Horticulture News
Jefferson County’s Extension Connection March-April 2014
Volume 17
Page21 Issue
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County’s
Horticulture News
Our December ice storm caused damage to many area trees. Weak-wooded trees like this birch are especially prone to damage. See care recommendations on page 4.
Jefferson County’s Extension Connection
Page 2
Table of Contents A Good Guy ........................................................................ 2 It’s Maple Season ............................................................. 3 Ice Storm Damaged Trees ............................................ 4 Cold Winter Temperatures and the Emerald Ash Borer ............................................................................ 5 Flower Families: The Composite Family ................ 6 Gardening for Fitness .................................................... 7 Health and Wellness Fair ............................................. 7 Horticulture Calendar ................................................... 8
Mission Statement: Cornell Cooperative Extension Association of Jefferson County educates youth, families, farmers, and communities using researchbased knowledge for practical application and lifelong learning. Building Strong and Vibrant New York Communities Cornell Cooperative Extension provides equal program and employment opportunities. NYS College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, NYS College of Human Ecology, and NYS College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, Cooperative Extension Associations, county governing bodies, and U.S. Department of Agriculture, cooperating. Please contact the Cornell Cooperative Extension Association of Jefferson County office if you have special needs or are unable to pay. This publication may contain pesticide recommendations. Changes in pesticide regulations occur constantly and human errors are still possible. Some materials mentioned may no longer be available and some uses may no longer be legal. All pesticides distributed, sold, or applied in New York State must be registered with New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Questions concerning the legality and/or registration status for pesticide use in New York State should be directed to the appropriate Cornell Cooperative Extension Specialist or your regional DEC office. Read the label before applying any pesticide. Cornell Cooperative Extension and its employees assume no liability for the effectiveness or results of any chemicals for pesticide usage. The information given herein is supplied with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no product endorsement by Cornell Cooperative Extension is implied.
A Good Guy By Sue Gwise, Horticulture Educator The beneficial insect that most people are familiar with is the lady beetle. There are several different species that are easily recognized by their bright orange backs with black spots. The native TwoAdult Lady Beetle spotted lady beetle is orange-red with a black spot on each wing cover. The Multicolored Asian lady beetle is the species that is often seen indoors during the winter. Lady beetles are beneficial because they are predators of nasty plant feeding insects. They enjoy feeding on aphids, scale, mealybugs, and mites. Lady beetles are predaceous in their adult stage and in their immature or larval stage. Most people are not familiar with the look of a lady beetle larva. It is so different looking that many people mistake this beneficial larva for a bad guy and kill it! The lady beetle larva has an almost dragon-like or prehistoric appearance. It is covered with spines or tubercles and has bands of orange and black colors. Make no Lady Beetle Larva mistake; this ‘immature’ insect is a very effective predator—just like the adult. Learn to recognize lady beetle larvae so you can appreciate the great service that they provide!
Seven Spotted Lady Beetle
Pink Spotted Lady Beetle
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle
Convergent Lady Beetle
Jefferson County’s Extension Connection
Page 3
It’s Maple Season! By Sue Gwise, Horticulture Educator New York State’s Maple Weekend will be take place over two weekends this year: March 22 & 23 and March 29 & 30. Sugar shacks will be open so you can see maple syrup being made, eat pancakes, and taste samples. All deciduous trees contain a sweet sap, but the sugar maple has the highest concentration of sugar at 2% to 3%. Black maple is very similar to sugar maple in sugar Maple Syrup, Maple Butter, Maple content and its Cream, and More! sap is also used in syrup production. Red and silver maple can be used to make syrup, but their sugar content is lower. The lower the sugar content, the more sap it takes to get syrup. With sugar and black maple trees about 40 gallons of sap will yield one gallon of syrup. Maple syrup is classified into three categories based on color. Grade A Light Amber is considered the ‘Cadillac’ of maple syrup. It is very light in color and has a mild flavor. Medium Amber is darker with a fuller flavor. Dark Amber in the darkest in color and has a strong maple or caramel flavor. Many people who grew up with fake pancake syrup (like me!) prefer the darker maple syrup because it looks and tastes like what they are used to. For those lucky enough to be brought up on real maple syrup, nothing beats the Light Amber. The flavors in maple syrup can vary from year to year. Many factors including soil type, weather conditions, timing of sap Tapping the Trees collection, and processing techniques all have an influence on taste. Syrup flavors can be described as nutty, buttery, vanilla, floral, chocolate honey, smoky, and coffee. A
Scene from a Cornell Maple Camp
natural product, one-quarter cup of maple syrup contains small amounts of iron and calcium plus antioxidants. Interest is increasing in syrup made from trees other than maples. Birch syrup is popular in Alaska. The sugar content of birches is .5 to 2%, so a lot of sap is needed to create syrup. Black walnut sap can also be made into syrup. I tasted both at Cornell’s Uihlein Maple Experiment Station last year. The birch syrup was very light in flavor. The black walnut syrup was very different – chefs are experimenting with it in recipes. Since it has such a unique flavor it is not used in the same ways that we use maple syrup. If you like walnuts, then you would probably like black walnut syrup.
