Chocolate Anyone?

How is this for a pleasant combination? The 'Chocolate' Eupatorium rugosa is coming up through a bunch of 'Goldsturm' brown eyed Susan's. I can't hardly wait for the Goldsturm to bloom because the yellow with the with the purple will be stunning.



What's not to love about this purple plant? It blooms in the fall (my favorite season) with a white a flower. It is easy to care for and volunteers pretty freely. I have grown it in my garden for over six years now and love it.

All except for the numerous babies. Normally volunteers are welcomed in the garden. Even here in the vegetable garden growing amongst the brick paths the volunteers are welcomed. When they are small. Right now they are small and sweet, but will grow quickly and take over. They have to go. Pulling them is not a problem. I cannot believe the astronomical amount of volunteers I have this year. This is not a usual occurrence in my garden. What do you think I should do? Pull them and give them away with a hearty warning? Or toss them and pull all of the plants?

On tour day all visitors were offered a free Chocolate Eupatorium with a warning of their self seeding abilities. Most are gone now and I do hope everyone who took a plant or two home enjoys them. I have enjoyed my chocolate for the past six years and was happy to share. Remember though, they can self seed prolifically. I have found that the more sun they get, the more self seeding this plant will do. Be warned and enjoy the purple with white flowers come fall.

in the garden....

Eagle Scout Projects and Volunteers

As promised, the Jimster and I helped a bit with bagging up seedlings in preparation for the Children's Activity Day scheduled for today at the Museum. With the emphasis on "a bit" since the folks were nearly done by the time we arrived. There were way more volunteers than I had expected. Dottie Mann (that is her on the left in a yellow sweater) did a super job mobilizing folks to come out and support the community. Dottie is the Clarksville City Tree Board Chairman. She and her husband, Jim, perform ALOT of community work and we all benefit from their efforts.

Pictured to the right of Dottie is Ginger. Ginger is a faithful reader and commenter on this blog. My commenters will be pleased to finally get a picture of her. Ginger is another very dedicated volunteer and gives tremendously to our community. She works with the Humane Society in helping to save pets. What a great job and service all these folks do for the community and our world. We truly need more caring people like her. Ginger is originally from California near the ocean;which she misses so much! Clarksville is a small world. Ginger and my best friend Gerianne know one another, as Geri fosters dogs for the Humane Society. Ginger told me she never would've known Geri was such a big gardener, which Geri agreed with since she thinks her garden is not established. Geri is very modest, her garden is beautiful but you really have to go into the backyard to get the full effect of her efforts. I was glad to meet Ginger and surprised we had a common friend already.

In keeping with the volunteer tradition, let's talk about some very helpful young men. Pictured in the second picture are: Nick, Zavier, and Matt. I had the pleasure of meeting these young men last year when I helped T.C. Loughery, Montgomery County Extension Agent, with the Tree 4-H club. These guys competed in a tree competition (along with other motivated students-and let's not forget the dedicated parents) at the state level. Both the junior and senior groups placed well and Clarksville should be proud of them.

I did not know this, but Matt, working in conjunction with the Tree Board, Dottie, Tracey Jackson, and Mrs. Kennedy (Principal at Barkers Mill Elementary School) designed a tree planting plan for Barkers Elementary. The plan is a project to help Matt on his way to achieving the prestigious "Eagle Scout" rank in the Boy Scouts. I know his mom is proud. Matt and Nick are brothers. The trees he chose will be planted according to his design at the March 15th Arbor Day Festivities in Clarksville. I know there will be an article in the paper about the event, but just had to mention the event here as well.

Finally, I had to conclude this post with a picture of an adorable little girl. Madison is the five year old daughter of Amy. Amy is currently attending the Tree Steward Classes offered by the Extension office. I met Amy at this past Tuesday night's class when I had the pleasure of teaching there. She told me about the soil at her home and how it has taken her 10 years to finally get it to a good spot-with earthworms and all! With her can do attitude and motivation, it is a sure bet Madison will follow in her footsteps and work to protect the environment and our community.

It is unfortunate, but the children's Arbor Day activities scheduled for today have been cancelled due to the weather. I am sure there will be a make up day or at a least a seedling give a way at some point. Everyone please stay safe.

in the garden....enjoying the lovely snow.

Volunteers for Arbor Day

As is typical on Wednesday, you all get two posts. This post is about volunteer work and our community. I have done volunteered quite a bit over the last four years when I retired from the Army. I worked one year with John Ragan and Alan Brisendine of Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) one year. This was my most rewarding volunteer job. I also volunteered as a reading tutor for my son's fourth grade year at Woodlawn Elementary School. Mrs. Harmon was a super teacher to work with and I enjoyed all of the students and the school very much. Then I got involved with some gardeners and Karla. All this volunteer information is leading me to let you know about some upcoming events in our community where you may like to help out.

Two years ago I went through the Tennessee Tree Steward Course, taught by Karla Kean, who was at the time the Clarksville City Forester. I have remained involved in the Tree Steward Organization and am proud to be a certified Tennessee Tree Steward. The Jimster should also be one, though he didn't attend the training. I think of the Jimster because last night, at the Tree Steward class, where I had the opportunity to teach 15 motivated folks about site selection for urban trees, there was a very nice young lady attending the training with her grandparents. She was knowledgeable and able to show her care for the environment. Seeing this from kids makes me very happy.

Two summers ago when I had to complete my 25 volunteer hours in order to become a certified tree steward, the Jimster came down to Riverside Drive and aided me in pruning those Chinese Elms lining the road. He was so cute! Most people are familiar with this road and they know it as a VERY busy road. People would ride by and toot their horns at us. I didn't pay any attention, but the Jimster said, "They must be honking to thank us for helping out!" Out of the mouth of babes. I am not sure if this is why drivers were honking or not, it doesn't really matter, what does matter is how our community does care, even though it is not always obvious.

March is a good time for all gardeners to show their support for their community. The season isn't FULLY upon us, and there are great garden related activities going on you all might not be aware of. I am specifically speaking of Arbor Day activities.

Sterling Morton, a newspaper journalist from Nebraska is generally regarded to be the 'Father' of Arbor Day. He and his wife were nature lovers from Nebraska and began planting trees. He wrote many newspaper articles encouraging the planting of trees and in 1872 addressed the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture to enact a statewide holiday for planting trees. His proposal was adopted and Arbor Day came to be.

In 1875, Tennessee adopted an Arbor Day holiday as well. Initially it was to be the first Friday in April, but was changed to the first Friday in March in 1946. This law calls for educators, civic societies and government officials to create "a better understanding of nature and the importance of protecting wildlife, planting and cultivating flowers, and setting and protecting trees." States have adjusted their activities based on the best dates for planting trees in their own communities.(http://www.tennessee.gov/agriculture/forestry/arborday/history.html)

This year's celebration will take place at the Custom House Museum on Saturday between 10:30-12:30. There will be a tree seedling give away, and all sorts of children's activities, all sponsored by the Clarksville Tree Board. Then, on March 15 at 1:00 pm, there will be several large trees planted at Barker's Mill Elementary School. Volunteers are needed.

In preparation for the seedling give away on Saturday, several folks will be bagging seedlings at the Museum tomorrow between 3-5 pm. The Jimster and I will both be there to help (albeit a little late though because of school for him). It is the perfect opportunity to get together with other gardeners AND to have fun helping the community with its Arbor Day activities. Hope to see you all there! And you know what?! I think the Jimster just may have been right about those Clarksvillians honking their horns at us-they were saying thanks and hello at the same time! So for all you volunteers out there, I want to honk my horn at you and say thanks in advance!

in the garden....

Master Gardener Winter School

I recently traveled to Lebanon Tennessee with Karla Kean to teach a "Landscape Design" class to master gardeners from all across the state at the annual Master Gardener Winter Training. This post is about the training and the gardeners involved.

The Wilson County Extension office is located on the fairgrounds in Lebanon. This is also where all the training took place. The fairgrounds are attractive and interesting. They actually have a little town, complete with a schoolhouse, barber shop, stables, store and main street. Our particular class was taught in the schoolhouse.

Karla and I had 20 plus students in the landscape design session we taught. The students came from as far away as Roan Mountain and the Tri-Cities area in eastern Tennessee, to as close as Davidson and Cheatam counties right here in Middle Tennessee, and as far west as Jackson Tennessee. A wide range of all types of gardeners. Boy was I in heaven! Getting to be around gardeners!

Our class covered topics such as: landscape principles and elements, site assessment and analysis, the landscape plan on paper, symbols, and plants for Tennessee landscapes. In the afternoon, students were then broken down into five groups. Each group had to design a landscape by implementing the lessons they had learned in class that morning.

Groups chose garden designs as varied as a sensory garden, to an entryway garden, to a foundation bed, to a handicapped garden to a complete barber shop landscape design. Once the site was measured and evaluated, put on paper, plants chosen, and all agreed upon, groups were responsible for presenting their plans to the class.

The weather was absolutely awesome on Saturday and it was a great day to be outside designing landscapes. Lots of new friends were made, landscape designs completed and all passed with flying colors!

Beth Babbitt, Tennessee Master Gardener Program Coordinator is looking to make the winter training and annual event. So all of you master gardeners who may have missed out on this go around-you will have a second chance next year.

The first two pictures are of groups presenting their plan, the third picture is of Karla and I (Thank you Anna for taking it!), the fourth picture shows a group working outside, and the last picture shows some can do enthusiasm of a group working on their plan inside the schoolhouse.

in the garden....

Master Gardeners

The word master just seems to conjure up expertise in any thing it is placed in front of. So logically, master gardeners are masters at gardening. How true. In order to become a master gardener, in my opinion, you have to first and foremost have a deep love and passion for gardening. Of course, my opinion will not get you certified and you truly don't have to have a deep love of gardening to become a master gardener. You don't even need a working knowledge of gardening. You need only visit or call the local extension office and see Karla Kean (or whoever the agent is for your county) for information regarding the master gardener class and to sign up!

Classes are offered periodically throughout the year, usually at a convenient time in the evening. You will receive 40 hours of training in a wide variety of gardening subjects to include but not limited to the following: composting, insects, plants, pesticides, cultivating needs, pruning, lawn maintenance and a whole host of other subjects. It has been a while since I took the class (more than 10 years) so I might not be up on all of the subjects anymore.

Once you successfully complete the training (yes, it does include a test to ensure you 'mastered' the subjects taught), you then have to complete volunteer hours within one year of completing the course in order to become a certified master gardener. Volunteer work is a committment and may seem easier than it sounds, but you truly have to work to complete the hours required.

Montgomery County is lucky to have an active Master Gardener Association. They conduct activities regularly, have plant sales, trips, improve the community by completing projects, and sponsor garden tours. They collectively provide a great benefit to the community by sharing their expertise free of charge to all who need it in the form of manning the telephone at the extension office during certain periods of the week. If you have any type of gardening question these wonderful people are happy to assist you in answering it, free of charge. The Montgomery County Master Gardeners have volunteered a total of 1190.20 hours and driven 7875 miles in 2007! That is a lot of free hours helping our community! If each master gets paid an average of $15 an hour, you do the math and find out just how much free labor master gardeners provide our community.

Here are some links for further information: http://mastergardeners.tennessee.edu/ and http://www.utextension.utk.edu/mastergardeners/montgomery.

The Tree Steward class scheduled to begin next week is STILL looking for a few good volunteers. The information you learn has been invaluable to me, now is your chance as it is not too late to sign up. Call Karla Kean (931) 648-5725.

in the garden....trying to be a master.