Category Archives: #plantandtheywillcome

Tomatoes, peppers and eggplant, Oh My!

From Cedar Rock Gardens – New Date For Warm Weather Plants Release!

Tomato Release Day with many other warm weather seedlings is now May 18th!
A list of what we will be growing this season is updated on our website

Good morning to all my plant loving friends!

We hope you are enjoying this spring so far. We have had some ups and downs with the weather and we are very skeptical of the night temps as a result of the late frost here last year (May 18th!). It seems though that we have a good run of temps all this week and the soil is beginning to warm substantially – all our crops in the ground have just recently started taking off!

With a very mild winter and a long winded spring it has been a funny season so far in terms of “waking up”. Which has made everything seem to really fly by and here we are already in May! As we hurdle towards Memorial Day we are changing over our cool weather selection of plants to our warm weather selection of plants – TOMATO RELEASE DAY WILL NOW BE MAY 18th. We have volleyed a bit on the date of our warm weather plant release because it really does not do the plants any good to go into the ground too early, in fact sometimes it stunts them or sets them up for unnecessary foliage disease due to being cold and wet. To our happy surprise though the Gingo trees and grape vines are starting to set their leaves and that is a very good indication that we are safe from nights that will be too cold and set our plants back. That being said we will still be holding off planting our own fruiting plants outside for another week or so just as an added precaution but some of you are in warmer micro climates or have raised beds and pots that will have fresh soil/compost in them that will be warmer than the ground so we will be ready for you on Saturday with all our warm weather seedlings.
These include:
Tomatoes
Peppers
EggplantsThe rest of our flowers and herbs

We will be making a game time decision on the zinnias, basil, cucumbers and squash because those guys really can’t do with any chilly weather – so if the 5 day forecast after Saturday looks promising they will be available on the 18th too – otherwise we may wait another week on them.

All will be available on a first come first served basis till we sell out.

After 11 seasons of experience of growing our own food on the farm and selling seedlings to our customers we really try to make sure we stay true to what makes a healthy plant. There is always a huge pull to put plants out earlier and earlier each year and it has become a great teaching moment for new gardeners. Weather and soil temperature play a huge role in a healthy plants and a successful garden. We get asked frequently why we don’t have tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers available sooner in the season and the short answer is because it is bad business. We love what we do and we love the plants we grow and we refrain from doing what “everybody else does” because that is what sets us apart. We truly appreciate that you shop with us and support us in these decisions and continue to trust us to grow the best possible plants to be planted under the best possible scenarios, so you get to reap the best possible rewards! Plants are alive – they do not just come off the shelf for sale because a certain date has occurred – they must be big enough and hardy enough to deal with our New England growing conditions. Our list of available plants is fully updated on our website for you to look through.

We will be closed on Friday, May 17th to haul all the seedlings up to the nursery in preparation for Saturday. We will be opened on Saturday 8am to 4 pm and Sunday 8 am to 4 pm and resume regular business hours the rest of the season till mid-June 7 days a week.

We have our potting station set up at the entrance to the nursery. You are welcome to bring your own pot to fill with soil and plant here or purchase a pot here to fill and plant. We have a great organic soil mix in the bin with a little Vermont compost and pro grow mixed in and you are charged by the gallon.

Online Orders will be turned off as of noon today May 13th. All shopping will be in person only at the nursery during business hours for the remainder of the season. Thank you to all those that have put in pre orders – I would love your feedback on how that worked for you and if you found it convenient or unnecessary. Pick-ups for the warm weather seedling pre orders begins on Monday, May 20th and ends June 10th. We originally slated pick-ups to begin on May 27th but we will move it up a week for anyone that is ready. Again, this option was available so you can get your seedlings at a time when your soil is ready for plants so you do not feel rushed to get here before we sell out of anything you want. If you did pre-order and your soil is chilly or you live right on the ocean please wait to pick up your seedlings and let us keep them warm and happy in the greenhouse a little longer. Remember they are still growing in their pots so you will not miss out on grow time just because they are not in the ground.

We are harvesting spinach and radish from the field today and will have it bagged and washed and up in the check out booth this weekend for sale. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with any questions you have on garden planning or plant varieties.

Wishing you all the best and happy planting!

Elise, Tuck and the Cedar Rock Crew

HUMMINGBIRD ALERT!

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A newly arrived female Ruby-throated Hummingbird has been frequenting our garden since the last day of April! She has been stopping to drink nectar from the flowering Japanese Quince ‘Toyo-Nishiki’ and visiting the hummingbird feeder.

Please write if you have been graced by one of these little beauties yet this spring <3

Happy Earth Day feat. the Carolina Wren and why we LoVe leaf litter!

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Joy in the wild garden- What fun to observe our resident Carolina Wren vigorously tossing leaves around while looking for insects. Just one in a million reasons why we leave leaves on the ground, and don’t cut down expired flower stalks. Leaf debris and stalks create the ideal inset habitat, and insects are the number one food for birds during the breeding season. Songbirds need the extra protein to make eggs and keep their young well-fed.