Graded bottles of maple syrup are displayed in a window at the Uihlein Maple Experiment Station in Lake Placid.
For more information on NYS Maple Weekend visit www.nysmaple.com/mapleweekend.
Jefferson County’s Extension Connection
Page 4
Ice Storm Damaged Trees By Sue Gwise, Horticulture Educator If you have any trees on your property, they probably received some damage from the pre-Christmas ice storm. Though it was not nearly as severe as the 1998 storm, you should assess your trees to determine what needs to be done. First of all you need to ask yourself if the tree can be saved. If the main trunk is broken or split, remove the tree. If most of the branches have been broken it should also be removed. This goes for both large and small trees. If you have large trees, professionals should be called in. Any broken and/or hanging branches should be removed – they are hazardous. If you have a large tree that sustained heavy damage and you want to save the tree, a certified arborist should be called in to assess the tree and determine if it is worth saving. Since the ice storm of ’98 took out most of the large, weak, and old trees, many of the trees that were damaged in December are much smaller. If you can easily reach the damage from the ground, you can take care of them yourself. In my travels around the county, I am seeing mainly two types of damage on small trees: broken branches and broken leaders. Broken branches should be removed before the tree leafs out, mainly because you can see what you are doing much better than when you are surrounded by leaves! You want to remove broken branches from their point of origin. Follow the branch back to where it begins, either at the trunk or at a larger branch; you want to make your pruning cut at that point. Don’t just cut beyond the broken portion – you need to remove the whole branch. It is also important to make a healthy pruning cut! Look at the area where the branch joins the trunk, or a larger branch. On the top of the branch that needs to be removed you will see a rough, raised area called the ‘branch bark ridge.’ On the bottom of the branch is a swollen area called the ‘branch collar.’ You
want to make your pruning cut to the outside of these areas. If you cut into these areas it is called a ‘flush cut.’ This type of cut damages adjacent tissue and takes a long time to heal. Conversely, ‘stub cutting’ is not healthy either. This is when a large stub is left behind after pruning. This also takes a long time to heal. On branches less than one-inch in diameter, one cut can be made either with pruners or a hand saw. On branches that are larger than one-inch, a saw must be used and three cuts should be made to remove the broken branch. Make the first cut on the underside of the branch about one foot from its point of attachment; cut half way through the branch. Make the second cut on the top of the branch about an inch out from the first cut and cut all the way through the branch. This creates a pivot point and the branch will break at the point between the two cuts. Then you can make the final cut just outside the branch collar. This method removes most of the weight so the branch does not tear into healthy tissue when you make the final cut. If the leader, or main center branch has been broken it should be removed with a correct pruning cut and a new leader should be trained to preserve the shape of the tree. To train a new leader, select a long, somewhat upright branch near the leader that was removed. Using a rope or wire (cushion the
The leader on this tree is broken. A new leader will have to be trained.
Jefferson County’s Extension Connection
area where the rope or wire touches the tree with an old piece of garden hose) gently pull the selected branch into an upright position. Pull the rope down and stake it into the ground. Be careful not to break the branch! You may not be able to get it totally upright – you may have to do the training in stages. Every couple of months pull the branch so it is more upright and re-stake it. Eventually this branch will take over and become the leader.
