| Wild Ones holds 10th annual plant sale
The Wild Ones is holding its 10th annual plant sale, offering 62 species of perennial wildflowers, grasses and sedges that are native to our Rock River Valley area. Deadline for ordering is April 29; the pickup date is May 12 in Rockford. The plants are sold in flats of 32 half-pint pots. Flats are $64, whether of one species or mixed. Minimum order is one flat. For more information and to request order forms, contact Dianne Stenerson at 815-636-9930 or dstenerson@rockriver.net. The purpose of the sale is to encourage homeowners, businesses, schools and churches to use native plants for environmentally sound landscaping practices. Native plants evolved here over thousands of years to survive in our weather extremes and local soils, in harmony with other local plants and animals.
Off-shore windfarm launched
21 April 2007 -- Though more expensive than land-based wind farms The Netherlands launched their first off-shore farm on Wednesday. Crown Prince Willem-Alexander launched the Euro $272 million site in the North Sea, at Egmond aan Zee, 35km from Amsterdam. The 36 turbines on the farm are capable of producing 108 megawatts an hour, which is enough power to run 100,000 homes. The Dutch hope to be able to generate 9 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2010 and the off-shore wind farm is seen as a step in that direction. It is also offshore so that the farm is not a blot on the landscape and able to take advantage of stronger coastal wind. The project, jointly owned by Royal Dutch Shell and the Dutch utility company Nuon, was supported by a package of direct aid, tax breaks and production subsidies.
The Mayor Wants Volunteers? We've Got One
So just how much is soon-to-be-mayor Mark Funkhouser a man of the people? Enough that he's letting any schlep with Internet access apply to be on one of the city's reams of public boards. That's right, just by filling out this online form, you could be on your way to impressing your bar buddies as a member of Liquor Control. Or you could help screw up a historic area as part of the Jazz District Redevelopment Corporation. The form is so easy to fill out, we couldn't let it go without signing up some unsuspecting citizen. .
Students attend convention
WEST SPRINGFIELD - Students from the landscaping and horticulture program at the Lower Pioneer Valley Career and Technical Education Center attended the 77th Massachusetts Future Farmers of America convention March 12 through 14 in Sturbridge. More than 350 students from vocational agricultural programs across the state were in attendance. Ken Ruby, of Ludlow, and Ray Burke, of South Hadley, placed second in the team demonstration, Mark Humphrey, of Southwick, placed third in the individual demonstration, and Catie Gross, of Agawam, received the second place trophy for public speaking. The landscape team of Bonnie Strange, of Wilbraham, Greg Vescio, of West Springfield, Humphrey, and Gross placed third overall in the state. Strange was the second place overall landscape individual.
Grancy Graybeards stunning in springtime
It's hard to believe that a spring-blooming tree can be native and so passionately loved from the Gulf Coast all the way to Pennsylvania and New York. This is precisely how everyone feels for the Grancy Graybeard.
Perhaps you don't know it by that name. It might be Old Man's Beard or white fringe tree in your area. They are in glorious bloom now in the lower South and as spring continues will bring joy throughout the rest of the states.
Botanically speaking, Grancy Graybeard is known as Chionanthus virginicus. The name Chionanthus comes from Greek words meaning snow flower.
It is considered a large shrub or small tree reaching about 20 feet tall. It often develops a multi-trunk that certainly makes it among the more picturesque trees in the spring landscape.
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