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www.provincetownbanner.com PROVINCETOWN BANNER HOME & GARDEN SECTION | APRIL 23, 2009 1

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HomeGarden

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2009

Check out the vegetable garden revolution, the ins and outs of companion planting and the flowers that make people happy.

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ContentsIt’s a veggie revolution 3

Good companions 6

Giants of summer 8

Making people happy 10

Ground cover options 11

Backyard invaders 14

Home & Garden 2009 is produced and published by the Provincetown Banner, 167 Commercial St., P.O. Box 977, Provincetown, MA 02657, (508) 487-7400. Copyright 2009, all rights reserved.

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Chances are, you know someone starting a gar-den for the first time

this year.There is a trend afoot. Booms

in vegetable seed sales are being reported by companies in the U.S. and overseas. The First Fam-ily is putting in a kitchen gar-den on the White House Lawn, which undoubtedly is helping to drive the U.S. trend.

Kitchen gardens, or victory gardens, have a long history in the U.S. Before long-distance shipping made food travel easy, kitchen gardens were a neces-sity. In WW I and WW II, even af-

Victory garden revival — it’s a veggie revolutionBy Elspeth PiersonBANNER CORRESPONDENT

ter canned and imported goods were widely available, victory gardens — vegetable gardens planted in an effort to reduce the pressure on the public food supply and boost the war effort — began popping up in back-yards across the country. Some statistics indicate as much as 40 percent of the nation’s produce was grown in backyard gardens during the peak of the move-ment in the 1940s.

Some people attribute the recent surge of interest to food safety issues, like the 2007 spin-ach E. coli outbreak, the tomato scare last summer and the recent rash of peanut-related illnesses.

“You don’t want to have to question what you’re eating, and if it’s homegrown, you know,” says Janet Rice of Bayberry Gar-dens, who has noticed a huge spike in first-time gardeners coming into the store looking for seeds. “We’ve had people coming in so excited to get started that they’re asking for seedlings that aren’t even close to getting outside yet.”

Safety is one of the reasons Kat Marisal and Paula Brundage of North Truro have decided to

break ground for their very first backyard vegetable garden this year.

“With the salmonella out-breaks, we thought this might be a good time to start being more independent and have our own vegetable garden,” Marisal says.

“We’re also worried about the

rising price of food, and it’s more convenient—and easier to eat healthily—when the food is out back,” adds Brundage.

Marisal and Brundage are start-ing with a small raised bed, and planning to plant the basics — like lettuce, herbs and tomatoes.

As a reflection of this growing

interest, there are plans afoot for community gardens in both Wellfleet and Provincetown. Wellfleet community garden or-ganizer Celeste Makely says she already anticipates that the 24 plots the committee will make

continued on next page

PHOTOS ELSPETH PIERSON

Trays of Boston lettuce at Bayberry Gardens.

Sales of seeds are rising, as more and more people want to grow their own fruits and vegetables.


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“There is such an interest these days in the old Victory garden thing from World War II,” she says. “We’re hoping this garden will serve as a model for other gardens in town because just one will not be enough.”

In Provincetown, there’s been talk of purchasing several lots on Browne Street for use as a com-munity garden.

“I think there’s a big inter-est in the town for these types of garden plots where people can raise vegetables,” says Selectman Elaine Anderson, adding that many people in Provincetown’s

dense downtown area don’t have a backyard at all.

Settie Dixon, who runs the landscaping company Gardens by Settie in Wellfleet, recom-mends that beginners, particu-larly those with limited space, try to grow plants that can be trained up.

“For instance they make space-saving containers for straw-berries where the vines grow up,” she says. “Or you can train a fruit tree to grow against the side of a building, a technique known as espalier, or grow pole beans or cucumbers up stakes.”

Or, adds Rice, “You can al-ways grow vegetables in contain-ers. We sell a lot of Earth Boxes, which people use to plant whole gardens on their decks.”

VICTORY GARDEN REVIVAL continued from page 3

PHOTO VINCENT GUADAZNO

Tomatoes are the most popular vegetable to grow. These early girls are in the photographer’s own garden

PHOTO ELSPETH PIERSON

If you’re lucky enough to have room for a greenhouse, you can start your seedlings sooner.

