Long Island Horticultural Society
October News & Notes
President's Message...
Dear Fellow LIHort Members:
Our Fall season got off to a magnificent start with a large and enthusiastic audience, an outstanding speaker, and informative updates about our many new plans and projects.
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Our Raffle Table was overflowing with your donations, and thanks to your generous purchase of Raffle Tickets we earned over $150 for our Scholarship Fund! Let’s keep it up!
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The Horticultural/Botanical Arts Table was also filled with your beautiful entries, and I hope inspired many other members to give it a try. The reason for this Competition is to encourage members to share their achievements in the garden, on the windowsill, or wherever they nurture or record growing things. Our standards are high, but not TOO high to be open to all! Winning a ribbon is nice, but receiving compliments and interested questions from your fellow plant-lovers is even nicer!
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Speaking of Bounty, our Hospitality Table also reflected your generosity and involvement to help make our meetings fun for all. Delicious as always!
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Just to give you an update on the new Plans and Projects that you heard about at the last meeting:
The PLANTING COMMITTEE held their first official meeting to begin Research and Design for the Monarch Butterfly Garden, and sub-committees were formed on each of these topics.
At our October Meeting there will be an Exhibition Table Display to provide more information and materials about this project.
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We have had two DAY TRIPS so far, to Oheka Castle and to Cold Spring Harbor Labs, and both were excellent (I can say so personally, having been on both!). This coming Tuesday a group will be going to visit the extensive grounds and various organically sustainable gardens run by the Sisters of St. Joseph in Brentwood, and you will be hearing about that at the next meeting. There are plans underway for monthly trips or meet-ups throughout the 2025-26 season, which you will be learning about.
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The feedback on the OVERSEAS TRIP to PORTUGAL was that people had a wonderful time, and plans are underway for next year’s trip (destination not yet decided).
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Your response about FUNDRAISING PROJECTS indicated that many would be interested in a 2026 CALENDAR using member art and photography, and the Committee is working on that.
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Expect to see a display from our newly-formed GARDEN FACT VS. MYTH Committee. Please keep your eye out for garden advice or information which may sound questionable to you. Bring it to our attention at the meeting and we will research it and report back!
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I’m delighted to report that the talented creators of our GREENERY BOUTIQUE will have a display at the October meeting, featuring Halloween-themed arrangements using live plant materials from their gardens. Always a pleasure to view and buy!
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Finally, I’m anxious to hear, and learn from, our October speaker, who will talk about FIGS. My one little potted fig tree manages to squeeze out one fig per day through August, and while I appreciate the mini-crop, I wonder if it could do better - if I did more!
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Looking forward to seeing everyone at the October meeting!
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-Ronnie Branczio
October 19 Meeting
Speaker: Doreen Monteleone
Topic: FIGuring It Out on Long Island
For more information please visit the Meetings page
Doors open at 12:30pm
Place Horticultural Competition entries by 1pm.
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1 pm Tutorial: Kathy Readinger: Becoming a Master Gardener
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1:30 - 2pm LIHS Business, Announcements​
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​​Speaker starts at 2pm​​
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Please consider donating
refreshments to the hospitality table.
2026 LIHS Board of Directors
Slate of Officers
President: Ronnie Brancazio
1st Vice-President: Ann Wetzel
2nd Vice-President: Kathy Readinger
Treasurer: Maria Hoffman
Recording Secretary: Margaret Duryea
Corresponding Secretary: Connie Knies
Membership Secretary: Pat Martin
Directors Term 2023-2026:
Patty Jarrett, Frank Lomuscio, Wendy Lomuscio
Directors: term 2025 -2028:
Carlos Taborda, Andrea Gibson, Marty Nyear
Directors Term 2024 - 2027:
Barbara Hanft, JoAnn Semeraro, Jenny Holmes
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Thank you everyone that volunteered to be on the board!
Slate will be voted on at our November general meeting on November 16, 2025
September
Horticultural Competition
C8b Arrangement, Caladium, Coleus, Anthririum, Dahlia
C9b Arrangement, Ageratum, Aster, Solidago
F17 Dahlias
C8b Arrangement, Caladium, Coleus, Anthririum, Dahlia
Click on gallery to view slideshow
Horticultural
1st Place Maureen Wawrzonek C8b Arrangement
1st Place Barbara Levine C9b Arrangement
1st Place Maureen Wawrzonek L31 Phalaenopsis Orchid
1st Place Lisa Leber B6a Dried Arrangement
Botanical Arts
1st place John Virzi Q46 Other, Dried Gourd Gnome house
1st place Debi Goldfisher Q45 Painting
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Ronnie's Recap
At our September Meeting, LIHS members and guests were treated to an outstanding presentation by Signe Nielson on the topic of the design, planting, and maintenance of LITTLE ISLAND.
