July meeting minutes

PROGRAM Fran Glass hosted two yard tours at her Crestwood home:  Wednesday evening July 2 and Saturday morning July 12. Her yard is Platinum Certified though St. Louis Audubon’s Bring Conservation Home program. A total of 70 members and guests attended. Betty Struckhoff conducted the meeting on July 2, Ed…

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Opportunities to get native plants this fall

Many gardeners focus on planting in the spring, and there are lots of opportunities to buy plants. Fall is a great time to plant too, but finding plants often isn’t as easy. If you’re looking to do more gardening this fall, here are some opportunities. Shaw Wildflower Market – Friday, Sept….

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Hummingbirds

By Kathy Bildner Over the last month we have been watching as she sat on the nest, hatched out two babies and raised them. The last one left this weekend. Click any image for a larger version.

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Rainwater harvesting talk and workshops

By Susan Lanigan You’ve probably heard about the importance of keeping rainwater on your property to reduce stormwater runoff and minimize your dependence on irrigation, but how do you actually do that? EarthDance Farm is offering three opportunities to learn rainwater harvesting techniques from Jeff Adams, founder of Terrasophia. Wednesday, August 27th, 6:00-8:00 pm….

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Home with native yard for sale

By Bill and Linda Bennett We got interested in the virtues of native plants after hearing Scott Woodbury give a short talk at a gardening workshop at Meramec Community College many years ago, and began planting shortly after that. We have no idea how many species we’ve accumulated over the…

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Pipevine caterpillar update

By Peggy Whetzel Things have changed in the aquariums overnight. Rather suddenly, the pipevine quit vanishing so quickly and several chrysalises have formed, so there’s less pressure to provide food. It’s becoming a “pupation station” instead. I’d heard the caterpillars would eat for five weeks, but these finished in about…

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Got Dutchman’s pipevine?

If you have some Aristolochia macrophylla in your yard, I’m hoping you might want to share some tendrils with the pipevine swallowtail caterpillars that are rapidly depleting my plants. Actually, I am rapidly depleting my pipevine plants to feed about 45 caterpillars. They were rescued as tiny orange eggs or…

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Build a rain barrel stand, or bid on this one

By Ed Schmidt A rain barrel stand raises the faucets on your rain barrel to a convenient height and increases the water pressure by raising the water to a higher level. A barrel of water weighs over 400 pound, so strength is important. I have built four of them from…

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