February 14 – In this miserable dreary mostly sunless weather, I have been pouring over my seed catalogs and planning what I will plant in the garden and around outside the house in the Spring. It is one of my rituals for dealing with the persistent February blahs. One of the low-cost resources I have come to depend on for plants, shrubs and trees is the Annual Sale sponsored by the Sullivan County Water and Soil Conservation District. This publicly sponsored environmental program has been operating for 75 years providing the community with not only trees, shrubs, and flowers but technical information and programs about the conservation, use and the responsible development of soil and water resources.

I have ordered from the Conservation’s Tree and Shrub Program for several years and even though the plant stock does not have slick packaging and the staff hands you what looks like a bunch of twigs, the roots are strong, and the trees, shrubs, plants and ground covers I have purchased have done well. The aim of the selection is to help protect our habitat and where else can you buy ten lilac or sugar maple saplings for $19.00? The order list is quite extensive and features five varieties of bare root evergreens-a pack of ten for $20.00, ten different varieties of trees and shrubs including the very popular cranberry, elderberry, butterfly bushes and dogwood trees, river birch, eastern red bud,-a single variety bundle of ten for $19.00. The Program also sells a mixed variety of stock call Conservation Packets which have been designed for pond habitats, birds and butterflies, nut trees, ornamental flowers, shade trees, evergreens, Hosta and edible fruit trees and shrubs. Each packet contains two saplings for five different trees, shrubs and plants included in that especially designed packet, so you will get ten saplings for $20 to $29.00 depending on which variety you choose.

The Sullivan County Soil and Water District also sells other conservation items at very reasonable prices such as books, six different bird nesting boxes, bat, owl and butterfly boxes, tree protectors, fertilizer tablets, Plantskydd Deer Repellant, and barley straw for preventing algae growth in ponds. All these inexpensive conservation resources are a fantastic and inexpensive way to spruce up your house and teach children about protecting our environment.  The seedling program provides homeowners with an economical material to establish attractive windbreaks, reforest land, prevent soil erosion and create suitable wildlife habitats. The deadline for insuring there is stock available for your order to be completed is March 15th and after they will accept orders until April 15th depending on what is still available. All orders can be picked up at the distribution site at 64 Ferndale Loomis Road in Liberty and pick up your order. The pickup dates are Friday April 21st from 8:30-4:00p.m. and Saturday April 22nd from 8:30-11:00a.m. The Conservation District also provides several on-site services such as Pond Site Investigations ($100. per visit) Landowner drainage and erosion problems assessment ($35.00 per hour) and Environmental Permit Assistance ($20. per application) 

For more information about these on-site services and download the tree, flower, and shrub Annual Sale order form and the brochure, go to www.sullivanswcd.org or call 845-292-6552.