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What's Happening ? Archives

So.....Bring Nature Close to you! Join us each month.

In case you missed last month, you can check out what went on. I blog on about the weather and what is happening in my neck of the woods, where ever that might be! This is to help you figure out what a gardener is thinking about, wishing for , thinking about doing and what I am doing at the moment. All in the hope that this will bring you close to nature, and you will bring nature close.

     Well all that complaining about the weather has taken a turn. We are not trying to "garden under water" as one of my friends says! The weather in my eyes has been lovely. Nice and warm (70's and 80's), with a slight breeze or even a few scattered clouds. Just perfect and quite delicious!!
     If all your plants were just sitting there, they will take off now. So water when you need too. Just because we had all that rain doesn't mean you can forgo water on a hot day. Shade any transplants with cardboard or a shingle wedged in the ground. Make it so they are shaded in the hottest part of the day for 1 or 2 days. Remove the shade after that. Water in the morning or evening so less of your water gets evaporated. Morning is the best if you can squeeze it in before going to work. This allows all the leaves and stems to dry out completely before night. The idea is that molds, mildew and rust, love damp areas and have a better chance of getting a hold on leaves and stems that are wet or damp. Especially avoid watering roses, hollyhocks, lettuce and cabbages in the evening. These plants are all suseptable to mold, mildew, rust and rot.
     There is plenty of time to put in more beans if yours rotted in the wet weather. Another quick row of turnips will work too.
     If you have Aphids, spray them off every morning with water. If there are no benificial insects feeding on the aphids, spray with a mixture of HorseTail tea on the plants. Spray the top and undersides of leaves about 3 days in a row. The silica in the HorseTail will kill the insects with soft bodies. Slugs seem to be rampant this year due to the rain. For more information on getting rid of slugs read my "Ask Izzy" page.

     This month I am going to tell you about the Wildlife Botanical Gardens! A friend and I go exploring every Sunday. Since we are a bit new to the area we like to familiarize our selves with what is avalible. We look for nice parks to have picnics, paint, bike ride, walk or just relax.
     This last Sunday we found a wonderful set of gardens and some nice long trails avalible to the public. This botanical garden is called NatureScaping SW Washington. It is located at 11000 NE 149th Street, Brush Prarie, Washington.
     This is an all volunteer outreach program. You can take a class there, become a member, and most important of all, volunteer! They always need volunteers.
     There is the Home Stead Garden marked by a mailbox and an old garden gate. The blueberries there were emormous! A few vegetables and sweet old country garden plants.
      The Hummingbird Garden was just about in full bloom. Luscious plants with long tubes full of necter, a hummingbirds dream. There were also a few feeders to keep up with the flow of hummers.
     NorthWest Bird Haven and the Collectors Garden were alive with birds. Actually the whole place was a wonderful haven for birds. But many were congregated in the trees, or taking a bath in the fountian or scuttling through the plants looking for bug or seed treats. Also included are specific plants for butterflies. Most butterflies like a particular type of plant to lay eggs in and have the larva hatch out and eat in. This garden provides a wide variety of plants that butterfies love.

     There is the cottage garden. This garden is designed to show how you can make a small area into a haven for yourself. With a great side benifit of attracting birds and butterflies. This is achieved by planting smaller varieties of typical plants.
     The Native Woodland Garden focuses on the native plants of the Pacific North West. Most of these plants remain unpruned to show their natural beauty, foilage and cycle in the natural scope of things.
     There is the 4H food bank garden. Raised beds in boxes. Mostly food.
     The other cool thing is the Master Composter area. This area has all kinds of compost bins. Plus some compost bins that are bottomless and sunk in the ground to attract and grow worms. It was nice to see all the experiments and all the different types of composters (or many) that are avalible.
     They are working on a Urban Design Garden. For homeowners with small areas. I'll be anxious to see all the great ideas and designs they come up with.
     On the outside in the back is a small orchard, two large green houses and a lath house (for shading Plants). The Botanical Gardens greenhouses provide growing space for plants used in their plant sale each year.
      Included around the gardens are walking paths that wind in and out of forested and meadow areas and a couple of small ponds. The Bullfrogs were singing, at least one or two proclaiming the pond as their own! The Red-Winged Blackbirds were clinging to the Cattails singing out their wonderful song. The ponds had native floating leaved plants, Tule and Willow.

     All in all the gardens grow over 500 species of plants, many of which are labled. Special emphasis is on native plants of our area, plus attraction and habitat of birds, butterflies and other wildlife.
     They are open fron dawn to dusk, seven days a week. It is a great place to learn, explore and enjoy. If you are really curious you can volunteer and learn from experts that are working there.
     Their web site is: www.naturescaping.org
     E-mail: Info@naturescaping.org
     Volunteer Outreach Coordinator: Elaine 360-831-4036
      partners4naturescaping@gmail
     Mailing Address: NatureScaping SW Washington
                                PO Box 891
                                Camas, Wash. 98607

For more pictures go to the PHOTO Page on this web site!!