Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley

Dr. Abbey Cash is in her 20th year as a Master Gardener Volunteer and has a passion for growing Roses in Columbia County. Trained as an educator, having taught in elementary, and at the college level, Abbey is also an avid hand-fan collector as well as a grower of annuals, perennials and bulbs. She joins the podcast, Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley, in a discussion about demystifying the challenges of growing roses in Zone 5 in New York State. Understanding hardiness zones is key to the selection of a rose that will grow well in the Hudson Valley. Abbey takes us through the many things to look for when picking a good, healthy rose to purchase. There are many different types of roses to choose including hybrid teas, floribundas, climbing roses, miniature roses and tree roses. While not discussed in this episode, make sure to avoid the multiflora rose, an invasive species in our area (see more information in the resource section). Once you bring a rosebush home, the fun is only beginning. There are many things to consider in selecting a site where the rose will thrive.6 hours of morning sun with one side protected is ideal. Creating a soil ‘formula’ (with cow manure, compost, peat and slightly acidic soil) is also a key to success. The planting process is also multi-faceted but will improve your odds have having a beautiful rose to grace your landscape for years to come. Once the rose if planted, however, you are not ‘done’. Keeping your new roses healthy and free of insects and/or diseases may involve the use of fertilizers, sprays or powders that need to be applied periodically. Roses also require some TLC (tender, loving care) and grooming. Understanding the basics of pruning will help to keep your roses producing either individual stems, climbers, or a beautiful hedge throughout the season. But water only when really needed, keeping the water at the base of the plant, not on the leaves, to avoid the dreaded ‘black spot’. There is also work to be done to prepare roses for the winter, cutting them back (except for climbers), burying the knob at the base of the plant with soil, and spreading the area with pine needles and pine branches and/or straw. These actions are reversed in the spring to prepare the plants for another growing season. Listen to this episode of the podcast, Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley, to improve your odds of successful rose growing! Hosts: Jean Thomas and Teresa Golden Guest: Abbey Cash Photo by: Tim Kennelty Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Deven Connelly, Teresa Golden, Xandra Powers, Annie Scibienski, Robin Smith Resources

Tim Kennelty returns with Part 3 of his Good Plant/Bad Plant Retrospective. In this episode he continues with a wealth of information about native plants that are beneficial to the environment, as well as others that tend to be invasive or noxious. Today, Ironweed, Japanese Barberry, Asters, Tree of Heaven and Viburnums are featured. Ironweed, is a great native, pollinator plant known for its purple flowers and impressive height that will add ‘presence’ to any garden. Ironweed prefers rich moist acidic soils but will grow in average moist to wet soils in full sun. Use in a rain garden, cottage garden, meadow, along streams or ponds or the back of the border. By contrast, invasive Japanese Barberry is not such a good choice for a garden as it creates a great habitat for the white-footed mouse which is known to be a carrier for tick-borne diseases Asters, once known as New World asters, are now classified under a different genera, particularly Symphyotrichum. These native plants offer vibrant colors in purple, pink and white while also supporting late-season pollinators, making them an excellent addition to your garden. On the flip side, the invasive Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus altissima), is a non-native plant that has wreaked havoc in many ecosystems, including New York’s. As Tim describes, it’s critical to manage this troublesome plant, which also serves as the primary host for the destructive spotted lanternfly. Listen and learn how to identify, control, and support your local ecosystem. Viburnums are a very admired and fast-growing flowering landscape shrubs or small trees with a large number of cultivars available. Bloom times span from early spring through June, followed by attractive fruit and great fall foliage. However, not all viburnums are created equal. Learn about the differences between the native and non-native species Host: Jean Thomas Guest: Tim Kennelty Photo by: Tim Kennelty Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Deven Connelly, Teresa Golden, Xandra Powers, Annie Scibienski

