FLASH FROM ROSIE!!!! GREAT EVENT COMING UP

Hi everyone--Rosie just sent me this on facebook. She has the registration form--Who wants to go????
Kosciusko County Master Gardener Symposium - Saturday, March 5, 2011 - 9 a.m. EST at Lakeview Middle School - 848 East Smith Street, Warsaw. The featured speaker is Paul James of "Gardening by the Yard". Tickets are $30 if purchased by February 23 - includes Continental Breakfast and Lunch.
HTTD

New link

Hey folks--I put a link in the "Handy links for dirty hands" to Debbie Brown's new blog about Bluebird House. If you need a beautiful place for guests or a party--think about Bluebird House. Hopefully Debbie will join our club soon and then she can keep us updated in person with all thats going on!

EVENTS A Plenty!

Hey everyone--thanks to our recent visit to the Porter County Master Gardener show, as well as a newsflash from Ben, I have a lot of upcoming stuff to tell you about. Check your calenders for empty days that you might have free to attend one or all of these fun things! And don't forget the State Convention for the GCI is coming up in April as well.
Here they are in no particular order:

APRIL 2 AT THYME OF GRACE RESTAURANT!!!! Ben and the Michiana Horticultural Alliance will be throwing a mini symposium. The guest speakers will be Ben, who will talk about--what else--GARDENING--Helloooooo--is there anyone surprised by this? The other guest will be someone from River Street Flowerland in Kalamazoo (my FAVE NURSERY) and they will do a hands on demo about container gardening. This place has some of the most beautiful containers you have ever seen--and their design people should have a lot to teach! If you aren't a member of the MHA yet--its free and super easy to join--just go to http://www.michianahort.org/ and sign up. Times and particulars aren't in the newsletter--I suspect they will be put out later.

MAY 7 will be the Garden Party--this annual event put on by the Four Winds Garden Club will begin at 8:30 on Saturday. You can purchase a ticket for the full day or half a day. The festivities end at 3:30. This lovely event takes place at St. John's United Church of Christ, 2701 E. Bristol St. , Elkhart. Tickets are 27.50 per person for the full day (includes continental breakfast and lunch) or 15.00 for a half day, which would frun from 8:30 to noon or from noon to 3:30--and include only one of the meals. There will be vendors, speakers and a make and take activity. For more information you can contact Judy Cook at inbert@msn.com . Reservations must be in by May 2.

Another event on SAT MAY 7 is the 11th annual native plant sale at Gibson Woods in Hammond IN. You can visit their website at gw-wildones.org. This runs from 9 to 2 and the flyer says for the best selection arrive early.
Another fun event is the Garden, Pond and Patio Expo in Crown Point at the Lake County Fairgrounds. This shindig costs 5.00 to get in, but its a very nice show. It runs from 9 to 5 in the Industrial Building.

From Rosie--The Northwest Indiana Hosta Society has their next meeting Sun. Feb. 13th at the Brookstone Estates Condod at 7507 Taft St. in Merrillville.They meet at 1:30 (their are an hour behind us) and their speaker will be Barb Ziolkowski, a master gardener and owner of a terrific place in New Carlisle. She will be talking about Daylilies in the Garden. Barb is a super person--if you haven't met her, now would be a great time!

Gardens on the Prairie in Lowell IN. is a place that must go on the radar screen of totally kewl places to go. They have events going on all season long--visit their website:
http://www.gardensontheprairie.com/ to learn more.
Thats all for now--HTTD!!!

Latest issue of Indiana Gardens

Hi folks--The latest issue of Indiana Gardens is out--let me know if you didn't get it and I will forward the document to you. There is a lot of information about the State Convention in it, so be sure to check it out.

FLASH FLASH FLASH!!!

Hey everyone--Rosie has given me a list of plants available from a wholesaler she buys from. If you want to purchase some really nice potted hosta in 4 inch pots she will add them into her order. To view pictures of the plants go to www.qandznursery.com and click on the availability list. Then click on the plant name to see a pic and description. To get the best discount these need to be placed by Feb. first. Delivery will be the first week of May. Rosie has an email list she can send you for the available plants--there are a few helleborus and daylilies on the list too. Rosies email is :
rosiesgarden@msn.com
You will need to add 1.00 per plant to cover shipping.
Check it out! lots of really nice buys there--thanks so much to Rosie for offering to do this!

Link to Unity Gardens Blog

Hey folks--Kathy came through with flying colors, and we now have Sara Stewart on board to come speak to us in April. I also asked Kathy to get a "wish list" from Sara for things they need for Unity Gardens. She will let me know the results of this and I will post it on the blog. That way when Sara comes to speak to us, we can bring donations of needed items to help Unity Gardens in their efforts.
Here is a link to the Unity Gardens blog--I will also put it in the "handy links for dirty hands" section. There is a series of classes being offered at the Greenhouse starting this Saturday about growing vegetables. So if you don't make it over to Valpo, this is another garden related thing to do. Sounds like this will be an ongoing series that will continue for awhile.
HTTD!
http://www.theunitygardens.blogspot.com/

FINALLY!

Hi everyone--wasn't it nice of Mother Nature to finally cooperate and let us have a meeting? It was so great to see everyone. We are a fun group and I love being around all of you. Rosie regaled us with tales of her upcoming dramatic triumph in Laportes epic production--''Robin Hood and the Neck Talking Merrymen". Bobbie told us a cautionary tale about keeping Depends in the car and going for a big Mac. Maybe they should just include a pair in each biggie meal. Shirleys house is undergoing some kitchen demolition (first kitchen or second kitchen? Is the second kitchen for fixing second breakfast?) with the capable help of Dwayne and Cindy. Buscia is footloose and fancy free for the moment, Sue braved icy roads and transported all her kids safely as she always does, Maggie was home with a bug--GET WELL SOON MAGGIE! and Patrick is getting ready to box and ship after his latest Ebay triumph. We welcomed a new member--Kathy Harrell--thanks so much to Bobbi for inviting her to join. Kathy is well versed in the mysteries of African violets and is a houseplant enthusiast--and she will be a wonderful addition to our group.
Okay--down to business--or at least what we could remember between us since we last met.
Shirley won the "heads up" award by contacting WNDU and WSBT and starting the process of having our club posted on the channel crawls when they show cancellations. Currently they show up on the WNDU website, but hopefully when the process is complete they will run on the crawls of both stations. Thanks to her for taking this initiative. Great idea!
Shirley also passed our balance sheet around so anyone wanting to examine it was welcome to. She and I also discussed filing membership information about Rosie, Hayden and Kathy with the state--we need to email back and forth and get this taken care of. Apologies to Rosie and Hayden for being so lackadaisical about this.
I passed around a letter I received from the Delaware Federation of Garden Clubs thanking me for my donation to the Healing Garden at Dover AFB. If anyone else wants to make a contribution, you can go to the website:
MemorialGarden-Dover.org
and get information about how to contribute. If you send monies just be sure you enclose something stating this is where you want the money to go. At the time I sent my contribution in they were not set up to receive money online, but this may have changed now.
We also talked about the District meeting that Mary Ann, Bobbi and I attended in Oct. That was so long ago I don't remember much of what happened (note to club--next time elect a president with a functioning memory) but a couple things stuck in my head:
