A No-Dig Garden requires either sheets of newspaper covered in cardboard or simply 6-12 inches of wood chips of any kind — No Dig, No Plastic, No Hassle. Poison Ivy and Virginia Creeper might burst through these barriers, but they can be eliminated later when they appear.

On May 26th, Garden Club member Amelia Lantz led the charge in cutting through the cardboard to plant the two No-Dig Garden beds at the Orchard in Brookside Park. Beebalm (Monarda didyma), the milkweed Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa), Joe-Pye Weed (Eutrochium purpureum), Golden Alexander (Zizia aurea), and Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum) are the initial plantings donated by Amelia and Commissioner Marty Gearhart. Commissioner Dennis Ryan reclaimed his past glory of 2016 when he had assisted Renee Gustafson in the first Pollinator Gardens. His Three Dollar Dolley and his Grandkids’ Radio Flyer Brand Little Red Wagon were once again put to good use in moving plants and buckets of mulch.

Special praise for Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum). Less invasive than most mints, it has an excellent tolerance for a wide range of light and moisture and is a big favorite for nearly all pollinators. In fact, the University of Delaware entomologist, renowned conservationist, and prolific author Doug Tallamy has stated that if every home owner planted a native oak and a clump of Mountain Mint, huge benefits would benefit bugs and, especially, birds. Dr. Tallamy has shown that it takes 10,000 caterpillars to raise a clutch of 4 chickadees from eggs to adulthood. Since oaks are everywhere in Grantham, all we need to do to help our fauna is to plant Mountain Mint. If you want to do more, you can buy one of his many books such as “Bringing Nature Home” or “Nature’s Best Hope.” And be sure to check out his organization: homegrownnationalpark.org

As the gardens grow through the summer, the other GGC members of the “The Brookside Brigade,” including Terri Munson, Renee Gustafson, and Kathy Houghton (also a Commissioner) will help Commissioners Dennis Ryan and Arborist Colin Davis of Wild Tree with additional plant donations as well as watering. Check out the No-Dig Gardens and the information on both sides of the Orchard Kiosk when you next walk Brookside. And don’t forget to take iNaturalist Observations whenever you are there.

I’ve written about escapees in this blog before, but a recent hitch hiking lupine deserves a post of its own.  Back in 2023 when a wonderful group of volunteers dug up and hauled dirt from the Grantham Transfer Station to the post office with the sole goal of providing a 42 foot flower bed for daffodils, they didn’t realize that a tiny precious lupine seed was hidden in the dirt.  The following spring, the garden club folks noticed a sweet little baby lupine among the daffodils and hoped it would thrive.  To our delight, the grown up lupine blossomed this month and and is perfect.  It may have crashed the party, but it is a very welcome guest.
 
When I read up on lupines, I learned that they love full sun and well drained, sandy soil.  Not surprisingly, that describes the post office plot perfectly.  Lupines are difficult to divide because they have a long taproot and don’t like to be uprooted. The taproot brings up nitrogen that improves the soil so is a wonderful neighbor for the daffodils.  A potential bonus is that lupines often re-seed and this lupine could multiply over the years.  Picture a row of lupines showing up there every May to the delight of the folks who gather to chat outside the Grantham Post Office. 
 
There are a couple of related posts that you might like to read:
9/11/20 Escapees by Terri Munson
6/19/22 A Day Journey to the Land of Lupines by Mark Kendall
10/18/23 Post Office Project by Terri Munson

Although it’s ostensibly spring, the recent ice storm is reporting otherwise. I kept venturing outside to see the familiar trees and shrubs looking magical under a coat of ice.  I didn’t worry about them surviving this onslaught.  They are New Hampshire plants who have seen it all before. Something I hadn't seen before is the way the ice formed grooves and canals to match those on the buds and leaves.  
 
I recently visited the cherry blossoms in DC and saw a similarity in the photos I took of the blossomed cherry trees and the iced crabapple trees.  Just like those much beloved cherry blossoms, the ice spectacle didn’t last long.  After a few days, the ice was shed like hailstones. Unlike the reliable, annual cherry blossoms; ice storms are rare.  The lesson to me is to seize the moment before it melts away. 