Welcome back to Part 2 of the Good Plant/Bad Plant retrospective that includes previously aired short segments on beneficial plants as well as invasive ones. In this episode, Master Gardener Volunteer, Tim Kennelty, talks about the benefits of dogwoods, milkweed, and coneflowers, as well as the challenges associated with garlic mustard, multi-flora rose, and mugwort. The first segment features a family of about 50 species of trees/shrubs/sub-shrubs that grace the landscape with multi-season interest with spring flowers, berries in mid/late summer and fall color. Dogwoods are fairly easy to grow and have great spring flowers for pollinators, nutritious fruit for birds and many are host plants for butterflies and moths. In contrast, the non-native garlic mustard is an invasive herb. It is a biennial, maturing over two years. In its second year, it produces thousands of seeds (that can be viable for 10 years), which when they germinate, they push out beneficial native plants, inhibit growth of other plants, and quickly become dominant in the landscape. The second segment features milkweed, a butterfly magnet, which offers both ornamental and wildlife value. As you probably know, milkweeds are the only host plant for monarch butterflies. Milkweed flowers are rich in pollen and nectar and are extremely attractive to native bees, wasps and beetles, as well as more than 400 different species of insects. With more than 70 species of milkweeds in North America, there's a milkweed for you. On the other hand, the multiflora rose is a perennial shrub from Asia that was once planted for erosion control, wildlife enhancement and to deter roaming animals. But today, multiflora rose is considered an invasive plant as it quickly forms thickets, pushing out native plants and inhibiting nesting birds. A single plant can produce up to 500,000 seeds per year, viable for up to 10 years, and dispersed by birds and other fruit eating animals. This episode ends with a segment about featuring the purple cornflower (echinacea purpurea), a favorite New York native garden perennial, beloved by butterflies and hummingbirds. Seed heads, if not removed, become a great food source for birds in the winter. Tolerant of heat, drought and poor soils, the flowers look great in a mass planting or in flower arrangements. But Tim also discusses the challenges of dealing with mugwort (artemisia vulgaris). Mugwort is a perennial weed in the daisy family. It grows in loamy or sandy soils in forested areas, and along roadsides. It spreads by rhizomes and can form dense mats. This plant has been listed as invasive in several states. But remember, if you want to support wildlife in your yard, make sure to plant natives. Host: Jean Thomas Guest: Tim Kennelty Photo by: Teresa Golden Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Deven Connelly, Teresa Golden, Xandra Powers, Annie Scibienski Resources

This retrospective episode consists of previously aired short segments that have been compiled here as they all relate to a common topic. It’s called Good Plant/Bad Plant because each segment focuses on two plants: one that support pollinators, birds and other animals and one plant, or plant group, that is an invasive or noxious weed. In this episode (Part 1 of 3), Master Gardener Volunteer, Tim Kennelty, covers native species like oaks, monarda, serviceberry, and willows. But he also advises against invasive species such as Japanese knotweed, Japanese stiltgrass, Asian bittersweet, and Asian bush honeysuckle. In the first segment, oaks (genus quercus) and Japanese knotweed are put under the microscope. The mighty oak refers to the many oak trees that are native to New York. Oaks can grow to about 100 feet and can live from 200 to 400 years. Oaks are generally relatively easy to grow and thrive in well drained acidic soil in full sun. They're really beautiful, majestic trees, often with attractive fall foliage in shades of red, gold, and orange. Oaks support more than 500 different caterpillar species, which of course turn into butterflies and moths, but are critical food for young birds as well. And they produce acorns that are eaten by squirrels, deer, turkey and other birds. If the oak is the king of beneficial plants, the queen of invasive plants is Japanese knotweed. It can grow from three to 15 feet and has bamboo like stems. Knotweed thrives in disturbed areas like drainage ditches, wetlands, streams, woodland edges, and along roadsides. It spreads rapidly through underground rhizomes. Knotweed forms dense thickets that crowd out and shade native vegetation, reducing species diversity while also adversely impacting ecosystems and wildlife. Management includes repeated cutting, and most likely will require herbicide application. The second segment in this episode focuses on monarda and Japanese stiltgrass. Monarda didyma, known by a number of different common names including bee bam, Oswego tea and bergamot, is native to eastern North America. It is a great addition to butterfly gardens and bird gardens. By contrast, Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) is a widespread invader of woodlands, roadsides and trails. It is an annual grass, but a prolific seeder, that germinates in the spring and dies back each fall. Once introduced, it is extremely difficult to remove from a site. Serviceberry and Asian bittersweet are featured in the next segment. Amelanchier spp. is a native North American shrub that is sometimes grown as a small tree. There are many species of this native that grow in full sun to part shade, have small five-petalled white flowers that emerge before or at the same time as the leaves, and have small edible berries that darken to a deep reddish-purple to black when ripe. Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus) is a woody, deciduous, perennial vine has since naturalized and become an extremely aggressive, capable of damaging natural areas. It chokes out desirable native plants by smothering them with its dense foliage and strangling stems and trunks. Willows and Asian bush honeysuckle are the conversation topics for the last segment in this episode. Most, shrubs and trees of the Salix genus, are mostly native to north temperate areas and are valued as ornamentals, as well as for their shade, moisture control, and wildlife attributes. By contrast, invasive bush honeysuckles originated in Eurasia and Eastern Asia, and were introduced in the U.S. for ornamental landscaping, erosion control, and wildlife habitat. Unfortunately, bush honeysuckles self-seed aggressively and rapidly escape into natural areas. Although the fruits have poor nutritional value for wildlife, birds disperse them widely. Native vegetation is displaced as bush honeysuckle blocks sunlight and exudes chemicals into the soil that are toxic to other plants. Learn more about these plants on this episode of Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley. Stay tuned for Part 2 and Part 3 of this Good Plant/Bad Plant Retrospective series. Host: Jean Thomas Guest: Tim Kennelty Photo by: Tim Kennelty Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Deven Connelly, Teresa Golden, Xandra Powers, Annie Scibienski Resources

Episode 127: Native Lawns Have you ever given serious consideration of the limited value of traditional suburban lawns? Sure, they add a certain beauty to the landscape, but is there a better way to incorporate more native plantings to our lawns? Are their native lawns that could become alternatives to the typical field of turf grass that creates a monoculture that is not supporting of pollinators? Todd Bittner, Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, joins the Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley podcast to share his perspective on more environmentally sustainable Native Lawns. As the Director of Natural Areas for the Cornell Botanic Gardens and a Lecturer in the Department of Horticulture at Cornell University as well as today’s guest, Todd Bittner furthers our understanding of natural systems, environmental sustainability, and natural resource conservation, management, and use. The Cornell Botanic Garden’s natural areas program is responsible for the protection and management of a system of preserves spanning nearly 3,600 acres across 40 natural areas. As part of Cornell’s educational mission, the natural areas include examples of the natural community plants and the rarest plant habitats in the New York’s central Finger Lakes Region. The holdings include one-third of Cornell’s iconic campus landscape, including two massive gorges, scenic Beebe Lake, and a renowned wildflower garden. Todd leads the organization’s native biodiversity conservation efforts, while facilitating compatible educational, research, and recreational uses across these outdoor classrooms.  Native Lawns, or lawn alternatives, are a designed plant community that, when compared to traditional turf grass lawns, require minimal mowing and watering, no pesticides and fertilizers, yet more biodiversity to support pollinators and other invertebrates. In the research being conducted by Todd Bittner, the goal of the native lawn was to be aesthetic, able to handle a moderate amount of trampling, and require minimal hand weeding as well as to address the environmental objectives (minimal watering, mowing, chemical supplements, etc.). There was also a desire for native plants to comprise at least 85 percent of the land area. Plant species were selected that are suitable for both full sun and shady as well as wet and dry conditions Danthonia spicata and Danthonia compressa (poverty oat grass) are dominant in the planting. Penstemon hirsutus is also widely planted. Twenty nine native species have established spontaneously from the adjoining natural area or seedbank, including a number of violet species, several woodland asters including calico, heart-leaved, and frost asters, and Lobelia siphilitica, or great blue lobelia, which is a very attractive valuable pollinator species. Tune into this episode to hear what has been learned over the last 15 years in moving towards a more environmentally sustainable native lawn.  Hosts: Tim Kennelty and Jean Thomas  Guest: Todd Bittner  Photo by: Cornell University CALS  Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Deven Connelly, Teresa Golden, Xandra Powers, Annie Scibienski

