February 2024 Master Gardener News

February 2024

Let the witch hazel remind us of two dates in February right before us.

FEBRUARY 1 EARLY BIRDs

EARLY BIRD Registration for Spring Gardening School ends TODAY. Here are 2 ways to get in on the EARLY Bird discount.

You can email the registration form to Sarah Osborn today.
You can mail your registration form at the US post today.

See details below for other options. Sure, you can register tomorrow or next week at the regular fee. But sessions are popular. Send your registration to save your spot as soon as you can!

FEBRUARY 3 Suffolk Alliance for Pollinators

All Master Gardeners are welcome to join the conversation with leading local organizations creating pollinator corridors. See the description below.

SPRING GARDENING SCHOOL

SATURDAY, MARCH 9

Riverhead CHARTER School

Calverton

We offering 40 terrific gardening programs at Spring Gardening School this year, including new offerings such as "the New Perennial Garden," "Grafting Rootstock," "ReWilding," and "Green Roofs," led by our talented Master Gardeners. Register by FEBRUARY 1 to take advantage of the Early Bird discount.

Class size is limited to 30. If you want the best selection of courses, register as soon as you can. (Congratulations to MG Mary Howe who was the first MG to register this year!)

Take a look at the Spring Gardening School offerings in the SGS flipbook linked here. (Please ignore or close the "x" on the ads on the bottom of this flipbook saying download or continue.)

Most importantly, here’s a pdf file of the SGS Registration page for you to copy, scan or print.

You can email the Registration page to Sarah Osborn at so348@cornell.edu OR send via US mail to Sarah Osborn, Cornell Cooperative Extension, 423 Griffing Ave, Riverhead, NY 11901. Attention Spring Gardening School.

Any difficulties? Reach out to Sarah by email above OR phone at 631 727-7850, ext 207.

Those who have already registered should have recently received a confirmation or will be receiving one shortly as Sarah has been out of the office. She's back! Be reassured. All of your registration forms have been time-stamped in order of their delivery.

Remember Spring Gardening School also counts as CONTINUING EDUCATION hours. Start off the new year with these 5 MG volunteer hours in continuing education. Again. Register asap for your choice of sessions as programs fill on a first come, first served basis.

We need about 5 more MGs to assist on March 9. If you're not registering for sessions, and would like to lend a hand, please drop me a note.

Saturday

FEBRUARY 3

9:00 Mingle over coffee & goodies

9:30-noon meeting

423 Griffing Avenue, Riverhead

(Snow date: Feb. 10)

A number of Master Gardeners are working with the Suffolk Alliance for Pollinators (SAP), which is a collaboration of Master Gardeners and like-minded regional environmental stewardship groups advocating for the development of pollinator corridors. Residential landscapes as well public schools, parks and libraries contribute to the pollinator pathways between and among our towns.

The meeting will highlight a few 2023 efforts, allow the 4 Suffolk regions to meet separately and then report their plans for 2024 activities to the entire group.

Any Master Gardener who would like to join this effort is welcome. SAP hours are also Master Gardener volunteer hours. The easiest way for you to learn about SAP is to add your name to the SAP mailing list linked here.

We will record parts of the meeting via live Zoom. The brief opening and closing reports will be of interest to all. We regret that we're unable to capture the 4 regional conversations happening in other parts of the building. Nevertheless, each Region's effort will be summarized at the end of the session.

Here's the link to the live Zoom. https://cornell.zoom.us/j/97075604263?pwd=OWlUOEs2VS83emdjeGRBU21tZGVHQT09

Here are other links to the meeting.

phone and other zoom links

Below is a photo of our meeting last February.

Please drop me a note if you can help with check in this year. rz378@cornell.edu

Master Gardener

PLANT SALE

APRIL 27

EARTH DAY

Suffolk County Farm

This year the MG PLANT SALE will shine on its own with a couple of new features.

We will have a wonderful array of plants: annuals, perennials, and small shrubs as the photos from prior MG Plant sales illustrate.

We're also celebrating EARTH DAY this year with a special emphasis on NATIVE PLANTS.

To honor EARTH DAY, we've invited Master Gardeners to engage with the public at information tables to talk about pollinator gardens, rain gardens and the role of native plants.

Master Gardeners will also offer tours of the Children's Garden and the rain barrel demonstrations at Suffolk Farm.

Regional organizations will also be on hand to spread the word about gardening best practices.

One KEY different piece this year is PRE-ORDERING of native plants.

The MG Native Plant brochure will be available in the next month's MG Newsletter. We're encouraging you to place your order in March for pick up at the April 27 MG Plant Sale at Suffolk Farm. Although we will have some native plants for sale on April 27, the greatest number and variety will be available through the pre-ordering process.

The Native Plant Brochure will also be available for in person orders at Spring Gardening School on March 9. Please bring a check for payment.

Stay tuned for all the details in the next MG newsletter.

Thanks to MGs Linda Carlson and Bridget Nelson who are helping with the Native Plant pre-ordering and Denise Zizzo for her efforts these many years to make the Master Gardener Plant Sale a success!

Barn Raising

As you well know, maintenance is key for our many demonstration gardens throughout Suffolk County. For those of you at larger sites, please send me possible cleanup dates for March, April and May. I'll post in the MG newsletter.

Please suggest one date and an alternate rain date with a MG contact phone and email address.

All Master Gardeners are invited to help this one time at a different site. Who knows? You might return to assist again.

REPORTING VOLUNTEER HOURS

A friendly reminder to all.

Some of you wait until late December or January 1st to report your all of your hours. In fact, we went over 13,000 hours when the numbers were totalled for 2023. Bravo MGs!

Please get in the habit of reporting your VOLUNTEER HOURS at least 2 or 3 times a year. And then there's the other end of the spectrum with Master Gardeners reporting a couple of times every week. Sure, you can report one or two hours at a time. But better to report in larger numbers as that's a lot less work on our end.

Here's the link to the Master Gardener Reporting Survey.

CONTINUING EDUCATION

Cornell's IPM 'What's Bugging You'

February 2

NYS Plant Regulations | Choosing Native Plants

Pre-register here for WBY Events

Here are Winter Seed Sowers at the Lindenhurst Library and the Ketcham Inn. Well done Master Gardeners with public outreach and adult education.

RESILIENT LI CONFERENCE

March 7-March 9 Hofstra University & sites

LI Invasive Species Management & LINPI host

LOOKING for TABLERS, POSTERS, VOLUNTEERS and SPONSORS

More details at

https://liisma.org/resilientli-2024/

Contact resilientli@liisma.org

The Ketcham Inn will be offering CONIFERS & TREE IDENTIFICATION on Wednesday, February 14th at 10am. This is free to CCE MGs on a space-available basis. Reservations required. Contact janecorrarino@yahoo.com.

Evolution of the American Landscape: Evergreen with Envy

Monday, February 26, 2024

Bayard Cutting Arboretum

In-person and live streamed. Recorded

Registration and details can be found at www.bayardcuttingarboretum.com/symposium

Any questions? Contact MG Doreen Monteleone doreenmn88@gmail.com

Tell a Master Gardener not receiving this newsletter that it's posted on our MG webpage:

Click here:

http://ccesuffolk.org/gardening/master-gardener-volunteers

If you have photos, events and news to share in the newsletter, please email me at rz378@cornell.edu

Happy Gardening!

Roxanne Zimmer

423 Griffing Avenue, Suite 100, Riverhead, NY 11901-3071

631-727-7850

Cornell Cooperative Extension is an employer and educator recognized for valuing AA/EEO, Protected Veterans, and Individuals with Disabilities and provides equal program and employment opportunities.

Cornell Cooperative Extension is funded in part by Suffolk County through the office of the County Executive, and the County Legislature.