Monroe County Master Gardener Association

Registration will open on Monday, July 23 (the link will be posted on this page). In the meantime, learn more about the offerings at this year’s conference by visiting the various pages on the website. In order to expand our educational reach, this year’s conference will also be open to non-Extension Master Gardeners. Be sure invite your non-EMG friends and other gardening enthusiasts. Extension Master Gardeners will have a two-week head start to register before it opens to non-EMGs. We recommend registering early as tours, workshops and sessions often fill.

Registration Link
Register online by visiting: https://events.anr.msu.edu/mgcollege2018/

Gail went to the Lavender Farm and sent us photos and notes:

Last Saturday I attended Lavender Lane In Milan Michigan for their day
festival. Here are a few pics from my visit. It was a sunny, partly cloudy day with humidity rising as time went on. I arrived early around 10:30 am. only to find cars clogging the road from both directions, waiting to be
allowed onto the property from the single entry point-despite the entry fee of $5 PER HEAD. There were a number of people there.

There were both English and French Lavender:

The owners had lavender plants for sale,in addition to a limited quantity of homemade & commercially made lavender crafts (which pretty much had sold out by 12noon). Another draw were various booths on site; including food, jewelry, clothing, yard art, and
caricature drawings……..

People were not the only creatures to be enticed by the smells of lavender. Honey bees and bumble bees flitted around the field as they sought to find the best honey-spreading pollen as they did.

The owner said, of what he had for sale, the English lavender was the hardiest for our area and
not a favorite because it is pink vs purple in color. The French lavender is the purple one. I assumed
with the high humidity, the air would be heavy with that wonderful aroma lavender emits but as I went about
with my nose high, the air seemed to lack that aroma and found limited spots where you could smell it. Others
voiced the same findings. This was not the only debated issue for the day. I enjoyed my visit, but in all fairness, I must say a bit disappointed. My opinion, this was an example of social media being a disservice. Far too many people for the size of the operation, their millions being made on entry fees and not product (which I thought over priced). A great enterprise idea for Monroe County but for right now, this young couple may want to focus on taking product to local farmer markets……

After the great variety of Lilies on Montage Monday, I thought it would be good to post this web page from FTD. It shows photos and explanations for the various types:
https://www.ftd.com/blog/share/types-of-lilies

We missed Photo Friday…but these photos are worth the wait. Thanks for sending to me Gail.

Gail made a trip to the Toledo zoo. These were in an area that is being dedicated to pollinators.

So for the 4th of July we have a picture of the well known pair of rescued eagles on display

Gail wasn’t sure what the next two plants were….however, with the help of an app on my phone, I was able to identify this one: It’s a Giant Spider Lily Crinum x amabile.


However, I can’t seem to get an identification on this.

The pond feature with wandering paths and planted areas outside of the conservatory. The conservatory is undergoing some renovations since the new director took over. They are changing their mission statement as well.

Just a note: If you wish to have an plant identifying app, I found two that work well. I use Picture
This and Plant Snap. After opening the app you either upload a photo or take a photo and put it into the frame area then hit the check mark(picture this) or the word snap(Plant snap) and it will identify it. If it can not, you may submit your photo for it to be identified by professionals. I have submitted the one photo and will let you know what I find out.

Gail sends us more photos from the field trip to Leila Arboretum:

As we close in on our first full year with the Agriculture program here at Monroe County Community College in partnership with Michigan State University’s Institute of Agricultural Technology, I would like to give a quick update and ask for your continued support of the program. As a brief review, students take 34 credits of the MSU Ag classes, and then 26 credits of general education and electives through MCCC, giving the student an Associates of Applied Science in Agriculture. All of the MSU courses are taught at Monroe, with a mix of face-to-face and online courses. I’ve provided links below to the program flyer and website that contain further information about the opportunities in agriculture and how to apply to the program. This short video clip also shows the opportunities that are available as well: YouTube – Career Options at the MSU Institute of Agricultural Technology

There are currently eight returning students, plus an additional four new students joining for the Fall semester so far. Six of the current students are currently completing their required internship and are experiencing the wide variety of opportunities associated with the agriculture industry, with a few even getting job offers already! There has been great community support for the program, and I currently have a donor offering a limited number of generous scholarships to any new students coming into the program this Fall. In addition, Monroe County Farm Bureau and the Monroe County Fair have offered generous scholarships, as well as the numerous MCCC scholarships available to incoming students. We also have the MCCC Community Farm underway with the grant secured by President Kojo Quartey, and a variety of research test plots in the field north of the MCCC campus. Please feel free to stop out and take a look around, and also keep an eye out for information on our first MCCC Field Day in early September!

As you can see there are exciting things happening here at your community college. We appreciate your help and support in bringing this agriculture program to our community.

I am once again asking for your assistance to spread the word to potential students! We can accept students until August 10th for the Fall 2018 semester, so please share this information with any interested individual you may know!

Agricultural Operations Program

Agricultural Program Flyer

Please contact me anytime with your thoughts or questions, or to hear about the opportunities available to students who complete the program.

Regards,

Andrew McCain
Program Coordinator
Institute of Agricultural Technology
Michigan State University
Monroe County Community College
1555 South Raisinville Road
Monroe, MI. 48161
Office T-121
Phone: 734-384-4155
mccainan@msu.edu

I was trimming the dead wood from my Hydrangea by my deck and I kept noticing these orange yellow things flying around…thought they might be lady beetles(didn’t have glasses on)…not red enough for a lady bug. Then as I got closer to my Knockout roses I saw that all the leaves were eaten off the plant. Thought maybe a Japanese beetle at work. I didn’t see any in that area. Today I noticed one of my new roses I planted had 3 blooms on it. I wanted a closer look at them. I noticed at the top leaves were eaten away, similar to those of the Knockout rose. Then a few stems down…here is what I found:

I picked that cluster of leaves off and fed the larvae to my pond fish. With a quick inspection, I see no additional in that immediate area. Although, I’m sure I need to watch vigilantly. I walked over to another new rose and saw this:

Well sawflies are the culprit. So now to take care of them. I just recently saw an article to be on the look out. Eggs will hatch in 2-8 weeks after the fly deposits them (They deposit them in the soil in spring). Of course seeing the larvae, I can assume they’ve hatched. However, it might be a continual process. Most likely the white spots on the leaves and holes in the photo are damage due to larvae.

So in reading, I find that insecticidal soap or spinosad, an organic substance made by a soil bacterium. It can be toxic to insects . Some insects have become immune to spinosad and it should be used as a last resort. I just happen to have purchased some at the beginning of the season. I will use it as a backup after first trying to spray and pick them away. I wanted to share this just in case someone else is seeing these signs. I hope not. I will keep you posted on my progress.

Thanks for the comment Gail…yes this is the clematis on the side of my house…a few photos for all to understand. These were taken in 2011, just before we toured my garden…it has increased in size and always has tons of blooms.
It’s probably 7 feet tall today… blooms late July early August.

Currently needing to be trimmed…but this is what it looks like as of today 6/25/18″

Paul, sent me some photos. He has included his native plantings of Milkweed.

Last week (while working in Demo Gardens) the Clematis was in bloom and I took some photos:

I have a few I also wanted to share: