March 2016 - Alabama Cotton Commission

MG SPROUTS
Volume 17, Issue 3
March 2016
Message from the President
By Sheila Anne Webb
We’re always both pleased and proud of our own Master Gardeners receiving AMGA Reach for the Stars Awards.
Awards were as follows: Bronze Star: Johnnie Alexander (121 hours); Mary Crabtree (105.5.); Donald Crow (108.3);
Jennifer Gann (107); Sandra Kelly (237); Linda McDaniel (163); Yun Prater (290); Judy Shew (125); Skeeter Sims
(207.5); Joe Trawick (139); Linda Williams (152.07). Silver Star: Klaus Duncan (320); Ruth Sarro (368); James
Wakefield (496.5). Gold Star—Shirley Hefner (574); Mike Limerick (508); Richard Pritchett (577.5); Emily Richardson
(739.9). Advanced Badges and Stars will be awarded at the state MG conference. Our recipients will be Gold Badge:
Janet Evans 2012 certified (1064.25 hours); Kris Schmit 2012 (1036.25); James Sloan 2009 (1,122,55); Sarah Sloan
2009 (1398.75). Patricia Patty 2000 (6,477.4 hours) will receive the Emerald Gem Star. Thanks to these noted and
thanks also to everyone for your stewardship hours for the flora and fauna.
If you have questions about the awards, contact Carolyn Patton who serves as our Chairperson for this program.
Categories for each award are Stars Bronze 100-299 volunteer hours, Silver 300-499, Gold 500-999; Name Badge
Gold 1,000-1,999, Platinum 2,000-3,999; Star pins with colored gemstone silver with ruby 4,000-5,999,silver with
emerald 6,000-7,999, silver with diamond 8,000-9,999; Lifetime membership badge 10,000+ volunteer hours.
Special thanks to Hayes Jackson for his great presentation on Carnivorous Plants. I returned home that cold February
10th to find a flock of robins devouring the berries on all my holly plants. As the bushes shook with activity, I noticed one
surprised female cardinal holding her own on a branch.
We’ve started a new fund raising practice in January. There will be a silent auction at MG meetings so be sure to check
the table by the front door. In January Sheila Anne Webb won Janet Evans’ painting of the Cahaba Lily. In February
Jane Aulier won the miniature garden. March’s auction will be for a handwoven basket.
Thanks to Don Crow for securing a flag for us. You may recall that Mike Rogers donated this flag which has been flown
over the U.S. capitol. Dr. West said he’d obtain a stand for it. When we have it hung, we’ll say the Pledge of Allegiance
to open our monthly meetings. Don had the flag proclamation plaque framed for the February meeting. Don also knows
of a location where American chestnut trees grow. At our March meeting we’ll ask if there’s interest in a short field trip in
spring to see the trees.
Art Moore will present a program on Orchids for our March 9th meeting. We’ll bring salads and sandwiches to share for
lunch. April will begin the brown bag luncheons for the warm months. The Executive Board will begin their meeting at
10:45 a.m. monthly so members can arrive at the MGs’ noon meeting on time.
The joys and beauty of spring are upon us. March 20th makes it official. Daylight savings time begins March 13th, giving
us more time to garden. Enjoy!
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2016 MG1
MG Calendar
MG Board Meeting
MG Business Meeting
Sprouts Deadline
10:45 a.m.-noon, March 9,
Cane Creek Sustainability
Room
12-1 p.m., March 9, Cane
Creek Community
Gardens
March 25
Please be aware of our lawnmower fund and Coke
Williams tool shed fund. We can use extra dollars there,
and they don't have to be yours. Mention it to family and
friends as you work in the community.
Thank you for your hard work and dedication.
I'm David West, and I approved this message.
From Our Advisor
We've completed our first February 29th in 4 years. I've
always wondered why "leap day" wasn't a special
holiday of some kind. Perhaps MGs should take the
lead here and find something that needs to be
remembered every 4 years. Personally, the weather this
past weekend was worth leaping for. I got some quality
time outdoors to begin catching up on all those projects
that had been rained out.
I attended 3 Arbor Day activities during the past 6 days:
Arbor Day at the State Capitol, Anniston's Arbor Day in
Zinn Park and the Calhoun County Beautification Board
Arbor Day in Golden Springs. It appears I missed the
most successful event in Jacksonville. The Square is a
great place for an Arbor Day event. Thanks to the
volunteers who worked these events to help make them
successful and improve our communities. Arbor Day at
the Capitol was my 20th, and perhaps I will make it 25
or 30 before calling it a successful career. My first Arbor
Day tree planting there was 1997 when we planted a
Yoshino Cherry with Governor Fob James.
Our office staff participated in CPR training March 29.
Most of us were there, and it made me think that this
would be a good training for MGs. We are working
outdoors at home and in our communities. Sometimes
with large groups, sometimes with small. CPR could be
valuable to some of us or our friends and save a life.
Earth Day is fast approaching. We've set aside the
week of April 18-22 for this yearly event. I hope you will
volunteer to assist. We will really need your help this
year since we have no MG intern class for 2016.
We have plant sales coming up and our Lunch and
Learn series beginning soon. Be sure to mark your
calendars for the important events along with our
regular MG meetings. I think our Lunch and Learn idea
has been copied around the State. Maybe we copied it
from elsewhere, but there is no denying that it is a great
outreach tool for the MG and CCCG programs.
We have begun removing the fence between the old
fort auto repair shop and our outdoor classroom. This
will allow easier access to this large building, and the
fencing will be re-used to better secure CCCG.
Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick
By Sherry Blanton
Just as it is almost impossible to choose a favorite child
or a favorite pet, it is almost impossible to pick a favorite
plant, as each one has its own special glory. But there
are those plants who manage to capture our attention
on a regular basis more frequently, not because of their
hijinks, but because of their gifts to the garden twelve
months of the year. For me this “possible” favorite is
Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick (or Corylus avellana
“Contorta’).
Harry Lauder is considered to be a deciduous shrub (or
a tree.) It grows about 8 to 10 feet tall; mine might be a
little bit taller, and although it can reach 12 feet wide,
mine has not reached that width yet. Unfortunately, I do
have to do some judicious pruning to keep it in the
space where it was planted. It probably needed a bigger
spot, but it has been there for more than twenty years
where it was planted as a gift for my husband. We
bought it in the summer when we had no idea of its true
glory.
The glorious green foliage hid the wonderful gnarled
and twisted branches and twigs which come into
prominence when the leaves have dropped off in the
fall. My friends line up for the clippings to add to flower
arrangements. Although filberts are usually grown for
their edible fruits, Harry Lauder’s fruits are ornamental;
actually, I have only seen about two or three small fruits
since I planted it. The male flowers are in the form of
hanging catkins which cover the gnarled branches in
the winter.
My tree is in part sun (where I think it may be happiest)
and I do keep it watered well in the summer heat in
addition to giving the leaves a daily spritz with the hose
sprayer. I am not sure if that is necessary; after it was
attacked by insects during a year of drought, I decided
the tree’s overall well-being was worth the extra effort.
2016 MG2
Harry Lauder is a showstopper, a work of sculpture; in
its full glory in the January sun, there is just nothing
more beautiful in the garden.
too. Webinars will be on the first Friday of each month
at 1 p.m. Central time.
MARCH 4, 2016
Kill That Queen the First Time: Tips for Making Fire Ant
Mound Treatments
Presented by Dr. Jason Oliver, Tennessee State
University
Moderated by Lucy Edwards, Marcus Garner, and
David Koon
Master Gardener Plant Sale
April 9, 2016
Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick in its glory
8 a.m. - noon
Cane Creek Community Gardens,
McClellan
2016 Lunch & Learn
Lunch & Learn is a series of free gardening programs
sponsored by the Calhoun County Master Gardeners
and Calhoun County Commission and held the 4th
Wednesday of each month at the Cane Creek
Community Garden at McClellan, 77 Justice
Avenue. Noon-1pm ~ bring your own lunch!
April 27th
In Search of the 16th Century Town of Coosa, 1540
DeSoto’s & 1560 De Luna’s Expeditions’ Presence
in North Alabama & Northwest Georgia
Harry Holstein, JSU Professor of Archaeology
Sponsored by
The Calhoun County Master Gardeners/
Tree Amigos
to benefit the 4H Program
at Coosa Valley Attention Home
MG Notes
May 25th
Let’s Talk About the Weather
James Spann, ABC 3340
*Speakers and/or subjects may change. Contact the
Calhoun County Extension Office 256-237-1621 to
confirm.
2016 All Bugs Good and Bad Webinar Series
Please join us for this webinar series for information you
can use about good and bad insects. We will discuss
how you can help pollinators and other good insects by
using pesticides properly. We will also talk about how
to control insects we think of as bad, like fire ants,
vegetable bugs, a new invasive fruit fly, and
cockroaches. Snakes aren't insects but they can be
good and bad, so we will have a webinar about them
Thank you to Hayes for his February program on
carnivorous plants. Hayes always has a great program.
Thank you to Janet for helping out with the directories
and the meeting. Directories will be available at the
March meeting. Art Moore, noted orchid enthusiast and
expert, will speak about his passions, growing and
breeding orchids, at the March 9th MG meeting. Lunch
will be salads and sandwiches.
Our deepest sympathies to Dick Pritchett and his family
on the passing of Dick’s wife Sherron.
Congratulations to all who earned stars and
badges. Our community is a much better place for your
service.
SB
2016 MG3
Garden Tips for March
Ideal planting conditions for shrubs and trees are over
for our climate zone. Although any newly planted
shrubs or trees will require careful moisture monitoring
over the summer, anything planted after March will
require more water during the hot Alabama summer.
Flower gardens should be cleaned of old plant debris
before the spring and summer perennials emerge from
the ground.
Don’t rush the season by planting summer annuals in
March as our last frost date is not until the middle of
April.
Early and mid-season daffodils are starting to bloom.
Leave the foliage to brown on its own; do not braid or
tie or bend the greenery.
Pruning azaleas or mophead hydrangeas in March will
mean no flowers this season. Leave the azaleas until
after they have finished blooming and prune by midJuly. Mopheads should be pruned by mid-July also.
Carrots can be planted this month.
Gallon flowers pots are always needed at the Botanical
Gardens or at the Tree Amigos program. If you have
extras, please consider sharing.
A Little Winter Color
Plants brighten up gray late winter days
Officers - Calhoun County Master Gardeners
President: Sheila Anne Webb
Vice President: Don Crow
Secretary: Emily Richardson
Treasurer: Carolyn Patton
Members-at-large: Dick Pritchett and Jim Wakefield
Sprouts is published by:
Master Gardeners of Calhoun County
President: Sheila Anne Webb
Editor: Paula Barnett-Ellis
Copy Editor: Sherry Blanton
Advisors: Dr. David H. West, County Extension
Coordinator, and Mr. Hayes Jackson, Urban
Regional Extension Agent
2016 MG4