Williamston Red Cedar Garden Club

09/06/2026

The gardens around the Williamston Museum at the Depot are one of our club’s beautification projects. Many years ago, our club also assisted with relocating the building to its current location and held member meetings in the museum.

Our wonderful cooperation with the Museum has allowed us to host occasional exhibits there.

Visit the museum and enjoy the flowers we have planted!

09/01/2026

GARDENING TIPS FOR SEPTEMBER FOR WILLIAMSTON, MI

• Correct any soil deficiencies you've noticed. Healthy soil is crucial to healthy plants.
• Check coniferous trees for tip damage on new growth. If the tips have been mutilated by borers or otherwise damaged, remove them and establish a new leader by forcing a new side shoot into an upright position.
• Young trees should be staked to prevent the roots from being pulled by fall and winter winds.
• If you haven't brought your houseplants in yet, do it before you have to start heating your home. This gives them a chance to adjust. Wash them thoroughly before bringing them in to rid them of any pests and eggs.
• Plant spring bulbs as long as the ground is workable. Plant the following bulbs soon: trout lily, tulip, narcissus (including daffodil), snowdrop, winter aconite, starflower, and crown imperial. For crown imperial, add a little lime to the soil.
• Dig up your rosemary, basil, tarragon, oregano, marjoram, English thyme, parsley, and chives to grow them inside as houseplants. Keep them in a cool, sunny spot, and allow the soil to dry out before watering. Snip off the leaves as needed in the kitchen, but do not strip them completely.
• Onions are nearly ripe when the tips of the leaves turn yellow. Break them at the necks. This will speed the final ripening process. Loosen the soil to encourage drying, and after a few days turn them up and let them cure on dry ground. Always handle them very carefully -- the slightest bruise will encourage rot to set in.
• Potatoes are ready for harvest when their tops begin to turn brown.
• It's a good time to order spring-flowering bulbs.
• This is a great time to plant new trees and shrubs because the new roots will have plenty of time to become established before the spring.
• Delay pruning trees and shrubs until early next spring; however, you should remove any broken and diseased branches.
• Be sure to keep harvesting your fruit and vegetables so that the upcoming frost does not destroy them.
• In emptied vegetable gardens, consider planting cover crops such as buckwheat or annual rye that will protect the soil until you're ready to plant again.
• Fall is the best time to start lawn grasses from seed. Till the soil before sowing and provide several light waterings each week.
• Fertilize your lawn. Lawns fertilized in the fall are better equipped to survive the winter. Reseed in bare patches.
• Begin cutting back on watering of the garden and lawn (except newly seeded areas) so that plants can prepare for dormancy (not growth).
• Aerate your lawn if the soil is compacted. Have your soil tested to see if you need lawn fertilizer.
• Watch for frost forecasts. Harvest tomatoes before the first killing frost. Ripen indoors away from sunlight.
• Harvest brussels sprouts and parsnips once they've been exposed to frost.
• Be sure to throw away any fallen fruit to help keep away any unwanted pests from your yard.
• Save the seeds from your self-pollinating flowers, such as marigolds, cosmos, or coneflowers, to plant next spring by drying them and storing them in closed containers.
• Plant any perennials. Divide and replant overcrowded perennial beds. Remember to apply a layer of organic matter to the new bed.
• Do not fertilize annuals. Cut back annuals when they finish flowering.
(Based on Farmer's Almanac)

08/22/2026

Today we are featuring the Post Office gardens that our club plans, plants, and maintains. Have you seen the newly redesigned garden on the north side (photo 2)?
In addition to the Healing Garden in the front, there is a larger garden area to the north and a side garden on the south side of the building (photo 4).

The Post Office is located outside the city limits, so we rely entirely on ourselves for watering. The Post Office staff are very cooperative and friendly—they allow us to use water and to display exhibits in one of their indoor display cases.
This time, we are showcasing wonderful artwork by talented local students who participated in our club-sponsored youth contest, Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl. We have winners every year, so be sure to check it out!

08/15/2026

PRUNING TOMATOES

By National Gardening Association Editors
https://garden.org

Pruning means pinching off the shoots or "suckers" that sprout from the stem in the crotch right above a leaf branch. If you let a sucker grow, it simply becomes another big stem with its own blossoms, fruits and suckers! With staked or trellised tomatoes, pinch off the suckers and just keep the energy of the plant directed at one (sometimes two to three) main stems.
If you want additional stems to develop besides the main stem, allow the suckers closest to the bottom of the plant to grow. These will have more flower blossoms and are easier to train to the outside of the plant than suckers that sprout higher up.
Tomato plants really grow fast when the weather warms up, and new suckers form all the time, so you should go on "sucker patrol" at least twice a week during the heavy growing season.
If you live in a very hot, sunny area, you can let some of the suckers put out a couple of leaves and then pinch out the tips to stop their growth. The sucker provides a little more foliage to help the plant manufacture food and also to help shade tomatoes from the sun.

PRUNING UNSTAKED PLANTS
Unstaked plants can also be pruned, although it's not as necessary as it is for staked or trellised plants. Pruning improves ventilation, which can help to prevent disease problems. Pruning branches late in the season opens the plant up to more sunlight. Then on cooler days the plants are a little warmer, which is good for ripening tomatoes.
If you're growing determinate varieties of tomatoes, go easy on any pruning. Because these plants are smaller and don't continue to set new fruits throughout the season, heavy pruning may reduce your yield drastically. Also, be careful not to overprune in hot parts of the country. Tomato fruits need protection from the bright sun or they may develop sunscald. Tomatoes ripen better if they're shaded some by foliage.