Courtney Rogers led an enthusiastic group of 30 adults on Saturday, March 8th, around her family’s maple farm on a picturesque piece of land in Warner, New Hampshire.  The Sap2Syrup tour was organized by Jamie Wilson of the wonderful Ausborn Sargent Land Preservation Trust.*
 
Courtney explained that her husband Kalvin is an expert who has been tapping maple trees since he was a boy.  His father Philip started as a young child and built his first sugar shack when he was 13 years old in the late 1950’s with lumber his older brother gave him. When Phillip married, sugaring became a family affair and his son Kalvin absorbed Phillip’s passion. You could say that sap runs in their veins.  Sadly Philip passed away in 2017 but his legacy lives on. 
 
For years they used those ubiquitous buckets that you see hanging from the lower trunk on maple trees this time of year.  Using buckets was a labor intensive method which resulted in an equally delicious product, but now thanks to advancement in equipment for harvesting, filtering, and processing; a season can yield more syrup.
 
Kalvin taps each of his 4,000 maple trees which are connected by a series of tubes that bring the sap to the sugar house with vacuum action.  Courtney explained that she and Kalvin sometimes walk around their 120 acres of land and listen for leaks.  I think it’s safe to say they know all their trees intimately.
 
After our brisk walk in the sunny woods, we were treated to a tour of the sugar house where we met Kalvin, his mom Marian, and his helpmate Roger Andrus.  They pointed out all the tubes, filters, and monitors. Kalvin told us that he recently purchased a reverse osmosis machine which takes some of the water out of the sap. The more concentrated sap takes much less time to boil and and uses much less wood. Kalvin used to burn 40 cords of wood each season but now burns only 10.  The farm yields more than 1,000 gallons of syrup during the short season (March and April).  The water that was separated doesn’t go to waste.  Kalvin runs it through the tubes, pipes, and vats at the end of the day to clean them. 
 
After they patiently answered all our questions, we were in for an unexpected treat.  Marian handed everyone a tiny cup of still warm syrup. What flavorful, buttery, maple syrup!  I could taste the pride and love that went into their 'liquid gold.'
 
Ines Wishart who is the vice president of the garden club arranged with Courtney for a private tour for the club next March.  Keep an eye out next year for the field trip to Rogers' Maple Farm.
 
Here's the website for Rogers' Maple Syrup:  nhliquidgold.com
Here's the website for Ausborn Sargent Land Preservation Trust:  https://www.ausbonsargent.org/

*A portion of the walk was on the adjacent Brown Family's Frazier Brook Farm which Ausbon Sargent holds a conservation easement on.  The conservation easement protects the Brown property in perpetuity and allows the land to be open to agricultural activities such as sugaring.

Spring’s approach was marked on March 1st in Brookside’s Orchard when arborist Colin Davis, Conservation Commission member and founder of Wild Tree LLC in Grantham, demonstrated his approach to rejuvenating old apple trees.

Garden Club members will remember that Gail Jellie of NH Extension as well as Jeff and Susan Figley of King Blossom Farm advised the Commission last year. Afterwards, Commission Chair Dave Wood and Garden Club members then spent two days last March beginning the process of taming the wild trees to produce more flowers and fruit for pollinators and wildlife. It worked, and the Commission is excited to think of the future with an ISA certified arborist caring for the trees going forward.
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Colin prefers to use only hand tools in pruning, frequently returning to the ground to evaluate the presentation of the pruning cuts he has made. As he says, “You are always pruning for the future.” He plans to bring all the trees down to more manageable heights over the next several years.

Garden Club Members are encouraged to visit the Orchard whenever they walk Brookside and watch the transition. Additionally, the Mini Model No-Dig Pollinator Garden will be in bloom thanks to the help of Garden Club members Rene Gustafson and Amelia Lantz. Please visit, take photos, and then “SHARE” them on iNaturalist when you do! The Commission wants to know what is happening at Brookside, and you can help.

