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Aquaponics

with Noah Goldstein Noah Goldstein from Michigan Aquaponics will discuss sustainable food systems related to aquaponics and how to implement a functional aquaponics system. The field of aquaponics was created through the combination of aquaculture and hydroponics, in which animals and plants live skymiotically in a recirculating system wher water flows in a closed-loop. This

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Landscaping with Native Plants to Support Nature

with Drew Lathin Landscaping with native plants is critical to build habitat, reduce resource inputs, and build healthy outdoor living areas. Learn why only native plants can do this and some design tips to make your native landscape beautiful as well. Drew Lathin has been playing around with native plants in built landscapes for nearly

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Sustainable Landscaping

with Holly Kaiser October 13, 2020 Holly Kaiser will discuss sustainable practices that can be used in landscape design. VMS category is Community: Beautification: Public Areas

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Butterflies in your backyard

with Mary Ellen VanSlembrouck September 8, 2020 Mary Ellen is an Advanced Master Gardener and Smart Gardener with Macomb County.  Her yard is certified as a Monarch Waystation through Monarch Watch, a Butterfly Garden through the North American Butterfly Association and a Pollinator Habitat with the Xerces Society. She is also a volunteer at the

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Designing your garden

With Jan Bills Jan Bills is the author of Late Bloomer, a certified landscape designer, advanced master gardener, entrepreneur, and contributing writer for State-by-State Gardening magazine. After a successful career in the corporate world, she made a major life reassessment and followed her heart: She traded in her heels for Wellies and started the Detroit-area

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“Heirloom Vegetables” – Mary Gerstenberger

The VMS Category for presentation is: Food – General Gardens. Mary Gerstenberger is the retired Consumer Horticulture Coordinator for MSU Extension in Macomb County.  She writes the “Vegetable Patch” section for the Michigan Gardener Magazine.  Her degree from Wayne State University is in Biology with her core studies in Botany.  Her experience in gardening began with helping her grandfather

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New Annuals and Perennials for 2020

Presented by George Papadelis3301 John RTroy, MI 48083(248) 689-8735    tellys.com The May Meeting was recorded and we have a handout for you to use so you don’t have to take notes. HANDOUT Winners from 2019: Alstroemeria MulanThese spectacular plants were bred for pot culture but make outstanding bedding plants and cut flowers…sometimes perennial. Full Sun

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WEARISOME WEEDS

By Jean Gramlich | March 17, 2020 Dr. Erin Hill, Weed Science Diagnostician for MSU Plant and Pest Diagnostics was our speaker for March. She specializes in weed identification and control, as well as herbicide injury and resistance in a wide variety of Michigan environments. She says that winning the war against weeds requires a

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WOODLAND TREASURES FOR SHADY GARDENS

by Tony Reznicek For those of you who missed Dr. Tony Reznicek at October’s General meeting, attached is his handout. Also below is a link to his website as Curator and Research Scientist at the University of Michigan Herbarium. It was an excellent presentation. Some additional notes and information: A few plants to avoid accepting

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USING NATIVES IN LANDSCAPING

by Jean Gramlich Vern Stephens, co-founder of Designs By Nature LLC in Laingsburg, a nursery and landscaping company, spoke on using natives in landscaping at our July meeting. Before starting the business he was a grassland and invasive species specialist for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. He runs a 40 acre farm with no

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SWEET AND SAVORY SPICES

Stu and Michele Eddy, who own James Creek Sutlery, presented a program on spices. They import 100 spices from all over the world, grind them and mix them together in many ways to enhance the flavor of food. The spice regions of the world are tropical and sub-tropical with lots of rainfall and humidity. The

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Gardening APPS

Caston Thomas is the owner of InterWorks and co-host of The Internet Advisor Radio show. The title of his talk was “Gardening Apps,” but an alternate title was “Master Gardeners Meet High ‘Yech’ (and It Ain’t Gonna Be Pretty).” He quoted Richard Louv: “Gardening is not leisure time.  It’s an essential investment in our health.”

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PEONY: THE BEST VARIETIES FOR YOUR GARDEN

David Michener is the Associate Curator of the University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum. He oversees the world-famous peony garden in Ann Arbor. All the cultivars in the garden are pre-1950, beginning in 1796 from Japan, Korea and China. International review has confirmed the significance of all the cultivars, over half of

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Hugelkultur gardening

By Sheri Trout | January 18, 2019 What do you do when you have a small wooded area with lots of fallen branches and dead wood, three horses that poop a lot and a desire for raised garden beds? You build a Hugelkultur garden. Hugelkultur, pronounced Hoo-gul-culture, means hill culture or hill mound. It’s literally

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ORCHIDS FOR YOUR HOME

Joe Peterson, who has grown orchids for 30 years, gave our October educational talk.  He says they are easy to grow! There are 30,000 species of orchids and 100,000 hybrids, and they grow on every continent except Antarctica in a wide diversity of climates from sea level to 12,000 feet. Hybrids are easier to grow

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DAYLILIES

LaVere Webster began his September talk on daylilies with a droll dramatization of God talking to St. Francis in which he satirized the mindset of typical suburbanites with regard to yard care. We raise boring grass instead of wild flowers (“weeds”), we pay to haul away our grass clippings (which could be used as hay)

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HOW TO GARDEN WITH COMFORT, EASE & SIMPLICITY

GARDEN WITH COMFORT, EASE AND SIMPLICITY Jan Bills, who runs the landscaping business Two Women and a Hoe, was our August 2018 speaker. She began her talk by saying, “If I woke up in the morning and nothing hurt, I would think I was dead.” She wants us to love our gardens and not just

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CLIMATE CHANGE

Richard Pollman, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Detroit/Pontiac, gave us a talk on climate change and gardening. His specialty is providing forecasts and warnings for the protection of life and property. “Weather” is our daily precipitation/sunshine/temperature. Climate is the long-term trends, long-term averages. The greenhouse effect is a natural phenomenon which makes

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