Cucumbers (above) and radishes (middle) are a popular choice of home gardeners.


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Soon this yellow flower will grow into a tasty squash.

PHOTO SALLY ROSE

Peppers, like these jalapeños, are another favorite for home gardens.

2009 food gardening outlook: 43 mil-lion U.S. households plan to grow their own fruits, vegetables, berries and herbs in 2009 — that’s up 19 percent from 36 million households in 2008.

New gardeners in 2009: 21 percent of food gardening households in 2009 will be new to gardening.

Garden plans for 2009: 11 percent of households already active in food gardening plan to increase the amount and variety of vegetables they will grow in 2009; 10 percent said they will spend more time food gardening this year.

Food gardener demographics: Most food gardeners are women (54 per-cent); 45 years of age and older (68 percent); college graduates (43 per-cent); residents of the South (29 per-cent), Midwest (26 percent), West (23 percent) and Northeast (22 percent); in households with annual incomes of $50,000 and over (49 percent); mar-ried households (64 percent); house-holds with no children at home (67 percent); and two-person households (40 percent).Reasons for food gardening: The main reasons given by households

for growing their own food include: for better-tasting food (58 percent), to save money on food bills (54 percent), for better quality food (51 percent), and to grow food they know is safe (48 percent); 34 percent of households said the current recession is motivat-ing them very much (14 percent) or a fair amount (20 percent).

Food garden location: 33 million households have food gardens at home (91 percent); 2 million house-holds have gardens at a friend, neigh-bor or relative’s home (5 percent); and 1 million households garden in a com-munity garden plot (3 percent).

Food garden production and value: A well-maintained food garden can yield an estimated half pound of fresh produce per square foot of garden area. At in-season market prices that produce is worth $2 per pound.

Most popular vegetables: The most popular vegetables grown include tomatoes (86 percent), cucumbers (47 percent), sweet peppers (46 percent), beans (39 percent), carrots (34 per-cent), summer squash (32 percent), onions (32 percent), hot peppers (31 percent), lettuce (28 percent) and peas (24 percent).

Excerpts from National Gardening Association’s report ‘2009 Impact of Home and Community Gardening in America’


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Did you know that pole beans and beets don’t get along? Or that bush

beans often quarrel with basil? That a border row of onions or garlic around a garden will send pests reeling away?These are all theories of com-panion planting. The basic premise is that plants — like people — do better or worse depending on who surrounds them. As the saying goes, you’re only as good as the company you keep —it’s the same idea, only applied to plants.

Companion planting is pop-ular especially in organic gar-dens, where the strategy is used to help deter pests or enhance plant growth without the use of chemical pesticides and fertiliz-ers.

“In a mono-cultural garden, all the carrots are planted to-gether, all the onions are plant-ed together, etc.,” explains Janet Rice of Bayberry Gardens in Truro. “With companion plant-

ing, you want to mix things up a little bit — plant your carrots in with your tomatoes, disperse different plants throughout the garden. This helps keep pests away, because they don’t like to travel.”Planning a garden made up of compatible plants can be quite the puzzle. “The idea of companion plant-ing is basically putting plants together that are alike in their needs and soil preferences — water, sunlight, that sort of thing,” Rice says. “But the real-ity is very complex. You have to spend some time planning it out before you go outside and start to plant.”The need for crop rotation complicates things further. To-matoes, for instance, shouldn’t be planted in the same area of a garden two years in a row, be-cause it takes over a year for the soil to be free of their pests. One way to keep things simple is to plant perennial herbs and flowers in moveable pots, so that they can follow their compan-ions around the garden from

Plant pals & partnersCompanion planting can help

your garden grow naturally

By Elspeth PiersonBANNER CORRESPONDENT

PHOTO HOUMA.COM

Planting flowers, like marigolds, in and among your vegetables helps keep pests away. And flowers can attract good, pollinating insects to help your fruits and vegetables flourish.