Postage has become outrageous so the state and district are going to rely primarily on internet to disseminate information. This includes the quarterly publication "Indiana Gardens" that will be emailed to members as a PDF. Anyone that can't receive this just needs to let me know and I will get you a printed copy. Cindy needs a printed copy of the most recent one.
I was given two copies of the state bylaws. I have one copy and Shirley has one now.
Joan Stone, the District President asked that each club in the district designate a member to serve on a planning committee for the upcoming State meeting in 2012 that our district will be hosting. Rosie was nice enough to step up and take responsibility for this job. She has sent her information along to Joan, but has heard nothing back yet. Thanks so much to Rosie for shouldering this job. Maybe we should bake HER some bread!
ALSO FLASH FLASH FLASH--We never discussed it because we got so involved in other stuff--but Rosie has a very wonderful idea to pass along if anyone wants to purchase some totally kewl hostas at reasonable prices. Watch the blog, facebook and your emails for updates on this.
Okay back to business--the other thing I remembered from the meeting is that clubs are encouraged to apply for awards--there are lots of them. You can go to the state website (link below in Handy links for Dirty Hands) and read about them. Rosie mentioned that there is an award for a program book--and we probably should have one anyway. I will see what I can pull together for that. Does anyone else want to get in on this project? I don't think it will be much to do--but I can think of several ways to stand the idea of program books on its head.
Might be fun.
OKAY--that was all the old junk--on to the new. The main discussion we had was about prorating dues for members that join the club throughout the year--specifically what to do about Kathy since she is joining so close to the end of our fiscal year. Thanks to Rosie for articulating our decision, and Shirley for noting it all down--the decision was basically this: People who join at any time will have to pay the 8 dollars to be filed with the state. That amount is inflexible and has to be collected. The remaining 12 dollars of the dues works out to 1 dollar a month, and if new members CHOOSE to prorate their own dues to pay only for the months that will pass before the new fiscal year, they may do so. If they wish to simply pay the whole 20 bucks regardless of when they join, thats fine too. This proposal was articulated by Rosie, seconded by Cindy and unanimously passed by a voice vote. It was also decided at this time that Kathy will wait and pay her first dues in April, which is the beginning of our fiscal year. At that time Shirley will file all three new memberships with the state.
Then we went on to a fun lunch day at Thyme of Grace. Sue brought up the fact that Michelle (the owner) has very pretty box beds planted in her parking lot, so a good time to go would be when the beds are growing. We decided around the 3rd week of May would be a good time--and Sue said as long as she has advance notice she can make a lunch event. Buscia was nice enough to let me "volunteer" her to take charge of this endeavor, and we will await her "intelligence report" on this. We will need to have the date nailed down by mid April so Sue has enough time to accomodate her schedule.
We also discussed an "I am sick of Winter" event to do. This year our event will be to glom onto Shirley's annual Chicago Flower show trip. She will send out invitations closer to the time--basically the idea is get yourself there and meet up and have a fun time. Go to the bar with the orchids, snore really loud and wake up on the hotel room floor? :-)
As for announcements--we had the following--Porter County Master Gardeners show is this Saturday. Follow this link for info:
http://www.pcgarden.info/gardening_show.html
This is a wonderful event--very well worth going to. If you have seeds or bulbs to trade, be sure and check out the information about swapping. Rosie will be there in the Hosta Society booth, Ben and I will be there in the MHA booth. Great speakers and lots of fun. 10 dollars gets you in and gets you a ticket or two for the swap as well.

The Michiana Horticultural Alliance has 3 dates set for its Backseat flower shows--these will all be in Beutter Park. Please plan on participating (we can participate as individuals or as a garden club) and help this fledgling organization get off to a flying start. There is a lot of potential in Ben's ideas and he has been working so hard to bring them to fruition. He deserves a lot of credit and support for this.
Also the MHA first annual nursery crawl will be on Mothers Day weekend and will continue throughout the following week.
You can find out more about the MHA events on the website--www.Michianahort.org

OKAY--after all this we got down to business and perfected our schedule for next year. We didn't exactly follow Cindy's model of drawing names, but everyone participated and will be contributing next year. This is wonderful because the club will take on the identity of everyone involved with it--and all our strengths and interests will have a chance to be expressed. Here is the calender as it stands now:

Feb. 8th at 6:30--Meet for a program at the Farm Bureau Office on South Michigan. Subject will be Selecting and Planting Trees, presented by Hensler's Nursery. Thanks to Bobbi for spotting this opportunity.

Tues. March 1 at 7 at Shirleys--Maggie was nice enough to round up Pat McCauslin, the head of landscaping at Notre Dame to talk to us. PLEASE NOTE--this date is not entirely firm until I hear back from Maggie--it may be March 8, the second Tues. I will amend this post when the date is finalized.

Tues. April 5 at 7 at Shirleys--Kathy is going to see if her friend Sara Stewart who is in charge of Unity Gardens can come and speak to us.

Tues. May 3 at 7 pm. at Bobbi's. We will gaze in awe at their BEEYOUTIFUL trees.

Tues. June 7th 7 pm. at Rosie's. We will admire Rosie's gorgeous hostas and hear all about these plants she loves so dearly.

Tues. July 12 7 pm. (NOTE--THIS IS THE SECOND TUES IN JULY) My house. We can hang out and look at the flowers. I can tell you all a little bit about junior genetics if you want to know.

Tues. Aug. 2 at Cindy and Dwayne's. We will have a chance to see the amazing and creative place Dwayne and Cindy call home--enjoy the beautiful deck they created, and hear the mystical and wonderful story of the Burr Oak tree. Cindy will also tell us about her many years as a wildlife rehab specialist. Over the years she has shown tremendous dedication to caring for animals who need help, and we can't wait to hear all about it.

Tues. Sept. 13 at 7 pm--place to be determined--either Shirley's or Marianne Kemp's. Marianne is an authority when it comes to food preservation. I think she knows how to preserve just about anything you can think of eating--and if she hasn't done it yet, she is always game to try. She makes her own wine out of just about anything and hopefully she can tell us about it. I will have to find out if she is willing for us to meet at her place--her garden really is a wonder of ingenuity and creative expression and deserves to be seen and appreciated.

Tues. Oct. 4th at Kathy's house--7 pm. Its not too late to gift plants--so lets think about maybe bringing Kathy something to help her with her yard. In the next few meetings we need to ask her about her site so we can decide what would be of use to her. She in turn is going to show us her houseplants, a subject many of us are woefully underinformed about. In particular she will hopefully teach us about dividing African Violets. I adore AV's but I seem to be an unwitting serial killer of them. Maybe Kathy can help me.

Tues. Nov. 1st at Shirleys--7 pm. Crafts. Patrick PLEEZE bring your bead box--and we will think up some other ideas for "make and take". Hopefully we can be more organized about it this year. I can always bring the pick machine.

Tues. Dec. 6th 7 pm. at Shirleys--Garden Recap and Cookie exchange--thanks to Sue for that great idea. We will talk about our garden successes and failures of the previous year. Be thinking about this meeting all the year through--so you can bring photos or examples of your triumphs.

So thats the year in a nutshell! But as a bonus--there were a lot of "side trips" that came up in the discussion--and it would be great to incorporate some of these things into our years' activities. Here are other ideas that popped up:
If anyone wants to spearhead coordinating any of these speak up! Most of them are pretty casual--we can all just get someplace on our own and meet up there.

TRIP TO THE QUIET CORNER IN CHURUBUSCO
JASPER PULASKI TO SEE THE SANDHILL CRANES
LAVENDER HILL FARM
MARY ANN AND BLACKIE'S REDNECK GARDEN PARTY
JF NEW
WELLFIELD BOTANIC GARDEN
LURIE GARDENS WITH BEN
KALAMAZOO--WYETH EXHIBITION (Also River Street Flowerland--my FAVE nursery in the world)
WHO WANTS TO DRIVE A LONG WAY AND GO TO NORTHWIND GARDENS IN WISC.?? ITS WELL WORTH THE TRIP.
B.J. ZOILKOWSKI'S OPEN HOUSE IN JULY
HOSTA SOCIETY BUS TRIP
SUNFLOWER FEST
PIET OUDOLF AT FERNWOOD
BOTANIC BOUTIQUE (May 20-21)

So thats everything! Looks like a busy and fun year!

