​Here's our next installment of Kids in the Garden! Did you know that you can compost with worms? It's called Vermicomposting and Master Gardener Volunteer Cheryl is here to teach you how she cares for her super composting worms. Her worms take food waste and newspaper and turn it into a super nutritious amendment for her garden soil.

I recently read On Flowers by Amy Merrick.

Amy Merrick is a rare and special kind of artist who uses flowers to help us see the familiar in a completely new way. Her gift is to revel in the unexpected—like a sunny spring arrangement housed in a paper coffee cup—and to overturn preconceptions, whether she’s transforming a bouquet of supermarket carnations into a breathtaking centerpiece or elevating wild and weedy blooms foraged from city sidewalks. She uses the beauty that is waiting to be discovered all around us—in leaves, branches, seedpods, a fallen blossom—to tell a story of time and place.
 
Merrick begins On Flowers with a primer containing all her hard-won secrets on the art of flower arranging, from selecting materials to mastering pleasing proportions. Then she brings readers along on her journey, with observations on flowers in New York City and at her family’s summer home in rural New Hampshire, working on a flower farm off the coast of Washington State, and studying ikebana in a jewel-box flower shop in Kyoto. We learn how to send flowers like a florist, and how to arrange them like a farm girl. We discover the poignancy in humble wildflowers, and also celebrate the luxury of fragrant blousy blooms. Collected here is an anthology of floral inspiration, a love letter to nature by an exceptional, accidental florist.

Amy shares bouquet ideas. She helps you pick out the perfect vessel to display your bouquet. She encourages you to get creative with what kind of plants and flowers to add to your bouquet.

Amy is full of positive energy and this read will have you smiling.

Take a break, sit in the garden, pour some ice tea and enjoy paging this delightful book.

Reprinted from the Spooner Agricultural Research StationFacebook page. 

​Have you been out to enjoy our Teaching & Display Garden? Station staff and Master Gardener Volunteers work tirelessly every year to bring you this beautiful garden to visit and learn from. In this video, Kevin Schoessow takes you on an aerial tour of what it looks light right now. You will see some familiar beds and catch up on what's new this year. As always, our garden is open for self-guided tours at any time. We just ask that you follow proper social distancing and keep your group small so that all may feel safe while enjoying the garden.

You are invited to a Zoom program.
When: June 17, 2020 06:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://uwextension.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJItdu2rrj8tGNDgxypQ0RI5qru1cxUYKOvn
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Composting is where it all begins.  Learn the basics of composting to enrich your soil to benefit the plants you nurture whether they are flowers or vegetables. The program will cover the benefits of composting, ingredients for a compost pile, the types of compost bins, and how to use the finished compost. 

The National Garden Bureau, the non-profit information and marketing arm of the gardening industry, has chosen the iris as one of this year's "Year of” honors .

For ease of growing, zone hardiness, and strikingly dramatic color in the garden in late spring, you can’t go wrong with iris. Named for the Greek goddess of rainbows, the variety and color of blooms is vast with up to 300 varieties in propagation.

Bearded, beardless and Dutch irises are the three main types of iris. My favorite is the old fashioned standard beardless iris my grandmother grew from which my yellow irises originated. But I also love my bearded white irises and of course the violets to deep purples of the Dutch type Russian and Siberian irises.

Bearded and beardless Irises grow from rhizomes planted just below the surface, barely covered by soil. Plant in the fall for a good chance at spring blooms. Old rhizomes will sprout new rhizomes from which new plants and blooms will grow. When iris become too densely packed, dig them up, break the new rhizomes off the old and discard the old.  You can trim back both the foliage and the roots to about 3 inches or so for easy handling and replanting. Replant the new and expect blooming the next spring.   

Irises likes full sun to part shade. Plant in well-drained soil. Examine your plants mid-summer to early fall for any sign of iris borers. Withered and premature yellowing of the plants may indicate infestation. I press down on the rhizomes to check for softness. Rhizomes should be firm to the touch. If soft rhizomes are detected, it is best to dig up the plant and discard it checking adjacent plants for signs of softness. If just the old rhizome is affected, break off new rhizomes and replant those.

For more information on how to grow irises, the varieties available and the amazing range of colors, check out:

https://ngb.org/year-of-the-iris/
http://www.irises.org/gardeners/care-classification/bearded-iris/
https://hort.extension.wisc.edu/articles/iris-borer/

Article by MGV Pam Davies, photos by National Garden Bureau

UW-Extension Master Gardener Volunteer Roseann Meixelsperger provides information on Hummingbirds. 

Kevin Schoessow, UW Extension Area Agriculture Development Educator provides a short video on growing garlic. 

There have been some inquiries about the annual North Country Master Gardener Volunteers’ Plant Sale that is traditionally held on the third Saturday of May.  It is cancelled this year since all Wisconsin Master Gardener Volunteer programs have been suspended since mid-March.  The Stay at Home orders have not allowed Volunteers to start the seeds or care for the heirloom tomatoes, peppers, and assorted herbs that are traditionally part of the plant sale.