Page 5
The methods described above may be difficult to understand without photos or drawings. The US Forest Service has an excellent publication online. “How to Prune Trees” has precise pictures and is available at http://na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/howtos/ ht_prune/htprune-rev-2012-screen.pdf. If you would like a copy, or have any questions on pruning, contact Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County at 788-8450.
Cold Winter Temperatures and the Emerald Ash Borer By Sue Gwise, Horticulture Educator We all did some complaining this winter when temperatures plunged well below zero for days at a time. Unpleasant as it was, these temperatures may have been beneficial in controlling the evil emerald ash borer (EAB). Since 2002, the EAB has wiped out most of the ash trees in the midwest due to its tunneling and feeding activities just under the bark layer. Once infested most ash trees die within two years. Individual trees can be treated, but for the 900 million forest ash trees in New York State, treatment is not a viable option. In 2009 EAB moved into New York State and although this insect has not appeared in Jefferson County yet, it is only a matter of time. The unusually* cold temperatures of this past winter may have helped to control EAB populations. The emerald ash borer survives the winter in a larval stage. It hunkers down in chambers just under the bark in the outer sapwood of the tree. Like most larvae that overwinter in cold climates, the EAB produces a natural ‘antifreeze’ that protects it from the cold. But, this protection only goes so far. A 2010 USDA study of EAB larvae found: At -10OF larvae mortality was 34% At -20OF larvae mortality was 79% At -30oF larvae mortality was 98%! Of course, there are a few caveats. Some larvae may be more insulated than others. For example larvae in an older tree will have more insulation because the bark is thicker; larvae overwintering in the bottom of an ash trunk will have more insulation due to snow cover. Nothing is absolute, but I think you will agree that
based on the figures above, this winter has put a big dent in EAB populations! Unfortunately the 2% of the population that survive those -30o temperatures are probably inherently cold hardy and they will pass this trait onto their off spring. This, along with an overall climate change, will eventually catch up with us and the ash. But this situation does buy us time! The longer we can delay the movement (and reproduction) of the EAB, the more time we have to come up with an effective control, especially for forest-grown ash. Time will tell and I’m sure many studies will be conducted to see just what kind of impact the winter of 2013-2014 had on the EAB. Stay tuned… *Unusual is a relative term. For those of us over 40, the winter was normal. We just haven’t seen a normal winter in about 15 years! For those that are under 40 or from out of the area, I’m sure you were totally freaked out!
Map can be found at www.dec.ny.gov/animals/82847.html.
Jefferson County’s Extension Connection
Page 6
Flower Families: The Composite Family By Sue Gwise, Horticulture Educator
Plants in this family generally have what are called ‘composite’ flowers. What we think of as a flower is actually a flower head made up of two different types of flowers. Think of a daisy. The yellow center is composed of hundreds of 3mm long flowers called disk flowers. Surrounding this center button are what we might call white ‘petals.’ These are actually another type of flower called a ray flower. The family gets its name from the ‘composition’ of these two flower types. Of course there are some exceptions to the structure described above. Some composite flowers are made up of ray flowers only; chicory is an example. Others are made of only disk flowers: tansy, Joe-Pye weed, and Canada thistle.
Echinacea
Plant species are arranged into larger groups called ‘families’ based on their flower structure. The Composite family is composed of many common ornamental annuals and perennials. It is a large family with over 19,000 species worldwide. In many publications the Composite family may be called by its Latin names ‘compositae’ or ‘asteraceae’ or simply the daisy family.
Marigolds
Heliopsis
Composite flowers are the workhorses of our gardens because of their variations and adaptability. They also attract and feed large numbers of beneficial insects including butterflies. The painted lady butterfly is attracted to thistle; monarchs like Joe-Pye weed, and pearl crescents are attracted by black-eyed Susan and aster.
