarterly publication.

The FHF will continue to put out an excellent quarterly newsletter to keep our members engaged and informed about our activities and topics of horticultural interest. Should you prefer a paper newsletter, we encourage you to print a copy.

The decision to go “digital” has been discussed for some time and is long overdue. Our volunteers spend an inordinate amount of time assembling our newsletter for mailing, and the costs of printing and postage continue to rise. Following the lead of many other non-profits, it only makes sense to email this publication to our members– the cost and time savings will be significant.

To help us make a smooth transition to an e-newsletter format, we simply ask you send us your name and preferred email address to info@friendsofthehortfarm.org If you are about to renew your membership, you can also use the renewal form at the end of this newsletter to report your preferred email address. To continue to receive your newsletter, please SEND US YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS!

If you do not have email access, we can continue to snail mail a paper newsletter. However, we ask that you Let Us Know that this is your preference. Please send us a postcard including your name, mailing address, and the words “Send me a paper newsletter” to: The Friends of the Hort Farm, PO Box 64788, Burlington, VT 05406-4788.

AmeriCorps Helps Paint Blasberg Reception Area!

January 18, 2010, was Martin Luther King Day. In keeping with Dr. King’s life-long commitment to bettering the life of all Americans through community action, volunteers from throughout Chittenden County rolled up their sleeves and offered their services to local non-nonprofit organizations. Thanks to Americorps/Vista Coordinator Melanie McKnight, four community volunteers arrived at the Hort. Farm and gave the front office in the Blasberg Building a new paint job. Working with FHF Board member Ron Krupp, the volunteers painted the room a cheery hue of light yellow. UVM Farm Manager Terry Bradshaw cleared the room of furniture and provided the paint, rollers and brushes. The FHF Board had given the go-ahead for this project as the first phase of refurbishing the space to make it a visitor-friendly reception area. We hope you will admire the new paint job when you next come to the Blasberg Building to sign-in for a walk around the grounds, pick up literature, or attend a workshop in the Blasberg classroom. If you would like to help with other aspects of this project – such as creating or purchasing wall racks to hold pamphlets and other literature, finding attractive furniture for this space, just to name a few things we need – please contact our Volunteer Coordinator Stephanie Miner at (802) 863-1876.

Report of the Collections and Facilities Committee
Nate Sands - Chair

2009 was yet another great year at the Hort. Farm! We had to tighten our budget, but we still had numerous workdays and tours of the fantastic collections at the Farm.

We would like to thank our summer interns, Emily Potter and Jim Barthel, as well as Intern Coordinator Jen Mills, for their dedication and fantastic work in the collections. They labored 16 weeks this past summer; the interns alone spent over 635 hours in the collections to keep them looking great. They also helped enhance the activities of The Friends at the Hort. Farm. We’d also like to thank our Curators for their dedicated efforts in their respective collections. As we shared at the October 2009 Members' Meeting, here are some highlights of the Friends' accomplishments in 2009.

In addition to ongoing maintenance in many of the collections, we held multiple workdays in the Perennial Garden and Lilac Collections as well as hosting the Annual Crabapple Pruning Workday. Brian Vaughan worked diligently in the Perennial Garden to keep the weeds at bay and he has begun to replace old unreadable plant labels in the garden with new engraved ones. Jeff Young was very busy in the Lilac Collection and hopes to have another active season this Spring. Of special note is a scheduled visit from the International Lilac Society on May 14, 2010.

As many of you know, a significant portion of the Crabapple Collection was removed due to the potential disease pressure the collection placed on the Organic Apple Research Project. We continue to work with UVM administrators and researchers to establish a new collection or research plot along the entrance road of the Hort. Farm. We also continue to prune and re-work the Flowering Shrub and Conifer Reference Garden collections and plan to further enhance these areas in the spring.

Other goals for the future include: designing a layout for a new Ilex (winterberry) collection, additional collection tours and workdays, continued collections labeling, and freshening-up of the visitor welcome area in the Blasberg Building.

The Collections and Facilities Committee met on January 23rd to discuss plans for 2010. We encourage people to volunteer and work in the collections. If you are interested in volunteering for any projects, or if you would like more information regarding the activities of the Committee, please contact Nate Sands at nsands@gmavt.net or 434-2142.

JUST ADDED! Mar 6, Sat 10 am - Noon Winter Tree Identification Join former Horticulture Professor Norman Pellett who taught Woody Landscape Plants for 20+ years at UVM. Learn to recognize woody plants in winter by their bud arrangement and twig characteristics, leaf scars, bark, plant shape and form. A half-hour indoor presentation will be followed by an outdoor trek around the periphery of the farm and woodlands identifying trees. Dr. Pellett’s Gardener's Quiz Book will be available for purchase.

