The Providential Gardener

What's Your RI E-IQ?

RI E-IQ = Rhode Island Environmental Information Quotient

What do you know about Rhode Island's natural environment?

I've just spent a little time looking for locally produced lists of Rhode Island rivers and native mammals, and I am not satisfied with the results. I don't want to rely on Wikipedia for this information ~ some Rhode Island organizations probably have reliable, comprehensive resources that would interest both children and adults, with photos and details about habits, diet, etc., of native mammals. Surely the RI Natural History Survey has a good list of native mammals. I'm sure some of the many water-related groups have the list of rivers. This is standard almanac info, and of course it's in printed reference books. But web searches on >>"RHODE ISLAND" RIVERS<< and on >>"RHODE ISLAND" "NATIVE MAMMALS"<< do not produce nice, neat complete lists.

I'd like to be wrong about this! So if you can find comprehensive lists of RI rivers and native mammals online let me know!

It should be easy for anyone to find the answers to the following questions with a quick online search, don't you think? Online answers turn up quickly for the first two questions, but the last two questions, not so much.

1. What are the names of the islands in Narragansett Bay? A search on >>"NARRAGANSETT BAY" ISLANDS<< easily turns up a list on providenceri.com (City of Providence website) with historical information about the approximately 30+ islands in the bay. This was written by Stuart O. Hale in the 1980s or earlier. Very interesting and informative, only it lists 22 islands, not the 30+ mentioned at the top of the chapter. Maybe the rest are smaller than Whale Rock? .... How many bay islands can you name? What islands can you see from Colt State Park?
2. Where are the boundaries between watersheds in Rhode Island? A search on >>"RHODE ISLAND" WATERSHEDS<< turns up a lot of resources, but I almost drowned in the flood of information I found. Excellent maps are easily located, however: The RI Critical Resources Atlas has very informative maps of each watershed. I count 12 watersheds at this site.
3. What are the names of Rhode Island's rivers? Search on >>"RHODE ISLAND" "RIVER NAMES"<< and the top 10 results in Google turn up a lot of wikis plus Twin River Gambling Casino. I'll ask  the river experts I know and compile this list soon...
4. What mammals are native to Rhode Island? A search on >>"RHODE ISLAND" "NATIVE MAMMALS"<< results in lots of detailed info and many references to a 1900 book available online, but no concise, illustrated list of animals. I have a resource we use in the Master Gardener Learning Landscape program that would be a good model for such a web page.

What else should we know about Rhode Island's natural world? Amazing quantities of data are available. Let's also make it easy to grasp the basic facts about our environment.

Homes for Displaced or Surplus Plants

Friday at the Botanical Center opening, I got into a conversation about setting up a plant exchange with Kurt van Dexter, a landscape architect who has been working for several years to establish gardens at schools, and who is one of the people involved with the Children's Garden Network.

Maybe this happens to you:

• Your new garden project requires discarding a perfectly healthy plant or maybe a tree.
• Or your yard produces so many new plants that you don't have room for all of them.

Your friends and neighbors won't take any more of your plants, and there aren't any plant sales to give them to. Yet it seems a shame to throw out the plants. They may be perfect for someone else's garden.

What can we do about this? Add comments to this post!

Planning Landscaping

As usual, The Garden Guys had an interesting and useful show this morning on WHJJ (920AM) from 8am to 10am. One topic they discussed was how to make the most of professional landscaping services, a great topic for contemplation in January, especially this January when you can not only see the ground, but plants are still visible (my chrysanthemums have started growing again, by the way). Here is their list of questions to think about, pretty much verbatim:

• What existing plants do you like/dislike on your property now? Why do you like/dislike them?
• Any unsightly views you want to block?
• Are the lights from car headlights coming in your windows
• Do you enjoy yard work?
• How much time do you have to spend in your yard?
• How much lawn do you have? Do you want more or less lawn?
• Want to encourage/discourage wildlife? birds.... deer
• Do you foresee adding on to your home?
• Do you enjoy an outdoor living space?
• Need a privacy screen?
• Want a water feature?
• How long do you intend on staying in your home?

Professionals also ought to ask you:

• What color is your house (and do you intend to change the color, and if so, to what)?
• Your house's style
• How long are you going to be owning this house?
• Are there young children in your family?
• Are pets living there? Fence? invisible fence? where roam? how many?
• What are your favorite colors? What colors do you dislike?
• What areas are you landscaping: public (front yard), service (trashcans, tool shed...), play (children's swings, etc), private (patio, off back porch...)

