From left, Councilmembers Valerie Cartwright (D-Port Jefferson Station) and Dan Panico (R-Manorville), Brookhaven Town Supervisor Ed Romaine (R), Handler Greg Drossel with Hal, Councilman Kevin LaValle (R-Selden) and Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro celebrating Groundhog Day in 2014. Photo by Elyse Sutton
Pennsylvania may have the legendary groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, but New York has Malverne Mel, Holtsville Hal, Sweetbriar Sam and even Staten Island Chuck and Dunkirk Dave.
In the Town of Brookhaven, the great prognosticator of prognosticators, Holtsville Hal will be the star of the day as the Brookhaven Wildlife and Ecology Center will celebrate with its annual Groundhog Day event on Feb. 2 with the gates opening at7 a.m. Wayne Carrington will return as the master of ceremonies and Hal will be handled by Greg Drossel.
According to tradition, if a groundhog sees its shadow after stirring from hibernation on Groundhog Day, there will be six more weeks of winter weather; if not, spring should arrive early. After a relatively mild season until this past weekend, anticipation into what Hal’s prediction will be is building. Highway Superintendent Dan Losquadro will serve as “Mayor of the Day” and reveal Hal’s famous forecast at approximately 7:25 a.m. in an official ceremony.
“Groundhog Day at the Ecology Site is always an enjoyable tradition for so many local families,” said Losquadro in a press release. “After the last two winters, we’re hoping Hal will not see his shadow and predict an early spring. I want to thank the employees at the Ecology Site for making this a much-anticipated event each year in Brookhaven Town,” he added.
“Town residents have been braving the cold weather to celebrate Groundhog Day for years,” said Supervisor Ed Romaine in the same press release. “Last year’s weather caused Holtsville Hal’s public appearance to be canceled. This year, I look forward to some good news from Hal.”
Following the ceremony, visitors are welcome to enjoy some free hot chocolate and visit the more than 100 animals that live at the animal preserve, which will remain open until 3 p.m.
The Brookhaven Wildlife and Ecology Center Animal Preserve is located at 249 Buckley Road, Holtsville. Parking is free. For more information, call 631-758-9664.
The Kousa dogwood fruit has a surprising sweet tropical flavor. Stock photo
By Ellen Barcel
Well, it’s finally winter with real winter weather. However, I just heard on the news that the first hurricane of 2016 has formed — yes, I know they don’t normally start until June 1 and the last time a hurricane formed in January was in 1938. According to CNN, it’s only the fourth known hurricane to arrive in January since records have been kept starting in 1851. Weather has been really weird this past year. The cherry tree I wrote about in December was still blooming on January 1. It will be interesting to see what spring brings.
Passionflower vines produce fruit late in the growing season. Photo by Ellen Barcel
Well, now that the cold weather is finally here (sort of), we can’t really do much in the way of gardening, except, perhaps repair some tools or clean out the garage. But, it is a great time to put your feet up by the fireplace, look out the window at the snow outside, leaf through the gardening catalogues which invariably come this time of year and plan your new garden. Perhaps you wish to make some jams or jellies from produce in your garden but want to focus on landscaping plants. Here are some possibilities. All make unique jellies and jams.
Kousa dogwood Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa), Japanese dogwood, is sometimes recommended as a replacement for our local dogwood (C. florida), since it is more resistant to a tree blight, anthracnose, which can kill our local species. One of the nice things about Kousa dogwood is that the fruit is edible and can be used to make jelly — I’ve tasted it and it really is good. There are a number of recipes online. The berries can also be used to make muffins. The tree does well in our acidic soil and produces beautiful white flowers in spring. It’s a small tree so won’t take over your landscaping.
Beautyberry Like the Kousa dogwood, the beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) bush is deciduous. It is known for its brightly colored purple berries that can remain on the plant into winter providing winter interest. The berries, which have a metallic luster, will be eaten by birds, but they don’t appear to be their favorite food. Squirrels, raccoons and other small animals seem to enjoy them. The berries are edible and can be used to make jelly.