Chris Bowser is a professional educator and environmental scientist with experience in citizen science, estuary and river monitoring, conservation biology, and fisheries science. Part of Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, he coordinates a team with NYSDEC Hudson River Estuary Program and Hudson River Estuarine Research Reserve. He joins the Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley team with a passionate discussion about the Hudson River Estuary. An estuary is defined as the tidal mouth of a large river, where the tide meets the stream. If you think of New York’s Hudson River, this covers a lot of territory. According to the Department of Environmental Conservation, estuaries are among the most productive of Earth's ecosystems. Native Americans discovered the Hudson's bounty thousands of years ago; evidence of their existence remains in heaps of oyster shells on its shores. Hudson and Dutch traders wrote of a river teeming with striped bass, herring, and giant sturgeon. More than 200 species of fish are found in the Hudson and its tributaries. The estuary's productivity is ecologically and economically valuable to much of the Atlantic Coast; key commercial and recreational species like striped bass, bluefish, and blue crab depend on nursery habitat here. Bald eagles, herons, waterfowl, and other birds feed from the river's bounty. Tidal marshes, mudflats, and other significant habitats in and along the estuary support a great diversity of life. The Hudson River Estuary has one of the largest concentrations of freshwater wetlands in the northeastern part of the United States. It has also been found that due to climate change, the rising sea levels have led to an increase in the area of the wetlands. Chris brings the Hudson River to ‘life’ not only talking about what can be found within it, but also about the wide range of programs to adults and children to help everyone become more acquainted with its value to our broader ecosystem. Hosts: Jean Thomas and Teresa Golden Guest: Chris Bowser Photo by: Teresa Golden Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Deven Connelly, Teresa Golden, Xandra Powers, Annie Scibienski, Robin Smith Resources

The state bird of New York is the eastern bluebird, one of the first birds to return north each spring. Bluebirds are insectivores and part of the thrush family. Three types of bluebirds inhabit the United States: the mountain bluebird (found in western North America); the western bluebird (in California, the southern Rocky Mountains, Arizona, and New Mexico in the United States) and the eastern bluebird (in the east, central and southern US states all the way to southeastern Arizona). In New York, you can spot eastern bluebirds sitting on telephone wires or perched on top of a nest box, calling out in short chirps, or flying around in pursuit of insects. The male Eastern Bluebirds have bright blue feathers on their backs and heads with warm red-brown ones on their breasts. Female birds are less brightly colored than males, although color patterns are similar and there is no noticeable difference in size. If you’d like to attract a breeding pair, consider putting up a nest box, well before breeding season. They typically have more than one brood per year between March and August. Young produced in early nests usually leave their parents in summer, but young from later nests frequently stay with their parents over the winter. Eastern Bluebirds are territorial and prefer open grassland with patchy vegetation and large trees or nest boxes. Meadows, old fields, and golf courses tend to be places they can be found. When they are not nesting, the birds roam the countryside in small flocks. Kathryn Schneider, an author, avid birder, and a Master Gardener Volunteer, re-joins the Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley podcast to talk all about Bluebirds. Her book, Birding in the Hudson Valley, explores Hudson Valley history, ecology, bird biology It describes sites in every county in the region, including farms, grasslands, old fields, wetlands, orchards, city parks, rocky summits, forests, rivers, lakes, and salt marshes. In this episode, Kathryn provides lots of information about our state bird including its habits, where it lives, what it likes to eat, as well as its competitors (swallows, house sparrows and wrens) and predators (snakes, cats, raccoons and even bears). After listening to this episode, you’ll appreciate these delightful birds even more the next time you see them! Hosts: Tim Kennelty and Jean Thomas Guest: Dr. Kathryn Schneider Photo by: Tim Kennelty Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Deven Connelly, Teresa Golden, Xandra Powers,  Annie Scibienski, Robin Smith

Olana, located in Hudson, New York, is the greatest masterwork of Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900), the most famous American landscape artist of the mid-19th century and the most important artist’s home, studio, and designed landscape in the United States. Church designed Olana as a holistic environment integrating his ideas about art, architecture, landscape design, and environmental conservation. Olana’s 250-acre artist-designed landscape with five miles of carriage roads and a Persian-inspired house at its summit embraces beautiful panoramic views of the Hudson Valley and Catskill Mountains. Frederic Church is well-known as a painter, but he was also a world traveler, a family man, and a self-taught architect, farmer and landscape designer. Born in Hartford, CT, Frederic Church was the son of a silversmith with interests in milling, insurance, real estate and railroads. Showing early artistic talent, Church’s parents arranged for him to study with Thomas Cole in Catskill, New York. Cole had already established himself as an important landscape painter, and Church studied with him between 1844 and 1846. The following year, Church moved to New York to begin his independent career. He was very well-traveled in New England, including Vermont, Maine, and Connecticut. He went to South America, in 1853 and 1857, along the cordilleras of the Andes, to see equatorial volcanoes. Church achieved success in his twenties and attracted important patrons. Even after Olana became his primary residence, he maintained an active presence in New York City, where he was a part of the art community. In 1860, he married Isabel Mortimer Carnes. Church purchased 126 acres of hardscrabble farmland on a south facing hillside a few miles south of the town of Hudson, a sketching spot he had visited twenty years earlier in the company of Thomas Cole, his teacher. Although Cole had died in 1848, his family still lived just across the river, in Catskill. Frederic and Isabel boarded with the Cole family while working with architect Richard Morris Hunt to design a small house. They called it “Cosy Cottage” and the couple moved in by the early summer of 1861. Acting as both a farmer and a landscape artist, Frederic improved the land. He planted crops, established a dairy herd, transformed a swampy area into a lake, and planted thousands of trees. He built a studio on the highest point of land he then owned, and there he made sketches of the views and worked on larger compositions. After spending 18 months visiting Europe and the Middle East, the Churches returned to New York in 1866 and purchased an additional 18 acres at the top of their hill, where the house, eventually named ‘Olana’ is sited. They eventually moved into their new home in 1872 and raised four children there. Although they were frequent visitors to New York City, Olana was their primary home. The Olana State Historic Site, administered by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, is a designated National Historic Landmark. It is one of the most visited landmarks in New York State, consisting of breath-taking views, informative tours and educational programs. On this episode of Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley, Carolyn Keough joins us to talk all that Olana offers including some of the programs that are available. Carolyn is the Director of Education and Public Programs at The Olana Partnership and an experienced museum educator and administrator working with school, youth and family audiences. A graduate of New York University, she also has a Masters degree in Art History at City College. She came to Olana from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, where she was the Manager of School, Youth, and Teen Programs, overseeing gallery and studio programs, coordinating professional development for educators and assisting with teaching and curriculum development. Hosts: Jean Thomas and Teresa Golden Guest: Carolyn Keough Photo by: Teresa Golden Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Teresa Golden, Timothy Kennelty, Xandra Powers, Annie Scibienski, Robin Smith Resources