It's YOUR yard, and it should reflect YOUR taste and meet YOUR requirements.

Thanks, Sam and Fred! I just checked the website for their radio show, and see that there are some audio "tidbits" available. I'm still lobbying for streaming audio!

What’s Wrong With My Tree! Westerly meeting

Here's a notice from RI Tree Council:

One night seminar - free and open to the public

Presented by the Rhode Island Tree Council.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006  6:30 PM

Westerly Library, Westerly, RI

Attention RI Tree Stewards:* This counts as 2 1/2 volunteer time/ hours.

Call or email   if you will attend 401-861-1995  or  ritree@ritree.org so we can get a head count

Speakers:

Pests and Diseases of Trees:  John Campanini, Technical Advisor, Rhode Island Tree Council

Invasive species: Paul Dolan, Acting Deputy Chief, RI DEM Division of Forest Environment

*RI Tree Council holds two courses a year to train people to be Tree Stewards. See http://www.ritree.org/TreeSteward.html

Garden Guys To Do List - November 5, 2006

Today's Garden Guys show on WHJJ (920 AM) was informative and entertaining as always, a must-hear show every Sunday from 8 am to 10 am. Their website is www.garden-guys.com.

I'm on my way outside to take care of some of these things in my own garden, and maybe you'd like their To Do list also. Here is today's To Do from the Garden Guys

• Sharpen mower blades
• Perennials, if they have turned yellow, prune them right to ground
• Clean up the vegetable garden
• Find a nice spot for your live Christmas tree and dig the hole now.
• Leaf blowers – wear ear protection – little foam earplugs
• Dahlia bulbs – shake off all dirt, cut the tops, spray with Neme, place in sawdust or peat moss in a plastic bag that has holes and keep in a cool place through the winter. Don’t let them freeze.
• Great time to re-edge – take the edgings and put in compost pile.
• Empty garden hoses – put them away, coil them – connect the ends so critters don’t get in. Tie them up.
• Shut water off from outside faucets.
• Clean the gutters
• WAIT until spring to cut ornamental grasses – let them sit all winter long and enjoy their beauty
• Garden hasn’t had a hard frost yet. WAIT to mulch roses, hydrangeas until hard frost.
• Try cutting some wild grape vines for a wreath. Be sure it’s not poison ivy! Grape vines are more knobby than poison ivy.
• Amaryllis bulbs – this is a great time to pot up one per pot. From South Africa. Colors are spectacular.

The Garden Guys ~ Notes on the September 24 Show

The Garden Guys are on WHJJ (920 AM) every Sunday morning from 8 am to 10 am. The Garden Guys are Sam Jeffries and Frank ? (I've got his name somewhere on another note, but can't find at the moment).  I listen whenever I possibly can, and I'm listening right now. Lots of first-time callers, and Dee from Scituate, who calls in a lot, whose daughter oversees a plantation in Hawaii. You can call in and ask your gardening questions, and their advice is well grounded, so to speak, because of their training and long experience. Their website is www.garden-guys.com.

Especially note their Garden Talk link, where you can submit your own question.

What Organizations Am I Missing?

Please check the sidebar for the list of Organizations and send the Providential Gardener info about "Growing Community" groups that could be listed here. Many thanks!

The Garden Guys

Have you listened yet to The Garden Guys on WHJJ AM 920, Sunday mornings from 8am to 10am? I tuned in today and heard several interesting questions from call-in listeners answered by these gardening professionals. They were broadcasting live Sunday, July 16, from the Green Animals Topiary Garden in Newport, which is one of the properties of the Newport Mansions of the Preservation Society that maintains those extraordinary seaside gardens. Green Animals has a new volunteer program and a vegetable garden that contributes to the Rhode Island Food Bank (see the Rhode Island Community Farm web page) and they could use YOUR help. If you love working in gardens and don't have your own garden, what a treat it would be to work in this glorious garden! To volunteer at Green Animals, call Jim Donahue, the horticulturist there, at 401-683-1267, or call the main number of the Newport Preservation Society, 401-847-1000.

The Garden Guys have two websites: one for the Garden Guys show on WHJJ, and another one called Garden Guys Organic. Check them out!

Rhode Island's Plant Hardiness Zones

What is the actual range of plant hardiness zones within Rhode Island?

Yes, we can easily get the general listing and maps of hardiness zones in the US from several sources no doubt. But the climate varies dramatically within our small state - Little Compton is completely different from Burrillville. So who would know?

Trees and Air Quality

How do trees affect air quality? Here are some links to get you thinking: