Thanks to everyone’s hard work, we had another record-breaking year of wreath sales, selling a combined total of 381 fir and boxwood wreaths!! This exceeded last year’s sales, our previous record, by more than 30 wreaths.

Once all those wreath orders were in, a small army descended on Pleasant Valley Greenhouse for two [...]]]>

Thanks to everyone’s hard work, we had another record-breaking year of wreath sales, selling a combined total of 381 fir and boxwood wreaths!! This exceeded last year’s sales, our previous record, by more than 30 wreaths.

Once all those wreath orders were in, a small army descended on Pleasant Valley Greenhouse for two days, decorating 324 wreaths. Each wreath is unique, each one beautiful, and all possible because of our amazingly wonderful volunteers. We are always thankful for our volunteers, especially this time of year when all around the country people are counting our blessings.

Volunteers gathered flowers, seed pods, pine cones and other decorating items for months in advance. Volunteers donated almost a mile of beautiful ribbon. Volunteers tied 325 bows. Volunteers sold wreaths. Volunteers decorated wreaths. Volunteers packed wreaths for shipping. Volunteers delivered wreaths.

From 1-4PM on Friday & Saturday of this week, people who ordered a wreath will come out to Pleasant Valley Greenhouse pick them up. With so many choices, some people spend more than 1/2 hour to make their choice. Will they choose a white, red, gold, or other bow? Does traditional or more modern suit their style? Will the wreath be hung on their own front door or given as a gift? No matter the answers to these questions, everyone is sure to find the perfect wreath.

Thank you for all of your support!

WISHING YOU A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING SHARED WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS

We’re well underway in the 2011 holiday wreath sale.  That means we’re busily gathering materials – in fact we started collecting some things months ago.

We use all kinds of things to decorate our all-natural holiday wreaths.  Sure, we have some old standbys like pine cones, but every year we’re surprised by someone bringing [...]]]>

We’re well underway in the 2011 holiday wreath sale.  That means we’re busily gathering materials – in fact we started collecting some things months ago.

We use all kinds of things to decorate our all-natural holiday wreaths.  Sure, we have some old standbys like pine cones, but every year we’re surprised by someone bringing in materials we haven’t used before, and we often can’t get enough of them.  We love getting new materials to try!  There’s an almost-endless supply of local plant materials if you look with a creative eye.  To get you started, here’s an A to Z list of wreath decorations ideas. 

What can you collect and get to us by mid-November?

Acorns; apples, sliced & dried; artemisia, dried
Baby’s breath; bay leaves
Cones from all sizes & types of pine, spruce & fir
Dried flowers of almost any type
Eucalyptus leaves, dried
Fir cones; feathers
Grasses and their seed heads (shake to remove the seeds); globe amaranth flowers, dried; gourds, small, dried
Hydrangea flower heads, dried; holly branches
Indian corn, tiny;
Juniper branches

Kalanchoe flowers, dried; kiwis, dried
Locust seed pods; beautiful dried leaves from trees & shrubs; lavender, dried

Money plant seed pods (also called silver dollar, honesty plant, lunaria, and other names); milkweed seed pods
Nigella seed heads (also called love-in-a-mist)
Ostrich fern spore stems; oregano seed heads, dried; orange slices, dried

Pearly everlasting, dried; peppers, red & dried (think chilies, banana peppers, cherry peppers)
Queen Anne’s lace, dried
Roses, dried; rose hips; red twig dogwood; Russian statice
Statice; Siberian iris seed pods; straw flowers
Teasel; thistle; tansy flower heads, dried; twigs from curly or other interestingly-shaped plants
Unusual flowers, seeds, plants, or twigs – all dried
Vines with interesting shapes, with or without dried leaves, flowers, or berries
Winterberry branches with fruit; wheat (shake to remove seeds)

Xtraordinary, xceptional, or xciting natural items you notice (I took some spelling liberties)
Yarrow, particularly brightly colored, dried; yellow twig dogwood
Zinnia flowers, dried

Let us know if you need us to make pickup arrangements.

Rick Miller, writer and photographer for the Olean Times Herald, walked around our Lillibridge property last week and shot some great photos.

He’s assembled them into a YouTube video.

Enjoy!

The bloodroot is in bloom on the top of Lillibridge Road. This sweet, little garden circle is near the cabin door, and at this time of year, only bloodroot, a patch of meadow rue, and a bit of violet is visible.

This area was already shaded when I was there this afternoon, [...]]]>

The bloodroot is in bloom on the top of Lillibridge Road. This sweet, little garden circle is near the cabin door, and at this time of year, only bloodroot, a patch of meadow rue, and a bit of violet is visible.

This area was already shaded when I was there this afternoon, so the bloodroot flowers had already closed their white faces. I wandered around till I found some in a sunny spot so you can see what it looks like open.