Beauty on the Wing: Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly at the Essex Greenbelt Film Series!

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Please join me for a FREE screening and Q and A of Beauty on the Wing as part of the Essex County Greenbelt Film and Lecture Series, tomorrow evening from 6:30 to 8:30.

Beauty on the Wing – Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly Mar, 14

WHEN: Thurs., March 14, 6:30-8:30 pm WHERE: HC MEDIA, Studio 101 2 Merrimack St., Haverhill WHAT: Experience the magical migration that happens in our midst, unfolding in backyards, farms, meadows, fields, and along the shoreline, wherever milkweed and wildflowers grow. Stay after the film for a Q&A with Director Kim Smith. Photo: Kim Smith

More from the Industrious Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and Time to Hang Your Hummingbird Feeders!

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Despite that our little woodpecker friend has an injury under her right wing, the extraordinarily industrious Yellow-bellied Sapsucker has, for the past five days, worked on, and dined from, her sapwells. She arrives each morning at sunrise, departing around noontime. The timelapse video shows only one hour of her morning, compressed into one minute.

Dubbed Miss Featherton by Charlotte, the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker arrived bedraggled and injured but I think is becoming rejuvenated from the sap. Insects, too, are beginning to appear at the wells. I read that Ruby-throated Hummingbirds often follow the migration of sapsuckers as they too will imbibe on the sap and insects attracted. We usually hang our Ruby-throated Hummingbird feeders out at the end of March, but with all the sap flowing, we hung our feeders a few days ago.Notice the red wound under her right wing from the still taken from the video

Happy World Wildlife Day! #WWD2024

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Every year on March 3rd, United Nations World Wildlife Day (WWD) is celebrated The purpose of the celebration is to recognize the unique roles and contributions of wildlife to people and the planet. Read more here.

A special event for World Wildlife day is being held at the UN tomorrow, March 4th, that anyone is welcome to tune into. Here is the link and more information:

https://www.linkedin.com/events/worldwildlifeday2024uncelebrati7163493005688041473/comments/

#SaveTheDate 📅 🌱 Tune in online to watch the hashtag#WorldWildlifeDay 2024 UN Celebration!

When: 4 March (10AM-1PM EST)
Where: webtv.un.org

This year, we are exploring digital innovation and highlighting how digital conservation technologies and services can drive wildlife conservation, sustainable and legal wildlife trade and human-wildlife coexistence, now and for future generations in an increasingly connected world. 📱💻🐟🐯🌳

Meet our organizing partners: UNDP, ifaw, Jackson Wild, and WILDLABS Community

hashtag#WWD2024 hashtag#ConnectingPeopleAndPlanet hashtag#DigitalInnovation hashtag#TechForWildlife

HAPPY BLUE JAY, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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Happy New Year! Wishing you much joy and positivity in the coming year.

While standing stone still filming the ‘winter’ Robins in the garden this morning, our elusive Blue Jay friend stopped by for his usual breakfast of black-oil sunflower seeds. He’s very camera shy and always skedaddles off if he sees me trying to film him. I was standing so still he did not notice me this time and I was able to capture more than just his little butt flying away.

I associate Blue Jays with positivity and think of them as a good omen. Thank you Mr. Blue Jay for making my New Year’s Day. And now you’ll have good luck, too 🙂

So interesting, I read that the pigment in a Blue Jays feathers are melanin, which is brown. The blue is caused by scattering light through the surface of special cells on the feather barbs.

Blue Jays at my friend Paul’s sunflower field, at Felix’s Family Farm in Ipswich

WONDERFUL WILD CREATURES 2023 YEAR IN REVIEW!

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Saying goodbye to 2023 with a look back at just some of the magnificent creatures and scenes we see all around our beautiful North Shore.

The slide show begins with January and runs through December. When clicking through, you can see the photos are captioned and dated. If you would like more information, all the photos are from posts written throughout the year, and most of the posts have short videos featuring the animal.

Some of the highlights were a Northern Lapwing blown far off course, Barred Owls, flocks of Snow Buntings, successful Gray Seal rescue by Seacoast Science Center, the return of handicapped Super Mom and Super Dad to Good Harbor Beach, Great Blue Herons nesting, Rick Roth from Cape Ann Vernal Pond team helping me find frog’s eggs for my pond ecology film, Bald Eagle pair mating, Earth Day Good Harbor Beach clean-up, Osprey nesting,Creative Commons Collective native plantings at Blackburn Circle, mesmerizing encounter with a Fisher, Mama Dross Humpback and her calf, Beth Swan creating PiPl logo, PiPl chicks and Least Terns hatching, Pipevine Swallowtail pupa, PiPl t-shirts and decals selling at Alexandra’s Bread, rare Nighthawk, Spring Peepers, chicks fledging, trips to Felix’ Family Farm with Charlotte, Monarchs in the garden, Merlin, juvenile Glossy Ibis, and a flock of Horned Larks.

Perhaps the very most memorable moment was a wonderfully close (and extended) encounter with a Fisher. Read more about that here: Lightning in a Bottle

Happy New Year Friends. We’ll see what 2024 brings our way <3

YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKERS AND POKEBERRIES IS WHY WE RELISH OUR WONDERFULLY MESSY GARDEN!

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Oh my goodness, what was that fleeting and larger-than-usual red-headed woodpecker doing in our garden? We get lots of Downy and Red-bellied Woodpeckers but even though the sighting was merely a flash of red, black, and white, the visitor seemed like neither of these two.

The following morning when returning from an early walk, I crept down the garden path in hopes of catching a glimpse and to see what he was up to. Sure enough, the woodpecker was there, perched between the branches of the lilacs and plucking ripe juicy purple fruits from the Pokeberry plant. A male Yellow-bellied Sapsucker and what a handsome fellow he is! The sapsucker stayed for a few minutes, long enough to capture some footage.

The songbirds (and we) are relishing in the messy disarray of of our cold weather garden. Fallen leaves provide shelter for birds, insects, and small mammals; the seed heads on the expired stalks of asters offer sustenance; and the fruits of the winterberry, holly, crabapple, and American Pokeweed are filling the little bellies of many.

American Pokeweed, also known as Pokeberry, Pigeonweed, Inkberry, and Poke, is a North American native perennial herb that can grow as tall as 20 feet, although we are more likely to see a four to five foot plant. The stems of the Pokeberry are a striking shade of magenta, but otherwise, it is a rather ungainly plant.

We didn’t plant our Pokeberry. Perhaps the seed of the first plant to colonize our garde was deposited by a bird. Each berry contains 10 seeds. The seeds have an extraordinarily hard shell that allows them to remain viable for up to 40 years.

Ruby-throated Hummingbirds reportedly drink nectar from the Pokeberry’s tiny white/pinkish/greenish flowers and the leaves are also the caterpillar food plant for the Giant Leopard Moth.

According to Cornell, “the Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is the only woodpecker in eastern North America that is completely migratory. Although a few individuals remain throughout much of the winter in the southern part of the breeding range, most head farther south, going as far south as Panama. Females tend to migrate farther south than do males.”

Okay, well let’s get going Mr. Sapsucker!

RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD NOT SHARING GARDEN WITH MIGRATING MONARCHS!

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Our summer resident Ruby-throated Hummingbirds stayed at our Cape Ann garden well into the fall. Daily, and frequently throughout the day, they made their rounds from the back borders to the front borders, making brief stops at each nectar station. But the backyard was clearly their personal fiefdom. Here they spent a great deal of time splashing in the bird bath and preening while perched in the ancient pear trees.

The Monarchs and other late summer butterflies mostly stay in the sunnier front border however, whenever a Monarch ventured to the New England Aster patch round back, a hummingbird was sure to harass. The attacks were seemingly not vicious; the RTH would simply fly to and from the butterfly until it departed. I wondered if this was a juvenile RTHummingbird checking out a never-before-seen-butterfly-equal-to-its-size, or a more experienced female defending her territory.

Despite repeated attempts on my part, this was extremely hard to capture on film. I was looking at footage from this past season and was delighted to find a very few brief seconds of both beauties together.

MONARCH STRAGGLER ON CAPE ANN WHILE BUTTERFLIES ARRIVE TO THEIR MEXICAN WINTERING GROUNDS

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As Monarchs are beginning to arrive at the butterfly sanctuaries in Mexico, one more was spotted in our garden, intently fortifying for the long journey south. I am so thankful to the friend who gave me a clump of these old-fashioned pass-along daisies. The asters and goldenrods have turned to seed but the Korean Daisies are still going strong, providing nectar to the late, late stragglers.

Monarchs oftentimes, but not always, arrive at the sanctuaries around the time when Dia de Muertos is celebrated. In the language of indigenous Purépecha, a group centered in Michoacán (one of the states where the Monarchs overwinter), the name for the Monarch is the “Harvester.”Coronas de flores (crown of flowers) are replaced each year during the Day of the Dead – photo credit from the Moreno Family

Notes from Butterflies and Their People and the Moreno Family, November 3, 2023

We’re so happy to share the good news, just one day after Day of the Dead, It was 12:52 pm when Pato Moreno sent us a message saying they (BTP Guardians and CEPANAF Rangers) spotted the first monarch, and one hour later they’ve counted around 27.
Meanwhile in Macheros, Joel Moreno saw around 8 butterflies while he was staying on the rooftop at the B&B.

