March Photo Winner!

Congratulations to Jack, with a beautiful picture of an Edgeworthia just beginning to leaf out!

Remember, if you submit by the end of the month you can win $25 off your next Birch Meadow visit! Just email your photo to Shannon at shannon@birchmeadowgc.com. 

For more information on the contest, see our January newsletter.

The Importance of Gardening with Native Plants

Tis the season of planting many of you may be excited to start projects and bring variety into your gardens. While we all have our precious environment and the prospect of new growth on our minds, we at Birch Meadow encourage everyone to select as many native species as possible as you explore your many options.

Why native plants?

Native plants have evolved with their local environments over hundreds and even thousands of years alongside the wildlife that rely on them for food, shelter, and as a station in their reproductive cycles. We, in turn, rely on their survival for our own food, shelter, and even luxuries. Many native species have incredibly specific relationships with their pollinators, and the myriad of critters who consume their fruits and leaves.

Most of us know the importance and concerns surrounding European Honeybees. But did you know there are over 500 species of native bees in NC? Other crucially important but often forgotten pollinators include birds, flies, ants, beetles, spiders, and even bats! For instance, the Pawpaw tree, Asimina triloba, has a dark red flower that looks and smells like rotting meat to their pollinators – flies! (Don’t worry, they aren’t too odorous to us, but the benefits would be worth the stink anyway!)

Many new cultivars of natives, however–although beautiful and valuable in other ways–often have structural changes that interfere with pollination. Many cultivars are sterile, meaning they do not produce pollen, fruit, or seeds. Many are the wrong shape, wrong color, have no nectar at all (or harmfully strong nectar), or are even a color that pollinators are physically incapable of seeing.

So what can you do?

When picking plants do your best to have mainly straight native species, but it is definitely alright to keep some cultivars or hybrids you love (experiencing joy in the garden is good, actually). Cultivars can be identified by having the plant name, followed by another name in single quotes, like this: Agastache ‘Blue Fortune’

While hybrids are denoted by an “x” between two names, like this: Heuchera x tiarella; or, Heuchera x hybrida

But it feels overwhelming!

That’s okay, too! We are all on a learning curve, and just need to try our best. Here is an excellent powerpoint from NCSU, giving an overview of pollinator habits, friendly plants, and specific suggestions: Perennials for Pollinators resource. The best we can do is continue educating ourselves, trying our best, and no matter what – supporting our local pollinators and reducing their habitat loss. 🐝 🦋 🐞

• Ray Chandler

Getting Ready for Hot Weather

Every year the heat gets a little more intense and there are more days with high intensity air pollution.  Our employees struggle to work safely on the hottest and/or most polluted days.  In order to keep them safe, we have created a heat and air quality policy which will go into effect on April 15.

Here is what you need to know:  

• We will shift our available hours for physical labor to 7:30 AM until 2:00 PM during the first week of heat indexes greater than 90.

• If the heat index is predicted to be above 99, we will cancel work for the hours that it is expected to be that high.  

• If air quality is a code red, employees will work at their own discretion.  If it is code purple or above, work will be canceled. 

• We will do our best to send employees in pairs so that they can keep an eye on each other when the heat index is 90-99.

If you are at home on a hot day, please be aware that we may ask for ice, or permission to sit in a cool space if an employee is showing distress from the heat.  Hopefully this won’t be necessary with the new policies in place, but heat distress can get dangerous quickly if not treated properly so we would like to have all the resources available that we can in the event of an emergency.  Thank you in advance for your understanding and cooperation!

• Mary Beth Berkley

Soviet Fruit Trenches: Cultivating Citrus in Freezing Temperatures

“During the first half of the twentieth century, Soviet citrologists grew (sub)tropical plants in temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius [-22 degrees Fahrenheit!] – outdoors, and without the use of glass or any fossil fuel-powered assistance.”

After the Russian Revolution, the Communist Party was determined to be self-sufficient in citrus production since citrus is not only the highest valued fruit crop, but also because previously almost all citrus fruit in the region had to be imported. Previously, the USSR attempted to grow citrus in regions with milder winters–the coastal area of western Georgia. Although the temperatures generally stayed above freezing, that was not enough to prevent damage since even a brief blast of frost can be deadly to citrus trees. 

