Worm Power gets grant, more

Hello! We are working on getting out the July-August UGJ. Give a holler if you want to advertise there (or here).

—Jane

Our hearts go out to the Dems family of Manlius Shade Tree Nursery as they suffer another loss. Chris Dems died on Monday, June 2.
Kurt Bluemel, the “King of Grasses,” died June 4. Here is his fascinating obituary from the Washington Post.
A warm welcome to our new sponsor Helena Chemical! You can reach your rep Andy by email here.
One of our other sponsors, Oriental Garden Supply, is having an open house Wednesday the 18th from 5-8pm for green industry professionals. Hope to see you there!
“It comes as a surprise to many people that landscapes can be designed.” It does? Who are these people? I’ve never met ANY of them (thank goodness!). Ten landscape designers who changed the world.

I visited Bedlam Gardens in King Ferry last weekend and smelled a Magnolia hypoluca. That’s Upstate Gardeners’ Journal artist Cathy Monrad looking like Waldo.

Worm Power in Avon, NY, has received a $99K federal grant to “help expand its technology to create new products.” I haven’t spoken with anyone there, but from what I gather the idea is to develop a new coating out of the worm poop that will provide added benefits to the seed, for instance nutrients and anti-pathenogenic properties. The result would be a pelleted seed—like the ones currently on the market that Senator Chuck Schumer says contain chemicals that cause negative effects (I’m not so sure about this). If you are interested in a primer on Worm Power, you can read my piece of a year ago in 585 Magazine here. It’s a pretty cool place and Tom Herlihy (below) is a really bright guy.

I know I’m always making fun of tech-y garden gadgets, but the person behind this one has a longer view for his device than merely monitoring hipster houseplants. From the NY Times.

Here is a list of bad tree choices for the home landscape. I agree, for the most part, with the picks (excluding things like eucalyptus that I know nothing about). But there’s another list from the same site (houselogic.com) that not only do I mostly disagree with, but I think is written by a team of ignorant plant-haters who don’t know it’s possible to buy a thornless honeylocust or a male ginkgo. Your thoughts are welcome.