Teas for the Season - Workshop 11/18/09
7 West Canal St • Winooski, VT 05404 www.purpleshutter.com

When Laura Brown, owner of Purple Shutter Herbs, talks about healing with herbs, she speaks from the heart. As a child she got symptoms of Polio from a supposed preventative inoculation given to her in school when she was just six years old. That experience, she admits, changed her life. After realizing she was very sensitive to medications, herbal healing became part of Laura’s lifestyle and more recently her full-time career.

While working as a product development director at Seventh Generation, Laura Brown found herself mostly answering employees’ requests at her desk, asking for tinctures, syrups and homeopathic remedies for their various ailments. She realized that working with plants is truly what she was meant to be doing. Purple Shutter Herbs became a reality in 1995.

Laura’s original goal for Purple Shutter Herbs was to offer good quality herbs and education about using herbs for healing. She tries hard to buy herbs from local growers and only buys organic product. She did note that growers who want their herbs to be labeled “USDA organic” must submit incredibly extensive paperwork and costly certification fees to the federal government. This process inhibits many smaller farmers from having their product labeled “USDA organic”. Laura was quick to remind the group that the Northeast Organic Farmers Association (NOFA) certification is a better label to look for if you are buying locally since NOFA’s organic labeling standards are stricter than USDA! Since Vermont growers cannot provide all the herbs she needs, due to the limited growing season, some of the herbs she buys and sells come from the Northwest and Southwest.

The Teas workshop began with definitions to make sure everyone in the room started with the same frame of reference. “Herbs”, Laura says, in the culinary world, are the leaves from plants like oregano and dill, while “spices” are the seeds. Herbalists do not differentiate between the two; herbs are any part of a plant (the leaves, stalk, flower petals, seeds, etc). For example, even dried apples and lemon rind could be considered an herb in the world of an herbalist.

Because of the culinary definition of herbs, many people think all herbs are green. Laura brought samples of herbs such as coltsfoot, oat straw, elderberry flowers and Echinacea (coneflower) to show that herbs can come in many shapes, sizes and colors. The group learned that old dried herbs that have no smell also have no medicinal value. Herbs are freshest when they are used within a year from when they are harvested.

While sipping some Rose Hip tea (lots of Vitamin C), the group then learned the basics of how to make tea properly. An extensive handout accompanied this part of the workshop. Laura says start with good water (non-chlorinated, no fluoride). Never use tin or aluminum pots or infusers. (Tin comes from China and there is no control over possible lead content). A stainless steel infuser is a better choice.

Make tea either by “infusion” (using the flowers, leaves and stems) or by “decoction” (usually made with roots, barks and seeds) and allow the herbs to move freely in the heated water. To make tea properly, use 1 tsp per 8 oz. water. Put herbs into a pot of cold water first, then bring the water barely to a boil (when first 2 bubbles break the surface, shut off the heat). Steeping can be anywhere from 5 minutes to one hour, depending on the type of herbs in the tea. If you steep too long, you may notice the bitter tannins coming out in the tea. Remember to keep herbs loose in an infuser; they must be free to move around while being heated and steeped. A French press is another good option for making tea.

Laura noted it is best to stay away from infusing tea in those new triangular nylon tea sachets. These sachets are made of nylon, a petroleum-based product. Use natural, unbleached muslin bags instead if you want to bag your own loose tea. Many in attendance did the “yes” head bobble when admitting they “bobble” their tea bags (bouncing the tea bag up and down in the cup). This bad practice releases bitter tannins in the tea. Squeezing a saturated tea bag by wrapping the string around the bag also causes the tannins to release. Buying fresh loose tea can solve this problem easily. It is best to store dried herbs in glass jars after you buy them loose at your local store.

One famous herb known for being odiferous is Valerian. Laura says that when you harvest valerian, it actually has a delicious smell of violets for 3-4 seconds, then it oxidizes and the familiar stench is created. Valerian, she says, is good for lower sciatica pain and for helping with insomnia.

Everyone made tea mixtures and took home bags of tea made from a sampling of herbs Laura brought with her. There truly is an art to making great tea. Laura Brown’s advice: When you are making tea, slow down, be present and take part in the moment and the joy of making a great cup (or pot) of tea! Be sure to watch for Laura’s return engagement with The Friends in November 2010.

