December in the Garden
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Greetings from Birch Meadow,
Backlit golden leaves that continue to hang on despite high winds, abundant twittering birds, raspberries that are still producing, buttercups, roses, clematis, and foxgloves that are still blooming, and temperatures ranging from twenty degrees to seventy four degrees … where will we be with climate change in 10 years, I wonder?
THINGS TO DO IN YOUR GARDEN IN DECEMBER
• Here is a link for things that should have been done in November, just in case you are still catching up!
• Click here for Central NC Planting Calendar for Annual Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs.
• Use wood ashes on your vegetable garden, bulb beds, and lightly on your lawns if soil pH is below 6.0.
• Fertilize houseplants as needed.
• After Christmas, plant live Christmas trees in the landscape. Keep these trees indoors no more than 14 days.
• Plant trees and shrubs.
• If you have fruit trees, bushes, shrubs, or roses, now’s the time to cut off dead branches and trim for shape.
• Prune berry-producing plants if berries are desired in table arrangements over the holidays.
• Remove “weed” or undesirable trees from your landscape.
• Take leaf cuttings of your favorite houseplants like African violets and begonia.
• Take hardwood cuttings of landscape plants like forsythia, flowering quince, holly, and hydrangea.
• Cover your strawberry plants when temps go below 25°F with pine needles or wheat/barley straw.
• Take inventory of all your gardening tools. Replace or fix broken items, clean tools, and sharpen blades.
• Continue to fill your compost bin with unwanted fallen leaves.
• Clean the gutters (Contact our friends at Community Based Landscaping for this (919-564-8424)) .
• Feed the birds.
• Give flower beds a nice cover of shredded leaf mulch.
• Plan your spring garden and get a head start by actually ordering the seeds before they run out.
• Order fruit trees and grape vines for February or March planting, if not already done.
• Remove snow from tree branches, shrubs, and bushes; the added weight can bend and contort plants. (But do keep the snow on the ground as it acts as an insulator.)
• Turn off sprinklers.
YOUR GARDEN ISN’T WINDING DOWN - IT’S STILL LICHEN SEASON
By Margaret Roach for the New York Times
After the distraction of fall leaves has passed, don’t assume that your garden is dormant. It’s time to appreciate the beauty of lichen.
What are lichens? They are neither plant nor animal.
If that doesn’t make them inscrutable enough, there is also this: A lichen might, at first glance, be mistaken for an errant wad of chewing gum or a misplaced splatter of paint.
But they are very much living creatures and are thought to be one of the earliest land-dwelling forms of life. They are among the most widespread, too, present on every continent, covering an estimated 8 percent of the planet’s land. They inhabit even Antarctica and the harshest deserts, including some places where plants and animals cannot thrive.
Closer to home, you may find them happily taking up residence on your wooden garden bench or picket fence, stone walls or other rock surfaces, or on the trunks and branches of trees and shrubs.
These subtle beauties offer plenty to look at in every season. So don’t try telling the scientists who study them that your garden is winding down.
It’s always lichen season, say Jessica L. Allen and James C. Lendemer, the authors of “Urban Lichens: A Field Guide for Northeastern North America,” out this month from Yale University Press. But fall is the time when these organisms can really command our attention, after the visual distraction of fall leaves fades.
“In many ways, lichen are miniature universes,” Dr. Allen and Dr. Lendemer write, as a diverse community of bacteria, non-lichen fungi, nematodes and tardigrades (also known as water bears) live in and on a lichen.
SPOTTED LANTERNFLY - INVASIVE PEST - PLEASE REPORT
The spotted lanternfly (SLF; Lycorma delicatula) is a non-native invasive pest native to China, India, and Vietnam. It was first detected in the United States in eastern Pennsylvania (Berks County) in 2014 and is suspected to have arrived via imported goods, likely as an egg mass adhered to stone products. Since its initial detection, SLF has been detected in eight additional states and is likely to reach our area soon: New Jersey (2018), Virginia (2018), Delaware (2019), West Virginia (2019), Maryland (2019), Connecticut (2019), New York (2020), Ohio (2020), Indiana (2021), and Massachusetts (2021). SLF egg masses can easily be moved large distances on firewood or other (usually smooth) surfaces on which females deposit eggs. While dead adults have been reported in the state, live SLF have not yet become established in North Carolina.
