Meet the Board of Directors: Diana K. Weiner

DIANA K. WEINER is a horticulture consultant and lectures to groups around the country. She recently joined the staff of the Friends of High School Park as the Restoration and Volunteer Manger for this 11-acre native plant sanctuary in Elkins Park, PA. She also coordinates the volunteer program for and lives at Meadowbrook Farm, the historic estate of philanthropist J. Liddon Pennock, in Abington Township, PA. It is an affiliate of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.

Before coming to Pennsylvania and Meadowbrook Farm in 2006 she was the Superintendent of Parks and Grounds for the Historic Hotel of America, Mohonk Mountain House, whose 2200 acres include trails and carriage roads, 15-plus acres of show gardens, 300 acres of grounds, greenhouses, a garden gift shop, flower shop and a 9-hole Scottish-design golf course.

For 16 years she served as the Community Horticulture Educator and Master Gardener Coordinator through Cornell University for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Orange County, NY.

Diana is a Certified Nursery Professional, judges for the national beautification program America in Bloom, the Dutchess County Fair, Sullivan Renaissance, and other national contests. She is a member of the Garden Writers Association of America, The International Plant Propagators Society, the Perennial Plant Association and the American Horticultural Society. She currently sits on the board of Briar Bush Nature Center and the Meadowbrook Bird Sanctuary. She enjoys writing, cooking, antiques and shade gardening. She has a degree in Agronomy from the State University of New York at Cobleskill.

Friends celebrate Doris Dale Volunteer of the Year

The annual Volunteer of the Year award, given to an outstanding Briar Bush Nature Center volunteer, was given a new name in time for the 2009 presentation. The Doris Dale Volunteer of the Year award was so named for one of the original Friends of Briar Bush board members and long-time BBNC volunteer. Among other valuable contributions, Doris Dale spent many years keeping Friends memberships up-to-date, sending each member handwritten notes.

The 2009 Doris Dale Volunteer of the Year award was presented at the annual Volunteer and Donor Recognition Party on Dec. 8. Recipients were Jay Viola, an adult volunteer who works with Montgomery County youth, and Ani Schug, a youth volunteer who has spent the past two summers doing grounds work and assisting with summer camps as a Camp Aide.

The Briar Bush staff was very excited to choose these two well-deserving volunteers who have put in countless hours.


For the first time, the 2009 Doris Dale Volunteer of the Year award was given to two recipients: an adult and a youth volunteer. Executive Director Dede Long (left) presents the newly renamed award to Jay Viola (center) and Ani Schug (right).

Staff and Volunteer Grounds Days

Briar Bush has had a great run of the monthly staff and volunteer grounds days. Beginning in October, the education staff worked outdoors with volunteers and Friends of Briar Bush board members to accomplish several goals. These included moving an enormous pile of wood chips, getting lots of native plants in-ground before the cold weather arrived, completing more sections of the Nature Playscape and much more. The final one of these grounds days for the year will be on December 3rd from 1-4 p.m. Anyone is welcome to join for as much time as they can committ. Please dress for the weather since we'll be working outdoors.

Thanks so much to all those who have helped! We'd also like to thank the Huntingdon Valley Garden Club, which donated $500 in native plants and even put them in the ground for us!

Thank you for feathering out nest!

Thank you to all of those who supported the Friends of Briar Bush with the 19th annual Feather Our Nest silent auction and gala. The event was successful in raising funds to support the programs and projects at Briar Bush and in the community.

A new feature during this year’s auction was “Fund the Need.” Guests were asked to make pledges toward specific projects: the butterfly house and the nature playscape. There will be continual costs of plants and butterflies for the house, and a few large items remaining to complete the playscape.

Despite questions regarding the state of the economy, many donations were received for the auction, ranging from small price items to beautiful jewelry and even an entire Thanksgiving dinner from Whole Foods for the live auction.

The staff and board members are incredibly thankful to all those who donated, supported or were involved in the success of the auction in any way. Without members, volunteers and supporters, we could not accomplish all that we do!

Great Escape: Cranberries!

On Wednesday, educator Anne-Marie led a curious group of Great Escapers to Double Trouble State Park in Bayville, NJ. The park is home to Double Trouble Historic Village, once a small cranberry growing and packing village. The group was met by Andrew, a historian for the park. With his guidance, the group was given a glimpse of past lives from the intense labor of working the bogs, to the sorting and packing process, as well as life in general in the village. Several of the buildings have been preserved, including living quarters, a school house, the saw mill (cedar was also harvested here) and the packing plant. Inside the packing plant are all the tools and machinery that were used when the village was active. There are still bogs on site which produce cranberries that are used for sauce or dried cranberry products.

After the village tour and the education of how cranberry bogs were worked in the past was a trip a few miles away to active, modern cranberry bogs. The harvest at Double Trouble Historic Village was finished on Tuesday, but the harvest was at its peak in the modern bogs. All stages of the harvest were seen - a bog that had berries but wasn't harvested yet, a bog that was just being flood, a bog that was partially flooding with the machines working to knock the berries off the vines, and a bog that was fully flood with berries knocked off the vines, rounded up and being pumped into a processing truck.

A common question of cranberry harvest is "Do cranberries really grow under water?" Cranberries grow on vines and produce delicate flowers that turn into the berries. All fo the vines are planted to grow in the same director for easier harvesting. Once the berries are ready, the bog, a large square depression in the ground, must be flooded. It is first flood with 1-2 feet of water so that the "knockers" or "beater" machines can begin knocking the berries off the vines. These are tractors with rotating metal loops on the front of the tractor. After the knockers have gone through the bog, it is fully flooded and the berries are gathered. Cranberry harvests can happen in a matter of days, so there was very fortunate timing with this trip!

Successful September Workday!

Check out the progress the BBNC staff, board of directors and volunteers made on the playscape and other areas during our September Grounds Day!

RaptorFest 2009

It's October! It's RAPTOR MONTH!

Join us this Sunday, October 4 from 1-4 p.m. to celebrate raptor month at our annual RaptorFest event. It's FREE, it's fun and it's for the whole family. Enjoy raptor-themed crafts, learn all about raptors and birds of prey, discover what owls eat and everyone's favorite - the live raptor program

This year's presentation features Victor Collazo of Skyking Raptor Rescue, a Maple Glen, PA organization. Victor will be at BBNC from 2-3 p.m. with several of his feathered friends. This program is generously sponsored by The Avian Promise.

Photo by Anne-Marie D'Onofrio - 2008 RaptorFest presenter, Falconer Mike DuPuy