From our guests:
Last July, a guest wrote a note to our director saying “Wonderful visit and tour. Beautiful grounds.“ Hope you’ll enjoy the garden today as much as our guest did in July 2008.
From our guests:
Last July, a guest wrote a note to our director saying “Wonderful visit and tour. Beautiful grounds.“ Hope you’ll enjoy the garden today as much as our guest did in July 2008.
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Wednesdays at Winterthur, July 15th, 11:30 am at the greenhouses.
Looking for different ideas for your summer containers? Learn new combinations of annuals, tender perennials, and tropicals. With horticulturists Leigh Donnelly and Michele Christiano, enjoy a walking tour of Winterthur’s summer containers.
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Greetings! I’m back from a wonderful week of celebrating our daughter’s wedding on June 27th. The ceremony was held in the Lower Reflecting Pool Garden; the reception at the visitor center. I see these spaces most every day and yet was stunned by the beauty and power of the garden in the evening. Maybe it was the wine, but more likely it was the way the sun was setting, the birds were singing and our daughter and her new husband were beaming.
I revisited these spaces today. My main observation? Don’t try to take photos at high noon! The sun washes the color away. Nevertheless, here are a few photos to whet your appetite for beauty and to entice you to come visit the Winterthur Garden this summer. In bloom? Daylillies, hydrangea, hosta, crape myrtle. The garden is full, lush, well-kept and exceedingly romantic. Of course, that’s the view from the mother of the very happy bride.
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Wednesdays at Winterthur, July 8th, 11:30 am at the greenhouses.

Among natural resources, trees are unrivaled in their usefulness.
From cleaning the air to shading our homes to supplying the raw material for countless products and purposes, trees epitomize the term “multi-tasker.”
Join Winterthur’s arborist superintendent John Salata for an introduction to several of our native “wooden wonders,” and an enlightening discussion on the multi-faceted and vitally important role trees play in our backyard, our lives, and in the world.
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by Maggie Lidz
HF du Pont made few notes about the Winterthur garden in July as he spent most of the month at his Southampton summer house. The exception was during World War 2. The notes that he made in July during the 1940s understandably focus on the farm and reflect some of the concerns common during the war years.
July 18, 1941 to Mrs. Chamberlain Chanler, HF271: After a long drought here, it is raining its head off and everything is rotting away. The trials of a gardener are manifest!
July 22, 1941 to W.A. Brooks: I am here [Winterthur] from Southampton for my every other week visit and am thankful that is has finally got dry enough so that we can thresh our wheat. A few more wet days and it would have sprouted in the fields and you know what that means to a farmer.
July 1942 to Albert Ely Ives: We have been here all summer and it has been very pleasant. Everybody else is staying home also.
July 23, 1943 to Bessie Andrews: Everyone is gardening furiously, freezing and putting up all kinds of vegetables for next winter. With the help of several boys we manage to keep the place looking quite nicely. The poor despised farmer has at last come into his own! We have beef cattle, sheep etc. and do our own slaughtering, so we don’t bother with those terrible rationing coupons.
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by Frank Quinnette
On my way to work this morning I heard a radio commercial for grub control. It’s a tongue-in-cheek spot from a major lawn care product supplier that is pretty funny really. Kind of 1950’s, flying-saucer-ominous-voice-in-panic type deal. Ugly monsters in the lawn devouring grass roots! Run for your lives! Something like that. Smart advertising for the most part. It blends the seriousness of a grub problem on turf with a “…don’t worry, it can be controlled. Even prevented…” message. For guys like me who worry about turf all year long and the blade-watching, home turf hobbyists across the country, this is good news. So I figured this was a good subject to blog about.
No doubt; white grubs can be a nightmare. We’ve had problems here at Winterthur in the past. They cause turf damage quick, fast, and in a hurry. Recovery from an infestation can take a long time depending on the extent of the damage. And, to top it off, they become adults and eat Momma Q’s roses as some sort of beetle. Certain beetles lay eggs in the soil under your grass. The eggs hatch and the grubs feed on their favorite food. Your grass roots. They dive deep and over winter then come back up in the spring and eat again before becoming beetles and repeating the cycle.
Is that messed up or what?
Now…don’t panic…I don’t know how to break this to you but… you’ve got grubs in your lawn. You probably never knew. But if you haven’t been applying an insecticide on your lawn for grubs chances are, you’ve got ‘em.
Hold on. Don’t go flinging the grub control just yet. Here’s the deal. You’ll probably never see damage from “your” grubs (keep them to yourself thank you very much) if there are not a lot of them in your lawn. A healthy stand of turf, properly mowed, fertilized, and watered can tolerate about 5 white grubs per square foot. If your turf is under stress due to drought, disease, or pretty much anything, the tolerance threshold drops. To know if you have a problem with grubs look for brown patches of grass that seem to be getting bigger as the week progresses (grubs work fast). Not all brown patches on your lawn are grub damage so here’s the next step. Try pulling on the blades of those brown patches. If the grass lifts quickly and comes up like newly laid sod, the roots are gone and chances are you’ve got grubs. Take a closer look, if they are there you’ll find them just under the surface of the soil trying to get out of the light. If there are only 2 or 3 grubs per square foot gather them up for fishing bait if you want but don’t overreact. Keep some water on the area and the grass should recover. Just consider a grub prevention treatment next year.
However, if you see more than five in that square foot section, it is time to get rid of them. Head off to your favorite garden supply store and choose from any number of grub controls out there. Apply as directed on the product label then properly care for your lawn as you would normally, keeping an eye on the damaged area(s). If the conditions are right your turf will recover on its own. If you need to reseed…reseed. Simple, easy, no panic here…right? That’s how I roll.
Myth Buster
Here’s a myth I heard from a former employer:
To get rid of moles in a lawn spread grub control. It kills the grubs and the moles leave ‘cause there’s nothing for them to eat. Right?
No…no…no…
OK…it sort of makes sense. This would be true if moles ate only grubs (they don’t), or, if your yard was not on the way to a yard where a mole needed to be (it is). Moles like shortcuts..
The fact is, moles go where moles want to go. They can be an indicator of grubs, but they are not a reliable diagnostic tool. Myths like this have resulted in non-targeted applications of pesticides, which add to potential environmental problems to numerous to count here. Insecticides are for insects only. Use them when you need to, but try to have a little tolerance. Always read the label before applying any pesticide.
Mower Jockey Bonus Question!!!
(No prize just the satisfaction of knowing that you know)
By looking at a white grub, how can you tell what kind of beetle it will become when it reaches the adult stage? (Leave your answer as a comment on this entry.)
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Wednesdays at Winterthur: July 1st 11:30 am at the greenhouses.
All organic matter will decompose within time! Through active composting, you can turn organic matter from your backyard and household residues into a rich soil amendment to help improve plant growth, give roots a healthier environment in which to expand and stabilize, reduce potential soil erosion from wind and water, provide additional nutrients and reduce the waste-stream at your local landfill. Join Dorothy Abbott, extension agent for renewable resources, as she shares the secrets of compost, a gardener’s black gold.
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Wednesdays at Winterthur: June 24 11:30 am at the greenhouses.

Join garden guide specialist Ed Stevenson for a walk through the garden, looking in detail at those majestic woodland trees, the oaks and beeches.
Their identification, characteristics, growth conditions, and how they may be used in a home garden will be explored.
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Jeannette Lindvig, a guide in the house and the garden, shares a beautiful essay and photo of the Winterthur Garden:

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