You can see a Round-Leaved Sundew whether you walk behind the Grantham Town Hall to the Conservation Commission’s sign by the seep or bicycle along the trail parallel to 89 next to the cliffs south of the Humane Society or drive to the Philbrick-Cricenti Bog in New London. They’re not endangered, but they do need to be wet. In North America, we have four species, all living in peat bogs, fens, and drainage sites. There are actually five species if you count the Venus Fly Trap which is included in the Family Droseraceae and lives only in small coastal bogs in the Carolinas.

Worldwide, the Droseraceae are the most diverse of all families of carnivorous plants with nearly 200 species and countless native hybrids as well as cultivars bred for their spectacular leaves and lovely flowers. But if you really want to see sundews, go to Australia, no bogs required. You will need your iNaturalist Ap to help identify everything you find. Most sundews are perennials, living up to 50 years, but some are annuals or biennials, dying after blooming. They grow in nitrogen-poor soils on every continent except Antarctica, originating in Australia and South Africa. Adaptations to drought and flooding include tubers, corms, and hibernacula — a core of hard, unfurled leaves tolerant of freezing and dehydration. All our North American species form hibernacula to survive winter.

Insect entrapment involves active movement of tentacles. In the catapulting species (see the Pimpernel Sundew below), the outer tentacles flick the insect into the center of the leaf where stickier tentacles then wrap around the victim. In many species, entire leaves curl into a ball of digestion. The sticky gel that gives all sundews their name not only exhausts the insect but also suffocates them by clogging their respiratory openings. Death can occur in as little as 15 minutes with acids and digestive enzymes secreted by the plant almost immediately. Here's a wikipedia link to a cool video:    
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drosera_glanduligera​
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​No wonder Charles Darwin loved these plants! His research showed that true digestion occurs as an evolutionary adaptation to nitrogen-poor soils. The roots of most species do little more than anchor the plant and absorb water. Nutritional needs come from the entrapped insects. And, like most every carnivorous plant, the flowers tower above the insect-eating leaves to keep pollinators safe. Now that you are as excited about sundews as Charles Darwin, here are more videos and a few of my photographs of Australian sundews.

​You know the picture you see of a duck gracefully swimming in a pond, but you don’t see her legs frantically paddling?  That metaphor can be applied to this year’s Centerpiece Making event. When about 50 people walked in to Town Hall at 9:30 on December 16th, the evergreen boughs were clipped to manageable sizes, 140 mugs were filled with AgraWool, and three tables worth of adorable decorations were ready and waiting.
 
Here’s the back story:
Christine Cecchetti and the Eastman Recreation folks donated the leftover evergreen boughs that Maintenance had harvested from the forest for the annual holiday wreath making workshops. Diane Cameron and Bob Munson wrestled two huge tarps full of the greenery into their cars and wrestled them out and dumped them in Diane’s side yard.  Then it snowed. Then it rained.  A lot! I feared that the boughs would be broken and wet, but by some Christmas miracle, they came through dry and looking as fresh as new.  The lesson learned was that huge bundles of boughs should not be moved in vehicles as small and inaccessible as cars. Vice President Betsy Fowler asked her friend and neighbor Merritt Cavanaugh if he’d be willing to help transport the green in his pick up truck, and he readily agreed :-) 
 
The next problem came from the AgraWool which is an environmentally conscious alternative to floral foam blocks.  It consists of basalt rock spun into fibers.  The volunteer group of Kristina Cole, Diane Cameron, Anke Clews, Sue Johnson, Ilene Ladd, Nancy Menton, and Suzie Weiss took on the task of using serrated knives to cut the blocks of AgraWool into a size they could squeeze into the mugs. Before long, a mist of tiny fibers filled the air and caused the volunteers to cough.  You know what they say about ‘no good deed….'  I remembered seeing a container of masks in the entranceway so could at least give them some measure of relief. Not one of them gave up until all 140 mugs were filled, watered, and ready to go.   What an amazing bunch of women.  
 
The final glitch which was the least troublesome came the morning of the event when I stopped at the club’s storage unit to pick up the GGC sign and some boxes only to discover that the lock was frozen shut.  Thank goodness we set up all the mugs and decorations the day before.
 
Rather than tell you the rest of the story, I’ll let the pictures show the results despite a few stumbling blocks.  It was all worth it in the end. 