The threat of SLF is largely as an agricultural, ornamental, and nuisance pest. Agriculturally, the threat is primarily to grapevine, in which up to 90% yield reduction of infested vineyards is documented. They also attack hops, fruit trees, and many ornamental plants. As a nuisance pest, SLF congregates near and in homes and businesses and landscape plants, causing aggravation among those who encounter it. Because they aggregate, copious amounts of honeydew and sooty mold accompany an infestation. SLF is not suspected to cause tree mortality, but feeding can cause wilting or dieback and/or predispose trees to other stress agents.
The N.C. Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services – Plant Industry Division (PID) is asking that folks report them if they are seen.
THE OVERSTORY - A MUST READ!
“The Overstory, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, is a sweeping, impassioned work of activism and resistance that is also a stunning evocation of—and paean to—the natural world. From the roots to the crown and back to the seeds, Richard Powers’s twelfth novel unfolds in concentric rings of interlocking fables that range from antebellum New York to the late twentieth-century Timber Wars of the Pacific Northwest and beyond. There is a world alongside ours—vast, slow, interconnected, resourceful, magnificently inventive, and almost invisible to us. This is the story of a handful of people who learn how to see that world and who are drawn up into its unfolding catastrophe.
This is the perfect holiday gift for anyone who loves the earth.
LISTEN TO A SHORT READING BY RICHARD POWERS
BECOMING ARTSY: HOW TO CULTIVATE A GARDEN - THE GETTY
Join host Jessie Hendricks as she tours the Central Garden with Brian Houck, head of grounds and gardens at Getty, and other staff. She learns how to plant a mixed perennial garden bed (consider colors, textures, heights, blooming times, sun and watering needs), and contemplates the garden as a metaphor for life and unexpected change.
AMINA’S GIFT OPENS PENUMBRA FARMS SCULPTURE GARDEN
Amina’s Gift, a friend to many Birch Meadow clients already, chose the name Penumbra Farms to reflect their mission. A penumbra is created during an eclipse. At the margins of the shadow of an eclipse is the soft illumination between light and dark. That is the penumbra. It is within that margin between light and dark that we have found the artists who create works of such remarkable beauty. Often working in remote regions of Zimbabwe, these artists push the boundaries and limitations of carving stone, depicting everything from the confidence of a bird in flight with wings as light as air, to the joy, pathos, and tenderness of a human face.
As many of you already know, Amina’s Gift provides employment for the local Zimbabwean artists, who in return are able to support their families. The profits are used to support and encourage a good education for all the children in the community.
Please join Amina’s Gift for their annual Holiday Event:
Saturday - Sunday
December 18th - 19th
1 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Penumbra Farms
4229 McIntyre Road
Gibsonville, NC 27249
The trip to Gibsonville may seem daunting, but it is an easy drive.
With art set up around the two lakes and 70+ acres to explore, you can spend hours appreciating the art as it was intended. You may also find some awesome gifts for loved ones!
CONCERNED ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE?
In order to combat climate change, it is imperative that we keep our forests intact. If you would like to help ensure this, please consider a donation to Go Conscious Earth, a local organization that is protecting the second lung of Mother Earth by putting the second largest contiguous landmass in the world back into the hands of the local, indigenous people of DR Congo.
Together, we can change the world.
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If you would like help tending your established garden or installing a new one, please let us know! Click here for Maintenance Policy & Pricing.
Enjoy the delights of December!
The Birch Meadow Team
Mary Beth, Kelley, Barbara, Karla, Jared, Frankie, Kizzia, Jess, Kellli, Rachael & CommUnity Based Landscaping
919-224-9697