Beautyberry produces berries in the summer, but the berries stay on the plant even when leaves have fallen and winter snows fall. Photo by Ellen Barcel
I planted the bush just because I like the look of the berries. The plant can grow four to eight feet tall and about as wide. It prefers light shade and a well-drained soil. This is not a problem with Long Island’s generally sandy soil. While the plant can be a specimen plant, a row of them makes an interesting, informal hedge. Remember, however, that since it is deciduous, the screening benefits will only be provided during the growing season. While it is mildly drought tolerant, it does need about an inch of water a week. So, if we go for more than a week or so without rain, water should be supplemented.
Passionflowers Passionflowers are native to both the Americas and Asia, there being in the neighborhood of 500 species in the genus. Most have edible fruit that can be made into jelly. The vines, depending on variety, can grow up to 30 feet tall, so this is a plant that needs a trellis of some sort or can be grown as a trailing plant in a hanging basket. The flowers of Passiflora incarnata are exotic in appearance. Generally, they are purple, but some are purple and white. P. alata ‘Ruby Glow’ is purple and dark maroon — absolutely gorgeous. The plant is hardy in zones 5 to 9, and does best in full to partial sun.
Yes, there are a number of other landscaping plants that can be used to yield jelly, such as roses and sunflowers. You can also use the flowers of Queen Anne’s lace and dandelions. Remember to always check out whether the flower you are interested in is edible. If in doubt, don’t consume it.
Ellen Barcel is a freelance writer and master gardener. Send your gardening questions and/or comments to [email protected]. To reach Cornell Cooperative Extension and its Master Gardener program, call 631-727-7850.
From left, Chris Barba, Matt Irving, John Petroski and Alex Petroski have fun at the 2015 Cotton Bowl at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Photo from Alex Petroski
College football fans that live on Long Island might as well live on a deserted island. A Long Islander looking to take in a major college football game on a quick Saturday trip has two options, and sadly, at the moment, neither is very appealing.
Rutgers University plays their home games in Piscataway, New Jersey, which is about a two and a half hour drive from the Times Beacon Record office located in East Setauket. Under three hours isn’t a terrible ride to see a Big Ten football game, but the Scarlet Knights’ 4-12 conference record since joining leaves a bit to be desired for five hours round trip.
The University of Connecticut in East Hartford is about the same distance from East Setauket as Piscataway, New Jersey, with the help of the Port Jefferson ferry. Though a $75 each way ferry ticket is difficult to justify to see a team that saw a dramatic improvement to go 6-7 overall this year, up from their 3-9 and 2-10 2013 and 2014 records, respectively.
Rather than use up my time, energy and money to make one or more treks to Piscataway or East Hartford to see struggling teams, I went with my brothers and a couple of friends to games in the newly minted College Football Playoffs the last two seasons. On New Year’s Day 2015, a year ago, I was at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, to see Florida State University play the University of Oregon. On New Year’s Eve 2015, I attended the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, where the University of Alabama met Michigan State University. The games were moved from New Year’s Day to New Year’s Eve this season, so technically both games took place in 2015.
It may be premature to call a two-time occurrence a “yearly tradition,” but they have to start somewhere, and I think that is what my brothers, friends and I have created — a yearly New Year’s Eve/Day tradition.
As far as New Year’s Eve plans go, traveling to Texas to see a football game might seem comprehensive and overwhelming. But if you consider what goes into planning some of the “all-inclusive” catering hall-type events that are closer to home with a large group of people, the difference in legwork is negligible. When compared to bustling into Manhattan to see the ball drop in Times Square, I’d argue this is even simpler and easier.
I can’t recommend highly enough for college football fans living on Long Island to try and make it to one of the three playoff games next season. We flew out of LaGuardia Airport on the evening of December 30th, landing in Dallas and checking into our hotel in enough time to explore the area around the vast AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys and the largest video board known to man. We stumbled upon a local sports bar with infinite televisions and beer-on-tap choices to go along with some excellent Texas style barbecue. On game day, the 31st, we explored the stadium, which can’t remotely be captured in words, and attended the game.
College football fans have a reputation for being ravenous and boisterous, so imagine about 100,000 of them packed into some of the nicest venues in the country and worked into an absolute fever. The two games I’ve attended were experiences unlike any other, let alone sporting events.