Also one of my sisters, Oralia Moreno, went to Zitacuaro and on the way back she saw at least 5 butterflies in a place called Rosa Santa, just like 20 minutes away from us, it was around 12:30 pm. (She came back to the village at 12:58 pm that’s when she told us she saw them).
The temperature right now is 63.8 F / 17.6°C.

Map of the places mentioned in the post

LAST MONARCH FROM THE GARDEN

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Last of the season’s Monarchs from our garden eclosed, despite being so late in the year and the big dent in her chrysalis. Happily, Charlotte was home when she emerged. The butterfly attached itself to Charlotte’s hair, and to her great joy, stayed there while she skipped around the garden collecting flowers and food for her fairies.

Monarchs that emerge late in the year, when some are already arriving to Mexico, migrate nonetheless and have a good chance of reaching their destination.

Fairy Tree House

BLUET DAMSELFLIES MATING IN THE CATTAILS

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“Get a room,” my friend Lauren laughed when we arrived at the Pond, noticing within moments dozens upon dozens of bluet damselflies readying to mate. The little pond is surrounded by a magnificent variety of vegetation however, the damselflies were only interested in perching on the cattail blades, in some instances three pairs per blade!

During mating, the male clasps the female by the neck while she bends her body around to his reproductive organs, forming a “mating wheel.” The damselfly photos here show the damselflies in the initial stages of mating.

There are no fewer than twenty different species of bluet damselflies in Massachusetts. One quick way to tell the difference between a damselfly and a dragonfly when out in the field is to look at the eyes. Dragonfly eyes are large and spaced very close together, whereas the eyes of damselflies are smaller and separated.

Cattail flowers are not bright and showy because they do not need to attract pollinators. Multiple tiny florets grow on the cylindrical-shaped stalk and are pollinated by wind. After releasing pollen, the flowers fall off leaving behind the spikes. The spike falls apart eventually to release the fluffy seeds, which are also disseminated by the wind. Clearly, the blades of Cat-O’-Nine-tails are useful to damselflies. The fluff is also wonderfully beneficial to songbirds, such as Red-winged Blackbirds, for lining their nests.

A BIT OF MONARCH FAKERY – THE BEAUTIFUL VICEROY BUTTERFLY

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Over the course of past week, we on Cape Ann have been graced with a splendid mini Monarch migration across our shores, and many other species of butterflies too are on the wing. To my utter delight, yesterday while filming at what I like to think of as a butterfly hotspot, a pint-sized butterfly went zooming past. Wow, that is the smallest Monarch I have ever seen. But no, the butterfly traveled across the field, and when it paused for a few moments to warm its wings, I realized it was a Viceroy Butterfly! This was the first time I have observed a Viceroy on Cape Ann.

The Viceroy has a faster flight pattern than the Monarch and I was only able to get a few minutes of footage and only several photos before it disappeared over the horizon however; you can see from the photos how very similar the wing pattern is. To make a quick comparison when out in the field, the Viceroy does not have the mitten-shaped cell that the Monarch possesses and it has a prominent black line running along lower wings.

Monarch Butterfly

Viceroy Butterfly

To read more about Monarch and Viceroy fakery, read the following terrific article from New Jersey Audubon here: “Monarchs and Viceroys: A Tale of Mimicry”

The ‘royal’ butterflies –

BEE-UTIFUL!

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Filmed at my friend Paul Wegzyn’s sunflower field, at Felix’ Family Farm –

“Peter and the Wolf” by Sergei Prokofiev, performed by Leonard Bernstein and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra – downloaded from the Internet Archive of royalty free music.

PLEASE DO NO HARM! HOW AND WHY CAPTIVE BREEDING AND CAPTIVE REARING IS HURTING MONARCH BUTTERFLIES

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Following mating, a female Monarch will be ready to begin ovipositing her eggs after only several hours. She travels from leaf to leaf and plant to plant, typically depositing no more than one egg per leaf and only one or two eggs per plant. It is thought that when the female lands on a leaf she is testing the plant for suitability with the sensors on her feet that are called tarsi. She curls her abdomen around, ovipositing a tiny golden drop that is no larger than a pinhead.

In the short video, in the second clip, you can she she ‘rejects,’ the leaf. She first tests it with her feet, then curls her abdomen, but does not leave an egg. In the third and last clip, success! She finds a leaf to her liking and leaves behind a single egg.

The female continues on her quest to find milkweed, possibly returning to the same plant, but more likely, she will go on to the next patch of milkweed. In the wild, female Monarchs deposit on average between 300 to 500 eggs during her lifetime.

It’s a very different story for Monarchs that are captive bred. The attendant will walk into the enclosure where the frantic males and females are kept, with a handful of milkweed leaves. The female is so desperate to oviposit her eggs, she will dump a whole load on one leaf, without even testing it with her feet. I have observed this behavior at breeding locations and it is really quite disturbing, knowing how wholly unnatural it is for Monarchs to deposit eggs in large clusters.

