Gardening
Bring a Bit of Spring Indoors
The branches of 'Flowering Quince' add color and beauty to the indoors.
Photo courtesy of MelindaMyers.com
Many gardeners are busy pruning shrubs to remove winter damage, control the size, or provide a bit of shaping before the season is well under way. Save some of the branches or cut a few from spring flowering shrubs to brighten your indoors. You'll enjoy the added spring color provided by branches of forsythia, quince, pussy willows, and other spring flowering shrubs for bouquets and arrangements.
Use a pair of sharp bypass pruners with two sharp blades that cut like scissors. These make clean cuts allowing the wound to close quickly and reducing the risk of insects and diseases moving in. Start by removing crossing or winter damaged branches. This helps manage plant growth while harvesting some stems for your enjoyment. Look for stems at least 12" long with lots of flowers or buds to maximize flowering. Make cuts above a healthy outward bud, where a branch joins another branch or just above ground level.
Combine planned renewal pruning with a bit of indoor enjoyment. Remove a few of the older stems of forsythia, lilac, and other multi-stemmed spring flowering shrubs back to ground level. This encourages new growth at the base of the plant. Cut the larger branches down to a useable size for your indoor enjoyment.
Then finish any needed pruning after the plants put on their spring display so they can form new flower buds next spring. Avoid severe pruning that can result in excess growth. Removing no more than one fourth of the total growth will result in more even growth. Repeat as needed for the next year or two to reduce the size and improve the beauty of overgrown plants.
Harvest stems for forcing on a sunny day or when temperatures are above freezing for better results. Don't smash the stems as often recommended. Instead make one or more slits in a crosshatch or star pattern on the bottom of the stems before placing them in water immediately after cutting.
If possible, submerge the whole stems in a tub of water overnight. This encourages the stems and buds to absorb water and break dormancy. Set the stems in a bucket of cool water, about 60° to 65°F, in a bright but indirectly lit location after soaking overnight or immediately after pruning. Mist the stems as often as possible the first few days or place a plastic bag over the stems to boost humidity and prevent the buds from dropping. Change the water every two or three days making sure the cut ends of the stems are always in the water.
The buds should start swelling and flowers start to appear in several weeks. Cut the stems to the needed length and use them in flower arrangements. They look great mixed with spring flowering bulbs, greens and other spring flowers from your garden or florist. Or display them in a vase all on their own.
Continue cutting and forcing a variety of branches over time for continuous indoor bloom. Prolong their beauty by moving the flowering stems and flower arrangements to a cooler location at night.
Make notes on what worked well in spring arrangements to help you plan for next year. Whether you force them into bloom or harvest when in bloom, you will enjoy the added spring color indoors.
Melinda Myers has written more than 20 gardening books, including The Midwest Gardener's Handbook, 2nd Edition and Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses "How to Grow Anything" DVD series and the nationally-syndicated Melinda's Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned by Summit for her expertise to write this article. Her web site is www.MelindaMyers.com.
Antiques
Law Enforcement Memorabilia
Of the wide range of items that we sell, historical items are some of my favorites. Regular readers of this column might remember that we sold famed crime fighter Eliot Ness' credentials back in 2012. Those credentials remain the highest selling item we've sold at auction, reaching $46,000. Now, we will be auctioning a scrapbook full of law enforcement ephemera next month.
Merriam Webster defines ephemera as "paper items (such as posters, broadsides, and tickets) that were originally meant to be discarded after use but have since become collectibles." The scrapbook we'll be selling contains advertisements for cots, locks and other items that jails would use. It also includes wanted posters for both local criminals and for those who perpetrated larger crimes across the country.
The New Yorker writes that police history dates back to the 13th century "when maintaining the king's peace became the duty of an officer of the court called a constable, aided by his watchmen." The United States first implemented watchmen in Boston in 1631. However, the practice did not go well because rich men would pay poor men to take their shifts. The New Yorker goes on to say that "most watchmen were either very elderly or very poor, and very exhausted from working all day." Boston is also credited with beginning modern policing as the Massachusetts legislature first hired police officers for the city in 1838.
With such a long history of policing, there are many pieces of interest for law enforcement collectors in addition to ephemera. Patches and badges from different departments are two of the most popular items. Many law enforcement collectibles are "cross-collectibles," meaning they appeal to two or more different types of collectors. For example, a vintage toy police motorcycle will also be of interest to toy collectors. Police memorabilia collectors and license plate collectors will be interested in a police license plate. A gun that was used by an infamous criminal will appeal to collectors of historical items, law enforcement collectors and firearms collectors.
Whether you're new to police memorabilia or have been collecting for years, there are many different types of items available. A beginning collector can find badges for $10, and patches for even less. On the other end of the price spectrum, an early 1880s New York City police badge sold for $5,500 in June 2020. A heavily engraved Colt Model 1862 Police revolver with Tiffany grips sold for $32,500 in 2012. A 1949 Harley-Davidson Police Servi-Car 3 wheeled motorcycle sold for $45,000 in 2011.
The highlight of the collection we'll be offering next month is a 1904 wanted poster of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Cassidy organized the Wild Bunch gang that was responsible for train and bank robberies and rustling livestock. Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were portrayed in a 1969 movie by Pail Newman and Robert Redford. The poster advertises a $1,000 reward for each robber and 25 cents for each dollar of money recovered. A similar poster sold for $3,000 at a 2013 auction. We'll see how high it goes before the winning bidder captures it.
Along with the law enforcement memorabilia, there are many coins, gold estate jewelry, sports cards, autographs and a wide variety of other antiques and collectibles available in our upcoming auction. Online bidding will begin the first week of April. More auctions and other events are also being planned. Please see our website www.centralmassauctions.com to join our email list or follow us on Facebook to keep up to date on auctions and other events.
Contact us at: Wayne Tuiskula Auctioneer/Appraiser Central Mass Auctions for Antique Auctions, Estate Sales and Appraisal Services www.centralmassauctions.com (508-612- 6111) info@centralmassauctions.com