Frost alert

Weather.com is predicting a widespread freeze tonight, so bring in or cover your tender plants if you live in the Hudson Valley. If you're growing cool-season greens, they should be fine.

My garden was growing great until Irene turned it into a lake, so I don't have much left to protect from this season's first frost.

(If a frost helps knock back my allergies, I'll actually welcome it.)

Native Flora of the Hudson Valley

It's been a while ...

but this course looks awesome: The New York Botanical Garden and the Landscape & Arboretum at Bard College present Native Flora of the Hudson Valley.

Using the campus and arboretum of Bard College, identify many of the trees, shrubs, wildflowers and other plants that comprise the native flora of the Hudson Valley. Instructor is Brad Roeller, the landscape manager of a fine estate in the Hudson Valley.

The first class takes place soon -- on two Saturdays, October 1 and 8 (rain date October 15), from 10am-1pm at the Olin Humanities Building, Bard College. Classroom lectures are followed by field studies. Dress for the weather.

Cost is $84 for members of NYBG or Landscape & Arboretum at Bard or Bard faculty/staff/student; $93 for everyone else.

Registration is required, and can be done by visiting http://nybg.org or calling NYBG at 718-817-8747.

Upcoming classes in 2012 include:
The Herb Garden
The How, When and Where of Pruning
Designing with Edible Plants
Establishing Fruit Trees in the Landscape
Maintaining Fruit Trees in the Landscape

Frost warning tonight

In case you can do anything ... there is a frost advisory for much of the Mid- and Upper-Hudson Valley tonight.

Garden Conservancy's Open Days Program

The Garden Conservancy has announced its first Open Days Program of the season in Westchester County, New York. What a great chance to tour some gardens not usually open to the public!

Explore three private gardens in Chappaqua and Mount Kisco, open to the public for self-guided tours to benefit The Garden Conservancy on Saturday, May 7. Hours vary. No reservations required; rain or shine. Special highlights include a checkerboard garden, a Belgian espalier of fruit trees, extensive tree peony, rhododendron and azalea collections, and tulip displays.

Visitors may begin at either of the following locations: Garden of Shobha Vanchiswar & Murali Mani, 76 Castle Road, Chappaqua (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.); or Rocky Hills, 95 Old Roaring Brook Road, Mount Kisco (12 p.m. to 4 p.m.). Directions to the Steinhardt garden in Mount Kisco will be provided at these locations.

Cost: $5 per person; children under 12 free.
See www.opendaysprogram.org for more information or call The Garden Conservancy toll-free weekdays, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST, 1-888-842-2442.

Changing the Way We Eat: Live now online from NYC

Alert: Starting now, you can watch the live webstream for TEDxManhattan "Changing the Way We Eat"—a one-day event looking at the sustainable food movement and work being done to "shift our food system from industrially-based agriculture to one in which healthy, nutritious food is accessible to all." The direct link to the webstream is here, the event is free, and a few of our Hudson Valley neighbors are on the speakers list.

This looks like a fantastic event, about an important topic dear to my heart, and I am going to try my darndest to watch it all live on my computer today. It takes place from 10:30 am – 6:00 pm, with short breaks for the speakers and a break for lunch from 12:15-1:30 pm.

The lead sponsor is the Hudson Valley-based Glynwood Institute for Sustainable Food and Farming in Cold Spring. Speakers include Orange County family farmer Cheryl Rogowski—who is a McArthur Genius Award recipient, and Dan Barber, the executive chef and co-owner of the acclaimed Blue Hill Restaurant. Here's more about the event—I'm off to watch the keynote...