Four reasons to stop mass breeding and rearing:

Mass production of Monarchs makes it easy to transmit disease.
More virulent strains of pathogens are spreading to wild Monarchs.
Reared Monarchs are smaller than wild Monarchs.
A genetic consequence of breeding closely related individual Monarchs weakens the species.

The Xerces Society, Monarch Watch, Journey North, Monarch Joint Venture, and the petition to list Monarchs as an endangered species all recommend the following:

From the Xerces Society

Answers to a few frequently-asked-questions and answers about rearing

How can I rear Monarchs responsibly?

Rear no more than ten Monarchs per year (whether by a single individual or family). This is the same number recommended in the original petition to list the monarch under the Federal Endangered Species Act.
Collect immature Monarchs locally from the wild, heeding collection policies on public lands; never buy or ship monarchs.
Raise Monarchs individually and keep rearing containers clean between individuals by using a 20% bleach solution to avoid spreading diseases or mold.
Provide sufficient milkweed including adding fresh milkweed daily.
Keep rearing containers out of direct sunlight and provide a moist (not wet) paper towel or sponge to provide sufficient, not excessive, moisture.
Release Monarchs where they were collected and at appropriate times of year for your area.
Check out Monarch Joint Venture’s newly updated handout, Rearing Monarchs: Why or Why Not?
Participate in community science, including testing the Monarchs you raise for OE, tracking parasitism rates, and/or tagging adults before release.
- OE: Project Monarch Health.
- Parasitism rates: Monarch Larva Monitoring Program.
- Tagging: There are many tagging programs, many of which are location-specific.

KEEP MONARCHS WILD: WHY IT IS SO DETRIMENTAL AND UNCOOL TO RAISE AND RELEASE HUNDREDS OF MONARCHS

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Captive breeding and captive raising Monarchs in the hundreds, and in some cases thousands, is not the way to help the butterflies. You may feel you are taking positive steps, but we have learned over time that captive breeding and rearing in large numbers spreads disease and weakens the species. Captive rearing hundreds of Monarchs is HARMFUL. The following is a science based and thoughtful article published by one of the foremost authorities on Monarchs, the Xerces Society.The thrust of the article is that captive rearing no more than ten at a time is educational and worthwhile, if the guidelines provided below are followed to a tee. If you are one of the folks that are rearing hundreds/thousands of Monarchs, please read the following –

By Emma Pelton on 15. June 2023

Instead of rearing—which is risky and unproven in helping monarchs—we should focus on more effective ways to conserve these glorious wild animals.

Many of us have been there: Finding a monarch caterpillar, collecting it in a jar, raising it on milkweed, and then waiting patiently for a butterfly to emerge and take flight. Helping a child (or an adult) learn about this captivating, up-close example of metamorphosis can be incredibly rewarding. Unlike many wild animals, monarchs are easily reared, so it is no wonder that bringing caterpillars into the classroom or home has been used by teachers and parents for decades as an educational tool—or just for the pure enjoyment of it. Rearing monarchs also has been a part of monarch research: From the tagging efforts started by the Urquharts in the 1960s to the multiple tagging programs of today. These programs, as well as other community science projects, have greatly expanded our understanding of migration paths.

Because rearing a butterfly in captivity enables people to share in the amazing transformation from a caterpillar to winged adult, it deserves a place in the future of monarch education and research efforts. However, we need to approach it thoughtfully and responsibly. Like any wild animal, we have to make sure that our interest in rearing monarchs does not harm the butterfly’s populations. This is particularly important today, with monarch populations down by 80-97%. These levels are so low that the migratory phenomenon to Mexico and coastal California is at risk. In an attempt to help reverse the monarch’s population free-fall, many people are attempting to save the species by rearing and releasing monarchs on a large scale. There are, however, serious concerns about this approach.

From the Xerces Society

Answers to a few frequently-asked-questions and answers about rearing

How can I rear monarchs responsibly?

Rear no more than ten monarchs per year (whether by a single individual or family). This is the same number recommended in the original petition to list the monarch under the Federal Endangered Species Act.
Collect immature monarchs locally from the wild, heeding collection policies on public lands; never buy or ship monarchs.
Raise monarchs individually and keep rearing containers clean between individuals by using a 20% bleach solution to avoid spreading diseases or mold.
Provide sufficient milkweed including adding fresh milkweed daily.
Keep rearing containers out of direct sunlight and provide a moist (not wet) paper towel or sponge to provide sufficient, not excessive, moisture.
Release monarchs where they were collected and at appropriate times of year for your area.
Check out Monarch Joint Venture’s newly updated handout, Rearing Monarchs: Why or Why Not?
Participate in community science, including testing the monarchs you raise for OE, tracking parasitism rates, and/or tagging adults before release.
- OE: Project Monarch Health.
- Parasitism rates: Monarch Larva Monitoring Program.
- Tagging: There are many tagging programs, many of which are location-specific.