Both years, we booked flights home for the day after the day after the game, leaving us a day to do some modest exploring in a new city. Dallas did not disappoint. We visited the site of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, which is now a museum. We stood and looked out the window down to the road from the perspective of Kennedy’s killer and saw the same view that he saw on that day. We drove the same path that Kennedy’s motorcade took. It was a breathtaking experience.
Believe it or not, costs for both trips were not as outrageous as you might think. Because the venues are so large, there are game tickets to be had, and if you’re willing to leave a little before the 31st, flights are more manageable as well.
Next year, we’ll be choosing between the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia, the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Arizona and the National Championship game in Tampa Bay, Florida. Trust me, keep it in mind.
My daughter, Claudia Carlson, died Jan. 6, at the Dawn Greene Hospice in Manhattan, after a two-year battle with ovarian cancer. She attended Ward Melville High School in Setauket and Stony Brook University.
Claudia was born in Bloomington, Indiana, when I was a graduate student at Indiana University. I was married to Helen (nee Zuckerman) Carlson, whom I had met at NYU when we were undergraduates. The marriage failed a year after Claudia was born and Claudia was raised in seven college towns, where Helen taught in English Departments.
I visited Claudia on holidays and when she turned five, she spent her summers with her new family, after I married Nedra (nee Miller) Carlson. She joined us permanently after her mother was diagnosed with lung cancer, at the age of 42, and Claudia began attending Ward Melville High School.
Claudia worked on the SBU newspaper, The Statesman, and its literary magazine, Fortnight. She applied those skills to her work as a book designer, photographer, graphic designer, and cartographer. She worked for The Crown Publishing Group; Farrar, Strauss and Giroux; Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. She was a founding member of River Writers of Manhattan, six writers who read their essays, novels, short stories, and poems to each other.
Claudia co-edited “The Poets Grimm: 20th Century Poems from Grimm Fairy tales,” a collection of adult poems on fairy tale themes. She published three volumes of her own poetry — “The Elephant House,” “Pocket Park,” and “My Chocolate Sarcophagus.” She also wrote and illustrated a children’s book, “Avi the Ambulance goes to School,” for her last employer, American Friends of Magen David Adom, the American arm of the Israeli branch of the International Red Cross).
The last three works were written after Claudia’s diagnosis. She told me that she would not die cursing fate or making people uncomfortable. Instead, she would live the fullest for each day she had left. This accounted for the intense productivity in her last two years.
Claudia was treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center until they ran out of experimental drugs to treat her. She elected home hospice as her body weakened. Nedra and I took turns, with our other children, looking after Claudia while her husband was at work. Her sister Christina organized her medical schedule of prescriptions and her visitor’s log. Visitors were limited to one hour so she would not be exhausted.
During these visits, Claudia discussed their work, their reminiscences, and their mutual colleagues. She enjoyed puns and sparkled with wit. She described the return of her hair after radiation for brain metastases as a “reverse Mohawk,” because the most intense radiation ran from her forehead to the nape of her neck. Each two-week trip we took showed how cancer can ravage a body, but Claudia’s courage inspired her colleagues, friends, and relatives, and she showed us how to die with grace and love.
In my mid-84th year, I am not a stranger to the death of those I knew and know. As a biologist, I know it has always been part of the life cycle of all species of plants and animals. The death of all living things is a constant reminder that this is the only life we can guarantee we will have on earth, and it is a gift that can be used wisely, providing a sense of self-worth, making others happy to be around you, and adding to the ever-changing civilization in which we live. I am sure Claudia’s many visitors felt uplifted in their sorrow for the joy she brought to their lives.
Elof Axel Carlson is a distinguished teaching professor emeritus in the Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University.
Potatoes need a very acidic soil to thrive, making Long Island an ideal environment. Photo by Ellen Barcel
By Ellen Barcel
What exactly is soil pH and how does it affect your ability to grow the veggies you want? Well, it’s a measure of how acid or alkaline soil is. On a scale of 0 to 14, seven is neutral. Below 7 is acidic (sour) and above 7 is alkaline (sweet). Today, we have little kits that can be used to test soil available in garden stores, but in the “olden days” farmers tasted the soil, hence the terms sour for acidic and sweet for alkaline soil.
The soil pH affects how different plants take up nutrients. Some do better in an acidic soil, that is, take up nutrients better, while others do better in a neutral or slightly alkaline soil.
Long Island soil, for the most part, is very acidic. Test your soil and treat it accordingly based on what you want to grow. Oregon State University Extension explains it this way. Each unit of change is a 10-fold difference. Going from 6.0 to 5.0 means that the soil is 10 times more acidic, so it’s a very big change.
Potatoes do well in a soil pH that is very acidic — 4.8 to 5.5. This is why Long Island, going back to the early 1800s, has been known for its potato farms. Farmers had one less thing to be concerned with, namely changing the soil pH. Cornell University notes that growing potatoes in a pH of 6.0 or higher makes them more prone to scab (a disease of root and tuber crops).
Veggies that do extremely well in acidic soil (going down to the 5.0 range) include artichoke, beets, cabbage, sweet potatoes, turnips, leek, chives, carrots, radishes, cucumbers and chili peppers.
Veggies that do well in acidic soil (say 5.5) to neutral (7) include beans, broccoli and cauliflower. Bush beans are ideal as they require no staking. Summer squash, which matures in 50 to 60 days, also does well in acidic soil. Tomatoes also do well in this broad range of soil pHs as well as cucumbers.
Plants that do well in neutral (or only slightly acidic) to mildly alkaline range (7.0 to 8.0) are mushrooms, okra, parsley, peppers, yams and asparagus.
If your soil is substantially below the optimal range for what you are growing, add lime, following manufacturer’s directions. Remember that lime can take many months or even a year to break down in the soil. Read the package directions on the various types you are considering. It’s probably best to start adding the lime to the soil now in the areas where you are planning to grow veggies next year. Also remember that the soil will revert to the pH it tends to be naturally, so once you start liming the soil to reach a certain number, you need to continue to do that as per package directions each growing season.
Ellen Barcel is a freelance writer and master gardener. Send your gardening questions and/or comments to [email protected]. To reach Cornell Cooperative Extension and its Master Gardener program, call 631-727-7850.
It’s hard to believe another new year is unfolding. The world has never been so close to another world war as we are right now. There is social unrest everywhere.
In our own country we have not seen such social outrage and protests since the civil rights days of the 1960s. Universal health care, racial harmony, respectful tolerance for social differences at every level, renewed respect for the courageous men and women in law enforcement and public service as well as aggressively investing energy on affordable housing for the poor and immigration reform that respects the human dignity of every human being; these are some of the issues that must be at the top of our social agenda for the New Year 2016.
As challenging as this incomplete social agenda might be, I have renewed hope that our present generation of young leaders who are working in the trenches at this present moment are aggressively working for peace and justice without war or violence. I believe they believe in respecting every human being no matter what his or her social, political, religious or human circumstance as valued human beings.
We are fortunate that we live in an extraordinary community. For more than three decades, I have seen firsthand the depth of people’s compassion and care for others especially for the poor and wounded among us. I have been privileged to see the miracles that change and transform people’s lives.
Everyday people in our community who are hurting are healed and supported because of local neighbors’ courage and bravery to reach out and touch their lives, even if it means moving out of one’s comfort zone. It’s easy to pay lip service to compassion and care and still justify doing nothing. So many people quietly do so much for so many in need. Their acts of kindness and compassion are inspirational.
Taking into account our present social landscape as we begin the New Year 2016, I would like to make the following recommendations for all of us to consider working on:
■ Let’s work harder on building bridges instead of walls in our human relationships. The world is overburdened with walls and has too few bridges.
■ Let’s try to eliminate judging others and putting people into sterile boxes. Rather, let’s work harder at empowering one another to be the best that we can be, accepting all people for who they are.
■ Let’s replace destructive criticism and cynicism with heartfelt random acts of kindness and caring.
■ Let’s try to revive dreaming; a single dream can launch the journey of a lifetime!
■ Finally let’s take the whole year to aggressively work on healing our fractured and/or estranged human relationships that need love — before it’s too late.
As the New Year unfolds, let us not forget that each and every one of us possess the profound ability to make a difference in our world that counts. Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away!
Fr. Pizzarelli is the director of Hope House Ministries in Port Jefferson.
Because the tree of heaven is a prolific seed producer as well as extremely hardy, it is considered invasive here. Photo by Ellen Barcel
By Ellen Barcel
Many years ago, my father pointed out some wild trees to me. He called them “stinkweed” trees, he said because close up, they smelled bad. Yes, they were wild — a weed and very hardy.
I hadn’t seen them in years, possibly because home gardeners generally don’t plant them and oak and pine are the native species most commonly found growing on Long Island. Recently, I came across a number of trees growing wild, which, to me, resembled the stinkweed trees from when I was a kid. Doing a bit of research, I discovered that yes, the trees I saw were indeed stinkweed trees. They were, in fact, Ailanthus altissima, also known as the tree of heaven.
A native of China, the tree’s Chinese name — chouchun — literally means “foul smelling tree,” i.e., stinkweed tree. Due to its many negative characteristics, some people refer to it as the “tree of hell,” rather than tree of heaven. Parts of the tree feature in traditional Chinese medicine as an astringent and as a food for silkworms so it has been grown there extensively.
The tree was first brought to Europe and then the United States in the late 1700s. The tree is now seen as an undesirable here for several reasons. One is that it produces suckers, meaning that it can easily spread, especially in disturbed areas. Another is its bad smell. It also appears to be able to suppress some competition by producing a chemical, ailanthone, that prevents other plants from growing in the area. This is known as allelopathy. Probably the best known allelopathic tree is the black walnut, but sunflowers seem to have the same ability.
The “tree” in the Betty Smith novel, “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” was the tree of heaven, found growing wild in New York City lots — yes that weed. The tree is hardy and in the book becomes a metaphor for a young girl’s family that survives adversity.
Since the tree is a rapid grower, it can force out native plants. It grows under a wide range of unfavorable conditions including poor soil and pollution. This opportunistic plant does well in disturbed areas (the way poison ivy does). It needs full sun and spreads by both seeds and root sprouts.Part of the reason it does so well is the fact that it has a tap root and we know what that means — in drought conditions it survives because the root goes way down into deeper levels of soil that still contain moisture. The Nature Conservancy suggests that seedlings be pulled out should you find them in your garden.
The Pennsylvania State Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ website notes that there are “hundreds of thousands of seeds per tree … and a cut or injured ailanthus tree may send up dozens of root suckers and resprouts, creating large clonal colonies.”
Ailanthus altissima is on Suffolk County’s Management list, meaning it is considered invasive here, and it is recommended that the tree not be planted, especially near public land, although it is legal to do so. A rapid grower, it can easily reach close to 50 feet tall or more.
Incidentally, the tree of heaven is not the only tree with really foul smelling parts. The fruit of the ginkgo does as well. Most nurseries only sell male ginkgo trees, which do not produce fruit, hence no bad smell.
Ellen Barcel is a freelance writer and master gardener. Send your gardening questions and/or comments to [email protected]. To reach Cornell Cooperative Extension and its Master Gardener program, call 631-727-7850.
Ward Melville at the Stony Brook Village Center, circa 1950s. Photo from WMHO
Long before there were the Gates and the Zuckerbergs of the world, there was Ward Melville.
A major Long Island philanthropist and national business leader, the scope of Ward Melville’s generosity and vision included significant restoration of historic structures, purchase and preservation of environmental and commercial properties, education and countless other endeavors.
Ward Melville’s dream was to create a “living Williamsburg,” a place where history and culture would blend with natural beauty. Along with architect Richard Haviland Smythe, he designed what was to become the first planned business community in America, the Stony Brook Village Center. The Three Village area — Stony Brook, Setauket and Old Field — has been forever changed because of this forward-thinking benefactor.
Melville was president of Melville Corporation, the third largest retailer in the United States with some 10,000 stores, which owned Thom McAn Shoes, Marshall’s, CVS Pharmacies, Kay-Bee Toys, Wilson’s Leather and Suede and more. He also donated the very land that today houses one of our nation’s leading research institutions, Stony Brook University.
The Stony Brook Community Fund, now the Ward Melville Heritage Organization (WMHO), was founded in 1939. On Jan. 19, 1940, Ward Melville hosted a dinner at the Three Village Inn to present his plan for the future of Stony Brook Village. On Jan. 19, 2016, this milestone will be commemorated at the Three Village Inn where it all began to “Celebrate What Was … Be Part of What’s To Come.”
Starting at 6 p.m. with live music by The Tom Manuel Trio, cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, dinner, dessert and coffee, guests will enjoy the same menu from 1940, hear Melville’s original speech and see the original model of the village. There will even be chocolate cigars in place of real ones enjoyed in the day.
The evening continues with an 8 p.m. sneak preview of The Jazz Loft next door, which will soon showcase a historic collection of over 10,000 items of jazz memorabilia and serve as an education and jazz performance venue as well. This 6,000-square-foot structure, formerly the site of the Suffolk Museum, now the Long Island Museum, was another of Melville’s philanthropic works. Bringing this culture to Stony Brook Village is a case of history repeating itself while looking toward the future.
During the ‘50s and ‘60s, the likes of Tony Bennett and Lionel Hampton performed at the Dogwood Hollow Amphitheatre in the very spot where WMHO’s Educational & Cultural Center now stands in Stony Brook Village. The vision that Ward Melville had over 75 years ago still resonates today and the results of his efforts on behalf of the citizens of Stony Brook and beyond, both economically and culturally, will continue to touch generations for many years to come.
Tickets are $125 per person and seating is limited. Proceeds will benefit The Jazz Loft. For further information call 631-751-2244 or register online at www.wmho.org.
Not sure how many families received a puppy as a gift this holiday season but I love to see appointments that say “New Puppy” on them. One of the most common topics discussed is how to potty train the newest member of the family.Crate training is a wonderful way to give the puppy the guidance it needs.
The idea of using a crate to train a puppy comes from a “den theory” in dogs.Although wild dogs are nomadic by nature, they do settle down for part of the season to mate and raise pups. The males will hunt and the females will search out a den. This den is a safe haven away from other predators and the elements, andresidents instinctively go to the bathroom outside the den.
If the crate is treated the same way, it can be a nice, safe area for the puppy. They will usually sleep and allow you to sleep. You can go out to run errands knowing that the puppy will not go to the bathroom, destroy things, or get into anything dangerous. The primary goal of the crate is to always, ALWAYS, make it a “safe area” for the puppy. Do not isolate the crate away from the rest of the family and never use the crate as a form of punishment.
When you (or other family members) are home, the door to the crate should be left open to allow your puppy to go in and out as they please. Give your puppy a favorite toy or a treat when you put her in the crate before you leave the house.Although a crate is most effective, a crate does not always have to be a crate. You can baby gate off a portion of the kitchen, give a room, etc.
Be careful how long you leave your puppy in the crate so that they do not become used to soiling in the crate (they will if left no choice).Most pet owners purchase or adopt a puppy between 8 and 12 weeks of age. This is good because it is a very impressionable age and allows you (as the puppy’s “parents”) to help them make good choices.
Remember that puppies can only physically “hold it” for so long at that age. A good rule of thumb is count the number of months old the puppy is and add one to come up with the number of hours the puppy can hold it. So an 8- week (2-month) old puppy can hold it for 2 + 1 = 3 hours. Some puppies can hold it longer at night. However, when you first get a puppy, it would be a good idea to get out of bed to let them out (or even set an alarm clock) to take them outside, SUPERVISED, to go to the bathroom and praise them when they do.
Also remember that eating and drinking will stimulate the puppy to go to the bathroom. Therefore, allow extra time to bring them back outside after they eat and drink to give them the opportunity to go again. If for some reason you get there too late or an unexpected accident occurred, just clean it up. Remember, the crate must be a safe area away from punishment if it is to be effective.
Some puppies that have been in a pet store or shelter situation for too long can be negatively conditioned as well. If a puppy is left in a crate from five or six at night (when the shop or shelter closes) to eight or nine the next morning, they will get used to eliminating in the crate (cage) and come to believe that is normal. Those are exceptional cases and will require the guidance of a veterinarian that specializes in behavior or a Certified Animal Behaviorist to re-train.
Do not try to automatically force older dogs into a crate. I can’t tell you how many broken teeth and nails I’ve seen in my career because a dog owner decides they are going to put a young adult dog in a crate at 8 months to a year old because the dog has become destructive when the owner is not home. That is going to be like jail, and if it were me I would freak out also. That is not to say that you cannot crate train an adult dog, but it takes time, patience and the guidance of a behaviorist (that means extra moolah as well). It is much easier (and less expensive) to start at a younger age, remain patient and consistent.
