SANTA BARBARA ORGANIC GARDEN CLUB NEWSLETTER

Oct 2002

Editor: Linda Buzzell-Saltzman -- lbuzzell@aol.com

Contents:

1) This month's free talk: "GROWING ANTIQUE APPLE TREES ORGANICALLY" with

Neil Collins, owner of Trees of Antiquity in Paso Robles, Wed, Oct 16, 7 pm.

Next month: "PREPARING FOR BARE ROOT SEASON: ROSES, BERRIES, FRUIT TREES,

RHUBARB, ARTICHOKES AND MORE!"

2)  HOLLY-LEAF CHERRY - NATIVE SHRUB, CHUMASH FAVORITE

3)  NEWS: Check out GARDENS FOR PEACE at www.gardensforpeace.org

4)  GET ON OUR LIST OF ORGANIC LANDSCAPE DESIGNERS

5)  TIPS OF THE MONTH: a) DON'T CONFUSE PINEAPPLE GUAVAS WITH STRAWBERRY

GUAVAS!  b) WHERE TO GET YOUR BENEFICIAL INSECTS  (Send us your best tips

too.)

6)  FACTS ABOUT LAWN CARE from member Mardena Waller

(*If you'd like to be removed from our e-newsletter list, just e-mail us back

with your request.)

1) October event: GROWING ANTIQUE APPLE TREES ORGANICALLY. Neil Collins,

owner of Trees of Antiquity in Paso Robles (formerly Sonoma Antique Apple

Nursery) will teach us how to choose varieties for our climate, how to order

and plant bare root stock, and how to care for young apple trees throughout

the year. Neil is at (805) 467-9909. FREE APPLE TASTING!!!

Date/Time: Wednesday, October 16, 2002, 7pm

Location: Community Environmental Council, 930 Miramonte Drive, Santa Barbara

Fee: FREE

Call for info: (805) 563-2089

Reservations: Not necessary

November event: PREPARING FOR BARE ROOT SEASON: ROSES, BERRIES, FRUIT TREES,

RHUBARB, ARTICHOKES AND MORE!  Larry Saltzman, co-founder of the Santa

Barbara Organic Garden Club, leads a discussion of best varieties for Santa

Barbara, where to get them, how to prepare for planting. Date/Time:

Wednesday, November 20, 2002, 7pm

Location: Community Environmental Council, 930 Miramonte Drive, Santa Barbara

Fee: FREE

Call for info: (805) 563-2089

Reservations: Not necessary

2) HOLLY-LEAF CHERRY IS A NATIVE SHRUB whose fruit was loved by the Chumash.

Prunus ilicifolia is also called Islay or Evergreen Cherry and is a chaparral

plant that loves full sun, good drainage and dry hillsides.  It is covered

with creamy flowers in spring and then berries that are loved by people

(although they are a little tart with more skin and seed than pith), birds

and other wildlife.  The plant is slow growing to 25 feet, and is native to

the coast ranges.

3) NEWS: Peace is on a lot of our minds these days, and it's nice to know

that GARDENS FOR PEACE (www.gardensforpeace.org) exists "to identify and link

established gardens throughout the world where contemplation and meditation

by individuals and communities will foster respect for the environment and a

climate for peace among all peoples."

Gardens for Peace has gardens on four continents with educational programs

for elementary through college students drawing on the concepts of

ecopsychology.

The SADAKO PEACE GARDEN AT CASA DE MARIA IN SANTA BARBARA was dedicated as an

official "Garden of Peace" on June 30, 2002 by Arun Gandhi, the 63 year old

grandson of the great peacemaker and head of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for

Peace.

OTHER OFFICIAL 'GARDENS FOR PEACE' are in Tacoma, Atlanta, Decatur, Madrid,

Nairobi and the Republic of Georgia, among other locations  Obviously we need

more!  Besides the Sadako Peace Garden, only one of these gardens, the

10-acre estate Lakewold Gardens in Tacoma, Washington, is on the West Coast.

 

"Throughout history, the garden has symbolized the ideals of spiritual

harmony and quiet contemplation -places of peace - as reflected in

literature, art, philosophy and religion. The work of Gardens for Peace is to

promote publicly a worldview that focuses on meditation, and to affirm and

link efforts to create individual and world peace and environmental

responsibility. The organization connects gardens across the world, as well

as the people who share in the peace and harmony of those gardens, bringing

places and people of the world closer together.

Gardens for Peace is nonprofit, nondenominational organization based in

Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1984, Gardens for Peace was created to promote

the concept of the garden as a place of meditation and peace and to identify

and designate existing gardens around the world as symbols of peace."

