News

Rotarians Meet TWiG

Rotarians Meet TWiG

TWiG Committee Chair and licensed arborist Carol Herwig and soil scientist and TWiG Committee super volunteer Fred Bowers gave a talk to the Belfast Rotary Club at their monthly lunch on Wednesday, December 4. Fred explained the iTree software the Committee uses to inventory trees, while Carol described the overall tree inventory project, funded by a Canopy grant from the Maine Department of Environmental Resources and endorsed by the City of Belfast. Six months into the 18-month grant period, TWiG has cataloged 1,641 trees growing on city property along the town’s roadways, begun the development of a patch forest in…

. . . & Happily Ever After!

. . . & Happily Ever After!

A few weeks ago, we posted a photo of the Giving Tree at the Belfast Free Library, adorned with cards that contained the holiday gift wishes of 15 local children. Thanks to the general public and Belfast Garden Club members, all of those wish cards have been taken from the tree and are being answered! Special thanks to BGC volunteers Paula Smith and Linda Oskamp for spearheading this project and setting up the tree. The Club voted this year to make the Giving Tree a permanent part of our holiday traditions!

Convenient Composting

Convenient Composting

Contributed by Corliss Davis, former BGC President and current Hospitality Co-Chair Community composting is now available for a one-year trial at the Belfast Transfer Station! As of November 1, 2024, Belfast residents can drop off food scraps on the lower level behind the main building. Subscribers ($18/mo.) receive 5-gallon buckets to use at home and exchange for clean buckets from blue cabinets at the Transfer Station. They will then receive free compost in the spring. Non-subscribers can empty their own containers into black totes at the Transfer Station and, if they choose, buy compost at scrapdogscompost.com. If you don’t compost…

2024 Giving Tree at Belfast Library

2024 Giving Tree at Belfast Library

The Belfast Garden Club, with support from the Belfast Library Staff, is sponsoring a Giving Tree again this year. We are helping to make this holiday season special for 15 children who are in need of clothing, boots, shoes, and toys. The children are from needy families living in Waldo County.  The list of children is provided by the Waldo Community Action Partners’ Neighbor For Neighbor Holiday Gifts program. You can help the children and their families by stopping by the Library and taking a gift tag(s) from the tree located in the front lobby.  Gift Cards are welcomed if you prefer not to purchase…

A Cornerstone For Our Biome

A Cornerstone For Our Biome

Contributed by Carol Herwig Chair, Tree Working (TWiG) Committee Doug Tallamy’s Bringing Nature Home has become a standard text for American gardeners, especially along the Atlantic Coast. One of the takeaways from it is the importance of the oak tree. Tallamy cites a 2003 study in Illinois that found that “a single white oak can provide food and shelter for as many as 22 species of tiny leaf-tying and leaf-folding caterpillars,” not to mention the butterflies, moths, birds, bugs and beetles that depend on it. The oak is a cornerstone for our biome. But as arborist and author William Bryant…

Got Deer?

Got Deer?

Contributed By Marcia Ladd-Spears, Co-Chair, BGC Book Donation Committee Deer-Resistant Native Plants for the Northeast by Ruth Rogers Clausen and Gregory D. Tepper is a great read for all who love native plants and contend with the deer who also love them. White-tailed deer, Odocoileus viriginianus, plentiful in the Northeast, are considered by many to be the number one obstacle to a successful garden. This book discusses how gardeners can have a successful garden and live in companionship with deer. Covering several states in the Northeast, the authors discuss annuals, perennials, grasses, and shrubs, giving each a deer-resistant rating as…