The Providential Gardener

RI Spring Flower & Garden Show News

I've always enjoyed going to the Rhode Island Spring Flower & Garden Show, and so I'm looking forward to this year's show ~ Thursday, February 21st through Sunday February 24th, 2008.

LECTURES & DEMOS ~ AND Children's Activities.

Each year there are special presentations, but if you're like me, it's not easy to remember when the ones I want to hear are scheduled. Then there are separate lists for lectures & demos, which adds to the challenge.

This year, I've put all the special activities at the Flower Show into the What Grows On in Rhode Island Calendar. Scroll to February 21-24, and you'll see all the special events listed in "Agenda" view, but you can also change this to a Calendar format.

By the way, I am very close now to upgrading the Calendar software, which will make the Calendar much easier to use.

Newport Tree Society Tree Sale

Everyone who loves trees will be interested in seeing the Newport Tree Society's list of Specimen Trees for sale this year.

They are taking orders now, and you may find more information on their website and at their lecture, Planting Trees in Newport: Sustaining our Unique Urban Forest, on January 23, 2008.

Here's the Tree_Sale_Order_Form.

The Greenhouse ~ A Groden Network Vocational Services Program

When you pass through the gates of North Burial Ground at North Main Street and Branch Avenue in Providence, you might think you are only entering a cemetery, but you would be wrong! Just to the right, past the gatehouse, you will see The Greenhouse, a riot of colorful life these days with hundreds of chrysanthemums for sale.

The Groden Network took over the long-abandoned burial ground greenhouse in 1995 and now has a flourishing full-service greenhouse, houseplant, and floral arrangement business year round. It is staffed by Groden Network clients, who receive horticultural training and learn to work independently. This year, The Greenhouse has five clients on staff, a proud achievement.

If you are in the market for chrysanthemums now, here's a great place to buy them. The Greenhouse is open to the public Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 3:30pm, and Saturday, 10:00am to 2:00pm.

And take some time to see a video of The Groden Center's work with children and adults who have autism. They are "cultivating the whole person" and achieving much success.

What's Happening This Weekend

Thursday, May 31 ~ Be sure to check out the Providential Gardener Calendar for upcoming events (change to AGENDA view for easiest reading).

This weekend, there are several plant sales around the state, at least one cleanup day at India Point Park in Providence, BioBlitz, and a few workshops. Of course, you can always just go to Roger Williams Park. The Rose Garden is beginning to bloom, and it will be more prolific and beautiful with every passing day for the next three weeks.

The Providential Gardener Calendar is developing into a comprehensive listing of the full range of events that concern caring for and enjoying Rhode Island's landscape. I see our state as one whole Garden, seashore, roadsides, parks, forests, farms, gardens, lawns, and all. It is hard for most people to find time to check a lot of separate sites for what is going on, so I am working toward providing a union calendar for Rhode Islanders interested in the green-growing dimension of our great state. If you know about an event that interests the Providential Gardener, send me an email so I can add it to the calendar.

Another calendar to check is Natural News Network's Calendar. I take "Green" literally, as in plants that grow ~ from moss to champion trees. Mary Grady's Natural News Network takes "Green" not only literally but also figuratively, as it is usually used these days, as in recycling, solar/wind energy, and so on. Our calendars overlap, so check Natural News for hikes, nature walks, and so on, that Providential Gardener might not have included.

More Plant Sales

I have posted several more plant sales and other events on the Providential Gardener Calendar. See the Google calendar on the upper right of this web page. I hope you can access it and check it out. If you have any problems getting into the calendar, please let me know. I wish Google would permit a default setting for the Agenda view, which is much better than the Month view, I think.

There are more than a dozen things listed for this Saturday, May 12, and I'm sure there are lots more that would interest the Providential Gardener. I would list them if I knew about them. You can go for walks, learn about how to garden in the city, and go to plant sales all over the place. The orchid people and the rose people are having their regular meetings, too. Keep sending that information in!

Plant Sales!

Friday, May 4, 2007. Everyone is having plant sales this month and early next month. Here are a few I know of. If you know of others, please add a comment to this posting or send me a notice via email. All of these events are on the Providential Gardener calendar (see upper right corner of the web page). It's a Google calendar, and I encourage every organization to have a public Google calendar in addition to your other modes of public notification. You can add events easily from one Google calendar to another, and so if you have one, I can add your info into the Providential Gardener Calendar easily.

FYI, The best way to view the calendar, I think is in the "Agenda" mode, especially when there are a lot of activities on a particular day. I haven't figured out how to make this the default view. Maybe it can't be done, but one of these days I'll call Google about this.

There are many free ways to distribute event information through the web. Nonprofits ought to use everything out there!

• Tomorrow! - Exeter Public Library, Sat, May 5.
• Master Gardener/East Farm Spring Festival, URI-Kingston, Sat & Sun, May 12-13.
• Southside Community Land Trust, Providence, Sat & Sun, May 19-20.
• Mount Hope Learning Center, Providence, Sat, May 12.
• Cumberland Monastery Plant Sale, May 19.
• Arbutus Garden Club Plant Sale, Charlestown, RI, May 19.
• Rhode Island Wild Plant Society, URI Greenhouses, Kingston, Sat, June 2.
• Glocester Manton Library, Glocester (Chepachet), RI, Sat, June 2.

Details (times, locations) of the above events are in the Providential Gardener Calendar (upper right corner of web page).

Divide and Contribute! Upcoming Plant Sales Need Donations

Southside Community Land Trust is looking for contributions of desirable perennials for their upcoming plant sale in May. They have more than enough orange daylilies, but otherwise, if your garden plants have multiplied, now's the time to divide them. On Saturday, April 14, SCLT offered a demo of how to divide perennials and pot them up. The SCLT sale at City Farm in Providence is May 19th and 20th, but it will take a while for the plants to settle in pots. So if and when it warms up later this week, let's get out there and dig in, dig up, and pot those babies for their future admirers. Keep them watered, and bring them to City Farm the week of the sale.

Other plant sales around the state may also need plants. The URI Master Gardeners' sale on May 12 is an exception, having plenty of healthy plants already, due to the work of many dozens of volunteers. These sales are looking for plant material:

• Friends of the Glocester Manton Library will be holding a spring plant sale to benefit the library in May 2007.  We are in need of plant material. Contact Gayle Wolstenholme, Glocester Manton Library, 1137 Putnam Pike, Chapachet, RI 02814 ~ 401 568 6077

Send info about any other upcoming plant sales for the Providential Gardener Calendar.

City Farm's 15th Annual Plant Sale, May 19-20

City Farm's 15th Annual Plant Sale, to be held May 19th and 20th, is a fabulous place to get your organically grown perennials, annuals, herbs and vegetables while you listen to the groovin' tunes of Providence's own talented musicians! All proceeds benefit the urban agriculture & environmental education programs of Southside Community Land Trust! 

DO YOU HAVE PLANTS TO DONATE? If you would like to donate perennials for the 15th Annual Rare & Unusual Plant Sale, please contact Taylor at #401-273-9419, x23. City Farm is located on the corner of Dudley and West Clifford Streets in Providence.