PHOTO COURTESY DOUGGREENSGARDEN.COM

The odor of chives is a natural repellent for aphids, which

attack peas and greens.


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year to year. Mint, for instance, is an excellent deterrent of cab-bage moths, but will take over a garden quickly in the ground. Similarly, horseradish is a fast-spreading perennial that wards off bean pests and does well in pots. Making perennial compan-ion plants mobile also makes till-ing the garden easier — it’s dif-ficult to turn over the soil when you have an established herb patch in the way.There are also aesthetics to take into consideration. “I’m more of an English-style gardener,” says Wellfleet’s Settie Dixon, who runs a landscaping company

called Gardens by Settie. “I tend to do things in patterns—to think about color and texture and height — and I try and make sure something’s in bloom at all times.” Planting sweet peas, which bloom in late summer, for in-stance, alongside chives, which bloom in early June, and a row of rainbow Swiss chard, could make for a beautiful — and ef-fective — companion patch, as the odor of chives is a natural repellent for aphids that attack peas and greens.Rose Basile and Carol Noyes, longtime gardeners who run

Rose Acre guest house in Prov-incetown, like to weave flowers into their vegetable garden as companions. “We put in zinnias and cosmos and nasturtiums in between the vegetables,” Basile says. “Not only does it look a lot prettier, but we use them for cut flowers in the guesthouse.” Basile says she attributes their vegetables’ productivity in part to the addi-tion of flowers, because they at-tract bees. “These days there are a lack of bees around,” she says, “but our garden is always well pollinated, beautiful and pro-ductive.”

GOOD COMPANYTomatoes & basil: Many gardeners swear by this combination. “Plant the basil beneath the tomato plants,” says Dixon. “They like that little bit of shade.”

Carrots & tomatoes: “There’s a saying that carrots love tomatoes,” says Basile. “I don’t know why, but it works.”

Mustard greens & cold weather crops: “Mustard greens will keep the flea beetles off crops like swiss chard, broccoli and kale,” says Dixon.

Tomatoes, peppers & eggplants: These are all in the same family, and they like the same soil conditions, too, says Rice.

Radishes & …everything: “Radishes are good with a multitude of vegetables,” says Rice. “They are really compatible with just about everything.”

Cabbage & sage, thyme: “The herbs repel cabbage moths,” says Rice.

Garlic & onions: “Plant these sorts of stinky herbs together around the borders of your garden,” says Dixon. “The smell will keep out animals looking for lunch.”

Chives & peas, lettuces: “Planting chives between rows of peas or lettuces will help keep aphids under control,” says Rice.

Marigolds & vegetables: “Marigolds have a natural bug-deterring compound called pyrethum,” says Dixon. “That’s why they make a good border for vegetable gardens.”

BAD COMPANYPole beans & beets: These two are incompatible, according to Rice.

Bush beans & fennel, onions, or basil: “You don’t want these near each other,” says Rice.

Potatoes: “You kind of don’t want potatoes near anything,” says Rice. “They attract the same bugs as a lot of other vegetables, and they also sprawl out. I’d put them in a separate bed.”

Mint (left) deters cabbage moths. But keep it in a pot or it quickly will take over your garden.

Horseradish (below), a fast-spreading perennial, wards off bean pests.


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Maybe i t was those cheerful yellow faces that enticed a cautious

moment of optimism from that notoriously glum artist Vincent Van Gogh when he painted his famous “Sunflowers” series.

But there’s no doubt that a decorative sunflower patch in your home garden will draw smiles from neighbors and pass-ersby and give you plenty of joy.

In seasons past, if you took a stroll down to Provincetown’s West End you couldn’t miss the huge sunflowers lining the front walkway of 76 Commercial, the so-called Hans Hofmann house. And they’ve saluted you from the grounds of the Center Street Inn. (See story page 10.)

Yellow is the hot new color this season, so why not add a fashion swatch to your spring landscaping?

You can pick up a pouch of seeds — or for quicker results that require a little less tending, garden-ready potted plants, as soon as they come in at your fa-vorite local garden store.

