by Jane Morse
Caro Garden Club President
About recent Caro GardenClub donations to:
· Hills and Dales Hospital in Cass City is developing a “healing garden” -- a beautiful outdoor space where patients, employees, visitors and community members can enjoy the healing power of nature. Researchers have found that time spent in nature reduces stress and anxiety. See: What are Healing Gardens? Caro’s Botanical Garden, while not a designated “healing garden,” may well serve as one, located as it is across from McLarenCaro Region Hospital.
· Penny Pines is a partnership between National Garden Clubs and the USDA Forest Service. CGC’s donation will buy a tree for nearby Huron National Forest, the 437,000-plus-acre home to the once nearly extinct Kirtland’s warbler, which depends on the jack pines for its breeding habitat. Part of CGC’s donation will also fund NGC’s “Plant America” grant program that supports beautification and educational programs.
Gardens to see in August:
· The grand opening for the Oudolf Garden Detroit (OGD) on Belle Isle is Saturday, August 28. Dutch garden designerPiet Oudolf is world famous for his naturalistic garden designs.
· Frederik Meijer Gardensin Grand Rapids is having a Dahlia Show August 28.
Wasps: Friend and Foe
A summertime pest at picnics, wasps serve a useful purpose in our gardens in controlling undesirable insects. For example, the stinkbug hunter (Bicyrtes quadrifasciatus), has an appetite for the brown marmorated stink bug, and invasive insect that causes millions of dollars in crop loss each year. All female wasps can sting multiple times, but solitary wasps use their stingers primarily to paralyze their prey. It’s the “social wasps” like paper wasps, yellow jackets or hornets which have nests that will aggressively attack if you venture too near.
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