Signe is the visionary Landscape Architect who designed and selected the plants for every single area in this unique urban oasis within Hudson River Park.
Many of us knew about the park and some have visited, but no-one in the audience realized the complexity involved in selecting plants based on the various micro-climates within the park, taking into consideration elevation, slope, sun exposure, wind, and other environmental variables, as well as esthetic considerations of color, height, seasonal interest, and overall design.
The entire park is planted upon concrete structures which are themselves a fascinating design element, and the many thousands of plants range from lofty trees to the tiniest ground covers, with as many as possible being locally sourced and/or native to the region.
Signe’s beautiful slide show clearly illustrated the various regions of the park, while her verbal presentation provided fascinating information about the specifics of selecting plants, the engineering involved in creating the park and ensuring total accessibility for the public, and the concerns about maintaining the Island into the future.
Signe is a wonderful speaker, and she explained how her experience as a dancer helped her to “choreograph” the site for the best flow of visitors through the various regions!
Finally, Signe was especially generous with her time and knowledge in answering the many questions from the audience, which furthered our understanding and appreciation of this urban gem.
I know that everyone present is now eager to visit or re-visit Little Island, especially now that we will bring so much fascinating information about how it was created!
How to Store Tender Bulbs in Winter
Some flower bulbs will not survive cold winters and need to be dug up and stored indoors over winter. Among these are cannas, elephant ears, gladiolus, tuberous begonias, dahlias, and other summer favorites. Many of these bulbs are expensive, yet they’re easy to keep, so it is worth it. Here’s how to store bulbs over winter. Continue reading here
Fall is Planting Time, for Seeds?
There are some perennial seeds that can be planted in the fall to sprout the following spring. Purple coneflower is a great example of a perennial seed that does well when sown in fall. In cold-winter areas, plant seeds at the depth given on the package instructions after a killing frost but before the ground freezes. Continue reading here
Membership Form
Dues for membership are:
Single $35, Household: $45, Student $5
Please fill out the Membership Form here on the website, when renewing or joining. Just type your information into the form and print it out. Bring it with your dues to a meeting or mail it to the address on the bottom of the form.
Cook's Corner
This month's recipe comes from Janet Tufaro, Apple French Toast
From the editor....
Jim Jackson's Rot Garden
"Rot Gardening" is a sustainable approach that uses the decaying wood for unique garden decor, wildlife habitat, and nutrient-rich soil enrichment. This practice can transform a dead tree into a creative and functional centerpiece for your landscape.
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We first visited Jim Jackson's rot garden in October of 2023 while visiting Artisan Craft studios in Vermont. Jim's home, garden and studio are located in West Townshend, Vermont. Jim has been creating the rot garden since 2013 when his first piece; "The King" was intially finished. Most of the tree work is done by Michael Longo.
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Jim uses the invasive Honeysuckle roots that he and his partner Jim dig up every year to create his sculptures. Which are then painted and coated with layers of Acrylics to preserve them.
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The trees in his forest are arranged to create mega sculptures like the Triangle started in 2013. These mega sculptures are allow to rot naturally and feed hungry bears, woodpeckers and the soil of the forest, as well as become house & home for many other creatures. Jim's garden was the first time I had seen piles of brush and twigs left to provide habitat for animals and insects to over-winter. This is a practice that has become much more common and well known in recent years. Thank you Jim for your innovative approach to gardening it is catching on!
I now have one of Jim's root sculptures gracing my balcony garden!
-Ann Wetzel
Check out the Garden Calendar page this month for everything you wanted to know about Spring Flowering bulbs
End of Summer Ritual: Visit Dahlia Exhibitions
Toni Cabat
For many years we mark the final days of summer by going to the Dahlia Exhibition and Competition at Bayard Arboretum and then by Labor weekend to Planting Fields. Bayard is home to the Long Island Dahlia Society, while Planting Fields is home to the Mid- Island Dahlia Society. This has been a challenging summer for our dahlias, as well as those of these societies. Too much heat, too early and too long. They did better in late Sept when the temperatures went down. They prefer the cooler temperatures and moderate rain.
True dahlia growers, as those, in both of these competitions, even use umbrella over their dahlias with the summer heat or heavy rain. We were told by Mid Island Dahlia Society volunteers, that they had to go out and buy 150 blooming tubers in the middle of the summer for their Planting Fields dahlia gardens since the heat killed those they planted in May. These volunteers are hardworking and truly love the dahlias.
These two shows did not disappoint, especially the Mid Island Dahlia Society. There were hundreds of entries, with dazzling colors, shapes and sizes. The King of the Show was outstanding. Don't think we ever saw such a large dahlia. See the pictures.
