HUMMINGBIRDS ARE COMING BACK!
With the warmer weather, hummingbirds are beginning to show up here in Northern New Mexico. AND… while there are still some chilly nights here and there, getting your feeders up now will help these little birds until there is more natural nectar available. While in Santa Fe, they mate, build nests, hatch their young, and eat, eat, and eat as much flower nectar and tiny insects as they can until they have put on enough weight to endure the long, cold, dangerous fall and winter flight south.
TJs TIP: Don’t forget to clean the feeders regularly (at least once a week) to prevent the nectar from going bad. Payne’s has an excellent selection of hummingbird feeders and food supplies.
See this week’s DID YOU KNOW button on our website some fun facts! Help these amazing birds out by providing them nectar. Stop by either location today and start enjoying the beauty of hummingbirds.
Click Here to learn more about how to attract and care for hummingbirds.
GARDENING COULD BE THE HOBBY THAT HELPS YOU LIVE TO 100!
The Power of Plants: Enriching Lives, Creating Jobs, Building Wealth, Saving Money
Dan Buettner has studied five places around the world where residents are famed for their longevity: Okinawa in Japan, Nicoya in Costa Rica, Icaria in Greece, and Loma Linda in California and Sardinia in Italy.
People living in these so-called “blue zones” have certain factors in common – social support networks, daily exercise habits and a plant-based diet, for starters. But they share another unexpected commonality. In each community, people are gardening well into old age – their 80s, 90s and beyond.
Could nurturing your green thumb help you live to 100?
Mood elevator
It is well-known that an outdoor lifestyle with moderate physical activity is linked to longer life, and gardening is an easy way to accomplish both. “If you garden, you’re getting some low-intensity physical activity most days, and you tend to work routinely,” says Buettner. He says there is evidence that gardeners live longer and are less stressed. A variety of studies confirm this, pointing to both the physical and mental health benefits of gardening.
Okinawa in Japan has one of the world’s highest concentration of centenarians (Credit: Getty Images)
In a recent Dutch study, researchers asked participants to complete a stressful task, then split them into two groups. One group read indoors and the other gardened outdoors for 30 minutes. The group that read reported that their mood “further deteriorated”, while the gardeners not only had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol afterwards, they also felt “fully restored” to a good mood.
Australian researchers following men and women in their 60s found
that those who regularly gardened had a 36% lower risk of
dementia than their non-gardening counterparts.
And preliminary studies among elderly people suffering from cognitive issues (such as dementia and Alzheimer’s) report benefits from garden settings and horticulture therapy. Sunlight and fresh air, for example, help agitated elders feel calmer, while the colors and textures of various plants and vegetables can improve visual and tactile ability.
CLICK HERE to read entire article.
Article and image courtesy: BBC.com
VALERIE’S VIEW from the Greenhouse!
MY MOM ALWAYS TOLD ME…
…that if there was something I wanted to buy today and had the money, that I should not hesitate to get it because it would be gone tomorrow. If you walked into the greenhouses the week before Mother’s Day, you would probably say ‘Oh there is lots, I will come back later.” Well, much has left us and we are now in transition, replanting and growing on new material.
We do still have plenty of color and young tomato and pepper plants to get you started. We are just starting to seed our cucumbers, melons and squash. We are working as fast as we can to refill the tables and have more available in the coming weeks. All will be good.
HAPPY GARDENING!
LAST WEEK, THE GARDEN GURU PROVIDED A BRIEF HISTORY OF MOTHER’S DAY!
The Garden Guru last week chatted about the history of Mother’s Day. Lynn mentioned that Mother’s Day has been celebrated for thousands of years, probably the oldest celebration was by the Hindus – they started celebrating Mother’s day, but it wasn’t a celebration of your Mom, or my Mom, it was more a celebration of “motherhood” in general.
As for the United States, Mother’s Day is a relatively new holiday. actually it was President Woodrow Wilson who signed a proclamation making Mother’s Day a national holiday to celebrate. Thank goodness for President Wilson… this way we have a very special day to offer our moms beautiful flowering plants and gifts.
Payne’s has a plethora of colorful flowering plants such as rose bushes, geraniums, petunias, marigolds and much more! But there is a trick to keeping these plants healthy! Listen to Lynn’s tip on how to keep these flowering plants blooming all summer long!
Tune in every Friday on KHFM Radio (95.5 FM) between 4 and 5 pm you’ll hear Lynn Payne’s tip of the week. The “Garden Guru” himself provides information on different topics including gardening tips, fun facts about plants, how to plant and prepare your garden for each season and special announcements.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK! AZALEA FROM PAYNE’S
PHOTO OF THE WEEK – AZALEA FROM PAYNE’S~
If you have a photo taken in one of our greenhouses or of your own garden or
landscape that contains products from Payne’s, please send it to info@paynes.com!
If your photo is chosen, and used in our e-newsletter website or other marketing
materials, then you will receive a Gift Certificate from Payne’s for $25!
Please make sure to give us your contact information in your email.