The Lowdown on Gardening Down Low

The Spring Symposium presented by The Vermont-New Hampshire Chapter of The New England Wild Flower Society will be held Saturday, April 10, 2010 at Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center, VT.

Three inspiring gardeners share their experience and knowledge about creating that all-important lower layer in the garden. Whether you are looking for tips about plants that tolerate shade under a canopy, native groundcovers that require low maintenance, or “survivalist” plants that grow in alpine crevices, you will benefit from our experts’ advice at this day-long symposium.

The fee for the Spring Symposium, which includes lunch and the symposium packet, is $53 for non-members and $47 for members of co-sponsoring organizations (this includes The Friends of the Hort. Farm and Master Gardeners). For more information or to register, please call (508) 877-7630 or visit online at: www.newfs.org/learn/catalog/sym1001

2010 Calendar of Events

Feb 6, Sat 10am - Noon
Bats: White Nose Disease Will it be species extinction?
Join South Burlington "bat advocate" Barry Genzlinger for a fascinating overview of Chiroptera and the impact of this powdery white fungal infection on Vermont’s bat population.

Feb 27, Sat 10am - Noon
Design A Mixed Border Using Native Plants MG-E
This presentation will feature slides of the mixed native border; certified as a wildlife habitat by the National Wildlife Federation and designed to create privacy, screen undesirable views and reduce lawn size. Charlotte Albers of Paintbox Garden will present.

Mar 10, Wed 6 - 8pm
Speaking Naturally about Organic Soils MG-E
Longevity and vitality come with eating a wide variety of nutrient packed plants grown in living soils. Mike Ather, a naturalist, wild edible enthusiast and photographer leads this discussion.

Mar 13, Sat 8am - 4pm MG-E
Bus Trip to the “Gorgeous Gardens & Green Living” Show Riley Rink, Manchester, VT
Limited to 36 participants. $65 travel fee; includes ticket to enter the show. Lunch is on your own. Bus leaves the Hort Farm at 8am sharp. Pre-registration & pre-payment required by February 22nd.

Mar 27, Sat 9am - Noon
Crabapple Pruning Workday MG-V
Mark Biercevicz, Crabapple Collection Curator, will display proper pruning techniques. Terry Bradshaw, Apple Technician and co-director of the UVM Hort Farm will be on hand to assist. Bring pruning tools and saws, if you have them.

Apr 17, Sat 8am - 4pm
Rustic Cedar Arbors
Join Brian Gluck of Vermont Rustic Cedar for an all day hands-on workshop. Build a Rustic White Cedar arbor for the Perennial Garden. $40 Pre-registration and pre-payment required by Apr 3rd. Limited to 20 participants.Rain date: Apr 18.


Rustic Cedar Arbor- Photo provided by Brian Gluck
CLICK LINK BELOW TO SEE JEN MILLS SLIDE SHOW OF THE WORKSHOP:http://picasaweb.google.com/jamvt70/April2010CedarArborWorkshopWFHF?feat=email#

Apr 18, Sun 11am - 2pm
Conifer Garden/Shrub Collection Workday MG-V
Volunteers needed to help clean out gardens and mulch.


Conifer Workday


Apr 24, Sat 9am - Noon
Perennial Garden Workday MG-V
Help Brian Vaughan, Perennial Garden Curator, “wake-up” the Perennial Garden. Volunteers needed to help clean up the collection in time for our May 22nd Bloomtime Festival. Bring pruning shears/weeding tools if you have them.


Perennial Workday

April 24, Sat - 1pm
Lilac Pruning Workday MG-V
Jeff Young, Lilac Collection Curator will give a quick review of proper lilac pruning techniques. More experienced pruners pair up with “green” pruners to help beautify the Hort. Farm’s lilac collection in time for our May 22nd Bloomtime Festival. Bring pruning tools and gloves if you have them.

The Rubies of Fall
by Dr. Leonard Perry, UVM Extension Professor

Fall at Kyle Albee's neighbors' house, featuring Molinia Skyracer & Winterberry

Shrubs with red berries come in handy this time of year for use in Holiday decorations and arrangements, for feeding wildlife, and for brightening landscapes. Although the well-known American and Chinese hollies can't be grown in most of Vermont, other fine red-berried shrubs are suitable for this and similar northern climates. Unless noted, they are hardy to at least USDA zone 4 (-20° to -30° F).

The winterberry (Ilex verticillata) is a native and deciduous (loses its leaves in winter) shrub. It is related to the evergreen hollies, only much hardier. With its brilliant small and shiny red berries it is spotted quickly in wet areas in fall, even at high speeds along interstates. Reaching heights of 6 to 8 feet, winterberry grows well in sun or shade, wet or dry soil.

