This is a story about young Rochesterians learning critical work skills via a horticultural enterprise called Green Visions. It’s also about Morgan Barry, who coordinates Green Visions, which is a program of Greentopia, which is a project of Friends of the GardenAerial. Morgan Barry is a native Rochesterian raised on Maplewood Avenue. He attended city …

Going through the editorial content of this issue, I realized with some dismay that it skews rather heavily toward the Rochester area. This is coincidence, not intentional. We serve the areas surrounding Buffalo, Syracuse, Ithaca, and Rochester, and want stories from all across the region. We welcome your suggestions—email me at

ja**@ja**********.com











or Debbie at …

  This issue’s specimen is a toughie. It is a non-native and rare in cultivation here in the States, despite being reliably hardy. A small tree, it only reaches about 20 feet and is generally multi-stemmed. The flowers are fragrant and all above-ground parts are edible.   The first reader to guess correctly will win …

Garden Maintenance: Continue to remove weeds to prevent the perennials from having a head start in the spring and the annuals from shedding seeds into the soil. If you don’t have time to weed at least cut off and discard the seed heads. Watering trees and shrubs is as important as watering your perennials, especially …

By Cathy Monrad These votives bring fall colors and textures indoors and the project is an easy one that kids will love to help create. Materials Assortment of colorful leaves with stems removed Waxed paper Collage and decoupage medium like Mod PodgeÔ Small bunch of dry twigs (the straighter the better) Hot glue sticks Ribbon …