Pond winterization & other free classes set at Arbordale
Classes on pond winterization, pruning and landscape design will be held at Arbordale Nurseries and Landscaping, 480 Dodge Road, Getzville.
The 45-minute classes are free with pre-registration. To register, email info@arbordale.com or call 688-9125.
Pond Winterization
6 p.m. today and repeated at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 6
You’ll learn what to do with pond equipment, fish care, cleaning and plant care, and a few old wives’ tales will be bashed.
Landscape Design & Restoration
11 a.m. Saturday, September 29
Learn how to create outdoor living spaces, increase your property value and love your yard. The experts on Arbodale’s staff will help you decide where plants go and how they are spaced. Bring photos and measurements of your own yard to discuss in class.
Pruning and Shaping the Landscape
11 a.m. Saturday, October 13
When to prune, how to prune, how not to shape, how to encourage more blossoms, tool selection and more will be covered.
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Reader snaps photos of blooming ivy
People send us pictures for so many reasons. They might be proud of how their garden looks, or they especially like how a photo turned out.
Here are a couple of photos that were sent in because the plant was doing something unusual.
Ann Detzler sent us two photos of ivy that is flowering. This is something I’ve never seen before.
The ivy is in the yard of Detzler’s niece, Laurie Galasso, in Depew.
Galasso said she bought the plant about 15 years ago. For 10 years it did nothing extraordinary, but starting about five years ago, it has flowered every year.
“I don’t know why and I don’t know how,” Galasso said. “I thought it was just an English ivy.”
She adds that the bees love it.
Have you seen blooming ivy before? Please leave a comment below.
If you’d like to share a photo, attach it to an email and send it to me at Connie@Buffalo-NiagaraGardening.com. Please include some information about what we see in the photo to help me as I write the caption.
See more wonderful photos from our readers on the Your Photos Page.
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Q&A: What causes the black waxy rot on the bottom of tomato plants?
Here’s a question that I hope our readers can help with:
What causes the black waxy “rot” on the bottom of some tomato plants? I have been told that it comes from the soil that the plant you buy is grown from seed in. What can be done and how do you treat?
Fred Brace
Do you have any idea what might be causing this problem? Please leave a comment below.
You might want to check out the answers we got last week on the questions regarding yellow evergreens and the transplantation of roses.
More resources:
When you have gardening questions, you can call the Master Gardeners with Cornell Cooperative Extension Erie County at (716) 652-5400. These knowledgeable volunteers are available from 9 a.m. to noon weekdays. You can also email them at mgeriecce@gmail.com. There are helpful Cornell Cooperative Extension offices in other counties, too. Find contact information here for your county’s Cooperative Extension office.
You can also stop at a garden center to get great information. Check out our advertisers, click on their ad and you’ll be taken to their website or Facebook page to get their hours, address and other important information.
Turning to Cornell Cooperative Extension or your local garden center is probably the fastest route for getting your questions answered.
However, if you have a question and you’d like to get a wide range of opinions, email the question to me and I’ll pose it to my readers in an upcoming issue.
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Thought for today
“The great French Marshall Lyautey once asked his gardener to plant a tree. The gardener objected that the tree was slow growing and would not reach maturity for 100 years. The Marshall replied, ‘In that case, there is no time to lose; plant it this afternoon!'”
John F. Kennedy, U.S. president
It’s my understanding that when ivy is allowed to grow upward, it matures to an adult form which may then flower. Since it can be very destructive to the materials that it climbs on, ivy is rarely allowed to grow upwards.
Check with the Ivy Society on the web or at the Erie County Botanical Garden.