Like the other hollies, the sexes are on separate plants. If you want berries, you'll need a female plant and a male plant (no berries) for pollination. Even then you may not see many berries before the birds get to them. Over 40 species of birds eat their berries, including bluebirds, cedar waxwings, brown thrashers, mockingbirds, red-winged blackbirds, and robins. 'Jim Dandy' is a good male to pollinate early cultivars (cultivated varieties) such as the compact 'Nana', 'Sprite', or Maryland Beauty', to the 8-foot tall 'Stoplight' or 'Jolly Red'. 'Sprite' was a Cary award winning plant for New England. 'Southern Gentleman' is a good male to pollinate later cultivars such as the popular 'Winter Red' and 'Sunset'. The male 'Apollo' pollinates the hybrids 'Harvest Red' and 'Sparkleberry'.

Red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia) is easy to grow and tolerates many soil types. In addition to the red berries, the shiny green leaves turn reddish-purple in fall. Birds will eat the berries, but reluctantly as they are tart. This makes them good for jams and jellies though. 'Brilliantissima' is a cultivar with even brighter fruit, while 'Autumn Magic' is a more compact selection with slightly larger fruits.

Some of the shrub roses produce large red fruits, known as "hips", in late summer and fall. Some of the showiest are the blueleaf rose (Rosa glauca), eglantine (R. eglanteria), Moyes (R. moyesii), and the rugosa (R. rugosa). All are hardy to at least USDA zone 4 except the Moyes rose (zone 5).

If you want a less known but attractive native shrub, try the spicebush (Lindera benzoin). Leaves when crushed are spicy, and the red fall fruits peppery. Berries stand out against the light yellow fall leaves, and arise from the bright yellow flowers that appear in spring before the leaves. It is marginally hardy to zone 4, thriving in moist soil and partly shaded woodlands.

Hawthorns (Crataegus) are small trees (15 to 25 feet tall) with attractive red fall fruits, but most have some drawbacks-- namely lots of diseases and long, dangerous thorns. Exceptions, and among the best choices with few thorns and good disease resistance, include 'Crimson Cloud' English hawthorn (C. laevigata), Princeton Sentry Washington hawthorn (C. phaenophyrum), and 'Winter King' green hawthorn (C. viridis).

A group of low shrubs up to 2 feet high, good for groundcovers on slopes and rock gardens, is the cotoneasters. Some of the best red fall fruits are from the cranberry cotoneaster (C. apiculatus) and related creeping cotoneaster (C. adpressus), rock spray cotoneaster (C. horizontalis), and the spreading cotoneaster (C. divaricatus). All have small, shiny green leaves and pinkish-white flowers attractive to bees early in the season. The rock spray and spreading cotoneasters are less hardy (zone 5).

Even lower groundcovers with red berries are the bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) and the bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi). Both are very hardy to USDA zone 3 (-30° to -40°F). The bunchberry also has attractive red leaves in fall, and edible fruits. This native plant needs acidic and organic soils.

The bearberry is a tough evergreen, tolerating bogs to dry sandy areas, alkaline to acidic soils, and prefers infertile soils.

Don't confuse bearberry with barberry-- a shrub usually seen on older lists but no longer recommended. It is listed as an invasive plant in many states as birds spread its colorful fruits to natural areas where they germinate and end up crowding out more desirable native plants.

For gardeners in warm climates there are even more choices for red berries in fall, including both deciduous and evergreen hollies. Heavenly bamboo (Nandina), Japanese skimmia, and firethorn (Pyracantha) provide bright red color in fall and winter, while the latter can provide orange and yellow berries as well, depending on cultivar. While the heavenly bamboo and firethorn are hardy to USDA zone 6 (average low of -10° F in winter), they may survive in protected areas in colder zone 5. Firethorn often is seen trained to a wall, or "espaliered", where it can benefit from heat absorbed by the wall. Skimmia on the other hand is hardy only to the warmer USDA zone 7, and its berries can be poisonous if eaten in quantity.

THANK YOU KEY BANK The Friends of the Horticulture Farm recently received a Community Leadership Gift from Key Bank. The Board of Directors would like to thank Jennifer Mills and other staff at the bank for their generous support. Corporate gifts can make a big difference for small non-profit organizations like our own, particularly in these difficult financial times. Therefore, we encourage our members to be on the lookout for community programs and grants offered by their corporate employers. Some employers have programs that will match dollar-for-dollar an employee’s contribution, so consider this option too.

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