THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE




Top: Whatcom County Master Gardener & Master Composter display at the Northwest Washington Fair. Bottom: MG volunteer Pam Newland shows the worm box to curious fair attendees. Photos taken by MG Jeff Dodson. Submit a photo >


EVENTS


MONDAYS
NorthWest Youth Services We Grow Market Stand
1020 N. State Street, Bellingham, Washington 98225 (info)
Fresh, urban-grown produce. Come downtown and support this vocational garden for at risk youth.


SEPT 8
WSU Whatcom County Master Gardener Foundation Monthly Meeting
Presentation: Putting Your Garden to Bed with Marcie from the Garden Spot Nursery
Thursday, 7-9 pm • WSU Extension Office, 1000 N. Forest St Ste 201, Bellingham
Free & Open to the Public


SEPT 9-21
Citizen Science Advanced Entomology Training with WSU Snohomish County Extension
Everett, WA (email for more info)


SEPT 10
Sustainable Connections Farm Tour (info)


SEPT 17
Cascadia Skill Share Fair (info)
volunteer >


SEPT 22
Plant ID Study Group
Thursday, 9-11am • Community Food Co-Op, 315 Westerly Rd, Bellingham
We are returning to indoor sessions unless you hear otherwise. We meet the fourth Thursday each month. The Co-op meeting room is upstairs. Refreshments are available in the store deli. Free Wi-Fi / Internet. These sessions are accepted as educational hours for Master Gardeners.

New MG graduates, public, friends, and relatives  are all welcome!  You may bring samples of flowers and trees (branch with leaves) or just come and participate to keep your native and non-native plant identification skills strong.  If possible, bring a hand lens and a plant identification book, like Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast by Pojar & MacKinnon or a general ID book (like Sunset). Contact Karen Gilliam, (360) 383-4562, jkgilliam@gmail.com, or Louise Granger, (360) 739-2468, rutroad@gmail.com.  


SEPT 24
Recycling Education at NW Soccer Park
Help provide recycling education and support to fans, family, staff and players. With over 10,000 weekly visitors during peak season, there is a lot of waste to manage here. We are eager to turn the tide of recycling in the Bellingham sports community. Get involved! Details TBD.
volunteer >


OCT 8
Annual Hovander Pumpkin Day
Saturday
Limited pumpkins and cut dahlias giveaway


OCT 19
Wednesday, 10am-2pm, WWU
Western Washington University Sustainability Fair


OCT 21
The Art & Science of Gardening: 21st Annual Master Gardener Advanced Training
8am-4pm
Open to the public
5 hours of CE for certified MGs


NOV 3
2016 MG Class Graduation & Annual Awards Dinner
Meridian High School Commons
Dinner 6-7pm, Program 7-8pm 
Celebrate the new class, enjoy presentation of projects, awards.
Family & Friends welcome!

Potluck – details to be announced


NOV 10
WSU Whatcom County Master Gardener Foundation Monthly Meeting
Presentation: Tom Thornton from Cloud Mountain Farm
Thursday, 7-9 pm • WSU Extension Office, 1000 N. Forest St Ste 201, Bellingham
Free & Open to the Public 

SCHEDULE AN EVENT

Foundation Events
Contact Barb Schickler (barbaraschickler2@gmail.com) or Kathleen Bander (kbwm@camano.net) with ideas about future presenters, subjects for presentations, or possible field trips.




FROM THE COORDINATOR'S DESK

Beth Chisholm




THANKS

September Volunteers

Advanced Training Planning Team: Harriet Arkley • Kathy Barrett • Peg Nathon • Rebekah Snodgrass • Geraldine Walker
Master Composter Volunteers: Mill Shires • Barbara King
Notices



2016 MASTER GARDENER / MASTER COMPOSTER GRADUATION & ANNUAL AWARDS DINNER


November 3, 2016
Potluck Dinner & Program
All MGs and MCs encouraged to attend to celebrate the new class,
enjoy presentations of projects & annual awards
Family & Friends Welcome

Please arrive at 5:30, dinner at 6pm, with program to follow
Location:
Meridian High School Commons
194 W Laurel Rd, Bellingham, WA 98226

MG 2016 Class

Recognition Awards

Each year the MG volunteers recognize peers who has gone above and beyond. As we near the end of 2016, we ask that you consider nominating a fellow volunteer that you think is deserving in one of the following areas. Contact Linda Berquist, lbergquist41@gmail.com, or Beth Chisholm by October 15th  with your nomination.  

The John Van Miert Master Gardener of the Year Award
The Master Gardener of the Year Award has been awarded to an outstanding volunteer who has gone above and beyond the volunteer requirements for many years. Extraordinary service, dedication, contributions of time and effort, and compassion to their fellow Master Gardeners and the community in which we live are defining qualities of award recipients. There is an esteemed list of past recipients.  