Better than TV

Now that we are more or less confined to our houses--we find ourselves gazing out the windows longing for spring sunshine and green spaces. Winter has its own particular beauty though--more Oriental in its influence, with strong lines and simple shapes and curves. Much of the detail disappears, and we are left with the bones that make up the world around us. One of the things this enforced simplicity does is push what detail is left to see into the forefront of our vision. Shapes of branches write themselves sharply across our eyes; conifers stand out like block prints with their filagreed canopies. Another beautiful detail that now comes into sharp focus is the winter birds. They animate the quiet canvas with their movment and color--some now softened to camouflage, some remain brilliant like the Cardinals and Blue jays. The still winter air magnifies their singing and calling to a crisp clarity; and we are reminded by their presence that life continues on, waiting patiently for spring.

Watching birds has always been a part of my life. They have always uplifted and enriched my existence; and winter is very special because of the intimate contact it provides with them. Feeding birds has become a very popular pastime and a multi million dollar business. I am sure most if not all our members feed the birds, and enjoy the relaxing pastime of watching them at the feeders.

Here are some simple facts and tidbits to enhance your "feeder watching" through the winter months. Most of these things may not be anything new to folks, but it never hurts to put them down in writing.

The most economical food to feed is black oil sunflower. Almost all birds eat it, and pound for pound it gives them the most nutritional bang for the buck. The hulls do fall to the ground and make a mess. They also secrete a chemical which can inhibit the growth of plants that get buried under their mass. You can either--a) ignore the mess, b) rake it up in spring, c) situate the feeder so the mess falls where it won't be a problem, d) feed the "no waste" foods, which seem more expensive, but you are not paying for the weight of the seed hulls d)feed suet blocks or seed blocks which will minimize the mess.

The cheap "songbird" mixes are really kind of a waste--they are full of things like corn and millet which the small songbirds will not or cannot eat. They will provide food for species like sparrows, bluejays and starlings, so if this is the primary type of birds you see you can use this food. But if you want to attract the pretty little birds, you will need to supplement these mixes with sunflower seed. However--if you seem to see a multitude of sparrows and house finches--don't despair! First off, these humble birds need to eat too; and their presence acts as a beacon to the other little songbirds--a group of sparrows congregated in one spot tells everyone a new restaurant is in town. And second--if you should see a group of humble brown birds, don't just think "oh, sparrows (or house finches)" and write them off. Examine the flock a little more closely. Oftentimes different species group together in winter, and its not unusual to find a less common bird in the group. I have spotted white crowned sparrows, fox sparrows, song sparrows, purple finches, pine siskins and redpolls in groups like this.

Peanuts are highly attractive to birds in winter because they produce so much heat. You can buy unsalted "scrap" peanuts to mix in with your sunflower. Its best to choose peanuts over peanut butter--a lot of cheap peanut butters no longer contain peanut oil--its decanted off and replaced with cheaper oils. And while peanut butter is delicious to birds it can really make them sick if they eat too much of it. Suet or dough cakes are also good sources of energy and heat. The cakes with nuts and fruits in them will bring members of the woodpecker family to your feeders with great success.

Birds need water in winter. We have a heated birdbath and I am always surprised at how many birds use it. A friend of mine used to have bluebirds all through the winter at her heated birdbath. That right there would make any electric bill worthwhile.

Even if you live in a fairly populated area, there is a good chance that you have raptors around. These highly adaptable predators have become accustomed to people and the ones that eat birds have learned to monitor feeders. If you have large trees or overhead areas where a raptor could perch and watch your feeder--they are most likely doing so. Place your feeders near shrubs or trees that birds can quickly hide in when danger threatens. The most common predacious bird at feeders is the Sharp Shinned Hawk. This member of the falcon family is a beautiful and highly efficient hunter that will strike a bird almost as fast as you can blink. They are usually at your feeder and gone again before you even know something has happened. If you see your feeder birds suddenly become very still on the feeder--its quite possible that someone has spotted this hunter and given an alarm call. Here is a link to the Cornell website about the "Sharpie":

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Sharp-shinned_Hawk/id

Even though it can be terribly upsetting to loose a bird in this way--keep in mind that the Sharpie serves a very useful purpose. The birds that aren't quick enough to escape are often old or ill, and will not make it through the winter season anyway. This way the provide food for another link in the chain, and are removed from the population, where they could potentially sicken other birds. Nature isn't always warm and fuzzy--and these beautiful and efficient killers are an important reminder of that.

Another important aspect about feeder placement is proximity to windows. We are often unaware of how our windows appear in certain types of light--they become almost mirrorlike and birds will mistakenly fly into them thinking they are part of the outdoors. Or a bird panicked by an oncoming predator or passerby will act without thinking and fly into the glass. The easiest thing to do is simply place your feeders less than 10 feet away from windows. This not only allows you very intimate viewing, it prevents the birds from building up enough speed to injure themselves if they hit. You can also place decals on the glass to make it obvious to the birds that there is a surface there. If you do have a bird hit the glass, usually it will bounce off and keep flying. But if it hits hard enough to stun the bird and it is very cold outside, you can go out and gently lift the bird and take it inside. Usually the bird will be lying on its back with its feet tightly clenched. If its a small bird like a chickadee, you can just hold it very quietly in your hand--keep it covered so its in the dark--just cup your other hand over it. After a few minutes the bird will recover and you will feel it begin to move around. Take it back outside and open your hand near a bush or tree. Stand quietly for a minute or two while your patient gets her bearings, and she will fly into the tree and recover on her own. Taking them indoors keeps them warm while they recover and protects them from harm while they are incapacitated.

A larger bird like a blue jay should be covered loosely with a towel and carried gently inside, then placed in a covered box (be sure they can still get air) in a dark room. After about 10 minutes you should hear the bird scrabbling around in the box. Take it outside and just open the box. Step back and let the bird go on its own.

If you worry about birds harboring "lice" (I don't) or mites or something--wash your hands carefully and change your shirt after you handle it. I don't ever do this--but you certainly can if you worry about such things.

So spend some time enjoying the birds this winter. See how they go about living their lives--they live in a much more complex world than you ever imagined!

The Urban Homestead

Hey all--I came across this website and it really is a treasure. This site documents the story of a family living a successful sustainable lifestyle in urban Pasadena CA. From organic gardening, to beekeeping and small livestock, they have developed a life that puts low impact, home grown, local commerce front and center. Unlike some places that are full of advice by people who just tell you what to do, this site is run by people who actually LIVE this life and want you show you how they go about it, so you can learn from their experience. There is a lot to learn and be inspired by on this website. Go and check it out!
http://urbanhomestead.org/
Hail to the dirt!

Another Holiday thing

Hi everyone--I wanted to post this because the Iris Elm Garden Club in Winimac is such a wonderful group of ladies. on Dec. 3 and 4th (Friday and Sat.) they are going to have their 50th annual Christmas Arrangement show at the First United Methodist Church at the corner of US 35 and Spring St. in Winimac. I am planning to go--and I think Rob is off that day so we will both probably attend. We can haul up to 6 more in the Toyota, so let me know if you want to ride along. I think we can probably do either day. They will be serving refreshments and the site is handicapped accessible, so if you want to go and take a guest, hop in the car and take a trip. This club has really reached out to me personally, and I want to continue to support their club when the opportunity presents itself. It's a nice drive to Winimac, and if you want to do a hike in the woods before or after, the trip will take you right past Tippecanoe State Park. You still have to pay to get in the park on the weekends, but during the week admission is free.
HTTD!

Some fun stuff

Hi everybody--Here are some fun things going on in the area--thanks to Sue for the heads up.

