Sunday, May 26, 2019

Soil - The Zoo Beneath Our Feet....A read for a rainy day!

Terri Hoehne shared with us this excellent article in today's Washington Post. It may change the way you think about soil and gardening.  Enjoy!


The Zoo Beneath Our Feet:  We’re only beginning to understand soil’s hidden world
https://wapo.st/2HT8K6Z 

Friday, May 24, 2019

Wildflower Sanctuary Work Day Saturday May 25

Please join us for a work day at the Batavia Wildflower Sanctuary on Saturday, May 25 at 9:00.  We will be working on trimming, weeding, mulching, and laying a stepping stone path.  (Lots of options to choose from!)  We will be on the wooded (east) side of the Riverwalk, and I promise cookies!  If you have them, please bring gardening gloves, clippers, shovel, loppers, and eye protection.
 
If it rains more than a sprinkle, please don't come, but otherwise we hope to see you there!  
Sarah
                                    

Friday, May 17, 2019

Tomatoes, Basil, and Time with Gardeners

Come join the Batavia Plan Dirt Gardeners meeting Tuesday, May 21 featuring Sue Schroeder from Heinz Brothers Nursery and Garden Center.  She will speak on planting and caring for tomato plants, best performing tomato plants, new perennials for 2019, and a basil plant that flowers late in the growing season providing more useful leaves.  

Where:  Batavia Public Library meeting room
Time:  6:45 social time; 7:00 short business meeting and Sue will talk immediately following.
Date:  Tuesday, May 21

Happy Gardening....get ready for Tomatoes and Basil!

Thursday, May 16, 2019

Hosta Virus X

Nancy Hollmeier alerted us to information on Hosta Virus X that may affect plants in our gardens.  To learn more about this, there are some great articles on the internet.  One of the best found is at a site called Gardening In the Shade.  

The virus cannot be eradicated from an infected plant, but you can take precautions to not spread it to other hostas.  The preferred method is to destroy the plant and its roots and to thoroghly disinfect any tools that may have come in contact with it in order to not spread the disease.  The following site will help you with identification of the virus in a hosta plant and how to deal with it.

Sunday, May 12, 2019

Thank You!!!!

A big THANK YOU to everyone who came to our plant sale, worked the plant sale, donated plants and all kinds of great things to the plant sale, and to those hearty souls who did all the planning and set up to make it such a success.  You all rock!  

Friday, May 10, 2019

Final Teaser for the Saturday (May 11) Plant Sale

The gym is FILLED!!!!  Plant Sale Saturday morning!  We have a great assortment of native shade and native sun plants that are hard to find (wait until you see them!), named iris and named day lilies, herbs, sun and shade perennials, small trees (pagoda dogwood, crab apple, maples, rose of Sharon, and more), bushes (wigelia, bush clematis, medium sized boxwood, and too many more to list), flats of ground covers (ajuga, sedums, stepables) looking for a space under a tree or in a rock garden.  There are daffodil, grape hyacinth, and some other spring perennial bulbs.  We also have some tender bulbs of dalias, cannas, and elephant ears.  The ferns are in fantastic shape after the great rain this spring.  There is even rhubarb ready to use in sauces, cakes and pies (and plants of it to start in your own garden).  We have some larger urns, a seed spreader, horticultural vinegar, plant markers and who knows what will arrive in the morning!


Come join us for the sale at 9am to noon, Saturday, May 11 at the Bethany Lutheran Church gymnasium.  We have boxes for you to take your plants home in.  We have help to get them to your vehicle.  The proceeds help support the Batavia Wildflower Sanctuary in downtown Batavia along the riverfront and scholarships for horticulture students.

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Plant Sale Teaser

Wondering what will be at the plant sale.....here are some teasers (just a few of the 1000 plants that will be coming for you to choose!). In these pictures just from one yard are ferns, Jack Frost brunnera, meadow rue, black cohosh, blue bells, trout lily, bush clematis, celandine poppy, trillium, scented leaf geraniums, fall and spring anemone, sedum, oat grass, blue fescue, violets, baby alllium, wild ginger, sweet cicely, fireworks goldenrod, spiderwort, variegated queen of the prairie, and more will be coming in other varieties from other homes. Come see us at 9am Saturday morning to get the best choices!