The Unabated Deer Buffet

Above is 'Born To Please' (Iris germanica) shot by Christine this past spring. I can't wait to see the entire collection peaking this spring and will continue with these "countdown" pictures, all taken by very talented, volunteer photographers. The title of this post could be the new name for Rotary Botanical Gardens. While our 1000' of custom fencing/deer barrier has been good at excluding bambi from our arborvitae, the demolition crew has severely damaged our yews (Taxus sp.), false cypress (Chamaecyparis sp.) and other less tasty evergreens. While I'm an animal rights person, vegan, etc., I'm not a big fan of this open buffet program. The damage will be catastrophic with very little we can do by the end of winter.

We had another good crew today with Little Jerry, Bill and Larry taking down lights and getting up cords out in the garden. Dr. Gredler was back in the horticulture center unwrapping lights from our obelisks and processing the items the fellas were bringing in as well. Marianne came in to work on her iris booklet and probably knows all 500+ varieties by heart after dealing with them for so long! Vern came in for some minor woodworking and we saw Maury, Big John, Gary, Iza, Joanne, Dick P., Hal, Sue M., Deb and others over here today as well. More catalogs! Totally Tomatoes (owned by Jung Seed out of WI) has an amazing array of not only tomatoes (hybrids and heirlooms) but peppers and other vegetables as well. We've used them extensively for our vegetable collections and have been very pleased with the seed quality. Check out their full color catalog or view http://www.totallytomato.com/. To the right is another great source for organic seeds. Seeds of Change (http://www.seedsofchange.com/) is committed to "preserving biodiversity and supporting sustainable organic agriculture since 1989" (as their catalog states). Of all the catalogs I peruse, I think this one has the perfect balance of vegetables, herbs, perennials and annuals. There is something for everyone in this catalog including many heirlooms and old-fashioned varieties. This is also one of the few that includes comprehensive Latin names which is perfect for creating our labels.


My issue of the day is styrofoam cups. Comprised of polystyrene foam, these cups are inexpensive, durable, great for hot and cold beverages and readily available. However, Americans throw out 25 billion of these each year which is enough to circle the earth 436 times. A styrofoam cup that ends up in the landfull today will be a styrofoam cup in 500 years. They are difficult to recycle but I'm not necessarily advocating a change to paper cups. The inputs involved with creating paper cups currently have more energy inputs and more negative environmental impacts than styrofoam. At our horticulture center, we encourage the use of mugs at coffee break so we can minimize disposable cup usage. This is just another "heads up" that so many of our daily routines have direct impact on the environment and it's been reinforced in my mind that just because something can be recycled or is biodegradable (paper cups, paper bags, etc), it doesn't mean that there weren't already negative impacts as a result of the initial creation of that product. How do we minimize our reliance on products that can be easily replaced with a more appropriate choice?