​Fellow garden club member and nature lover Jim Lantz alerted me to the gorgeous meadow of goldenrod along Old Rte. 10 in Grantham.  It’s their very beautiful yellow blossoms that attract the pollinators as well as folks like Jim and me.  The meadow was buzzing with bees. 
 
Hay fever sufferers often give goldenrod a bad rap and blame it for their itchy eyes and runny noses.  I’d like to set the record straight.  Ragweed is the guilty party while goldenrod plants are merely innocent bystanders. 
 
The reason for the confusion is that they blossom at the same time of year starting in late summer.  Their method of pollination is very different and is the reason why ragweed causes hay fever.  Goldenrod has bright yellow blossoms to attract pollinators who pick up their sticky pollen and carry it from blossom to blossom.  
 
Ragweed looks very different. It has tiny green flowers which make tiny pollen that is windborne.  A single ragweed plant can produce over a billion pollen grains which can travel for miles in a stiff wind. If you enjoy spending time outdoors at this time of year, it is impossible to avoid inhaling some. Researches have found ragweed pollen two miles up in the atmosphere and 400 miles out at sea.
 
Before my PictureThis app identified ragweed for me, I was guilty of blaming goldenrod for the problems that ragweed cause and offer my sincere apologies. 

When the Friends of the Dunbar Free Library sent out a notice listing all the wonderful museums they offer passes to, I took advantage of the one for Billings Farm.  I had taken my children and my grandchildren there many times when they were young.  This was my first time going without kids in tow. 
 
Although I enjoyed seeing the cows, chickens, and quilts; I was most impressed by the flowers and the plants. Their large garden plot is made up of multiple gardens including herb, pollinator, heirloom, pizza, and permaculture gardens.  The permaculture garden had a Hugelkultur mound made up of layers of hardwoods, leaves, turf, compost, and soil and is where they grow perennial fruits and vegetables.  The mound provides nutrition and lengthens the growing season. 
 
The sun flower maze is quite an attraction. As expected, most everyone in the maze was looking up at the towering sunflowers.  The surprising plants were the very odd looking ones thriving in their shadow.  The plants such as red amaranth, cockscomb, and purple millet looked like Dr. Seuss inventions.  I learned that most of these plants have been used as food and medicine since antiquity. More recently, the Abenaki people grew many of them there.  
 
There’s also another great garden just a short walk away at the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park.  So many gardens, so little time….

Twenty people from the garden club had the privilege of touring Cobb Hill Cohousing with Helen Prussian, one of the 50 residents and an enthusiastic proponent of the sustainable lifestyle there.
 
We learned from Helen that living in the community requires a lot of work.  Residents take turns with chores like  gathering wood and feeding the garn (incinerator),  hauling manure, and collecting eggs from their 48 chickens. In addition to those chores, once a month Cobb Hill holds a 'work day' where all the residents join in to take care of the common areas. The 'work days' are open to the public and a nice way for prospective buyers to chip in and get a feel for the people and their way of life.  Helen's nickname in the community is "The Nudger" for her diplomatic way of getting people going.  Helen and other residents we chatted with are justifiably proud of what they have accomplished together.  
 
Helen guided us all around the farm and even led us through her home to see the beautiful view and check out her composting toilet.  We learned why everything grows so well there with all the composting steps over multiple years before becoming the loam that is spread in the flower  gardens. 
 
Helen is a co-owner of Hillside Herbs & Flowers and gave us the opportunity to pick flowers from her gardens full of gorgeous flowers she had grown from seeds.  Helen showed us which should be picked as buds and which after they  bloom.  She taught little tricks like shaking the zinnias and only picking those that have stiff stems.

Some of us met for lunch just down the road and brought our jars of flowers to learn more from Helen on how to keep the cut flowers fresh. Helen explained how to stop bacterial growth by cutting all the greens that will touch the water and by adding lemon juice and bleach.  She recommended adding sugar to the water to feed the flowers, changing the water every day or two, and cutting a bit off the bottom (at a slant) each time. Our flower festooned table was the envy of the Harpoon Brewery beer garden customers!
 
The pictures below show more of the tour. Go to www.cobbhill.org  to learn even more about Cobb Hill.  I know you'll be impressed.  
 
Thank you Helen for a great tour!