*pronounced Es-SPAHL-Yay
I’ve often wondered about espaliered trees, and they even figured in a short piece of fiction I once wrote. Espalier is the art of training dwarf trees to grow in a flat plane along a wall, fence, or trellis. They create an atmosphere of mystery, wonder, and an evocation of some kind of Garden of Eden. I’ve stopped to admire them at botanical gardens and occasionally at Ballek’s nursery in East Haddam. Because we see them in famous gardens, we tend to think of them as expensive or unattainable, as something no longer possible. As you will learn, you can easily grow an espaliered fruit tree for under $20 (under $30 if you choose a tree with four different types of apple or pear bearing branches) but you’ll need some simple hardware that might cost another $15. Or, you could just use bamboo, the way growers do. You will likely have fruit much sooner. I never bought an espaliered fruit tree from a nursery, but I did buy a very tiny birch that Nancy Ballek had pruned on dwarf rootstock that was highly contorted. Sixteen years later it is still 30” tall and about 40” wide. That demonstrates the power of dwarf rootstock. And that is the secret of espalier. Continue reading
Portland’s Air Line Trail Steering Committee has worked with private property owners to define a route that would extend the trail going west from YMCA Camp Ingersoll to Route 17. The committee is in the process of requesting formal easements from these property owners. This phase 2 segment will then require state or federal funding for final design work and construction. The proposed route (shown here) makes various turns that deviate from the original Air Line Trail right-of-way, due to sand and gravel excavations underway by Butler Construction. Completion of this segment will greatly advance the ultimate goal of connecting the Air Line Trail with Portland’s town center and the Arrigoni Bridge.
The Jonah Center wishes to thank the 97 individuals and organizations who contributed to our successful Replace Our Trees Campaign in Middletown and Portland. Click on the following link to view the 
Due to the pandemic and related economic distress, the State of Connecticut’s Energy Efficiency Board has dramatically increased the financial incentives for home insulation projects when completed by Home Energy Solutions contractors. Even without any incentives, insulation offers the greatest return on investment of any energy conservation measure a homeowner can make.
The Middletown Garden Club has begun its eighth season of gardening on the rooftop of the Community Health Center. For the past seven years, our partner has been MARC, but Covid-19 has put that relationship on hold indefinitely. With approximately 500 square feet of irrigated raised beds, the rooftop garden has been highly productive. The carefully engineered soil and water-recapture system work to make the beds ideal for vegetable and root crops. Each year, we “open up” the gardens by removing any weeds that may have germinated over the winter, and begin to plan a new lay-out for the crops. We rotate plant locations to avoid any possibility of disease build-up in beds, especially where tomatoes are grown. 
After a $9,253 match from the Sustainable CT Community Match Fund, the Jonah Center Tree Fund now has $20,000 available for planting along streets and sidewalks in Middletown and Portland. The project was initiated and received strong community support in recognition of the large number of trees that have died in recent years due to old age, drought, pests such as gypsy moths and emerald ash borers, and the replacement of sidewalks. Climate change has had a significant impact on the specific tree species that are suitable to our new southern New England environment. 
Support your local farms!
While the project to repair and replace the approach ramps and sidewalks of the Arrigoni Bridge is underway, controversy about the work continues to swirl. Apparently, CT DOT’s original plan was approved by the previous Middletown administration with no public hearing or citizen comment. The stated goal of the project, according to CT DOT, was to improve the efficiency of Main Street between Washington and Hartford Ave. and the entrances to Route 9 and the Arrigoni Bridge. DOT’s interest in reducing congestion in this area is probably related to future plans to remove traffic signals from Route 9, which will involve some changed traffic patterns in the downtown area, especially near the bridge. Here are some of the issues and concerns surrounding the project. 
The aquatic plant known as the water chestnut (trapa natans, not the kind you eat in Chinese food) showed its invasive potential in recent summers at many points along the Connecticut River and its tributaries. In our own Floating Meadows, the freshwater, tidal marshland formed where the lower Coginchaug and Mattabesset Rivers converge, the presence of these plants was first recorded in 2009. The Jonah Center has been monitoring the area closely since 2013, pulling out a few plants each year.
The Governor acknowledges that we need to increase the use of public transit and that public transit needs to work better. But how are people supposed to get to a train or bus station? One way is by bicycle!