Western Massachusetts Master Gardeners Spring Symposium 2019

  • Post published:03/16/2019
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Western Massachusetts Master Gardeners
Western Mass Master Gardeners at the County Fair

There may be snow on the ground, but the Western Massachusetts Master Gardener’s Association knows it is time to get ready to garden. The WMMGA Garden Symposium at Frontier Regional High School is scheduled for Saturday, March 23, from 8:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. with a lunch available at noon. The symposium title this year is Healthy Gardens, Healthy Gardeners. If you want to learn about healthy soil, trees for the garden, butterfly gardening, ergonomics and injury prevention, and much more it is time to send in your registration form.

This year the Keynote speaker is Dr. Stephen Rich from the University of Massachusetts. He will talk about What Every Gardener Needs to Know About Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases. A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns of a surge in tick-borne disease incidence in the United States,. It is no longer limited to Lyme disease anymore! This will be an important talk to help us get through the garden season in good health.

Anne and Bruce Aune
Anne and Bruce Aune – Master Gardeners

Bruce and Anne Aune in their rock garden

This year I was particularly intrigued by the simply named talk Gardening with Rocks, which will be given by Bruce and Anne Aune.  Bruce and Anne have been gardening together for many years. From the large library windows of their house they have a view of their ever changing gardens and the hills and sky beyond. At this time of the year it is the kind of view that can easily lead to thoughts of “You know what we should do in the vegetable garden this year?’ Or “I wonder if that Pinus parviflora needs more serious pruning this year?”

This is also the time of year that the Aunes are happy to be able to share their experiences with gardeners at the Spring Symposium. Their talk, Gardening with Rocks, covers many of the ways that rocks can be used in gardens. Anne said that she has always loved geology, loved stones in their diversity and beauty. She said Bruce’s interest in rocks came as he kept digging them out of the soil. “Our property is loaded with rocks dropped by retreating glaciers.  Large, extra large, small and smaller.  Varied.  Rubbed round as beach pebbles.  Whenever we dig, we “liberate” rocks, so we use them to edge beds and as accents here and there.  This has led to our interest in Japanese gardens and rockeries.”

Stone bench and rockery garden
Aune’s stone bench and rockery garden

I made a visit to the Aunes late one fall and was fascinated by their Japanese rockery. The handsome, sculptural stone bench, created by Michael Mazur, stands in front of the rockery planted on a slope.  It was late enough in the season that most of the small spreading plants, like primulas, thymes, ferns, phlox and saxifrages had gone to sleep. The Aunes also planted conifers and shrubs in the rock garden. In a Japanese-style garden conifers are an important and handsome element. There are tall conifers like Japanese white pine, and low growing junipers like Blue Rug and Nana. Anne told me that regular pruning is also needed.

Certainly over the years they have used many kinds of rocks in different ways. Boulders have been used to edge planting beds, large flat stones have been used to make a ‘carpet’ for benches in the lawn, and gravel has been used to create good planting beds for alpines.

‘Liberated’ stone put to use as a rock border

The Aunes have also used troughs for their alpine plants. Years ago troughs used to be carved out of tufa, a porous limestone. Nowadays troughs are much less expensive and more easily found because they are made of hypertufa, a mixture of Portland cement, peat moss and perlite.

Spring Symposium Programs

Gardening with Rocks is just one of 17 talks. To register, you can go online to WMMGA.org and fill out the form listing the 17 programs, choosing one from the morning list and one from the afternoon. The cost is $35. You can also order a lunch for $9. Lunch must be pre-ordered. You can also go online to print out the program and registration form. The earlier you register, the more likely you are to get the talks you want. Before the keynote talk there is time to get a coffee, browse among the vendors with their local offerings and, and look at the book table. In case of impending  bad weather, call 413-665-2181 the  night before for a recorded message regarding possible rescheduling. Those who have attended before know the wisdom of car pooling. Parking is tight next to the school. However, parking is also available at the Deerfield Elementary School on Pleasant St. There are parking lots on both sides of the school.

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The University of Massachusetts has a series of agricultural workshops that are useful for the home gardener. Two that are coming up are:

March 16 – Grafting Fruit Trees at the UMass Cold Spring Orchard, Belchertown from 10 am – 2pm.  $100     March 30 – Pruning Blueberries at the Tougas Family Farm, Northboro from 10 am – noon.  $45.  Check online for UMass Aggie Seminars.

Between the Rows   March 8, 2019

 

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