What's for Lunch? Daylilies

Daylilies

(Hemerocallis)

Did you know they were edible? Betsy created these beautiful stuffed treats for the Friday Garden Walk through the Discovery Garden. The lucky attendees were also treated to spicebush tea and sumac lemonade. The daylilies looked pretty on the folding table at the en plein air buffet in the garden, but my-oh-my, don't they look really spectacular on one of the new BTG plates? (Yup, it's a shameless plug. We are almost sold out. Click here to buy yours.)

If you've ever been on one of Jack Gulvin's Friday Morning Nature Walks, he often stops at a pretty stand of daylilies to teach the proper way to prepare them before eating. It's a funny comedy bit that is hallmark of Jack's unique teaching style - lots of info and lots of laughs.

I don't want to spoil the comedy show so I won't tell you how Jack recommends that you prepare the daylilies, but I'll tell you this: Betsy's methods are more time-consuming but also more filling...pardon the pun. As you can see in the photo, she fills them with a mixture of goat cheese, candied ginger and pecans and they are delicious!

Leslie Renjilian, BTG President and Daylily Eater

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Rattlesnake Master

by Betsy Burgeson

In 2022, we began a meadow restoration project on the south end by the Coyle tennis courts. I was researching native plants that we could use and came across a plant called Rattlesnake Master. With such a funky name, how had I never heard of this plant before? The name alone is what made me curious to find out more. 

Upon further investigation it turned out the characteristics of Rattlesnake Master were everything I'd been looking for! First, it is a native plant that is deer resistant, attracts songbirds & pollinators galore, has a very long bloom period, is salt-tolerant, and provides year-round interest. It also happens to be a great cut flower too.  However, one of the best traits for this particular area, it grows very well in clay soils! 

When you first see Rattlesnake Master, it is astonishingly, almost exotically, different than anything you've seen before. It is a standout not only in meadows but in the garden landscape as well. Its scientific name is Eryngium yuccifolium, referring to how the foliage looks like Yucca. 

Rattlesnake Master is truly a one of a kind unicorn plant—a plant that has everything a gardener could ask for—beauty, function and easy to maintain. There is no look-alike so hopefully you are able to wander over to the South end along Bryant and enjoy the beauty of Rattlesnake Master in all its glory.

Monday July 22

4:15pm Updates from the Jefferson Project at Chautauqua Lake with Mike Kelly and Vince Moriarty

Location: Pier Building

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Tuesday July 23

12:15pm Updates from the Jefferson Project at Chautauqua Lake with Mike Kelly and Vince Moriarty

Location: Pier Building

Wednesday July 24

8:00am Gloves-on Gardening Lesson with Betsy Burgeson

Location: Lower Miller Park Shoreline

Note: the Daily says Children's Beach, but we will actually focus on the north shoreline across the park.

12:30-2:30pm Shipman Garden History & Horticulture Tours

Location: Miller Cottage Gardens (24 Miller)

There will be a historical garden tour at 12:30PM and horticulture Q&A at 1:30PM.

4:15pm Tree Walk with Jack Gulvin

Location: Smith Wilkes Hall patio

Thursday July 25

7:30am Forest Bathing with Kate Mayberry

Location: Meet at the Corner of Massey & Hawthorne. Forest Bathing will take place in the Secret Silo Garden.

Wear comfortable clothes.

4:15pm: Bird Talk with Twan Leenders

Location: Pier Building

Friday July 26

9:00am Nature Walk with Jack Gulvin

Location: Smith Wilkes Hall Patio

12:30pm Garden Walk led by Betsy Burgeson

Location: The Oval Garden behind the Amphitheater (across from the Athenaeum Hotel porte cochere)

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Off-site Nature Stuff

If you're looking for nature outside the gates, consider one of these options:

The Wild America Nature Festival in Panama July 27th and 28th.

Next weekend is Garden Walk Buffalo! It's their 30th year and there will be over 300 gardens open to the public. For maps of the gardens and more information, go here.

And if you really want to travel far from home, Twan Leenders is leading an Ecological Exploration in Costa Rica trip March 27 – April 2. I went to Costa Rica in January of 2024 with Twan and I can attest that traveling with Twan is like taking 20 nature tours a day—an incredible experience.

Meet Twan this Thursday afternoon as he leads our Bird Chat.

Costa Rica Ecological Exploration with Twan Leenders

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BTG Commemorative Plate Info

Pre-ordered plates can be picked up:

• Monday-Friday 12:00-1:00pm on the patio behind Smith Wilkes Hall

Plates for purchase are available! Plates can be purchased for $50 each or $535 a dozen. Supplies are limited.

• Tuesdays 12:00-1:00pm at our Brown Bag Lectures at Smith Wilkes Hall

• On our website

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Week Four In Photos

Jack Gulvin hosted his 100th Purple Martin Chat on Thursday! What a milestone!

There are not many martins remaining in our housing which is why last week was the final Purple Martin Chat of the season. Most have fledged already. The little ones in this photo are nearly ready to leave their cozy gourd near the Sailing Center.

They will learn to fly in one a single day of impressive learning curve. After practicing around Chautauqua, they will join the pre-migration roost party on the shores of Lake Erie and then take off on their 5,000 mile journey to the Amazon Basin.

Identification tip: Zoom in to see the little yellow bit at the corner of their beaks, which indicates they are juveniles.

According to BTG Entomologist Dennis McNair, this is a Clymene moth (Haploa Clymene) in the south ravine. A common and native moth, the larvae like oak and willow leaves (to eat, not just to appreciate as pretty plants)

The buffet table Betsy created for the lucky guests at Friday's Edible Plants Garden Walk through the Discovery Garden.

At last week's Wednesday Morning Gloves-on Gardening Lessons with Betsy, Betsy Burgeson explains how to differentiate between invasive alder buckthorn and native black cherry - two plants that look very similar and were growing only a few feet apart in the ravine.

This week, we will shift our location from the Secret Silo Garden to Lower Miller Park Shoreline, near Timothy's Playground.

Please join us!

A participant in last Thursday's Forest Bathing sits alone in the woods near the Secret Silo Garden. After gathering together for about 10 minutes, our leader Kate Mayberry sends us out on our own. If you keep meaning to come, but think you can't do anything at 7:30am, think again, it's worth it! Learn more by clicking this link.

Sad news: We lost a big hickory tree behind the YAC during a gusty wind storm on Tuesday. Fortunately, no one was hurt and the Garden Team and Maple Springs Tree Service cleared the tree quickly.

And now your moment of zen....

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/827d85_b824ddc4a75247e08c3d0bf93d14021e/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

a Half-black Bumblebee (Bombus vagans) visits a lace cap hydrangea