Gardening News - January, 2010

*PLANT CHANGES POLLINATORS!
Cunning Nicotiana plant magically switches pollinating from night to morn to blow off Hornworm stalkers! Recent issue of Current Biology explains.

*What's the 2010 Herb of the Year?
According to the Herb Companion, it's this.

*UVM Plant and Soil Scientist Exposes Crazy Snakeworm
Josef Gorres makes the Free Press with his research of a worm with a big appetite. Read the article.


*GARDENER'S SUPPLY ANNOUNCES WINTER SEMINARS
Seminars run from Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010 to Saturday, April 24, 2010. There are 13 of them, with presenters ranging from author/square foot gardener/engineer/TV personality Mel Bartholomew (well worth the twenty bucks!) to local expert Charlie Nardozzi ( well worth the ten bucks!).

*LAST CHANCE FOR MASTER GARDENER COURSE SIGNUP
Deadline is Thursday, January 21. More info from Master Gardener site.


*BOSTON FLOWER AND GARDEN SHOW MARCH 27
Buy tickets now for the March show.
Green Mountain Tours is also going to the show, hosted by Dave Hamlen from Hamlen's Garden Center.


*WHAT COLOR IS A MARSH MARIGOLD?
Wanna see a nice pic of a Marsh Marigold, courtesy of Vermont Wildflower Farm?
Here you go.


*INTERESTED IN BATS?
South Burlington "bat advocate", or "bat-vocate" Barry Genzlinger will talk about White Nose Disease.
UVM Hort Farm - Feb. 6 - 10am-noon


*THINKING ABOUT SEED STARTING?
Excellent piece from Friends of Burlington Gardens.


*BLOG OF THE MONTH - GARDEN RANT
This is our blog of the month. Geez, we could be on this site all year and not get to everything! Check it out.

• Richard Hawke of the Chicago Botanic Garden will be speaking at the Northern New England nursery conference in Concord, N.H. UVM is a cosponsor. Foster's .com has the details.
• Henry Homeyer has a great new article on problem plants entitled 'Do Not Try This at Home'. It gave me a different outlook on the Queen of the Prairie.
• Hurry, hurry! Vt. Master Gardener course 2010 deadline is January 21, 2010 and starts on February 2, 2010. More info from the Vermont Master Gardener website.
• The North Hill gardening duo, Eck and Winterrowd (sounds like a 60's folk group), are once again gracing the pages of the Times Sunday Book Review, this time on account of their very special book, Our Life In Gardens, being presented in paperback form. Wow! Has it been almost a year since I read the book after seeing the boys at the Vermont Flower show in Essex. Geez! Time flies when you're getting older! Ha-ha.
• UVM's Leonard Perry gets some ink in the Times, talking about vertical gardening. Yup! Vertical gardening. Learn about it here.
• USDA recently plunked 41 million dollars into an emergency fund to help Massachusetts fight the Asian Longhorned Beetle, an invasive pest which attacks healthy hardwood trees. Click for USDA report.