IGC October Meeting

           Please RSVP by October 2nd to Maureen at nicknicknana @yahoo.com
           See you there!

An Invitation from Peter Vanderwark

Impatiens Disease Can Winter Over

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but a new disease--"Impatiens Downy Mildew" wreaked havoc with the common garden Impatiens (Impatiens walleriana) this season. Symptoms include yellowing of leaves and a white, downy substance on the backs of the yellowed leaves. On green leaves, the spores may only be seen with a hand lens. Once infected, all leaves and flowers drop off leaving “skeletonized” stems. Currently, there is no cure. Dispose of the plant remains in the trash, not compost.

The bad news….the fungus Plasmopara obduscens (how’s that for a mouthful?) can winter over in soil. If you plan to plant impatiens in the same location next year, U Mass Extension recommends removing the soil in that location and removing it from your property! Since most of us are probably not up for this, next season plant annuals not affected by the disease, for example, New Guinea impatiens, begonias, and coleus.

For a very good information sheet, “Impatiens Downy Mildew in Home Gardens”, click on:
http://extension.umass.edu/landscape/sites/landscape/files/publications/impatiens_downy_mildew.pdf
 

--Gail Anderson, IGC Horticulturist

New Season of IGC Lectures-- Sept. Meeting

From the structured garden rooms on Beacon Hill to the urban Nightingale Gardens in Dorchester; from an ancient Vietnamese garden shrine to a meandering rock wall at Storm King in NY state, Peter Vanderwarker revealed with humor and a love for nature his personal and photographic view of private and public gardens in Boston and around the U.S. and the world. Thank you, Peter, for a wonderful tour.

This was the first lecture of the Ipswich Garden Club's 2012-2013 programs. President Maureen Leonard began the program with a short meeting with summer updates and kudos to members for their work in Ipswich. One of the most important announcements was that the date of the Annual Plant Sale has been changed from May 18th to May 11th, 2013. This change was made so that our sale would not be competing with other organizations' sales held on the same date (e.g. Long Hill ).