And they’re not just yellow anymore. Colors of new sunflow-er cultivars developed over the

Sunflowers — the happy giants of summerpast few years range from vari-ous shades of yellow to velvety crimson to chocolate brown, with names like “Ring of Fire,” “Claret” and “Teddy Bear.”

Stalks on these bright beau-ties range in height from two- to six-feet tall (their cousins out in the agricultural fields can top nine-feet tall) and their flowers, or “heads,” can spread more than 12 inches in diameter.

According to the “Guinness Book of World Records,” the tallest sunflower ever recorded grew in the Netherlands and measured 25 feet, 5.4 inches; the widest sunflower head recorded hailed from British Columbia, measuring 32 inches across.

Sunflower heads are made up of copious “florets,” miniature flowers themselves, arranged by mother nature to form dozens and sometimes hundreds of spi-raling patterns in a single sun-flower.

When planting your sunflow-ers, keep in mind that they like to keep their faces to the sun. According to the National Sun-flower Association, “When the plant is in the bud stage, it tends to track the movement of the sun across the horizon. Once the flower opens into the radiance of yellow petals, it faces east. No

By Rob PhelpsBANNER CORRESPONDENT

BANNER FILE PHOTO/LENANE

These sunflowers frame a large vegetable garden, planted and tended to by Carol Noyes and Rose Basile, at Rose Acre guest house in Provincetown.

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one knows why. However, it is likely a defensive response. Fac-ing south or west could result in sun-scalding of seeds during very hot days.” No matter the reason, this needs to be factored into aesthetic planning; you prob-ably don’t want them turning their backs to you once they’re in full bloom.

Sunflowers are equally at home in decorative and vegeta-ble gardens. The NSA promotes sunflowers as rich in vitamin E, low in trans fats, and a tasty sub-stitute: “Often used interchange-ably with dried fruits, nuts and other seeds, kernels offer a unique, mild and versatile flavor

that is compatible with sweet, salty and sour flavors.” (Kernels are the “meat” inside the seed. Typically, seed husks are shed in manufacturing.)

The NSA website (sunflow-ernsa.com) offers a host of recipes that include sunflower seeds and kernels for appetiz-ers, snacks, breads, breakfast ideas, dessert items, pastas, soups, salads and dressing up other veggies (the sunflower is the official symbol for the Veg-an Society, after all).

To harvest your own seeds, according to flower-gardening-made-easy.com, cut the sunflow-er head after it’s turned brown

and store it in a dry, well-ven-tilated spot for several weeks. When it’s dry, the seeds will rub right off.

To roast your own sunflower seeds, spread them across a baking sheet and roast at 350 degrees F. for 10 to 15 minutes. For added flavor, soak the seeds in water and table salt overnight before roasting.

Whether you eat them, treat them to a special spot in your garden, or cut them for indoor arrangements (an increasingly popular trend), sunflowers are a great big way to spread and enjoy a little happiness all sea-son long.

PHOTOS CHARLES D. LAPPEN

A red and yellow sunflower, right, at 76 Commercial St., with

a close-up detail above.

PHOTO SALLY ROSE

A goldfinch feasts on the seeds of a wilting sunflower head.

PHOTO SALLY ROSE

A sunflower, seemingly resting on a leaf, in the garden of Rose Acre guest house in Provincetown.


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They’re big, bright and cheerful. They’ve in-spired great art. And,

even when you’re feeling par-ticularly grouchy, they can make you smile.

Sunflowers — they’re a happy flower. And their joyful counte-nances can be seen peeking out from various yards around the Outer Cape.

People who plant them in their gardens not only get to en-joy their cheering effect person-ally, they also get to hear appre-ciative comments from a host of passersby.

Robert Randall Bourne, who lives at 76 Commercial St. in Provincetown’s West End, known as the Hans Hofmann house, de-cided he wanted to share the joy he found in sunflowers.

So a few years back he plant-ed the classic, very tall and large-faced variety along the pathway up to his front door. The house was broken up into several con-dos, and at that time Bourne was hired as the condo gardener.

“It was sort of left up to me to do what I wanted,” says Bourne. So he took inspiration from the renowned late artist Hofmann, deciding that the earth would be his palette.

The first year he mixed corn and large sunflowers along the pathway leading to his front door.

“Ironically, the condo associa-tion was aghast that I put corn in the front yard,” he says, laugh-ing. “It was just an inspiration, it gets really great light. I called it

Spreading a little joyBy Sally RoseBANNER STAFF

an installation.”The following year he put in

all sunflowers along the path. It was an impressive and cheery sight in the peak of the season, noticed by all who passed by.

One person who was struck by them sent him photos that she’d taken. She addressed it simply to “The Sunflower House.” And the Provincetown Post Office managed to figure out that it was meant for Bourne.

“It became a real tonic to peo-ple going by,” he says. In fact, the same people would come back every year to look at them. One man even gave Bourne a paint-ing in exchange for the joy that his sunflowers had given him.

They’re big, they’re bright,” he says of why people are so tak-en with sunflowers. “Little kids would stop, people from all over the world would stop and take pictures.”

Bourne’s sunflowers are fea-tured in photographer George Hirose’s “Blue Nights,” for which Norman Mailer wrote an intro-duction.

Even rock stars like ‘em. Bourne says rock legend Patti Smith was walking by once and stopped to sit with him on his front stoop and chat about sun-flowers and Hans Hofmann.

Unfortunately, says Bourne, the residents of one unit in the condo don’t like sunflowers. So, much to the dismay of so many passersby, the spectacular sun-flower installation at 76 Com-mercial is no more.

Paul Gumbleton at the Cen-ter Street Inn also enjoys hearing the comments of those passing

his sunflower collection on Brad-ford between Center Street and Conwell.

“Oh, sunflowers,” they say. “It’s kind of funny, I can hear

people’s comments,” he says, and people stop and take photos.

Interestingly, Gumbleton didn’t seek out his sunflowers. “They came to me.” And they all came from one seed, he says.

“I have window boxes up on the top deck. And one year over the winter, it was hitting spring, and I found this little sprout, it

must have been from a bird,” he says. “I had a feeling it was a sun-flower because of the bird seed [nearby].”

He transplanted it to a pot on the deck and it grew up tall. Then, he took the seeds from those heads and scattered them along his fence.

“It’s been about four years since that little lone seed came from someone’s bird seed,” he says, and now, “they’ve kind of taken over.

They attract birds and other

wildlife, he says, and they serve as a nice border for his side gar-den.

“People remark how beauti-ful they are,” he adds. “They’re a happy flower.”

Sunflower plants and seeds are available at all the local gar-den stores, like Bayberry Gar-dens in Truro, Sonflowers Nurs-ery (Residential Development) in Wellfleet and St. Aubin’s in Eastham.

So get out there and start planting a little joy.

PHOTO ROBERT RANDALL BOURNE

A peek through the towering arbor of sunflowers that once graced the pathway at 76 Commercial St., the old Hans Hofmann house, planted by resident Robert Randall Bourne.


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Green, grassy lawns are still the ground cover of choice. But they cannot

be achieved without ample aug-mentation of the quick-draining, sandy soil on the Outer Cape.

There are other ways to cov-er the ground — low-growing plants that, though you can’t walk on them, add proportion and beauty and prevent erosion without demanding much time and effort. Or requiring copious chemicals to keep them thick and green.

“Grass is a lot of work,” says Annie Ditacchio at Bayberry Gardens on Route 6 in Truro. “You have to fertilize, mow, keep the bugs and weeds out.”

Ground covers can be used on steep banks or slopes, in shady areas under trees and shrubs, and next to buildings. They can be used to cover shal-low tree roots, and to slow soil drainage and evaporation. Some prefer shade, partial or deep; some prefer full sun; others like both. Some like moist soil, oth-ers dry or well drained.

“The native ground cover is bearberry, also called hog cran-berry,” says Ditacchio, describing it as having shiny green leaves and little red berries. Bearberry are not good for transplanting, however. “They have very woody roots. Once disturbed, they won’t catch.”

Bayberry Gardens sells them already propagated in pots. They grow in sun or shade and spread slowly, which is, she says,

Ground cover — it’s not just about lawn anymoreBy Kevin MullaneyBANNER CORRESPONDENT

their biggest drawback. That, and they’re expensive.

“Myrtle, ivy and pachysandra are much more economical,” she says. And they come in trays of little plugs. “Ivy is pretty inde-structible, grows up walls in sun or shade.“

Myrtle and pachysandra pre-fer shade, and all three sell usu-ally in trays of 50 plugs. Pachys-andra grows to a foot tall and the foliage is tinged in purple in spring, bright green in summer, yellow-green in winter.

There are choices between utilitarian and more ornamen-tal ground cover, such as Ajuga, with its little purple flowers, and Sedums, which thrive in hot, sunny spots with dry, sandy soils, she says.

There are more than 300 spe-cies and 500 cultivars of sedums, from tiny mats a few inches high to two-foot plants. They’re used as mass ground covers, in rock gardens, on slopes, between stones. They are related to the cactus and, says Ditacchio, “They don’t require a lot of water and are fast spreading.”

They have thick, waxy ever-green leaves and are best in full sun where they produce flowers — from tiny, yellow-green stars to large masses of small pink flowers.

“Sweet woodruff is petite with white flowers,” she adds.

And then there are various low growing ground covers, such as the various thymes. “Some are very low growing,” she says. They can be used on walks between bricks or pavers.

Ornamental varieties can be matched with surround-ing plantings. And plants that spread more rapidly can be spaced wider apart when planting.

Knowing the conditions required for each plant as well as the soil in your gar-den is important. You might need to amend the soil a bit, by adding peat moss to the hole, for example.

However, some prefer the

continued on next page

PHOTO SALLY ROSE

Myrtle, which features a small lavender flower, can

be used to fill in between taller plants in raised beds.

PHOTO KEVIN MULLANEY

Old gold, a variety of juniper, is used as a middle-height ground cover.

Creeping thyme (right) can serve as an attractive ground cover instead of grass, and works nicely between flagstones.

INDEX OF ADVERTISERSBayberry Nursery ............................................ 2

Benson Young & Downs Insurance ............... 2

Gregory Morris Landscaping ......................... 3

Cape Cod Refrigeration .................................. 4

Kaplansky, Bryden & Sullivan Insurance ...... 4

Rice Landscaping ............................................ 5

Marcy Oil .......................................................... 5

Days Propane ................................................... 6

MetroWest Insurance ...................................... 6

John’s Interior Painting ................................... 7

Ethan Poulin ..................................................... 7

Fireside Insurance ........................................... 8

Cataumet Sawmill ........................................... 9

Cape Cod Oil .................................................... 9

Jared Colley Irrigation ...................................10

Cape Cod Aquatics .........................................11

Kimball Design .............................................. 12

Land’s End-True Value ................................... 13

Desmond Well Drilling ...................................14

Dirtworks ........................................................ 15

Jeremy Young ................................................ 15


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traditional lawn. “They’re pricey,” says Ethan

Poulin, a landscaping contractor in Truro, of other types of ground cover. “It’s cheaper to throw mulch or grass than to plant 500 little plants.”

Clint Kanaga, manager for de-sign and sales at St. Aubin Nurser-ies & Ponderosa Landscaping, on Route 6A in Eastham, says the type of ground cover depends on the conditions in your garden.

“Sun, shade, flat or bank,” he says, adding, “Some are used [to fill space between plants] in beds.”

Kanaga says the juniper family is diverse and offers a lot of variety in color and height. They’re creep-ing.

“The Japanese garden juniper grows slow and very low,” he says.

Creeping junipers grow one to two feet tall and will spread to a large area. They prefer full sun and are great for slopes and banks. In terms of middle-size ground cov-ers, Kanaga mentions the Pfitzer family of junipers. “Old gold is real nice,” he says. There are also big shrubs, such as the sea green, and trees, such as cedars.

