Here are a few upcoming programs to get on your calendars. Registration information to come on websites soon. All are at Secrest Arboretum at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster, except for the Bent Science salons at the Bent Ladder Cider and Winery outside Doylestown, Ohio, and the Why Trees Matter program, at the College of Wooster.
83rd Ohio Plant Diagnostic Workshop 10-4, September 8: Come learn about Why Your Good Plant Went Bad, about how often it does not matter and you cannot worry and be happy, and what to do about it when there are true problems with options for control. From emerald ash borer to bacterial fireblight on your pears, from rose rosette virus to thousand cankers on black walnut, from manganese deficiency on red maple to oak wilt disease.
We will be looking at all manner of signs and symptoms, including the unusual banding pattern on beech leaves due to Beech Leaf Disease, pictured above.
Let us reason together with indoor talks and outdoor walks. And a gourmet lunch from the OSU College of Food…and Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Bent Science Salons, Third Thursdays, 6-8, starting September 21. This new series at Bent Ladder and the Rittman Orchard, will feature unusual and/or stimulatingly important discussions of science, with a plant and animal bent. First salons include Weird Things in the Woods with Jim Chatfield and Climate Change Science from Dan Herms, with upcoming sessions on the Science of Cider, Beneficial Insects, and so on. Oh, did I mention - cider.
Dos Amigos Sin Jose: Tree Selection, 11-5, September 26. Instructors are Erik Draper, and Jim Chatfield (but not in this case, Joe Boggs = our little joke) of OSU Extension. This program will focus on which trees matter in terms of your matching plants to their planting sites. Genetic resistance or susceptibility of tree species for key insect pests and diseases, as well as environmental factors such as soil features, sun and wind exposure, and tolerance to dry and wet conditions, are the focus of this workshop. Food from trees will be featured as snacks and pick-me-ups, in addition to a gourmet lunch.
Why Trees Matter Forum, 9-4, October 18. This program features the many benefits and aspects of our urban forests and natural areas. The keynote will be by Dan Lambe, the President of the National Arbor Day Foundation who will speak on their high-impact programs including Tree City USA and Tree Campus USA.
We will also discuss:
The emerging Beech Leaf Disease problem in northeast Ohio (lead by Dr. Enrico Bonello of the OSU Plant Pathology Department);
Climate change and its effect on the green industry (Dr. Dan Herms);
The tree inventory system and how trees are featured at the College of Wooster (grounds manager Beau Mastrine and horticulturist Phil Olsen);
Native trees from Secrest Arboretum horticulturist Paul Snyder, and even more. And, oh yes, a gourmet lunch and tree foods.
ArborEatum, 4-8, October 24. This truly wonderful to digest program will feature all the landscape plants we eat, many of which you have not considered. From serviceberry pie, to crème de cassis, from Dolgo crabapple butter to Autumn olive pate de fruits: these are some of the features in past programs.
Ramps soup, apple and maple syrup tasting, corneliancherry dogwood jam, chokeberry jelly. Who knows what this year’s gathering shall bring? What we do know is that Lois Rose, OSU Master Gardener from Cuyahoga County, will bring at least three dozen diverse items. You can bring your own creations or just your appetite.
So much to learn; so much time. And a final note, with obvious relevance during a trip out in the rocky American West, from a popular historian I loved to read in high school and thereafter, from the Story of Civilization series by Will and Ariel Durant. From Will Durant:
“Civilization exists by geological consent, subject to change without notice.”