Despite occupying a region that would technically be the least suitable for cultivating citrus, the Soviets managed to produce 200,000 tons of citrus fruit by 1940. They achieved this in three steps: first by breeding citrus varieties more resistant to cold, next pruning citrus plants in radical ways that made them more resistant to cold, heat, and wind, and finally by planting them in trenches of up to 2 meters deep! 

Learn more about Soviet citrus cultivation and many other fun facts about low tech solutions to modern problems by clicking here!

Note: True to form, the low tech website linked above runs completely on a solar powered server in Barcelona! While this is a much more sustainable method of hosting a website, it also  means that in longer periods of bad weather it may be offline. If you happen to experience an outage you can check back at another time and the article will likely be back up!

• Kel Miklas

African American Gardening Symposium

Last month, on Saturday, March 30, Karla Boyce attended the African American Legacy in Gardening and Horticulture Symposium at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham. The  symposium, which started with a parade of Black gardening clubs, brought together horticulturalists, historians, beautification advocates, and other plant-loving people to celebrate the contributions made by African American gardening innovators and modern-day practitioners, while further educating and enlightening the public and future generations of plant lovers. For those interested in watching, the event was live streamed and is now able to be viewed on YouTube! Notably, the symposium recognized Catheriene Ferell, a gardener from Durham who was born in 1912. She is 111 years old! The Mayor of Durham named the day of the symposium, Saturday, March 30, Catheriene Ferell Day in her honor. Karla reports that it was an enjoyable and informative event that she plans to attend again next year, and that the lunch was fabulous. Below you will find several links to interesting resources from the symposium.

• Karla Boyce-Awai

April To-Do’s

• Click here for Planting Calendar for Annual Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs by city. This link provides dates both based on estimated last frost and the lunar calendar.

• Click here for March’s list if you are still catching up.

• Free your trees and shrubs from invasive wisteria and honeysuckle. Pull out by the roots. Poison ivy is starting to leaf out and can give you a rash even without the leaves so keep an eye out for it.

• Prune spring-flowering bushes, such as forsythia, azalea, and spirea immediately after flowering. Finish cutting back any dead foliage on perennials and ornamental grasses (if you haven't done so already), to make way for new growth.

• As daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips fade, clip off their flower stalks. This encourages the plants to store energy in their bulbs instead of setting seed. Just be sure to leave the foliage alone until it fades naturally. The plant needs the leaves to make energy for next year’s flowers.

• Newly planted trees require regular watering through their first summer.

• House plants can be gradually brought outdoors by the middle to end of the month, and any overcrowded plants can be divided and re-potted.

• Prepare fruit, vegetable, and herb garden beds with compost before planting. Add lime only if recommended by soil test reports. Set out young pepper and tomato plants in mid- to late April after night-time temperatures are above 55 degrees. Wait a few more weeks before setting out cold-sensitive eggplant and basil plants.

• Direct-sow seeds of green beans, limas, field peas, cucumbers, squash, zucchini, winter squash, and sweet corn. Harvest garden peas, sugar snaps, and snow peas every few days. Thin fruit on apple, peach, and pear trees to increase fruit size, prevent limb breakage, and reduce insect/disease problems. Fruit should be thinned when they are about the size of a nickel.

• Plant tender bulbs such as caladium, tuberous begonia, and canna directly in the garden.

• Plant oregano, thyme, lavender, chives, mint, and sage. They require a sunny spot that receives at least 6 to 8 hours of direct sunlight a day. If you have heavy, clay soil, mix in sand and compost at planting time to improve drainage. Herbs will not thrive in wet, mucky soil.

• Grow a salad garden – Plant salad crops such as Swiss chard, beets, lettuce, arugula, carrots, radishes, and peas. To increase yields, scatter the seeds in 4- to 6-inch wide bands or rows.

• Fix bare spots in your lawn now. Rake the area to remove dead grass or other debris. Then, seed with Kentucky bluegrass, perennial ryegrass, creeping red fescue, or better yet, clover, which most lawns were covered with in the 1950s and the honeybees love!  You can also purchase seeds for “flawns” which are low growing flowering plants suitable for lawns and sprinkle them on your bare spots after loosening up the soil and dead plant matter with a rake.  Be sure to water daily until the new lawn is well established. 

