Farm and Garden

Farm and Garden

Penn State Extension, Franklin County

181 Franklin Farm Lane
Chambersburg, PA 17202
Telephone: 717-263-9226
For the week of September 17, 2012

http://extension.psu.edu/franklin

Dig, Divide, and Multiply – Saturday, September 29^th, 10:00 a.m. – Noon.  Hands on workshop learning from experienced Master Gardeners how to propagate perennials via root division.  Bring gardening gloves, trowel, and gardening shears or knife if you have them.  Participants will get to take home a potted division.  The fee is $10.00.  Call the Extension office at 263-9226 to register.

Landscape Design & Plant Selection Series

This series of 7 Wednesday workshops and a Saturday landscape tour is designed for the homeowner who is interested in learning how to develop a landscape plan, or add to a present one. We start out with the basics of developing and understanding a landscape plan, and continue in the remaining sessions offering more detailed information on design and plant selection.  The course is applicable to both brand new home landscapes, and established ones in need of rejuvenation.  The fee is $40.00 for the whole series, or $10.00 for each individual class.

1.     Getting Started – October 3, 2012 7-9 pm.- Teaching how to use the basic tools and principles to start building a cohesive plan for the future.

2.     Artist’s View of the Landscape – October 10, 2012 7-9 pm.-Visualize what your landscape will look like in ten years.

3.     Native Plants in Your Landscape – October 17, 2012 7-9 pm. -Understand the benefits of using native plants, and the impact of invasive plant species.

4.     Basics of Landscape Design: Best Practices – October 24, 2012 7-9 pm.-Learn the fundamentals for laying out your landscape planting, so that both you and your plants are happy with the final results.

5.     Garden Tour – Saturday, October 27, 2012 9-11 am. -See over 100 different trees and shrubs in Elmer Greey’s Garden.

6.     Shrubs in the Landscape– October 31, 2012 7-9 pm. -Evergreen and Deciduous Shrubs. Learn how to choose the right size shrub for your landscape.

7.     Trees in the Landscape – November 7, 2012 7-9 pm. - Learn how to choose the right size trees for your landscape.

8.     Plan Review – November 14, 2012 7-9 pm.

Please call the Penn State Extension Office at 717-263-9226 for more information and to register.

 Future Farmers of America

Matthew Dodson, State Officer with the Pennsylvania FFA, is organizing a local FFA Alumni Affiliate program here in Chambersburg and would like to invite the public to an informational meeting at the Chambersburg Area Senior High School on October 14, 2012 at 2:00 p.m. in the cafeteria. You don't have to have been an FFA member to join the FFA Alumni Chapter.

The National FFA Organization is a youth organization that is an intracurricular part of the Agriculture Education classroom.  The Organization is dedicated to making a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural education.  Our members are “Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, and Living to Serve.”  FFA is the largest youth organization in the United States with over 540,000 members across 7,489 chapters in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

 If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact Matthew Dodson at dodsonm19@gmail.com or 717-552-9801 (cell). 

Fall Colors

With the Autumn Equinox coming this week, Penn State Extension would like to introduce you to Howie Neufeld, Ph.D., Professor of Plant Physiology at Appalachian State University and otherwise known as the Fall Color Guy.  Dr. Neufeld has started documenting conditions for the 2012 season at his site http://biology.appstate.edu/fall-colors  He specifically addresses the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina, but the information is applicable to our area as well.  If you’re planning a Skyline Drive weekend this year, be sure to check his site for the latest information.  Dr. Neufeld writes:

This past year, as you all well know, was not only warm, but the warmest on record.  We barely had any snow accumulation and our minimum winter temperatures were relatively mild.  Luckily, we did not experience any severe drought in the mountains, nor have we had any such drought this past spring or summer.  That bodes well for a good fall color season, since severe drought causes trees to lose their leaves prematurely and to under develop their colors.  However, since we have never had such a warm year preceding a fall, we are in unchartered territory when it comes to predicting how the fall colors will be this year. 

I have always emphasized that the major factors influencing fall color quality and duration include lack of a severe summer drought (we meet that requirement this year!), cooler temperatures (especially at night) and sunny days beginning in late August and continuing through September.  We seem to be on track with respect to temperature and sun here at the end of summer – in fact, here in the mountains it seems as if we’ve gone from a hot July right into a cool September, even though we’re still in August.  If we don’t’ get a severe wind storm in early October (which can knock the leaves off the trees) we may be on track for a good fall color season – keep your fingers crossed! 

Notwithstanding all these requirements, I’m still a little up in the air about both the timing and duration of fall color this year.  Dogwoods are in an advanced state of coloration already!  And, I’m seeing sugar maples already switching over to their orange-yellow fall colors!  However, the maples change early every year, so I don’t place much emphasis on their ability to predict the timing of the rest of the trees.  A few sumacs have also changed, but again, I don’t know if that is due to some other unknown stress or if that is truly a harbinger of an early fall color season.

Will we have an early fall color season?  We do know that trees this spring leafed out maybe one or two weeks ahead of their normal time, but what we don’t know is whether that will also translate into also developing fall color one or two weeks early.  Perhaps tree leaves have a definite lifespan no matter then they leaf out, and if so, fall colors may occur sooner this year.  On the other hand, there is some evidence that trees take advantage of good weather and extend their lifespan further into the fall, which may either delay or keep the timing of fall colors about the same as in previous years.  As hard as this may be for me to admit, I simply don’t know what scenario will prevail.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

Here in Watauga County, North Carolina, at elevations between 3,300 to 4,000’, fall colors tend to peak in mid-October (somewhere between October 12-14), occurring sooner at higher elevations and later at lower ones.  For instance in Asheville, which is about 1,000’ lower than Boone, the peak tends to occur 7 to 10 days later.  For Franklin County, Pennsylvania in the valley regions, the fall color peak tends to occur in the October 29 – November 5 range, according to the Pennsylvania Visitors Network.

The other big unknown is how long good fall colors will persist.  The duration of fall colors depends on many factors, including the weather at the time when color quality peaks, the occurrence of severe storms as mentioned above, but perhaps also the growing conditions in the preceding summer (and winter?).  This is because these conditions may affect the amount of sugars trees have available to make anthocyanins, the red pigments that most people consider a marker for a good fall color year. 

A few years ago, colors peaked on a Friday, and were noticeably reduced by Monday, just three days later, a record short duration!  In other years, peak coloration seems to persist for at least a week or more.  When we have cloudy, warm days, or severe drought, these reduce sugar levels, which limit a tree’s ability to synthesize anthocyanins, and we get duller reds and a shift over to more orange-yellow colors.  When that happens, most people consider those fall seasons to be of lower quality.  Seems people prefer it when we have brilliant red leaves contrasted against a deep blue sky or the yellow-orange of other leaves.  Why that it is is something for the psychologists to ponder. 

So, happy watching!  As we do every year, everyone here in the High Country looks forward to having you up for what we hope will be a great fall color season!  Drive safely!!

More on the Web: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/fallcolor/about.cfm

 

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