Congratulations on your new puppy and good luck!!!!!
Dr. Kearns has been in practice for 17 years and is pictured with his son Matthew and their dog Jasmine.
Salvia with an intense red flower tinged with white. Photo by Ellen Barcel
By Ellen Barcel
I’ve always thought of salvia as a plant with flaming red flowers. And, it’s true, many varieties of salvia do have red flowers, especially inmid summer. But, there are many, many varieties of salvia, native to both the Old and New World. I’ve seen estimates range from 700 to nearly 1000 different ones and that’s not counting cultivars. Recently, stopping at a local nursery I saw many of these flowers — a truly stunning display. Colors range from burgundy, red and purple to blue. Orange, yellow and near white are rarer but are available.
All varieties of salvia are In the mint family (Lamiaceae). Feel the stem and you’ll find that it is square, like peppermint and spearmint. Also, gently rub or crumple the leaves and you’ll get the distinctive aroma, again like various kinds of mint. Depending on variety, salvia is an annual, biennial, perennial and even a small shrub. Sizes range from 12 to 18 inchesup to 5 feet, again, depending on the variety. Always read the tag or plant description in the catalog as this genus is a large one, adapted to many locations. That way you’ll get just what you want for your garden.
Salvia generally grows well in very acidic to alkaline soil, meaning that Long Island gardeners can plant it almost anywhere in the garden however, optimum soil pH is around 5.5 to 6.0.
Salvia splendens
Salvia splendens (scarlet sage) is the variety most commonly grown for summer flowers which are truly spectacular when grown in mass. A tender perennial, it survives winters in USDA hardiness zones 10 to 11 (Long Island is zone 7) so treat it as an annual here.
Salvia officinalis
A variety of garden salvia with deep purple flowers. Photo by Ellen Barcel
Salvia officinalis is the common variety of sage grown in the herb garden. Like most herbs, it does best in a sunny location, one with good drainage. It is a hardy perennial in USDA zones 5 to 9. Common sage does will in acidic, neutral and mildly alkaline soil. Sage can be propagated from seeds or by stem cuttings.
Harvest the leaves and dry them. Use them as a seasoning for various meat and fish dishes including Thanksgiving stuffing. If you find your plants have an insect infestation, try insecticidal soap. If you use a chemical spray, read the directions carefully as to how close to harvest you can safely apply the product.
Salvia elegans
Salvia elegans, pineapple sage, is one of my favorite plants to grow. It has red flowers in summer and leaves which smell of pineapple.It is an annual here but a perennial in warmer climates (zones 8 to 11). The plant can get very large so give it room to grow. As with most herbs, it does best in a sunny location.It can be propagated by laying a stem down on soil and holding it there with a stone or metal clip. When roots appear, cut if free of the mother plant and pot it up.
Salvia hispanica
I’ve long known that ancient Mesoamericans consumed chia seeds as a staple in their diet. It’s a complete protein, something needed in ancient Mexico, before the introduction by European explorers of cattle. It’s high in fiber, calcium and antioxidants.
What I didn’t know was that chia, a native plant of Mexico, is Salvia hispanica, yes, a member of the salvia family. Today, chia has become a popular “health” food included in some health bars. You can buy chia seeds and incorporate them in baking, much like you do with flax seeds. Some people prefer to sprout the seeds and use them in salads and sandwiches.
And yes, these are the same seeds as in Chia Pets, but don’t eat the seeds/sprouts if you have a Chia Pet as those seeds were not really processed as human food. Edible chia seeds are widely available in health food stores and online. If you try to grow your own, remember that they are native to a fairly arid region, so do not over water.
Salvia divinorum
If you’ve come across information that salvia is an hallucinogen, well that’s only partly correct. The hallucinogenic variety is Salvia divinorum, also known as Diviner’s Sage and Sister Salvia. Suffolk County, has made it illegal to possess or sell Salvia divinorum in the county. So, whatever you find in local nurseries is perfectly legal, and is not hallucinogenic.
Ellen Barcel is a freelance writer and master gardener. Send your gardening questions and/or comments to [email protected]. To reach Cornell Cooperative Extension and its Master Gardener program, call 631-727-7850.
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