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Happening
at the Crossroads:
April 5,
2010
by Coggin
Heeringa
April
Showers bring May flowers, but at Crossroads at Big Creek, those May
flowers will be in their full glory on Tuesday, April 13, at 7 pm when
the Master Gardeners bring Ray and Charlotte Lukes to present the
illustrated lecture “Spring Flowers of Door County.”
In a
forest, most wildflowers bloom before the tree leaves open. And they
can’t even start to grow until the snow has melted and the soil becomes
warm. If wildflowers bloom too early, pollen-carrying insects (which
are cold-blooded) will be too chilly to fly. So timing is everything.
This
year, plants got a head start, but even so, they have a very brief
window of opportunity to grow, produce a spring flower, be pollinated
and set seed before the tree canopy places them under perpetual shade.
Also
this past winter, we had remarkably little snow, so our wildflowers
will have to depend on April showers for the moisture required for
growth.
In contrast, the plants in the Crossroads Greenhouse get
plenty of water, thanks to the members of the Sturgeon Bay Home
and Garden Club, who are starting and tending vegetables and flowers
starts for our Heritage Garden.
If you are interested in gardens
and improving your nutritional intake, you will want to attend
the lecture:, “Sustainable Eating.” The UW Extension’s Dean Volenberg
will share his insight on eating local and growing food. You are sure
to learn something new at this presentation.
If Dean inspires
you, then you may want to participate in the four-session Garden
Workshop for Families which starts Thursday, April 8. While children
play outside, adults (parents or those without children) will learn the
basics of gardening. Then, families will plant vegetables and grow
plants in our greenhouse. At the end of the class, each family will
take home the vegetable starts, ready for the garden. Space us limited
and pre-registration is required. A $10 material fee is due
at the first session.
People who have grass, young trees or
gardens will be pleased to hear that once again, Crossroads is
collaborating with Sustain Door to sell rain barrels. With these fully
assembled 55-gallon plastic barrels, you can collect the water
from April, May and June showers to water yards and gardens
during the drier times of summer. The $65 barrels will be on
sale at the Collins Learning Center from 2 to 5 pm daily.
Crossroads
at Big Creek is located at 2041 Michigan (across from Whitetails
Unlimited) in Sturgeon Bay. The Collins Learning Center is open
2:00-5:00 daily.Visit our website at www.CrossroadsatBigCreek.org. or
call 746-5895.
Wednesday, April 7, 4:00
Sustainability Lecture: Sustainable Eating.
Dean
Volenberg of UW-EX will surprise you with his insight about food and
nutrition and how one can best meet their food needs sustainably. A
suggested donation of $5.00 (with proceeds funding an energy efficient
upgrade of the lighting in the Collins Learning Center .)
Thursday, April 8
Garden Workshop for Families
This
is the first of four sessions of grow and take workshop. Adults
will learn the basics of gardening and will grow plant starts in the
Crossroads greenhouse. $10 materials fee. Pre-registration required.
Call 746-5895 for details.
Tuesday, April 13, 7:00
Master Gardener Lecture: “Spring Flowers of Door County.”
Roy
and Charlotte Lukes wil introduce you to the glorious wildflowers of
spring. You will learn about habitats in which wildflower will
grow and prosper as you enjoy Roy’s stunning photographs. Free and open
to the public.
Many of
the Past News articles may be retrieved from this directory,
indexed and named in the following manner: 080101-news.htm
where
the first two numbers are the year, the second two the month and the
last two the date.
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