On a lovely Tuesday evening, Colleen welcomed garden club members, and guests: Nancy, Jenny and Stephanie, all coming to us from the plant sale. Cindy Stewart is the newest member of our club. Blooming in member gardens: Irises, poppies, corydalis, amsonia, alliums, columbine
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.
Officers have served 4 terms, so new officers need to be selected in June, for the next 2-year term, 2023-2024. Denny has indicated he would be Treasurer, but President, Vice President and Recording Secretary are needed. If interested, please let Colleen know. If you have any questions of the duties for these positions, please reach out to the current holder of the position.
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 sign up for a week.
If you are having problems opening up the attachment for the Quality Gardens discount from the e-mail sent by Colleen, please reach out to her.
Our meeting next month will be our annual picnic at the Madeoys. In addition to touring their garden, members will also be given a tour of Peggy, Helen & Terry’s gardens. Reminder to bring a dish to share and a chair. Marlow had asked that if parking on the road to please park on the left side of the street, and also, please car pool if possible. An e-mail will be sent out to remind members of the picnic, and to also ask for an RSVP, so they can get an accurate headcount.
Overview of plant sale was presented by Mary Anne. We had great weather, it was a beautiful day and everything was done by 11:15. A huge thank you to Mary Anne for coordinating everything, and a thanks to all members who participated by either bringing plants, aided in pricing, spoke with customers, were stagers or cashiers. Only 8 plants were left at the end for donation. We started with 637 plants, and 500+ were sold in the first hour. If you have any ideas for improvement, please reach out to Mary Anne. One suggestion is that the address be put on the reminders, also “cash only”.
Dianne provided a treasurer’s report. We started out with $4,100.97. Membership Dues + Plant Sale Gross Profit deposits of $2,205 brought the checking balance to $6,305.87. After plant sale sign fees of $180, our ending checking balance is $6,125.87. Adding petty cash of $63.066, our total cash available to the club is $6.188.93. Please bring ideas with you to the picnic on ways that the monies could be used to benefit the club.
Thank you to Rosemary for the beautiful arrangement and to Martin for the delicious cookies that he baked.
A very informative presentation on "What’s Wrong With My Plants” was given to us by Siloo Kapadia. Siloo has been a master gardener since 2012 and is also a member of the Herb Society
The main causes of plant problems are living (insects, diseases, weeds, invasives and wildlife) and non-living (weather, soils, chemicals, mechanical injuries, cultural practices and, in some cases, a genetic predisposition within the plant itself)
There are 4 main things which make a garden successful: Temperature (hardiness zone), Light, Water and Soil. The adage of “right plant for the right place” is very true. Before you buy plants, you should first assess the location for temperature, light, water and soil to make sure you are planting the correct plant in the correct location. What tends to happen is people buy the plant and then try to figure out where they are going to put it.
Integrated Pest Management is the prevention, monitoring, and using cultural techniques to control pests and diseases. Chemicals are to be used only as a last resort.
Healthy plants resist pests and diseases. Monitoring of plants to detect early problems makes it easier to control or reduce the damage. Using cultural tactics to make the plant unfavorable helps to control the pests and diseases. Some examples are manual destruction of pests, traps, handpicking, screens, fences, watering from the bottom, having the proper soil pH for what you are growing, using beneficial insects, and natural spores such as Bt.
Each plant has its own set of pests and diseases. Siloo had many examples of specific plants with a specific insect pest or disease. The other important thing to know is the life cycle of the pests to be able to effectively deal with them. For example, the bag worm: chemicals only work on them in the beginning stages of their life. Afterwards, they are completely ineffective and would be a waste of money. The best thing to do would be to cut them off and discard them when they are more fully developed.
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