New Butterfly Bush Introduction: by Tom Butzler

There are alot of butterfly bushes (Buddleia) on the market these days and at times it is hard to distinguish one from another.  Unfortunately, the ones we have in the trail garden at our Penn State Extension office in Clinton County are showing up in parts of the garden they were never planted.  Dr. Dennis Werner of NC State University developed a Buddleia that is unique in several ways from the majority of butterfly bushes.  It is low growing and can be utilized as a ground cover (unique horizontal branching) and the flowers are sterile so unwanted bushes don't appear throughout your landscape.  For more information on growth characteristics, culture requirement,  and pictures check out here and here.

Webinars – A Great Way to Learn About Horticulture: by Tom Butzler

In an earlier blog posting, I talked about staying abreast of horticulture news by reading a wide variety of material. My emphasis this winter is to read some of Penn State University’s new and revised publications. Although I like to read, I have also been using webinars to catch up on current events and research in the horticulture world.


A webinar is short for a seminar that is web-based and where training occurs in your office or home computer. You don’t sit there and just read the screen but listen to the audio, view visuals and participate by asking questions and communicating with the presenter. I have listened to a variety of webinars and wanted to highlight a few that I found educational. The ones listed below are recordings (were live at the time I listened to them) so they will not be interactive at this time. You will still hear the conversations that occurred between the presenters and participants. 

Beekeeping For Beginners – Virtual Webinar Series: by Tom Butzler

Penn State Cooperative Extension is conducting a virtual Beginner Beekeeping Class starting in February 2011. The webinar course is designed to create a foundation of beekeeping knowledge in order to confidently help beginners manage honeybees.

Webinars are web-based seminars which delivers training through the Internet directly to your computer. You are able to view the presentation via your home/office computer and listen to the audio portion of the presentation through your computer’s speakers. These are interactive and will allow the participants to ask questions and communicate with the presenters. If you can’t join the session or would like to review a certain topic, sessions will be recorded and available to participants until the end of the year

The Beekeeping for Beginners is a one year course that will include the following:

1. A seven part live webinar series (all sessions will be recorded and available until December 31, 2011
2. Virtual Beekeeping Field Day
3. Accessibility to instructors through:

• Virtual office hours
• Discussion forums

The registration fee for the one year Beekeeping for Beginners is for $150. Registration and agenda information can be found at: http://extension.psu.edu/beekeeping. 

It Was a Great Ride While It Lasted: by Tom Butzler

I thoroughly enjoyed this past fall as the temperatures and rainless weekends/evenings provided many opportunities to garden and recreate. The past few days however, have really put that weather behind us and we now face the reality of winter.

One thing I try to due during the winter months (beyond the futile effort to try and clean my office) is catch up on my horticulture education. At times, this might be attending a horticulture meeting or two such as the Mid-Atlantic Fruit and Vegetable Conference. Most of my continuing education is reading the journals, newsletters, publications and factsheets that I didn’t have time during the growing and harvest season. One area I want to concentrate on this winter is reading some of Penn State’s new, old and revised horticulture publications.  TO READ MORE, CLICK BELOW!

Please Don’t Top Trees!: by Tina Clinefelter

Tree-topping is a crime against nature, but I can understand that some homeowners have it done in order to control a tree that has become too large for the property and they misguidedly believe this pruning technique will solve the problem. Prepare to be enlightened…
Before I go into the dark side of tree-topping here are a few other names that this procedure masquerades under: heading, rounding-over, lopping, stubbing (self-explanatory), and de-horning (say what?) All of the aforementioned methods will disfigure and devalue your tree, and hasten its demise!
Tree-topping shortens branches to stubs instead of removing the entire branch to the trunk. The branches are shortened to a flattened canopy or a rounded shape like a green lollipop. This spurs the tree to produce a myriad spindly twiggy stems called water-sprouts at the end of each stub, causing weak, tangled growth much prone to storm damage. The stubs themselves open the inner tree to insect and disease invasion! The tree will regain its former size quite quickly, but with a bad case of ‘bed-head’. The ‘ugly factor’ is most visible in winter when the leaves have fled.
Now let’s examine the slow starvation of trees caused by topping: well, for a start it’s missing a lot of leaves! Leaves feed a tree – roots store food. In a desperate effort to replace leaf-bearing twigs a tree will use vital energy stores and strength is depleted – health declines – death hastens!
In terms of dollars and cents, topping will reduce the value of landscape trees by thousands: ugly and un-natural silhouettes are not assets and an unhealthy tree is a hazard.
One of my stand-by pieces of advice goes like this: ‘when is a good time to plant a tree?’ – twenty years ago! Likewise, the ‘right plant in the right place’ is standard good sense. Many of us inherit a large tree as part of the property and give no thought to the future, but as time goes by the problems multiply. When it becomes apparent that a mature tree is in decline, one should plant a suitably sized tree nearby and take out the larger one when it is necessary. Topping will not save the larger tree but proper pruning of the replacement tree will ensure correct branch development and structural soundness.
In closing I want to mention a couple of things:
First: I am in the process of down-sizing and am donating many of my gardening books to the Ross Library. There will be books on container gardening, annuals, perennials, diseases, insect problems and other subjects plus a number of cook-books (I no longer cook very much)! Check it out!
Last: Come to the Green Energy Fair at the Central Mountain Middle School on December 12th at noon. I will be there along with fellow Master Gardeners, ready to answer questions and provide green information. Hope to see you!
Really last: Love this quote concerning fall clean-up of the garden with regard to being friendly to wildlife creatures: ‘avoid excessive tidiness’! OK!