On a lovely Tuesday evening, Colleen welcomed garden club members to our first meeting in our usual location. Northmont will continue to be available to us for our meetings, unless things change again. They have also agreed that the monies we paid last year will cover this year and the first 2 months of next year.
Colleen begins the meeting 
Dorothy M and RoseMary chat before the meeting
Board members have all agreed to continue their terms for an additional 2 years, many thanks to them. Committee Chairs have all also agreed to continue their terms for an additional 2 years, with the exception of our Hostess chair, we are looking for someone to fill this position, but are unsure of exactly what it will look like.
A member is needed to step up and assume responsibility for programming. You can partner up with one or more members to make it a little easier. Please contact Colleen to get more information if you are interested. Holding office or chairing a committee is a great way to get involved. In the interim, let Colleen know if you know of any presenters or potential tours for future meetings.
Our May meeting will actually be our annual picnic to be held at Lynn Bett’s home on June 1. Think about which of your favorite dishes or desserts you would like to bring. Details will be forthcoming as we get closer to June 1.
On June 22, we will be touring the Wilpen Rose and Perennial Garden in Sewickley Heights.
On July 27, we will be touring the Millvale Community Garden.
Suggestions are being sought for August, September and October meetings.
As a reminder, there will be no membership dues for 2021, as we only had 2 meetings prior to the pandemic and have gotten a late start this year.
Passavant sign-up sheet to weed/deadhead the white garden in front of the chapel is at the sign in table. If you did not attend the meeting, please contact Evan Fingal to signup for a week.
Overview of plant sale was presented by Mary Anne.
It will be held rain or shine of Saturday May 15. Pray for rain the prior day, and sun for the day of.
Thanks to Claudia who has already taken care of the publicity for the plant sale. She will also bring tables and tent covers on the day of the sale.
Linda will bring name tags, Denny will act as cashier for the entirety of the sale, and Dianne will provide the seed money.
Mary Anne will take care of placing the signs.
Your plants should be potted by now, so they will look nice and healthy on the day of the plant sale. Use 4 – 6” pots and the value of the plant must be at least $2. Even if you cannot come to the actual plant sale, please pot up some plants and arrange for them to be dropped off with a fellow member. This is our only fundraiser of the year, and we did not have it last year.
Plants should be dropped off in the church parking lot between 7:30 and 7:45 on the day of the plant sale. For those working or available to assist our customers with plant selection, “apple green” t-shirts are our uniform.
Sign-up sheet is at the sign in table. If you were unable to attend the meeting, contact Mary Anne to sign up as a pricer, stager or cashier, for either the first or 2nd half of the morning.
Currently, there are lots of flowers blooming in member yards, Daffodils, Tulips, Hyacinths, Forget-me-Nots, Violets, Primroses, Viburnum, Salvia and Irises.
Dianne provided a treasurer’s report. We started out with $3,639.56. After speaker fees, room rental and supplies totaling $237.51, our ending balance in the checking account is $3,402.05. Adding petty cash in of $48.87, our total cash available to the club is $3,450.92.
Jane MacCredie brought Daffodil bulbs for club members to take home and plant in their yards.
“Pressed Flower Art” by Andrea Maire
This was an activity for club members to create a bookmark, card or framed photo using pressed flowers, wax paper, tissue paper and a water/glue mix. Club members are invited to snap a photo of their creation and send to Rosemary who will post it to our blog. Complete instructions follow the pictures.
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| Andrea gives instructions above and below |
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| Andrea brought dried flowers and leaves for us to use |
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| Members select dried flowers for their cards and bookmarks |
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| Jane works on her card |
Pressed Flower Cards
You will need:
A piece of cardboard
3 paper clips
card stock
waxpaper
Kleenex
Elmer’s glue
Water
Soft brush
Dried flowers and leaves
An iron
Double sided tape
1. Place the piece of cardboard on the table.
2. Open the card and place on top.
3. Position a piece of waxpaper, slightly larger than the card on top of it
4. Fasten steps 1 to 3 with the paper clips
5. Arrange your flower design on top of waxpaper. You can fasten some pieces with a dab of glue.
6. Carefully lay one layer of tissue paper over the picture
7. Mix ½ glue and ½ water in a bowl.
8. Beginning at the center of the design, gently brush the liquid onto the tissue. Use your free hand or a paper weight to hold things in place. Continue brushing up and down.
9. Remove the paper clips and the card and cover the remaining corners.
10. Let dry over night.
11. Remove flower design from cardboard with a knife.
12. With a warm iron press card, (I press both sides).
13. Attach design to card with double sided tape.
14. Trim the paper to fit the card.
Picking and Pressing Flowers
Picking
Pick your material for pressing on a dry day; even on a fine summer morning wait for the dew to dry. Damp flowers and leaves put straight into the press will grow mold. Observe how the plant growx, how the stem stands up from the ground and how the leaves grow in relation to it. Above all, notice the angle at which the flower hangs on the stalk. When you cut for pressing, take one flower on its stem, a single leaf from one plant, and another flowering stem and perhaps a bud from a second plant.
Never pick old material.
Never pick damp material.
Never pick damaged material.
Always get your fresh material into a press as soon as possible after picking.
Pressing
Telephone directory: Preserving flowers by pressing them is an age-old process that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike, and can be as complicated or straightforward as you wish. One of the simplest ways to press flowers is to place them between pages of a telephone directory and then put more weights on top.
Flower press: A slightly more sophisticated method involves using a standard flower press. Most books suggest to use blotting paper. I did not have good luck with it. I use eight to ten sheets of newspaper, a layer of tissue paper, on which I put the flowers, a sheet of waxpaper, followed again by newspaper. That way you can just slide the whole arrangement out. Dorothy Schuette puts her flowers between two sheets of waxpaper and they dry well. It takes between 10 to 20 days for flowers to dry.
You can make a homemade flower press out of two 12 x 15 inch pieces of plywood and two 12 inch long bungee cords.
Microwave: Pressing flowers in a microwave oven will give better color retention. Take two pieces of 10 x 8 in hardboard and two pieces of blotting paper that are slightly smaller in size. Lay out a piece of hardboard, place a sheet of blotting paper on top, and arrange the flowers. Cover them with the other sheet of blotting paper and then the second sheet of hardboard. Using five very strong elastic bands, hold the two pieces of board together by stretching three elastic bands along the 10 in length and two along the 8 in length. This should hold the “sandwich” together very tightly. Place the package in the microwave on the lowest setting available to you (defrost or lower) and cook for approximately five minutes. The timing needed will vary according to the thickness of the material. Leave the bundle to cool when it comes out of the oven and then check to see whether it is completely dry. If not, wrap again and cook for two to three minutes longer.
Plants that dry well: Violas and pansies, buttercup, snow drops and tiny daffodils (cut in half), basket of gold, lily of the valley, bee balm (individual petals), candytuft, clematis, coral bells, coreopsis, cosmos, delphinium, ferns, forget-me-not, fruit blossoms, goldenrod, grasses, honesty, larkspur, leaves, lobelia, phlox, Queen Anne’s lace, verbena, little yellow clover blossoms (in lawn), thyme, lavender, individual chive blossoms, glory of the snow, columbine, lobelia, sea thrift, fritallaria, pea shoots, tendrils from peas & squash, epimedium and whatever else you think might press well.