Past recipients:
John Van Miert  2002
Karen Gilliam 2003
David Simonson 2004
Jill Cotton 2005
Chris Hurst 2006
Cheryll Greenwood Kinsley 2007
Diane Rapoza 2008
Linda Bergquist 2009
Richard Steele 2010
Dick Porter 2011
Loretta Hogg 2012
Judy and Jack Boxx 2013
Harriet Arkley 2014
Bob Barker 2016


Broken Shovel Award
Another award is the Broken Shovel.  This award was inspired by the stash of broken shovels found under the benches in the old greenhouse at Hovander.  This award goes to an individual who has worked tirelessly in the gardens, lots of hard work but not necessarily longevity in the program.

Past Recipients:
Harriet Arkley 2012
Louise Granger 2013
Shelley Fishwild 2014
Dave Keller 2016
No records prior to 2012 - please contact a.kelley@wsu.edu if you have any info!


Barker McHenry Clinic Diagnostician Award 
As we all know, the WSU Master Gardener Program started in 1973 as a plant clinic and garden hotline.  The free diagnostic clinic continues to be a cornerstone to this national program.  In 2014 Whatcom Master Gardeners started to recognized outstanding clinicians who provide leadership, education and service to our community and fellow Master Gardener volunteers.

Past recipients: 
Mill Shires 2014
Jeff Dodson 2015 



2017 Master Composter Class 

Scheduled for May-June 2017  
Pre-Register Here



Thinking Ahead

Kathleen Bander

Thank you, all Master Gardeners, who stepped up with plants for this year’s sale. With all the donations, the sale was a success, and the proceeds will allow the Master Gardener Board to continue supporting programs and positions that ensure the viability of this great program.

But it’s never too early to start thinking about next year’s sale.  A band of volunteers stands ready to help divide and dig any plant donation we gardeners plan to donate  


As you begin the fall routine of cleaning up your garden, you might find some plants that need to be divided, or even gotten rid of.  If you’re like me when it comes time to do the work, I tend to have forgotten what I had intended to divide or remove. So this last year I took some surveyor’s tape (comes in lovely colors) and marked every plant that would need to be divided or moved.  Then, when the weather was definitely cooling down—I can easily find the selected plants.


So, Master Gardeners, if you want help digging and dividing, mark your plants now. As we get closer to cooler weather, stay tuned and read the newsletter on how to arrange for our band of volunteers to come help you.  It will help you, as well as our annual Master Gardener plant sale next May.




PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Linda Burshia Battle

This quote summarizes my feelings on September, perfectly;  “But now in September the garden has cooled, and with it my possessiveness.  The sun warms my back instead of beating on my head…The harvest has dwindled, and I have grown apart from the intense midsummer relationship that brought it on.”  Robert Finch

 I am ready for fall and the crisp leaves, the falling temperatures and most importantly the fall rains.  I do love all the seasons but I am never reluctant or sad to move onto the next.  I’ve pulled all of my sweet pea plants as they have succumbed to the dry, hot days.  My dahlias and roses are magnificent and so they grace my tables.  My beautiful pears are being enjoyed while my blueberries are long gone.  My neighbors are sharing apples and plums and my walks in the woods leave my fingers stained in blackberry goodness.  What a marvelous place we live in.

 The picnic at Hovander on August 11th was another great get together.  As always, the food was fabulous and the desserts for our dessert auction were amazing.  Thank you for everyone who attended and contributed either by baking or buying a beautiful dessert.  Not only did we make $131.00  this year but it was also such an enjoyable time for camaraderie among the Master Gardeners.  Special thanks to all who contributed. Dave Simonsons's famous Chocolate Almond pie received the highest bid for the second year in a row!

 Lots of events are coming up.  The Advanced training will be in October and we have graduation in November and there are great speakers scheduled for the general meetings scheduled for the second Thursday of every month at 6:30.  Find all the details in this newsletter! 



REMEMBERING AL MCHENRY

Bob Barker

Cryptomeria japonica forest in its native Japan. Source

 On May 1 this year the Master Gardener program lost one of it’s most dedicated and talented members.  To me, he was the ideal to which all of us should strive.  I’ll come back to that.

 When I went through the program, I think in 1994 or maybe ’95, Al was the program coordinator and had already been in that role for quite some time.  To me he seemed to know all the problems and their solutions.  After graduation, in the Plant Clinic, his desk was directly across from the clinic desk and it was a great comfort to be able to check things out with him before responding to a client.  In those days books were the main source of information, the internet was in its infancy as the primary search source.  

 The program back then had around 40 people trained per year and was taught in the old fashioned way, with lectures during 20 full day sessions.  Al had to recruit the presenters and make sure that all the topics were covered.  He also had to arrange the Advanced Training program.  Not so different today.  And for Al, though paid for about a day a week, it was sometimes full-time effort.