"The philosophy of the organization finds its roots in history, where the

garden has long stood as a symbol of spiritual harmony and quiet

contemplation. Many of the world's religions and mythologies include gardens

as symbols of innocence, peace and spiritual equilibrium. Artists,

philosophers, poets and other literary figures from all ages and cultures

have long recognized and used the symbol of the garden in their works.

Throughout these works, gardens have been represented as refuges where people

can be at peace and in spiritual harmony with themselves, their world and

nature."

"Taking this philosophy to a more tangible level, Gardens for Peace has

established criteria for selecting and designating national and international

gardens, as well as gardens on college campuses and in corporate settings,

that best exemplify ideal sites for meditation, and development of a sense of

harmony between man and nature. The designated gardens may be publicly or

privately owned, but one criterion for designation is that the public have

access to the garden so that the organization's message can reach the largest

possible audience."

WANT TO CREATE A GARDEN FOR PEACE? "Any garden considered for designation as

a member of the international network of Gardens for Peace must meet certain,

general criteria. For example, the garden must have a feeling of peace and

tranquility, as well as a sense of safety and refuge. It must provide a sense

of enclosure and offer visual stimuli in terms of line, form, color and

texture, as well as non-visual stimuli, such as running water or fragrant

scents. In addition, while some gardens may charge an admission fee to ensure

proper upkeep, each garden in the network must be open to the public.

Other factors include:

· Coherence: a unified setting with repeating elements, textures and

structural factors;

· Legibility: familiar patterns which bring an ease to making sense of the

scene;

· Complexity: variety or diversity to ensure interest and keep viewers

occupied;

· Mystery: the degree by which more information can be obtained by proceeding

further into the scene"

WANT TO NOMINATE A LOCAL GARDEN TO BECOME AN OFFICIAL "GARDEN OF PEACE?" "The

Board of Directors and the members of Gardens for Peace are continually

reviewing and evaluating gardens for inclusion in the network. There may be

one in your area. If you would like to nominate a garden for consideration,

you can download our nomination form and send it to us! Please include

photographs. If the garden you are designing as a Garden For Peace is

approved an official garden marker will be purchased for your garden site."

4) ARE YOU AN ORGANIC LANDSCAPER?  We're getting quite a few requests for

referrals to folks who will design and build organic gardens.  If you'd like

to be on our list, please send us a brief paragraph about what you do and how

you'd like clients to contact you. And of course we recommend certified

"Green Gardeners" (www.greengardener.org) for ongoing maintenance.

5) TIPS:

a)For us, October is PINEAPPLE GUAVA (or, more properly, feijoa sellowiana)

month.  Our godson starts begging us for guavas in August and there is great

celebration when they finally arrive in late Sept and early October!  The

feijoa is easy to grow in pot or ground, and rewards us with luscious, sweet,

egg-shaped fruit. And the secret is that the spring flower petals are

absolutely delicious as candy, and taste great out of hand or in a salad. But

don't make the mistake of substituting the Strawberry Guava (Psidium

cattleianum or littorale), a quite different fruit.

b) WHERE TO GET YOUR BENEFICIAL INSECTS:

Ron Whitehurst

Marketing Manager

Rincon-Vitova Insectaries,

Biological Solutions for Pest Management

P.O. Box 1555, Ventura, CA 93002-1555

805-643-5407 800-248-2847 (BUGS) fax 805-643-6267

e-mail: bugnet@rinconvitova.com

web: http://www.rinconvitova.com

6) Member Mardena Waller has passed along some interesting statistics that

support the notion of edible landscaping vs. traditional lawncare:

Here are national annual average expenses of

home gardening:

lawncare $220

landscaping 174

tree care 97

flower gardening 88

Insect control 60

vegetable gardening 58

flower bulbs 40

indoor houseplants 40

It's probably cheaper to do edible landscaping and flowers, than to do a

lawn, and they can be easier to care for. Your water bill could be about the

same or less (depending on what you plant), but you have something to eat

from it, and it's very appealing visually. (Note from Linda: we're currently

saving thousands of dollars a year from our fruit trees and backyard veggies

vs. what they would cost at either the Farmers Market or Lazy Acres)

Wildflowers are great and I will investigate costs of wildflowers to see

if that vs rose gardening or other flower gardening would cut costs even

more.

Deleting harmful chemicals for "insect control" is another cost cutter over

time, and if you put in attractive plants, water and shelter, our

ever-faithful working birds will do your bug extermination."