March Meeting Notes 2022

Our March meeting was reminiscent of a pre-Covid meeting. Northmont Church has revised their guidelines and we are no longer required to wear masks in the church.  We enjoyed delicious desserts made by Dianne Machesney and Linda Brown decorated the table with a lovely arrangement that included a ceramic rabbit.  Thank you to Dianne and Linda! We also had a guest attend the meeting who is the daughter of Linda Keiser.

Since spring has sprung we had many plants blooming in our gardens — crocus, daffodils, forsythia, snowdrops and weeds!  We’re all looking forward to seeing our perennials peek out of the soil in the upcoming weeks.

 

The 2022 Program handbook was distributed.  Colleen thanked Marlow for doing a great job in such a short amount of time.  We still have a couple months that need to be filled with programs.  We’d like to plan a garden tour in August. It was suggested that we make a return visit to Chatham Eden Hall.  Colleen will explore making those arrangements. We also need to schedule programs for September and October. Please let Colleen know if you have any suggestions. 

 

We’re still looking for a program coordinator for next year.  If you are interested then, please let Colleen know.  If you are only interested in planning a program or two then, that will be okay.  If you are unsure about how to plan a program then, Colleen will help you if you want until you feel confident to do it alone.  

 

Our treasurer, Dianne prepared the budget for 2022 budget.  After reviewing the budget, members took a vote and approved the budget $2,550 income, $2,430 expenses.  Colleen said that we will wait until after the plant sale to send our donations to our designated organizations.

 

New officers will be needed for 2023.  According to the club’s bylaws, an officer can only hold an officer position for 2 consecutive terms which is 4 years.  We will need to fill the officer positions of president, vice-president and secretary.  Denny would like to assume the position of treasurer.  Please let Colleen know if you are interested in one of these positions.  Feel free to reach out to the current officers and ask them about their duties if you are interested.  New officers are supposed to be named at the June annual picnic. 

 

We discussed the idea of having a garden item flea market as part of our annual plant sale.  After discussing the idea, it was determined that we will not sell items for a profit. We will have a table set up so that members can bring garden/plant items that they want to donate to other gardeners. Please bring your donations to the plant sale.  Linda Brown said that she could take any leftover items to the Repurposed store. 

 

Our annual plant sale will be Saturday, May 14th. Please mark your calendars. Mary Anne, plant sale coordinator reviewed the process for the event.  Please start to pot up your plants when the weather cooperates and be prepared to bring 10-20 plants to the sale.  Of course, the more plants we have then the more we can sell.  Find your green t-shirt.  We could use more mini blinds to be used as plant tags.  Please contact Mary Anne or bring them to the next meeting. The sign-up sheet for volunteers was circulated to be cashiers and stagers at the plant sale.  Please bring bags. Evan said he has plenty of cardboard trays. Mary Anne will bring plant tags to the next meeting.

 

No other committee member had anything to talk about so the meeting was adjourned to have our desserts followed by the program.

 

    “Houseplants” by Ryan Wolfe, houseplant manager at Soergel's Garden Center  

Randy Soergel made a guest appearance and helped Ryan set up his plants for his talk.  Ryan talked about how to bring a plant home from the store. Don’t submit the plant to extreme heat or cold in your car.  When you get the plant home, don’t put it in a larger pot.  Just let the plant be and get used to it’s new environment. 

 

Many plants die from overwatering.  Make sure that the pot has good drainage and use a potting soil. Ryan demonstrated how to cut back a Pothos that was getting too long by making a cut above the plant node.  Keep the cuttings to propagate new plants.  Leaves of begonias can be propagated by laying the leaf on top of the soil.  There is no need to push the leaf into the soil. 

 

Ryan showed a variety of plants and talked about how to care for them.  He had air plants, carnivorous plants such as venus fly trap and pitcher plants, Monstera or swiss cheese plant, Pothos, Schefflera, Ponytail palm and begonias.

 

At the end of the program we received a succulent or fairy garden plant.  What a generous takeaway!

Air plant

Ryan's own Schefflera

Use the right potting soils and other products.

Diana with a plant we all liked.

Carnivorous pitcher plant.

Denny, Mary Ann, and Linda are happy with their new plants.

Randy Soergel helping with the houseplant display.