 Al also was a major participant in the grafting workshop.  There are a lot of fruit trees in Whatcom that owe their existence to his efforts.  For one lady with an heirloom Gravenstein he produced a dozen or so saplings for her relatives and friends.  
He also spent quite a bit of time with his son Blair who established an organic products business.  Al was an innovator, pushing the boundaries.  At one point he attempted to graft cucumbers onto squash root systems, a way of combating one of the fungal diseases that hit cucumbers at ground level (now a method more widely used in the industry). This was tricky business, and with the onset of Parkinson’s symptoms, made much more difficult.  

 Al’s other great passion was fishing, particularly in Canadian waters with members of the family.  I was invited along once and spent a couple of chilly nights in his camper, two fishless days on the lake and quite a few games of cribbage. Al won all of them.

 For a decade or so before Parkinson’s took Al into The Christian Health Care Center, he and I spent one morning a week as plant clinicians.  Al was perfect in that role.  Though encyclopedic in his knowledge, we almost always checked things out before responding to a client.  As Al said, information evolves and it’s best to check.  He had any easy and friendly manner with clients and a commitment to be as helpful as possible.  After our morning of solving gardening problems we had a pleasant lunch during which we solved the County’s, State’s, Nation`s and the World’s problems.  

 During our last year together we also tried (generally unsuccessfully) to propagate cuttings form his Cryptomeria japonica.  All but one made it and I have a nice six-foot sapling to remember him by.

 Al was born in Florida in 1929 and in high school excelled as a high jumper which took him to the University of Alabama and a degree in Engineering.  After a stint in the Navy, he had another in the army where he was a member of the Army Olympic squad in 1952.  He sprained his ankle in training, eliminating his chance to compete.  He stayed in the Army reserves and retired with the rank of Colonel.  His engineering expertise was put to work in the construction of I-5 between the Canadian border and Mt Vernon. He had some good stories about the politics of that project.

 Al and Cleo were married for 63 years. Al was very proud of their three children, Blair, Kent, and Laurie, and his grandchildren.

 Al was one of the foundations on which Whatcom’s Master Gardener program was built. Though he is missed, the foundation he helped establish is solid, for which I give thanks. 
Al McHenry (left) and Bob Barker in the WSU Extension Plant Clinic.



THE CASE OF THE CRIMSON KINNIKINNICK

 Kinnikinnick leafgall aphid
Photo by: R.S. Byther (link)

Digger Spade, MG Plant Detective

In July, a client brought in several terminal branches of kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos spp.) that looked quite healthy apart form the fact that the terminal leaves looked like bright scarlet gouty toes. Her questions: What is this? And what can be done to get rid of it?

The brilliant terminals looked like the plant’s response to an insect infestation and we quite quickly found the answer: an aphid that feeds on kinnikinnick and triggers this response by the plant.  The aphids are members of the Tamalia genus.  Some members of the group induce gall formation, and others are freeloaders attracted to an easy source of nutrients inside the developed gall.  Infestations seem to wax and wane, so the client may not see the same level of damage next year.  But she was anxious to know what could be done now. How about an insecticide?

Well, our Hortsense source doesn’t list one, and the Picol database indicates none are available to homeowners that list the specific aphid. One option is to remove all of the galls and dispose of them before a new cycle of infestation gets under way.  That reduces the likelihood of another invasion next year.  However, the flying phase of the life cycle may bring in another wave of invaders.
"But," the client said, "there are systemic insecticides on the market. Why can’t I use one of those?"

The short answer is that wouldn’t get rid of the galls. Using that approach would have been most effective as soon as there was any sign of the problem. There are several insecticides that list aphids (not specifying species) and indicate “plants such as” ground covers. Which, it seems, she would be able to use. If she does that it is important to note that she is entering into a contract to use it only as described on the label and only on listed plants and insects. In addition, it may also kill unlisted insects such as the Syrphid fly larvae that feed on the aphids in the gall, and some will still be in the plant next year in small amounts for nectar feeding insects such as bees to consume. Non-systemic  insecticides don’t get at the aphids in a gall but can get at any insects on the outside, even the good guys such as ladybugs and their larvae. Getting non-systemic insecticide on the aphids requires getting at the underside of the leaves and the gall, a tricky endeavor with kinnikinnick. Insecticidal soap would be a good choice if she wanted to do that.

However, since killing the aphids will not get rid of the galls and the galls will turn from red to brown, the aesthetic result of insecticide use would not be very satisfactory. That brought us back to the beginning.  Cut them off and dispose of them or leave them alone and relish the red phase.  That may result in somewhat slower spread of the plant, but it will not die.

Not all investigations lead to a solution, at least not to one that the client thinks is ideal.

Resources
Pacific Northwest Insect Management Handbook: Kinnikinnick (Arctostaphylos)-Aphid
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