• Plant Roses – Bare-root and container-grown roses can be planted in April. For great color and easy care, select landscape varieties such as Knock Out. These tough-as-nails roses offer almost continuous bloom. Plus they are gorgeous paired with perennials such as black-eyed Susan, Russian sage, and catmint. Select a location that receives at least 6 hours of direct sunlight.

-Kel Miklas

Book Review

The symposium featured many books, including Soil: The Story of a Black Mother’s Garden. In a review from Simon & Schuster:

“...[P]oet and scholar Camille T. Dungy recounts the seven-year odyssey to diversify her garden in the predominantly white community of Fort Collins, Colorado. When she moved there in 2013 with her husband and daughter, the community held restrictions about what residents could and could not plant in their gardens. In resistance to the homogenous policies that limited the possibility and wonder that grows from the earth, Dungy employs the various plants, herbs, vegetables, and flowers she grows in her garden as metaphor and treatise for how homogeneity threatens the future of our planet, and why cultivating diverse and intersectional language in our national discourse about the environment is the best means of protecting it.”

Find Soil at your local library or anywhere books are sold! Camille T. Dungy is also coming to Duke this week on Thursday, April 18. The event is completely free and open to the public. Find more information and sign up for tickets at this link!

More books and resources to check out: 

• Her Story Garden Studios: “Inspiring Black Women & Girls to Self-Define, Heal, and Liberate Through Our Stories &  Nature” 

• The Anne Spencer House & Garden Museum: “Former home of the Harlem Renaissance poet, featuring the only restored garden of an African American in the United States”

• The Chocolate Botanist: Derek Haynes has a background in plant biology, and vaccine and therapeutics development using non-traditional plant-based technologies, and with his following of over 40K people on social media he seeks to show people how they can work together with the knowledge of their ancestors to find solutions for thinks like food insecurity and holistic wellness.

• Book: The Life of Madie Hall Xuma by Wanda A. Hendricks

• Book: My Garden by Jamaica Kincaid

Plant Focus - Black cherry tree

(Prunus serotina) 🌸

The dark purple berries of the black cherry tree (Prunus serotina) ripen in the late summer, and are beloved by all walks of North Carolinian wildlife. It is a lovely spring flowering alternative to the highly problematic Bradford pear (which are so problematic that your extension agency has set up a bounty program to give you a new native tree to replace any Bradford pear you cut down on your property, up to five trees total).  Our native black cherry attracts multitudes of native pollinators when flowering. It also serves as a host plant for as many as 450 insect species, including the beautiful red spotted purple butterfly. This tree makes a wonderful addition to any woodland or pollinator garden as it can be planted in both full sun and part shade conditions. Black cherry trees have a long history of benefits and uses, and their lumber is highly valuable for its beauty and strength, making it highly sought after for musical instruments, tool handles, and furniture. The pitted fruits can be eaten by us as well, and make wonderful jams or additions to sauces.

• Kel Miklas

Fun Fact!

This year is the 54th anniversary of Earth Day! The very first Earth Day was on April 22, 1970, when an estimated 20,000,000 people gathered around the country in one of the largest demonstrations in U.S. history.

The first Earth Day was not a festival, but a mass movement of several protests, teach-ins, and rallies across the country sparked by growing public attention to industrial pollution and its consequences.

At the time the public was especially outraged by the massive oil spill that happened near Santa Barbara, California in early 1969 when a well blowout from an offshore drilling platform dumped around 100,000 barrels of crude oil into the channel and along the beaches. While oil spills (the picture is from the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010) and the constant expansion of the fossil fuel industry remain a threat to the environment, Earth Day resulted in the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and several important pieces of legislation. Thankfully there are many grassroots organizations fighting to save us and the environment (check out Extinction Rebellion and Sunrise Movement), and all you have to do is join them. 🌻

• Kel Miklas

QUOTES

“Do unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.” — Wendell Berry

“In nature’s economy the currency is not money, it is life.” — Vandana Shiva

“So we must realize this: the suicidal framing story that dominates our world today has no power except the power we give it by believing it. Similarly, believing an alternative and transforming framing story may turn out to be the most radical thing any of us can ever do.” ― Brian McLaren

Happy Gardening!