THE NOVEMBER ISSUE

Photos: The 2016 Master Gardener Annual Advanced Training.  Above: Amberose Kelley learns about fall planting with strawberry trees (Arbutus unedo). Below: MG Intern Breanne Bartok hones her insect identification skills at the Diagnostic Clinic with WSU Plant Pathologist Jenny Glass.

EVENTS

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!

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 
Tom Thornton of Cloud Mountain Farm will share information on new fruit cultivars, as well as what’s new at Cloud Mountain.

NOV 30, DEC 1 & 2

Washington Small Fruit Conference & Lynden Ag Show

NW Washington Fairgrounds

Volunteers Needed for Toward Zero Waste preparation and monitoring.

Event info here

DEC 7
PLANT ID Study Group 
Wednesday, December 7 • 9am -11am •
Community Food Co-Op, 315 Westerly Rd, Bellingham
"Roots" Meeting Room

*Please note that THERE IS NO NOVEMBER MEETING due to Thanksgiving.  And also note the next meeting date is a WEDNESDAY in early December.  Holidays interfered with our usual dates.  
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. Useful for MG Clinic or impressing friends!  If possible, bring a hand lens and a plant identification book, like Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast by Pojar & MacKinnon or a general book like Sunset.
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!   
If questions, contact Karen Gilliam, (360) 383-4562, jkgilliam@gmail.com, or Louise Granger, (360) 739-2468, rutroad@gmail.com.  

DEC 15

Holiday Centerpiece Workshop

Thursday, 7-9 pm • WSU Extension Center Conference Room, 1000 N. Forest St Ste 201, Bellingham

There will be a long-awaited workshop led by our award-winning Master Gardener and floral expert, Judy Boxx, to make stunning Holiday Centerpieces. Join us for fun and walk away with a centerpiece you’ll treasure for years. 
Cost:  $1.00 for foam blocks and trays
Bring:  greenery, candles, ornaments, wire, ribbon—for yourself and extras to share. You’ll need to bring a shallow  bowl or container, as well, in which you’ll create your centerpiece. And just for kicks, if you have any holiday cookies hanging around, bring them, too!

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.

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

Linda Burshia Battle

The October Advanced Training was a very well attended, expertly organized event with informative speakers and excellent food. Beth and her team did an amazing job and all deserve accolades. Thanks to each and everyone who helped with this educational and fun event. The raffle was a great success and brought in over $400 for the Al McHenry scholarship fund.

November is an exciting month with the graduation of the class of 2016 Master Gardeners on November 3rd at the Meridian Senior High School. This is an accommodating venue and is usually well attended.  A pretty spectacular  potluck can also be expected. It's that time of the year to recognize not only all of the new graduates but also those exceptional master gardeners from previous years. In addition to the awards, the slate of officers for 2017 will be presented. Special thanks to all those who agreed to serve on the foundation board. Harriet Arkley, President, Kay Fast, 1st VP, Barb Schickler and Kathleen Bander, 2nd VP, Kathy Barrett, Secretary, Marilyn Glenn, Treasurer and Members at Large, Mill Shires and Barbara King.

The second Thursday of November, the 10th, is the general meeting at 7 pm.  The slate of officers will be voted on during the business meeting. We have a great speaker lined up for that night,  Tom Thornton of Cloud Mountain.  We are looking forward to a well attended evening. Hope to see you there.

I think this is a sweet little quote for November, "I like spring, but it is too young.  I like summer but it is too proud.  So I like best of all autumn, because it's tone is mellower, it's colors are richer, and it is tinged with a little sorrow. It's golden richness speaks not of the  innocence of spring, nor the power of summer, but of the mellowness and kindly wisdom of approaching age.  It knows the limitations of life and it's content."  Lin Yutang

 Whatcom County MG Foundation
        2017 Slate of Officers

President

Harriet Arkley

First VP

Kay Fast

Second VP      

Kathleen Bander

Barb Schickler 

Secretary   

Kathy Barrett

Treasurer   

Marilyn Glenn

State Rep   

Sandy Keathly

Members At Large      

Barbara King
Mill Shires

THE CASE OF THE MORIBUND MAPLES

Bigleaf maple leaf (Acer macrophyllum). Source

Digger Spade, MG Plant Detective

In mid August, not just one but three clients came in with concerns about the health and/or death of bigleaf maples (Acer macrophyllum) on their properties.  Their concerns ranged from what had killed the dead ones to could anything be done for those that look likely to follow suit.

A search of the DNR website revealed that the bigleaf maple problems have been of concern for several years and that quite a lot of effort has gone into trying to answer our client’s questions.  These trees have been known for years to be susceptible to Verticillium wilt and to Armillaria  root rot but field surveys made since 2011 didn’t find the former in the dying trees and the latter in only 11% of those studied. Similar inconclusive findings have been made for other possible biotic causes. A long-term study is underway that may find a biological agent that can be held responsible and that may be controllable.  But as a recent DNR  report indicated “the truth is, we don’t know exactly what’s going on.”

Our first thoughts about the problem had been along the lines of “here’s another result of our several years of ever longer droughts.”  At the time of the inquiry we had had no significant rain for four months and last year we had none for more than ten weeks.  This spring we had many dead hemlocks in the county and many other trees showing signs of severe drought stress.

To maintain healthy leaves a plant has to draw sufficient water from the ground to maintain turgor pressure and keep up with the transpiration rate that is determined by the environment of the leaves. That rate is very sensitive to temperature, humidity, air movement etc.  An increase in temperature of 20 degrees F may increase transpiration demand  threefold.  And when the ground in the root zone is moisture-free, roots die, so when water becomes available the tree cannot use it.  So when there has been no rain for weeks and temperatures are setting records, a bigleaf maple probably wishes it had been born a conifer, though not a hemlock.

After talking these things over with the clients.  We advised the one with a small tree that still looked as though it might survive to water it outside the drip line with a soaker hose, to do it slowly to give the dry soil time to absorb the water, then do it again every week or so 'til nature takes over.  We also gave the clients the DNR  link so they could get reports on the ongoing research.

There is no doubt that drought is a challenge for all trees and in Whatcom many are too close together, making the competition for water even more severe.  Nature is making the case for xeriscape landscapes in the Pacific Northwest.

Digger’s  “solution” in his junior forest is to cut about a third or more of them down.  A solution with little appeal to most.


Resources
Bigleaf Maple Decline (DNR)
https://dnrtreelink.wordpress.com/2016/08/10/bigleaf-maple-decline-update-and-next-steps/

Water Cycle Transpiration (USGS)
http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycletranspiration.html

Hardy Plants for Waterwise Landscapes (WSU)
http://public.wsu.edu/~lohr/wcl/