PRUNING TOPS OF PLANTS
You can pinch off the tip of the main stem above the top blossom of indeterminate tomato varieties to keep a flourishing plant from getting any higher. This type of pruning can be helpful when a plant is outgrowing its support, or toward the end of the growing season when a taller plant won't help much in terms of increased production. At that point, you'd prefer to see the plant put its energy into ripening the tomatoes already on the vine.

PRUNING ROOTS
Root pruning is a special trick you can use to speed up the ripening of early tomatoes. It simply involves cutting some of the roots of a plant when it has three or four clusters of tomatoes on it. By cutting the roots, you put quite a bit of stress on the plant, which causes it to mature more quickly. It's as if the plant were worried that it might not have time to complete its life cycle, so it rushes to mature some fruit and seed. The plant won't die if you root-prune it correctly; the growth process is simply interrupted. But after a little rest, the plant is ready to start producing again.
To root-prune trench-planted tomatoes, take a long kitchen knife and make a cut down along just one side of the buried main stem, 1 to 2 inches away from it, going down 8 to 10 inches. If the tomatoes are planted vertically, cut halfway around the plant, 1 or 2 inches from the stem and 8 to 10 inches deep. If a knife doesn't work well for you, try a spade or a shovel.

08/05/2026

It was a great turnout at the rock painting activity hosted by the Williamston Red Cedar Garden Club at National Night Out. Kids loved the fun project.

08/01/2026

GARDENING TIPS FOR AUGUST FOR WILLIAMSTON, MI

• Compost should be watered during dry periods so that it remains active.
• Prune only to retain the shape. Do not prune spring-flowering shrubs such as azaleas and rhododendrons. Do not prune trees.
• Mid-August through September is a good time to transplant any shrubs that you've purchased with root balls wrapped in burlap. Make sure you get them in the ground two to three days after purchase. Do not fertilize until the second year, when the feeding roots have become established.
• Lawns or bare spots reseeded with grass now will have a chance to get established before winter sets in. Water often and mulch with hay.
• Plant fall-flowering bulbs now.
• Two or three leaves should be left when cutting gladiolus, so that the bulbs can ripen.
• Sow these perennials outdoors for next spring: aquilegia, Phlox paniculata, digitalis, centaurea, and primrose.
• Cut back the flower stalks of perennials that have finished blooming. Cut delphinium flower stalks to the ground, and a new, though smaller, flower stalk will develop. The flower will survive the coming cold days and even light frosts.
• Lift, divide, and replant Japanese and Siberian irises soon after bloom. Transplant them to places where they will have "wet feet but dry knees."
• If you notice a gap in your perennial bed between spring and fall blooms, visit a local nursery to see what's in bloom there and ask the experts for advice on what to plant.
• The vegetable garden is likely to require daily harvesting now. Cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers should be picked as soon as the fruits are ready. This not only captures the best flavor, but it also makes way for new fruits.
• Maximum flavor of herbs for drying is achieved by cutting them just before their flowers open.
• Make sure that potatoes are not escaping into the sunlight. Hill or mulch them if they are.
• Remove dead pea vines, bolted lettuce, and other plants that have gone by and add them to the compost pile. If they show signs of disease, however, burn them.
• Separate melons from the ground with a thin board to prevent decay or damage from wireworms.
• Cut out raspberry and blackberry canes that have just finished fruiting.
• Hardy lily bulbs may be planted in the ground and left to overwinter outdoors.
• Do not neglect your plants in hanging baskets; they dry out faster than those in the ground.
• Dig up your potatoes once the vines have died and the tops turn brown.
• Ripen tomatoes on the vine, not the windowsill; put fallen green tomatoes in a brown paper bag with an apple.
• Fertilize roses (last time this year).
• Keep weeding your garden so that the weeds do not compete with your plants for water and nutrients.
• Japanese beetles? Handpick and drop in a jar of detergent and water.
• Tomato hornworms? Handpick and drown in soapy water or snip in half. Control the smaller worms with B.t. (Bacillus thuringiensis), a biological control.
• This is a great time to plant new perennials, shrubs, and trees, especially evergreens; they have a better chance to establish themselves during the milder fall months than those planted in the spring.
• There's still time to plant fall crops of beans, beets, broccoli, carrots, Chinese cabbage, kale, lettuce, and peas.
• If there are dry spells, remember to water your plants and shrubs thoroughly to prevent drought damage.
• Remove any old plants that have stopped producing to help eliminate insects and diseases from your garden.
• Dig up and divide daylilies that have finished blooming.
• Remove any dead flowers from plants to encourage new growth.
• Order spring-blooming bulbs at the end of the month for fall planting.
• During these warmer months, raise the mowing height to 2.5 to 3 inches.
• Check the mulch around your plants; if there is little or no mulch, make sure to put a 3- to 4-inch layer to conserve moisture.
• Be sure to regularly water your houseplants and potted plants. Use a water-soluble fertilizer so that the plants do not lose vital nutrients. Do not let houseplants dry out.

07/20/2026

07/17/2026

July 17 update for our beautification projects:

Despite the extremely hot weather, all of our gardens look fabulous. Our dedicated members take care of them with watering help from the city—it’s truly a team effort. We hope that all community members enjoy our work.

See photo captions for details about specific projects.

We currently plant and maintain ten gardens:
1. Gazebo
2. Butterfly Garden
3. Blue Star Memorial
4. McCormick Park Restrooms
5. Police Department
6. City Hall
7. Main Intersection/Four Corners
8. Planter at D&W
9. Williamston Museum
10. Post Office

07/17/2026

We are in the midst of the busiest—and probably the hottest—time of year in Michigan!