Composite Family Members Dandelion
Marigold
Artichoke
Ragweed
Strawflower
Chicory
Sunflower (Heliopsis)
Zinnia
Coneflower (Echinacea)
Aster
Dahlia
Cosmos
Daisy
Chrysanthemum
Tansy
Coreopsis
Yarrow
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
Jefferson County’s Extension Connection
Page 7
Gardening for Fitness We hope to have a great turn out at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County’s first Health and Wellness Fair on March 10 (see announcement below)! Remember that gardening is a great activity that burns calories; in fact gardening in general burns 272 calories per hour. The following chart will give you an idea of how many calories you burn with each task.
Gardening Task
Calories burned per hour
Picking fruit or vegetables
204
Raking
292
Weeding
306
Planting trees
306
Pruning with a manual cutter
306
Clearing land Digging
340 340
Lawn mowing with a push mower
374
Tilling with a power machine
408
Cornell Page 8
Cooperative Extension Association of Jefferson County 203 North Hamilton Street Watertown, NY 13601-2948
Jefferson County’s Extension Connection Non-Profit Organization
US POSTAGE PAID Permit #242 WATERTOWN NY
Horticulture Newsletter Your resource for gardening, lawn care, vegetables, trees, pests, and more; from Cornell Cooperative Extension Association of Jefferson County.
HORTICULTURE CALENDAR March 4
Vegetable Gardening at the Carthage Library at 6:30 p.m.
March 11
Perennial Gardening at the Carthage Library at 6:30 p.m.
March 19
Introduction to Vegetable Gardening at 7:00 p.m.
March 20
First Day of Spring!
March 22 & 23 and 29 & 30
New York State Maple Weekend; pick up a brochure for locations.
March 25
Master Gardener Volunteers meeting at 5:30 p.m.
April 2
Vegetable Production at 7:00 p.m.
April 5
Arbor Day Celebration at South Jefferson High School from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Look for our Master Gardener Volunteers with children’s activities!
April 22
Master Gardener Volunteers meeting at 5:30 p.m.
April 25
Arbor Day
All events to be held at the Extension office unless otherwise noted.
203 North Hamilton Street, Watertown, New York 13601 Phone: 315-788-8450 Fax: 315-788-8461 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ccejefferson.org www.facebook.com/ccejefferson
Volume 17
Page21 Issue
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County’s
Horticulture News
Our December ice storm caused damage to many area trees. Weak-wooded trees like this birch are especially prone to damage. See care recommendations on page 4.
Jefferson County’s Extension Connection
Page 2
Table of Contents A Good Guy ........................................................................ 2 It’s Maple Season ............................................................. 3 Ice Storm Damaged Trees ............................................ 4 Cold Winter Temperatures and the Emerald Ash Borer ............................................................................ 5 Flower Families: The Composite Family ................ 6 Gardening for Fitness .................................................... 7 Health and Wellness Fair ............................................. 7 Horticulture Calendar ................................................... 8
Mission Statement: Cornell Cooperative Extension Association of Jefferson County educates youth, families, farmers, and communities using researchbased knowledge for practical application and lifelong learning. Building Strong and Vibrant New York Communities Cornell Cooperative Extension provides equal program and employment opportunities. NYS College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, NYS College of Human Ecology, and NYS College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University, Cooperative Extension Associations, county governing bodies, and U.S. Department of Agriculture, cooperating. Please contact the Cornell Cooperative Extension Association of Jefferson County office if you have special needs or are unable to pay. This publication may contain pesticide recommendations. Changes in pesticide regulations occur constantly and human errors are still possible. Some materials mentioned may no longer be available and some uses may no longer be legal. All pesticides distributed, sold, or applied in New York State must be registered with New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Questions concerning the legality and/or registration status for pesticide use in New York State should be directed to the appropriate Cornell Cooperative Extension Specialist or your regional DEC office. Read the label before applying any pesticide. Cornell Cooperative Extension and its employees assume no liability for the effectiveness or results of any chemicals for pesticide usage. The information given herein is supplied with the understanding that no discrimination is intended and no product endorsement by Cornell Cooperative Extension is implied.