And there are others: moss pink, also called creeping phlox, Baltic English ivy and hosta. Hos-ta species vary in size and foliage color — deep-green, yellow-green, blue green or gray green. Others are variegated with white or cream. They’re best in slightly moist soils and not in full sun.

Liriope, also called lilyturf, is very versatile, adapting to a wide range of conditions. They do well in heavy shade or full sun and are used under trees and shrubs and on slopes and banks.

continued from previous page

Pachysandra prefers shade and provides a foliage that changes in color depending on the season.

PHOTO KEVIN MULLANEY

Ivy, being used here to cover a tree’s shallow roots, is pretty indestructible and grows in sun

or shade and even up walls.


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With the arrival of spring, The Nature Conser-vancy is asking gardeners across Massachusetts to check their yards and gardens for plants that

can escape cultivation and cause tremendous damage to the natural environment and the national economy.

Plants such as purple loosestrife, kudzu, giant salvinia, multiflora rose and tree of heaven have been used wide-ly in horticulture and landscaping, and can be found in backyards and business lots across the country. At first glance these plants may look pretty, but their beauty is de-ceptive.

Known as invasive species, plants like these are typi-cally transplants from distant places. Once free from the natural checks and balances in their native habitats, these alien invaders establish themselves in new areas and quickly spread out of control. They hoard light, water and nutrients, and can alter entire ecosystems by changing soil chemistry.

With intentional and unintentional assistance from people, these problematic plants are spreading at an alarming rate, infecting natural areas across the U.S.

“Keeping invasive plants out of our backyards helps the environment and the economy,” said Wayne Klockner, director of The Nature Conservancy of Massachusetts in press release. “Taking the time to remove invasive plants and replace them with non-invasive varieties is a great example of bringing new energy to the old adage: think globally, act locally.”

Because many invasive plants are spread by unsus-pecting gardeners, The Nature Conservancy has created a wallet insert that gardeners can carry with them when shopping at their local nurseries. The insert lists the worst invasive plants for each region of the country. If you see one of these plants at your local nursery, consider buying another plant instead and talk to the nursery owner about stocking non-invasive varieties. The wallet insert can be downloaded from the Conservancy’s website: nature.org/initiatives/invasivespecies/help.

Businesses as well as consumers can play a role. The Conservancy works with nursery and horticulture groups to encourage the adoption of voluntary codes of conduct, which aim to stop the spread of invasive plants.

What You Can DoYou can help stop the introduction and spread of invasive species. Help protect native plants and animals by following these six easy guidelines:

1. Verify that the plants you are buying for your yard or garden are not invasive. Replace invasive plants in your garden with non-invasive alternatives. Ask your local nursery staff for help in identifying invasive plants. You may also visit the New England Wildflower Society’s website (www.newfs.org), which provides information on native plants as well as a listing of landscape design-ers who specialize in native plants.

2. When boating, clean your boat thoroughly before transporting it to a different body of water.

3. Clean your boots before you hike in a new area to get rid of hitchhiking weed seeds, insects or other organ-isms.

4. Don’t “pack a pest” when traveling. Firewood, fruits and vegetables, plants, insects and animals can carry pests or become invasive themselves.

5. Don’t release aquarium fish and plants, live bait or other exotic animals into the wild.

6. Volunteer at your local park, refuge or other wildlife area to help remove invasive species. Help educate others about the threat.

The Nature Conservancy is a leading conservation organiza-tion working around the world to protect ecologically important lands and waters for nature and people. Visit The Nature Conservancy on the web at www.nature.org.

The tree of heaven managed to travel here from China and spread out to the end of Cape Cod by 1910.

Beware of backyard invadersNature Conservancy urges gardeners to help stop the spread of America’s worst weeds

BANNER FILE PHOTO/LUM

Although it can be resplendent in an open field, purple loosestrife is an invasive.

PHOTOS COURTESY USDA

Tree of heaven leaf closeup.


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For a discounted price Cape Cod residents may purchase rain barrels, to capture and

reuse rain for garden and lawn irri-gation, sponsored by the Cape Cod Commission.