A WONDERMENT OF GENTLE FARM ANIMALS AT FELIX’S FAMILY FARM!

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Come visit the spectacular sunflower field and ever expanding wonderful menagerie of animals at Felix’s Family Farm. The flowers are peaking this weekend! See last week’s post about the sunflower field here

Felix’s Family Farm is located at 20 Lowe’s Lane, just off 1A/Rt. 133, in Ipswich. For tickets and more information, visit the Felix Family Farm website here.

Our Charlotte’s favorite, favorite thing to do at Paul’s farm is to feed and stroke the farm animals. Paul has been daily training all his animals to be super kid-friendly and it is working! I have taken Charlotte to many farms but have never seen animals, especially the alpacas, as comfortable around children as are Paul’s.

There is the Mama Belted Galloway cow, Cookie, and her baby calf Cupcake (Paul thinks of the best names for his mini zoo!).

Midnight the pony

super friendly Mama sheep and baby sheep

the most adorable friendly goats

And a herd of very gentle alpacas!

Our happy girl in her happy place!

ALL CREATURES TINY AND SMALL – NEW SHORT FILM – THE SUMMER POLLINATOR GARDEN

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Come to our summer pollinator garden and see all the creatures, tiny and small, and the flowers that are planted to attract these beautiful winged wonders.

Pachelbel’s Canon in D Major, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Internet Archive of Royalty Free Music

Featuring all manner of bees, including Honey, Bumble, and Sugar; Cedar Waxwing building a nest; Catbird fledgling and adult; Canadian Tiger Swallowtail, Pipevine caterpillars and chrysalis; Cecropia Moth caterpillar, Pandora Sphinx Moth caterpillars; Clouded Sulphur; male Goldfinch; Monarchs; teeny only 1/2 inch in length male Spring Peeper; Ruby-throated Hummingbirds male, female, and juveniles; and my favorite creature in our garden, nature girl Charlotte <3

KEEP MONARCHS WILD: WHY CAPTIVE REARING ISN’T THE WAY TO HELP MONARCHS

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Although seemingly counterintuitive, the reasons why captive raising Monarchs in the hundreds, and in some cases thousands, is not the way to help the butterflies. The following is a fantastic article recently published by one of the foremost authorities on Monarchs, the Xerces Society.

The gist of the article is that rearing no more than ten at a time is educational and worthwhile, if the guidelines provided below are followed to a tee. If you are one of the well meaning folks that are rearing hundreds/thousands of Monarchs, please read the following –

By Emma Pelton on 15. June 2023

Instead of rearing—which is risky and unproven in helping monarchs—we should focus on more effective ways to conserve these glorious wild animals.

From the Xerces Society

Answers to a few frequently-asked-questions and answers about rearing

How can I rear monarchs responsibly?

Rear no more than ten monarchs per year (whether by a single individual or family). This is the same number recommended in the original petition to list the monarch under the Federal Endangered Species Act.
Collect immature monarchs locally from the wild, heeding collection policies on public lands; never buy or ship monarchs.
Raise monarchs individually and keep rearing containers clean between individuals by using a 20% bleach solution to avoid spreading diseases or mold.
Provide sufficient milkweed including adding fresh milkweed daily.
Keep rearing containers out of direct sunlight and provide a moist (not wet) paper towel or sponge to provide sufficient, not excessive, moisture.
Release monarchs where they were collected and at appropriate times of year for your area.
Check out Monarch Joint Venture’s newly updated handout, Rearing Monarchs: Why or Why Not?
Participate in community science, including testing the monarchs you raise for OE, tracking parasitism rates, and/or tagging adults before release.
- OE: Project Monarch Health.
- Parasitism rates: Monarch Larva Monitoring Program.
- Tagging: There are many tagging programs, many of which are location-specific.

OVERJOYED TO BE SCREENING MY MONARCH DOCUMENTARY AT A HOST OF SCHOOLS IN CANADA THIS AFTERNOON!

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A new experience for me, screening Beauty on the Wing for schools in Ontario, Canada. I am not foreseeing any, but with so many kids involved, just praying there are no technical issues.

Monarch Distribution in Canada

The southern regions of Ontario are a beautiful province in which to see Monarchs, especially during the the late summer migration. The Great Lakes act as a barrier on the Monarch’s southward journey. The butterflies gather at the southern most points of Canada to cross the lakes, including Point Pelee in Lake Erie, and Monarch Point Conservation Reserve in Lake Ontario, both on the Ontario side. Just as the Monarchs form overnight roosts at Eastern Point in Gloucester while waiting for the right conditions to cross Massachusetts Bay, they do the same at Point Pelee and Monarch Point in Ontario.

Monarch Butterfly overnight roost

20% OFF SALE AT CEDAR ROCK GARDENS!

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June Sale
20% off all plants in the nursery!