Weeds are a constant fact of a gardener’s life. As our guest, Toni DiTommaso, says we can count on three things in life: death, taxes, and weeds. But if it weren’t for weeds, the world would have less topsoil than it has now, and humanity might have suffered mass starvation by now. Why? Because the plants we call weeds do a vital job in ecosystems: they quickly establish in, protect, and restore soil that has been left exposed by natural and human-caused disturbances. That said, weeds, in addition to being a nuisance, cause more yield loss worldwide and add more to farms’ production costs than insect pests, crop pathogens, root-feeding nematodes, or warm-blooded pests (rodents, birds, deer, etc.). So perhaps, we should start this discussion with a definition. What exactly is a ‘weed’? The Oxford Dictionary defines a weed as a wild plant growing where it is not wanted and in competition with cultivated plants. Similarly, the Miriam-Webster dictionary describes it as a plant that is not valued where it is growing and is usually of vigorous growth. Penn State Extension tells us that weeds compete with other plants for nutrients, water, and light, as well as potentially harbor diseases and pests. Simply put, a weed is a plant ‘out of place’. Plants that are characterized as weeds can reproduce via seeds, rhizomes, cuttings or runners. Their seeds are typically plentiful and tiny which can disperse easily and/or remain dormant for many years. They also can grow in less-than-ideal environments, soils, and conditions. As any gardener knows, they tend to grow fast and can outcompete other plants. Weed management can also be frustrating as some of these plants can break off and re-sprout or self-pollinate if pulled out. The best place to begin is to learn how to identify weeds. In this episode, we are fortunate to hear from Antonio (Toni) DiTommaso, Professor and Section Head, School of Integrative Plant Science Soil and Crop Sciences Section at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). The focus of his research is to gain a more in depth understanding of the basic biological and ecological principles governing weeds to find safe, effective, sustainable and economically viable weed management strategies. In addition to his teaching and research duties, he is also a co-author of the book, Weeds of the Northeast.The fully updated second edition provides detailed illustrations for easy identification of more than 500 common and economically important weeds in the Northeast including New York.A practical guide, it includes a dichotomous key as well as descriptions and photos of floral and vegetative characteristics, giving anyone who works with plants the ability to identify weeds before they flower. Comparison tables make it easy to differentiate between many closely related and similar species. Listen to this episode of Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley, to learn more about Toni DiTommaso and weeds.This will be of interest to home gardeners, landscape managers, as well as pest management specialists. Hosts: Tim Kennelty and Jean Thomas Guest: Antonio DiTommaso Photo by: Cornell University CALS Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Deven Connelly, Teresa Golden, Xandra Powers, Annie Scibienski Resources

Jackie Hayden and Dede Terns-Thorpe are back with part 3 of our retrospective series about Pests and Pathogens. In this episode of Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley, you’ll hear about some common issues New York gardeners face such as rust fungus, squash vine borer, fruit flies and the emerald ash borer (EAB). We’ll start with a category of blisters, galls, and spots on leaves and trees that are caused by a rust fungus. Humid, warm weather creates an excellent environment for many plant pathogens grow. Rust fungi are among the most common pathogens.While most rust fungi will not kill their host plants, they can weaken them to the point of not being functional in the landscape anymore. Learn more as Master Gardeners, Dede and Jackie, delve into this category of pathogen. If you care about preserving the environment, stay tuned as Jackie and Dede discuss the emerald ash borer, an invasive species that has caused significant damage to the ash tree population in North America, including New York State. They cover everything from the beetle's life cycle to the measures being taken to prevent further spread. Next is a segment on a popular pest of zucchini and other members of the cucurbit family: the dreaded Squash Vine Borer. As one of the earliest insects to show up in the garden as a moth, it can wreak havoc if not caught early. Learn some tips and tricks to help avoid and manage problems. Lastly, how can you tell if you have fruit flies or fungus gnats flying around your home? No, they are not the same things.Both are tiny but fruit flies are larger than gnats. If they are flying around your house plants, they are probably fungus gnats. Dede and Jacki help you tell the difference between them and also provide suggestions on how to get rid of them. So this episode has a little bit of something about both pests and pathogens. By listening in, you will be armed with lots of information about how to deal with them. Host: Jean Thomas Guests: Dede Terns-Thorpe and Jackie Hayden Production Support: Linda Aydlett, Deven Connelly, Teresa Golden, Xandra Powers, Annie Scibienski Resources