Available for $72.95 (regularly $119.95 retail), the barrels are made from 55-gallon blue recycled-plastic containers with a six-inch diameter screened inlet, two brass spigots to connect hoses, and a five-foot hose with a shut-off valve.

Calling them “the blue barrel for the green owner,” Commis-sion hydrologist Gabrielle Belfit,

BANNER FILE PHOTO/HARRISON

Blue rain barrels like these are available to Cape Cod residents through the Cape Cod Commission.

organizer of the annual sale, says the rain barrels help residents con-serve water, save money on water-ing needs for gardens and lawns, and reduce storm-water run-off.

Belfit hopes to sell 500 rain bar-rels this year, topping last year’s sale by 100 barrels. She estimates that 500 average-sized roofs would generate about 13 million gallons of run-off water a year. “Even if the rain barrels capture only a small portion of this precipitation, they can make a positive impact for homeowners,” she says in a press release.

The barrels, manufactured by the New England Rain Barrel Com-pany, may be ordered and paid for in advance by calling toll free (877) 977-3135 or by ordering online at www.nerainbarrel.com before May 10.

When ordering, buyers will have a choice of a pick-up location and date: Mashpee High School, Mashpee, from 9 a.m. to noon May 16; Barnstable County Complex, Route 6A, Barnstable, 3 to 6 p.m. May 16; Cape Cod Regional Tech-nical High School, Route 124, Har-wich, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. May 17.

Get your own rain barrel

Homeowners should avoid using cocoa bean mulch in landscaping

around dogs with indiscriminate eating habits, according to the American Society for the Pre-vention of Cruelty to Animals in its Cocoa Mulch Report.

Some dogs are attracted by the mulch’s chocolate aroma, and according to a warning from the ASPCA in 2003, “Eaten by a 50-pound dog, about 2 ounces of cocoa bean mulch may cause gastrointestinal upset; about 4.5

Pet owners take noticeA COCOA MULCH WARNING!

ounces, increased heart rate; about 5.3 ounces, seizures; and over 9 ounces, death.”

Cocoa mulch is made from crushed cacao shells, which con-tain caffeine and theobromine, two compounds to which dogs are particularly sensitive.

Dogs metabolize the com-pounds slowly, so symptoms may take hours or even days to mani-fest themselves. The ASPCA’s advice: Avoid using cocoa mulch anywhere unsupervised dogs roam.

Cocoa mulch


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The 12th Annual Secret Garden Tour, sponsored by the Provincetown Art Asso-ciation and Museum, is set for Sunday, July 12, and organiz-ers are promising a double-header garden experience.

The day begins with a walk-ing tour of 12 secret gardens in Provincetown’s quaint West End from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors are then invited to cool down at the Art Associa-tion, 460 Commercial St., for a tour of the Art of the Gar-den, an exhibition of floral works in their air-conditioned galleries.

All proceeds from the event benefit the Art Associa-tion exhibitions and educa-tional programs.

For 12 years, the Secret Garden Tour has provided guests a passport into the otherwise hidden realm of Provincetown’s most exqui-site gardens, featuring stone

paths and crooked wooden walkways, borders and beds of specimen plants, common and exotic flowers and lush greenery.

This year, PAAM expects to attract more than 500 visitors.

Free parking will be pro-vided at Benson, Young and Downs Insurance Agency and Gately-McHoul’s Funeral home, located at the end of Harry Kemp Way. A fleet of shuttle-cars will make continu-ous stops between the parking lots and gardens throughout the day. The tour is walkable from PAAM and nearby park-ing lots, for those who are will-ing and able.

Tickets to the Secret Gar-den Tour are $30, and include admission to PAAM’s galleries for the Art of the Garden ex-hibition.

Event details are available at www.paam.org. Call (508) 487-1750 for tickets.

BANNER FILE PHOTOS/GUADAZNO

PAAM’s Secret Garden Tour allows people a peek inside special gardens around Provincetown.

Join the Art Association’sSecret Garden Tour

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PHOTO VINCENT GUADAZNO

When you look up close, sunflowers are usually busy with a host of little creatures.

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