Hello from Elise,

Happy Summer! We are sure you all enjoyed the enormous amount of sunshine this week compared to what we have had this spring so far.

We are having a 20% off sale on all our plants in the nursery starting today and ending Thursday, June 29th. We have some really nice looking bedding flowers and a whole lot of basil along with a great selection of other herbs and veggies.

We have beautiful baskets and pots. Our native perennials selection is stocked up and attracting all the pollinators you can imagine – bring them home to your gardens!

Hope you are having a wonderful summer!

Sale week hours
Friday: 8 am to 4 pm
Saturday: 8 am to 4 pm
Sunday: Closed
Monday: 8 am to 4 pm
Tuesday: 8 am to 5 pm
Wednesday: 8 am to 4 pm
Thursday: 8 am to 4 pm

All the best,
Elise, Tucker and the Cedar Rock Gardens crew
CedarRockGardens@gmail.com
Products we have in stock
Coast of Maine Potting Soil
Coast of Maine Raised bed mix
Coast of Maine Lobster compost
Black Earth Compost
North Country Organics ProGrow
Neptunes Harvest Crab Shell
Neptunes Harvest Fish Emulsion
Neem Oil
Inseticidal Soap
Diatomaceous Earth
Row Cover
Seeds

Cedar Rock Gardens is located at 299 Concord Street, Gloucester

For more information, visit CEDAR ROCK GARDENS WEBSITE HERE

Images courtesy Cedar Rock Gardens

MORE ABOUT CREATING COMMONS COLLECTIVE IN THE GLOUCESTER DAILY TIMES!

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Check out the excellent commentary featured in the Gloucester Daily Times on Wednesday –

Commentary: Creating Commons

“If this land be not rich, then is the whole world poor.”

So wrote Thomas Morton upon his arrival on Cape Ann in 1624. In a treatise published in London, Morton described the coast he encountered as a “New English Canaan,” a promised land filled with flora and fauna the likes of which Europeans had not yet known. Morton’s description of the area’s bounty was not singular. For example, John Smith’s report back to the imperial center preceded Morton’s and John Josselyn’s was published shortly after Morton’s. Such 17th-century writings inspired the English occupation of what would become the New England colonies and the accompanying genocide of the Native populations that had been here for centuries before the first European set foot on Cape Ann.

We begin with a return to this early settler history not to celebrate the violence and destruction it inspired, but to recall how awestruck Europeans were by the abundant natural beauty of the place that we call our home. Cape Ann was beautiful then, and it is beautiful now. This hardly needs saying. Artists have captured its twilight, poets have described its “granite teeth,” and mystics have meditated on its shores. But even as the land has been celebrated over the centuries, it too has been exploited. This story is not unique to Cape Ann, of course; it is the American story of land. On this island, the merchants of the 18th century were replaced by industrialists who then gave way to the 20th century’s financiers, all of them extracting, privatizing, and profiting from Cape Ann’s abundant timber and granite. With the dawning of beach tourism in the mid-19th century, the extensive coastline with its generous beaches led to further cordoning off and construction.

Now, in the 21st century, as we stare down the barrel of climate collapse, we must consider how, over four centuries of European occupation, we have grown so estranged from the land, so out of step with its natural rhythms and cycles. We are invited, in the spirit of the Potawatomi environmental biologist Robin Wall Kimmerer and others who advocate for new paradigms of land stewardship, to consider how we might live in relationships of reciprocity with the place we inhabit and with its many abundances. We seek, to borrow a phrase from the novelist Catherine Bush, “not control, but the agency to engage in acts of repair.”

This is the common cause that unites our collective of artists, avant gardeners, arborists, historians, and thinkers. We are all longtime residents of Cape Ann, and we share an endless fascination — even infatuation — with its local flora. READ MORE HERE

Golden Ragwort (Packera aurea) currently blooming at Millbrook Meadow, Rockport

OUTSTANDING WORK IN PROGRESS BY LOCAL LAND STEWARDS ORGANIZATION CREATING COMMONS COLLECTIVE

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Lucas, Xavier, Mark, Nick, Kim, Molly, and Sarah

What a joy to meet these members of Creating Commons Collective, a grassroots organization passionate about developing beautiful, native plants landscapes for our community.

The project at Blackburn traffic circle began last spring.The soli was tilled (with the help of Mass DOT) and the first batch of plants were introduced. The group is selectively adding native flowering plants with the long term goal of creating a self-sustaining, pollinator friendly, native plants meadow.

Sarah mentioned Creating Commons Collective native plants project at Burnham’s Field, which I am very eager to go check out, and Nick shared a recent article “Improvised Landscapes” that he wrote for Arnoldia, the quarterly publication of the Arnold Arboretum. It’s a great read and you can find the link to the article below.

Improvised Landscapes

By Nicholas Anderson April 4, 2023

OVER THE YEARS I have abandoned and inverted my horticultural training, and today, I struggle to describe what I do. When time is short, I simply say that I make meadows with native plants; sometimes I use the term “ecological maximalism.” But definitions don’t really matter when it’s late September, and I’m stopping off at a patch of dirt in Gloucester, Massachusetts, sandwiched between a new housing development and a Market Basket on the edge of a woodland remnant. Just now I don’t particularly need any new plants, as I have a dozen or so ongoing meadow projects that double as plant nurseries, but I can’t resist a salvage mission before going grocery shopping. I walk past orange-painted surveyors’ stakes through one of the spots where I scattered seeds the previous winter. Most of the seedlings have succumbed to the drought, but a few anemic partridge-pea plants (Chamaecrista fasciculata) are visible amidst the tire tracks. This space is used as a parking lot for little league games in the summer and the city deposits untold tons of salty snow here every winter. Remarkably, whorled loosestrife (Lysimachia quadrifolia) and sweet fern (Comptonia peregrina) insist on colonizing into the very spot that gets savaged by the plows year after year. I pull up four rhizomes of the sweet fern and grab two tiny volunteers of winged sumac (Rhus copallinum) before heading over to the other side of the lot, where frost aster (Symphyotrichum pilosum) and oldfield goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis) are in bloom amidst mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris) and tendrils of asian bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus). Out of the midst of these introduced species, I yank up twenty-odd plants with tender violence and put them in a wet, plastic bag.

READ more here

Monarchs drinking nectar from Seaside Goldenrod florets

TOMATOES AND WARM WEATHER SEEDLINGS AT CEDAR ROCK GARDENS!

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Elise from Cedar Rock Gardens writes –

IT’S THAT TIME:
Warm Weather Seedlings!
Starting May 17th, our warm weather seedlings will be available to come shop at the nursery.

Hello and happy May!

We have fully stocked the nursery area with 40 varieties of tomatoes, a handful of cucumbers, squash, 33 varieties of sweet and hot peppers, eggplants, zinnias, basil, rosemary and much more. We are very excited for another summer growing season and are excited to play in the dirt under the warm sun. We have added some new varieties this year so take some time and ask any questions you may have on new items and staff favorites.
We will have sunflowers, and melons coming out of the greenhouse along with some more varieties of zinnias over the next couple of weeks.

If we do get any nights that go under 40 degrees F we recommend that you cover basil, cucumbers and squash with row cover, they do not like to be cold.

A little PSA – the bridge going over Walker Creek that takes you from Harlow Street in Essex onto Concord Street is out for the summer so please re route to using the Sumner Street turn off 133 or the other end of Concord Street.

Also, our internet has been a little slow lately which means running credit cards and apple pay has been a little slow – we can definitely still take all forms of payment but cash or check will make the line move faster.

Looking forward to seeing all the familiar faces and talking warm weather plants!

We have a great selection of hanging baskets and annual and perennial herbs and flowers. Our native perennials selection is stocked up and attracting all the pollinators you can imagine. I saw my first hummingbird today flitting over the Cuphea Vermillionair – bring them home to your gardens!

Hope you are having a wonderful spring!

We have posted all the Flower, Herb and Vegetable varieties we are growing this year on our website for you to check out and get excited for!

For more information, visit Cedar Rock Gardens website here.

Cedar Rock Gardens is located at 299 Concord Street in Gloucester.

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Please join me for a FREE screening and Q and A of Beauty on the Wing as part of the Essex County Greenbelt Film and Lecture Series, tomorrow evening from 6:30 to 8:30.

Beauty on the Wing – Life Story of the Monarch Butterfly Mar, 14

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Every year on March 3rd, United Nations World Wildlife Day (WWD) is celebrated The purpose of the celebration is to recognize the unique roles and contributions of wildlife to people and the planet. Read more here.

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Happy New Year Friends. We’ll see what 2024 brings our way <3

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Four reasons to stop mass breeding and rearing:

From the Xerces Society

Answers to a few frequently-asked-questions and answers about rearing

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Instead of rearing—which is risky and unproven in helping monarchs—we should focus on more effective ways to conserve these glorious wild animals.

From the Xerces Society

Answers to a few frequently-asked-questions and answers about rearing

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Instead of rearing—which is risky and unproven in helping monarchs—we should focus on more effective ways to conserve these glorious wild animals.

From the Xerces Society

Answers to a few frequently-asked-questions and answers about rearing

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June Sale 20% off all plants in the nursery!

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Commentary: Creating Commons

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Improvised Landscapes

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Elise from Cedar Rock Gardens writes –

IT’S THAT TIME: Warm Weather Seedlings! Starting May 17th, our warm weather seedlings will be available to come shop at the nursery.

Hello and happy May!

Share this:

June Sale
20% off all plants in the nursery!

IT’S THAT TIME:
Warm Weather Seedlings!
Starting May 17th, our warm weather seedlings will be available to come shop at the nursery.