A Good Guy By Sue Gwise, Horticulture Educator The beneficial insect that most people are familiar with is the lady beetle. There are several different species that are easily recognized by their bright orange backs with black spots. The native TwoAdult Lady Beetle spotted lady beetle is orange-red with a black spot on each wing cover. The Multicolored Asian lady beetle is the species that is often seen indoors during the winter. Lady beetles are beneficial because they are predators of nasty plant feeding insects. They enjoy feeding on aphids, scale, mealybugs, and mites. Lady beetles are predaceous in their adult stage and in their immature or larval stage. Most people are not familiar with the look of a lady beetle larva. It is so different looking that many people mistake this beneficial larva for a bad guy and kill it! The lady beetle larva has an almost dragon-like or prehistoric appearance. It is covered with spines or tubercles and has bands of orange and black colors. Make no Lady Beetle Larva mistake; this ‘immature’ insect is a very effective predator—just like the adult. Learn to recognize lady beetle larvae so you can appreciate the great service that they provide!
Seven Spotted Lady Beetle
Pink Spotted Lady Beetle
Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle
Convergent Lady Beetle
Jefferson County’s Extension Connection
Page 3
It’s Maple Season! By Sue Gwise, Horticulture Educator New York State’s Maple Weekend will be take place over two weekends this year: March 22 & 23 and March 29 & 30. Sugar shacks will be open so you can see maple syrup being made, eat pancakes, and taste samples. All deciduous trees contain a sweet sap, but the sugar maple has the highest concentration of sugar at 2% to 3%. Black maple is very similar to sugar maple in sugar Maple Syrup, Maple Butter, Maple content and its Cream, and More! sap is also used in syrup production. Red and silver maple can be used to make syrup, but their sugar content is lower. The lower the sugar content, the more sap it takes to get syrup. With sugar and black maple trees about 40 gallons of sap will yield one gallon of syrup. Maple syrup is classified into three categories based on color. Grade A Light Amber is considered the ‘Cadillac’ of maple syrup. It is very light in color and has a mild flavor. Medium Amber is darker with a fuller flavor. Dark Amber in the darkest in color and has a strong maple or caramel flavor. Many people who grew up with fake pancake syrup (like me!) prefer the darker maple syrup because it looks and tastes like what they are used to. For those lucky enough to be brought up on real maple syrup, nothing beats the Light Amber. The flavors in maple syrup can vary from year to year. Many factors including soil type, weather conditions, timing of sap Tapping the Trees collection, and processing techniques all have an influence on taste. Syrup flavors can be described as nutty, buttery, vanilla, floral, chocolate honey, smoky, and coffee. A
Scene from a Cornell Maple Camp
natural product, one-quarter cup of maple syrup contains small amounts of iron and calcium plus antioxidants. Interest is increasing in syrup made from trees other than maples. Birch syrup is popular in Alaska. The sugar content of birches is .5 to 2%, so a lot of sap is needed to create syrup. Black walnut sap can also be made into syrup. I tasted both at Cornell’s Uihlein Maple Experiment Station last year. The birch syrup was very light in flavor. The black walnut syrup was very different – chefs are experimenting with it in recipes. Since it has such a unique flavor it is not used in the same ways that we use maple syrup. If you like walnuts, then you would probably like black walnut syrup.
Graded bottles of maple syrup are displayed in a window at the Uihlein Maple Experiment Station in Lake Placid.
For more information on NYS Maple Weekend visit www.nysmaple.com/mapleweekend.