Formally known as Sanguinaria canadensis, bloodroot is a perennial that grows from rhizomes – a thick, horizontal, underground stem. It’s a low-grower, 7-9″ tall. Bloodroot blooms in early spring, with clear, white, simple petals and yellow stamens. The leaves are distinctive: broad with several lobes, rather thick, and their undersides are much lighter green than the tops. There’s often only one leaf per plant.

So if the flower is white and the leaves are green, why is this plant called bloodroot? It’s actually the color of that rhizome, which is a reddish orange.

According to lore, juice from the rhizomes were used as body decorations by early Native Americans. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but bloodroot does make a colorfast dye for fabric.

Like many native plants, there are said to be many medicinal uses of bloodroot from relieving sore throats to curing cancer. We’re not advocating any of them.

I do hope that you’ll take a ride to the top of Lillibridge Road and wander down by the cabin to see these spring lovelies. Don’t wait too long – they’ll be gone before you know it.

I recently took Rick Miller, reporter for the Olean Times Herald, on a walk through part of our Lillibridge Road property. He took many photos, and posted them as a slide show on YouTube. Check it out!

It’s the time of year where we just seem to have one bleary day after another.  But there’s hope on the horizon as my daffodils have popped up ready to bolt with the first week of warm and sunny weather.  So taking my cue from the daffodils, I went out and marked the trees [...]]]>

It’s the time of year where we just seem to have one bleary day after another.  But there’s hope on the horizon as my daffodils have popped up ready to bolt with the first week of warm and sunny weather.  So taking my cue from the daffodils, I went out and marked the trees at the house I will be watching for Project BudBurst.

The project uses citizens like us to record the emergence of buds tracking the progress of spring.  I really enjoyed doing this last year and would encourage you to try it as well.  Simply look at the list of trees and plants for your area, choose which one you’ll watch, then make a point to take a peek to note the changes.

I’ve marked our Eastern Redbud today with a little strip of colored ribbon to remind me to look.  I pass the tree every day on my way to the car so it’s super easy to remember to observe the tree changes.  The Project BudBurst site makes it convenient for me to make my observation entries online and I get a little burst of happiness each day as I watch this little tree respond to the changes of the season.

Laura so appropriately suggested that I post a picture of our finished wreaths. Why didn’t I think of that?!

So here’s a picture of wreaths being decorated as well as one of a finished beauty.

There’s still a few days to order one for this year, but call or email me SOON [...]]]>

Laura so appropriately suggested that I post a picture of our finished wreaths. Why didn’t I think of that?!

So here’s a picture of wreaths being decorated as well as one of a finished beauty.

There’s still a few days to order one for this year, but call or email me SOON — director(at)pfeiffernaturecenter(dot)com — to get yours!

All wreath sale proceeds support Pfeiffer Nature Center programs.

Peg

…like Christmas?!

It’s only July, but many of us here at Pfeiffer Nature Center have been preparing for our annual holiday wreath sale for months already.

Preparing how, you say? By gathering and drying materials for the wreath decorations. So far I know we’ve collected several bags of pine cones from white [...]]]>

…like Christmas?!

It’s only July, but many of us here at Pfeiffer Nature Center have been preparing for our annual holiday wreath sale for months already.

Preparing how, you say? By gathering and drying materials for the wreath decorations. So far I know we’ve collected several bags of pine cones from white pines. We also have many bunches of lamb’s ear and coronation gold yarrow drying in barns and basements in two counties. And probably other things I’m not yet aware of.

You may have plants in or near your house, wild or domestic, that would dry well and make beautiful additions to our wreaths. We’d love to have them.

A few ideas to get you started…

There are surely LOTS more. We try new things each year. Some dry beautifully, some don’t. Some hold up well, some don’t. We only use the ones that dry beautifully and hold up well on our wreaths.

If you’ve not harvested flowers for drying before, here’s what you need to know.

Gather a small bunch (4-12, depending the on flower/stalk size) and wrap the end of the stalks with a rubber band. Make the rubber bank moderately tight. Run a portion of a partially-opened paper clip through the rubber band, and clip the other portion to a clothes hanger, a short piece of twine, or other object that will allow the bunch to hang upside-down.

If you gather things you’d like to donate to us for use on our wreaths, call our office (716.933.0187) or drop me an email-director(at)pfeiffernaturecenter(dot)org. I’ll be grateful for your help.

by Peg Cherre, Executive Director

If a home garden is your nature indulgence of choice, check out Peg Cherre’s recent posts about a peony that didn’t bloom for 12 years and a great regional resource, particularly for fruit.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Fritillary on Echinacea

Instead, point your camera at all things natural. Shoot video or stills. Edit and organize your work, and submit it into our third annual Pfeiffer Nature Center Film Festival!

Puff Balls