We have to still go visit the Mid Island Dahlia Society garden in Eisenhower Park and Cornel Cooperative at East Meadow. Our own dahlias have been putting on a beautiful show now that the weather has cooled down a bit. Cut them every other day to decorate our table. Well, summer has come to an end, but not our dahlias!
Photos © Stuart Germain
Thank you to Maureen Wawrzonek for the Hospitality Table Centerpiece.
Donations to the Hospitality Table: Andrea Gibson, Debi Goldfisher, Christine Bochicchio, Wendy Lomuscio, JoAnn Semeraro, Marge Duryea, Sharon Rubin, Karen Mueller, Suzanne Giwoyna, Barbara Hanft, Patty Jarrett, Lynn Simmons, Toni & Stuart Germain, Laura Weill, Francine Reff, Judy Basse
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Donations to the Raffle Table: David & Rosemarie Papayanopulos, Bina Chatterjee, JoAnn Semeraro, Christine Bochicchio, Karen Mueller, Priscilla Bauerschmidt, Coutney Quinn, Laura Weill, Toni & Stuart Germain, Leve Hajdu, Francine Reff, Pat Martin, Trish Cody
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Over-Wintering Containerized Perennials
Containerized perennials rated one or two USDA Hardiness Zones colder than your area have a good chance of living throughout the winter outdoors. For plants not hardy to your area, you have a few options.
1 You can keep them in an unheated interior location, like a garage or a cold frame, making sure they do not dry out completely. Continue reading here
Welcome New Members
Phyllis Puzio-Ross
Jeanne Morrison
Oheka Castle Day Trip
Courtney Quinn
Twenty two LI Hort members participated in a hour long walking tour of Oheka Castle provided by Oheka's volunteer tour guide. We heard about the Castle's history and we saw all the main floor rooms as well as the honeymoon suite on the second floor.
After a brief rest in the OHK bar where I had arranged for the group to receive chilled iced water, I provided a talk outside about their French formal garden identifying its design elements and its shrubs and trees.
To round out the day, several members enjoyed a lunch on their own in the castle's OHK restaurant.
During the day, free momentos were distributed to members: a Made in France classic Violet Candy, a Cold Spring Harbor brochure, a lavender sachet as Mrs. Kahn used to grow lavender on the property and a Oheka Castle book mark.
All enjoyed the Oheka Castle tour & garden talk very much!
Photos © Courtney Quinn
ReJoyce Leucothoe Offers Color All Year
ReJoyce Leucothoe (Leucothoe axillaris 'ReJoyce') is an evergreen shrub that supplies visual interest in each of the four seasons. Pollinator-friendly bell-shaped white flowers and bright new red growth appear in spring, the arching stems and leaves provide interesting texture in summer, and the leaves turn dramatic redish hues in fall and burgundy in winter. This selection of a North American native shrub keeps a compact growth habit and needs little maintenance in the right spot, only grows to two to four feet tall and wide.
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This plant is a selection of Leucothoe axillaris, a species native to wet woods and swamps of the Southeast. A standout for its great foliage colors, ‘ReJoyce’ was discovered by plantsman Greg Joyce at his southern New Jersey nursery. It was added to the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society's list of Gold Medal Plants in 2025.
Portugal Trip
Photos byJoAnn Semeraro
Day Trip to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Toni Cabat
On Sept. 28th 25 LIHORT members toured Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for over 1 ½ hours under the guidance of, Nemanja, a PhD candidate research scientist. He shared detailed history of this beautifully landscaped 120-acre site establish before the turn of the century. It is an internationally recognized research center with over 1200 employees, PhD and post-doctoral students, scientist, educators and staff. In additional attracts over 12,000 scientist from around the world to conferences and meeting re latest technologies and advances in biological research ranging from Cancer, neuroscience genomics and plant biology. Home to eight Nobel Laureates starting with Dr James Watson in 1962 who shared the prize for discovering the double helix structure of DNA. Sculpture of the double helix is in the Grace Auditorium where our tour started and ended. We spent time in Nemanja actual lab and he shared his research interests with us.
This is all in a beautiful landscape with old black walnut and Ginkgo trees, native barriers of flowers and grasses installed after Super Storm Sandy. The landscape, originally designed by Mrs. Watson, is dotted with science inspired sculptures. We visited a building erected in 1893, Jones Laboratory, still in operation today as functioning scientific centers. We could have spent even more time since there was so much rich history, science breakthroughs, architecture, art, waterfront views and landscapes to see, but many of us moved onto the town of Cold Spring Harbor. An historical whaling port, now charming destination crowded with Sunday visitors frequenting the many restaurants and cafes. Our pictures share some of our experiences. Some of us will return on our own for the science-inspired art tour. It is easy to book a tour by going to their website www.cshl.edu
Photos © Stuart Germain