Jefferson County’s Extension Connection
Page 4
Ice Storm Damaged Trees By Sue Gwise, Horticulture Educator If you have any trees on your property, they probably received some damage from the pre-Christmas ice storm. Though it was not nearly as severe as the 1998 storm, you should assess your trees to determine what needs to be done. First of all you need to ask yourself if the tree can be saved. If the main trunk is broken or split, remove the tree. If most of the branches have been broken it should also be removed. This goes for both large and small trees. If you have large trees, professionals should be called in. Any broken and/or hanging branches should be removed – they are hazardous. If you have a large tree that sustained heavy damage and you want to save the tree, a certified arborist should be called in to assess the tree and determine if it is worth saving. Since the ice storm of ’98 took out most of the large, weak, and old trees, many of the trees that were damaged in December are much smaller. If you can easily reach the damage from the ground, you can take care of them yourself. In my travels around the county, I am seeing mainly two types of damage on small trees: broken branches and broken leaders. Broken branches should be removed before the tree leafs out, mainly because you can see what you are doing much better than when you are surrounded by leaves! You want to remove broken branches from their point of origin. Follow the branch back to where it begins, either at the trunk or at a larger branch; you want to make your pruning cut at that point. Don’t just cut beyond the broken portion – you need to remove the whole branch. It is also important to make a healthy pruning cut! Look at the area where the branch joins the trunk, or a larger branch. On the top of the branch that needs to be removed you will see a rough, raised area called the ‘branch bark ridge.’ On the bottom of the branch is a swollen area called the ‘branch collar.’ You
want to make your pruning cut to the outside of these areas. If you cut into these areas it is called a ‘flush cut.’ This type of cut damages adjacent tissue and takes a long time to heal. Conversely, ‘stub cutting’ is not healthy either. This is when a large stub is left behind after pruning. This also takes a long time to heal. On branches less than one-inch in diameter, one cut can be made either with pruners or a hand saw. On branches that are larger than one-inch, a saw must be used and three cuts should be made to remove the broken branch. Make the first cut on the underside of the branch about one foot from its point of attachment; cut half way through the branch. Make the second cut on the top of the branch about an inch out from the first cut and cut all the way through the branch. This creates a pivot point and the branch will break at the point between the two cuts. Then you can make the final cut just outside the branch collar. This method removes most of the weight so the branch does not tear into healthy tissue when you make the final cut. If the leader, or main center branch has been broken it should be removed with a correct pruning cut and a new leader should be trained to preserve the shape of the tree. To train a new leader, select a long, somewhat upright branch near the leader that was removed. Using a rope or wire (cushion the
The leader on this tree is broken. A new leader will have to be trained.
Jefferson County’s Extension Connection
area where the rope or wire touches the tree with an old piece of garden hose) gently pull the selected branch into an upright position. Pull the rope down and stake it into the ground. Be careful not to break the branch! You may not be able to get it totally upright – you may have to do the training in stages. Every couple of months pull the branch so it is more upright and re-stake it. Eventually this branch will take over and become the leader.
Page 5
The methods described above may be difficult to understand without photos or drawings. The US Forest Service has an excellent publication online. “How to Prune Trees” has precise pictures and is available at http://na.fs.fed.us/spfo/pubs/howtos/ ht_prune/htprune-rev-2012-screen.pdf. If you would like a copy, or have any questions on pruning, contact Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County at 788-8450.
Cold Winter Temperatures and the Emerald Ash Borer By Sue Gwise, Horticulture Educator We all did some complaining this winter when temperatures plunged well below zero for days at a time. Unpleasant as it was, these temperatures may have been beneficial in controlling the evil emerald ash borer (EAB). Since 2002, the EAB has wiped out most of the ash trees in the midwest due to its tunneling and feeding activities just under the bark layer. Once infested most ash trees die within two years. Individual trees can be treated, but for the 900 million forest ash trees in New York State, treatment is not a viable option. In 2009 EAB moved into New York State and although this insect has not appeared in Jefferson County yet, it is only a matter of time. The unusually* cold temperatures of this past winter may have helped to control EAB populations. The emerald ash borer survives the winter in a larval stage. It hunkers down in chambers just under the bark in the outer sapwood of the tree. Like most larvae that overwinter in cold climates, the EAB produces a natural ‘antifreeze’ that protects it from the cold. But, this protection only goes so far. A 2010 USDA study of EAB larvae found: At -10OF larvae mortality was 34% At -20OF larvae mortality was 79% At -30oF larvae mortality was 98%! Of course, there are a few caveats. Some larvae may be more insulated than others. For example larvae in an older tree will have more insulation because the bark is thicker; larvae overwintering in the bottom of an ash trunk will have more insulation due to snow cover. Nothing is absolute, but I think you will agree that
based on the figures above, this winter has put a big dent in EAB populations! Unfortunately the 2% of the population that survive those -30o temperatures are probably inherently cold hardy and they will pass this trait onto their off spring. This, along with an overall climate change, will eventually catch up with us and the ash. But this situation does buy us time! The longer we can delay the movement (and reproduction) of the EAB, the more time we have to come up with an effective control, especially for forest-grown ash. Time will tell and I’m sure many studies will be conducted to see just what kind of impact the winter of 2013-2014 had on the EAB. Stay tuned… *Unusual is a relative term. For those of us over 40, the winter was normal. We just haven’t seen a normal winter in about 15 years! For those that are under 40 or from out of the area, I’m sure you were totally freaked out!
