That, and many other garden questions answered last week
Lilac Blight
Re-potting house plants
Use of Fertilizer
Pollinator Gardens
Hardy Mums
Those were just a few of the topics of discussion at an hour-plus event hosted by the Garden Club of the Highlands at the Highland Falls Library last Thursday. The guest speaker — talking to about three dozen community residents — was Highland Falls native Michael Graber.
Graber is the long-time face of Graber The Florist, a florist business which operated in the community for decades. But despite Graber being retired from his ‘business’, he still spends a great deal of his time giving free advice to all who garden, whether outside or in their homes.
He started the presentation with a very brief introduction and then opened the floor up to questions. There were many, and in addition to Graber fielding them, other community residents with experience in specific plantings chimed in.
Some of Graber’s answers to questions were similar in nature — he said this year’s significant rain has been a challenge for some plants. Lilacs, for instance, are prone to a bacterial blight.
“You can use a fungicide,” Graber said, “but I know many people don’t want to use the chemicals anymore”.
Graber suggested getting specific information on most any question from the area’s Cornell Cooperative Extension, where he once served as a master gardener.
Several times during the evening he referred to his time as a florist, saying in their greenhouse at one time nicotine was used as a disinfectant.
And about those hydrangeas referred to in the headline of this story? The same goes for them; sometimes it takes fertilizer to get them back on track.
Another question, from the library’s Paula Holt, was about when is the best time to re-pot a house plant.
“You can do it any time, “he said. “Plants like a little vacation from their pots … take them out of the pot, break up the root ball by gently rubbing it between your hands, and put it in a larger pot with good soil.”
There was sometimes a ‘however’ with his answers though; “some plants like being root-bound,” he noted.
He also said that, with houseplants, it’s easy to “love plants to death” by over-watering them, saying typically plants in clay pots need to be watered more often that in plastic pots because the porous pots absorb some of the water.
“Keep houseplant water tepid in the winter — you know you don’t like taking cold showers in January — and let them dry out before watering them. Plants don’t like wet feet; too much water causes root rot.”
About those pollinator gardens, a way to fill yards with native plants. Graber said he likes “natural, sustainable” gardens” to attract things like hummingbirds, noting that traditional lawns are a lot of work and “need a lot of water and very good soil”.
From the Community Garden, Olga Anderson noted that there are Black Eyed Susans there she needs to thin out that she will share with anyone who wants them. (From a Google search, other plants for pollinator gardens could include Butterfly Bush, Bee Balm, Lavender, Coneflower, Milkweed and Asters. There are many annuals, too, that support wildlife.)
Winterizing a garden, and bringing some plants into a house to keep them alive, came up as well too. Many in the audience said they bring in herbs from their gardens and then return them outside in the spring. Graber offered some tips for planting bulbs as well, noting some can survive and some can’t in this climate.
He spoke briefly about the famed ‘Daffodil Hill’ in Cragston, created by JP Morgan when he owned that land. “He took out the soil that was here, and put the right soil in,” Graber said. “For the most part, the soil here is terrible.”
When Graber gave his opening remarks, he gestured to healthy young plants all around the Library’s Community Room.
“I brought some plants that are on ‘liquidation’,” Graber said. “In other words, they are free and please take some.”
His only request was that those who did make a small donation to the Friends of the Highland Falls Library, a volunteer organization his daughter, Michele Altenrath, heads.