Map can be found at www.dec.ny.gov/animals/82847.html.
Jefferson County’s Extension Connection
Page 6
Flower Families: The Composite Family By Sue Gwise, Horticulture Educator
Plants in this family generally have what are called ‘composite’ flowers. What we think of as a flower is actually a flower head made up of two different types of flowers. Think of a daisy. The yellow center is composed of hundreds of 3mm long flowers called disk flowers. Surrounding this center button are what we might call white ‘petals.’ These are actually another type of flower called a ray flower. The family gets its name from the ‘composition’ of these two flower types. Of course there are some exceptions to the structure described above. Some composite flowers are made up of ray flowers only; chicory is an example. Others are made of only disk flowers: tansy, Joe-Pye weed, and Canada thistle.
Echinacea
Plant species are arranged into larger groups called ‘families’ based on their flower structure. The Composite family is composed of many common ornamental annuals and perennials. It is a large family with over 19,000 species worldwide. In many publications the Composite family may be called by its Latin names ‘compositae’ or ‘asteraceae’ or simply the daisy family.
Marigolds
Heliopsis
Composite flowers are the workhorses of our gardens because of their variations and adaptability. They also attract and feed large numbers of beneficial insects including butterflies. The painted lady butterfly is attracted to thistle; monarchs like Joe-Pye weed, and pearl crescents are attracted by black-eyed Susan and aster.
Composite Family Members Dandelion
Marigold
Artichoke
Ragweed
Strawflower
Chicory
Sunflower (Heliopsis)
Zinnia
Coneflower (Echinacea)
Aster
Dahlia
Cosmos
Daisy
Chrysanthemum
Tansy
Coreopsis
Yarrow
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
Jefferson County’s Extension Connection
Page 7
Gardening for Fitness We hope to have a great turn out at Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County’s first Health and Wellness Fair on March 10 (see announcement below)! Remember that gardening is a great activity that burns calories; in fact gardening in general burns 272 calories per hour. The following chart will give you an idea of how many calories you burn with each task.
Gardening Task
Calories burned per hour
Picking fruit or vegetables
204
Raking
292
Weeding
306
Planting trees
306
Pruning with a manual cutter
306
Clearing land Digging
340 340
Lawn mowing with a push mower
374
Tilling with a power machine
408
Cornell Page 8
Cooperative Extension Association of Jefferson County 203 North Hamilton Street Watertown, NY 13601-2948
Jefferson County’s Extension Connection Non-Profit Organization
US POSTAGE PAID Permit #242 WATERTOWN NY
Horticulture Newsletter Your resource for gardening, lawn care, vegetables, trees, pests, and more; from Cornell Cooperative Extension Association of Jefferson County.
HORTICULTURE CALENDAR March 4
Vegetable Gardening at the Carthage Library at 6:30 p.m.
March 11
Perennial Gardening at the Carthage Library at 6:30 p.m.
March 19
Introduction to Vegetable Gardening at 7:00 p.m.
March 20
First Day of Spring!
March 22 & 23 and 29 & 30
New York State Maple Weekend; pick up a brochure for locations.
March 25
Master Gardener Volunteers meeting at 5:30 p.m.
April 2
Vegetable Production at 7:00 p.m.
April 5
Arbor Day Celebration at South Jefferson High School from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Look for our Master Gardener Volunteers with children’s activities!
April 22
Master Gardener Volunteers meeting at 5:30 p.m.
April 25
Arbor Day
All events to be held at the Extension office unless otherwise noted.
203 North Hamilton Street, Watertown, New York 13601 Phone: 315-788-8450 Fax: 315-788-8461 Email: [email protected] Web: www.ccejefferson.org www.facebook.com/ccejefferson