Prairie Pride at Christmas
19th Annual Folk Art Show
"Celebrate Simplicity"
Saturday and Sunday: December 4th and 5th
10 AM to 5 PM (Central/Chicago Time)
Fawn Run Farm
3883 E. 700 N.
Rollling Prairie, IN

3 Mi. North of Rolling Prairie on Prairie Street/425 E., then left (west) on 700 N. 1/2 mile, right. (Look for McDonalds on the toll plaza) Foll the "Fawn Run Farm" signs.
*Free parking and Admission! Unique handrcrafted gifts, needful treasures from area culinary, craft and folk artists and antique dealers.
Promoter/Folk Artist: Marcy Dailey
fawnrunfarm@csinet.net


Also the Sawyer Market, in Sawyer MI (thanks for Sue also to clueing us in on this terrific place)
Is having a Christmas Open House. This runs Sat. and Sun Dec. 4 and 5. On Saturday night they are having an "Extravaganza" from 4 to 11 pm. with live jazz and lot of fun stuff. You can visit their website:
www.sawyergardencenter.com
for more information. This is a really fun place to go hang out and shop. If you like salsa, be sure to come home with a jar of American Spoon's Apple Chipotle Salsa--its YUM.
And the city of Buchanan is having "White Saturday" (which comes after Black Friday). The surrounding area will be having a series of special events in local galleries and businesses. It looks like Fernwood will also be participating--at least they are having their annual Christmas market then.
Go have some holiday fun!
HTTD

Fellow Garden Club Event

Hey folks--on Sat. Nov. 20 the Garden Club of Michiana (a fellow garden club in our district) will be participating in the Little Flower Church Craft show at 54191 North Ironwood in South Bend. Hours are not listed on the information I have, but its probably safe to assume 10 to 3 anyway. Stop by and say hello--they are a very nice group!

Hail to the dirt!

Big District Conflab

Hi everybody--Yesterday Bobbi, Mary Ann A. and I went to Middlebury to attend the Annual District Meeting of the Garden Club of Indiana. We had a terrific time--the drive was easy and even with Bobbi and I navigating we managed NOT to get lost--a miracle in its own right. Thanks to Shirley for getting us excellent directions. Rosie and Shirley--we are so very sorry you couldn't go--we are sending you happy thoughts for a quick recovery. (And to Nick too).
Since our group is slated to host one of these shindigs in 2016 I want to describe my first impressions here. As time goes on I really hope more of our group can attend--this is a very pleasant way to spend a day with a lot of great people.
The meeting was held at Middlebury Church of the Bretheren. We were greeted by a number of club members, given our name badges and directed to the church fellowship room. There was a lovely array of breakfast treats laid out and the room was busy with people getting coffee, having snacks and checking out the Ways and Means table, silent auction and raffle items, as well as the informative displays from all the committees.
There are lots of committees and things associated with this crowd--my brain kind of locks up when confronted with all this heirarchy and stuff--but as I learn what it all means things will become more understandable. What it boils down to is; there are committees for most or all of the various aspects of horticulture that might interest a garden club, and each club can involve itself or avail itself of resources depending on the interest of its membership. For example there is a Conservation Committee that sponsors projects associated with reforestation of Indiana woodlands. One of their main interests is the "Penny Pines" project, by which the interested clubs can sponsor the planting of trees in Indiana. The Scholarship committee oversees the process by which money from individual clubs goes to the state scholarship fund, and then in turn directs the selection process for candidates to receive the awards. Each Committee had a display: Birds and Butterflies, Horticulture, Conservation, Trees, Scholarship, Membership, Youth Gardening, Wildflowers, Garden Therapy, Civic Development--I hope thats all. But you get the idea. We all settled into tables that were decorated with centerpieces and gift bags--the call to order went out. After moving into the Church Sanctuary, the meeting itself began. We said the Pledge of Allegiance and the Conservation Pledge (written in a little program book for those of us who had no clue what it is). Then Stephanie Weber of the Middlebuy Garden Club welcomed us--apparently she has a peony farm that we need to go visit--and then Judy Cook from Elkhart responded sort of like--"welcome everybody"--"Hey thanks for having us". Joan Stone, the District President Welcomed everybody and introduced us to the District Officers as well as the wonderful Joyce Bulington, our state president. These meetings always have a reading committe--3 people that later on review the minutes of the meeting and approve them, and they were introduced at this time. Marlene Pratt (Middlebury) lit a candle and read a wonderful prayer as a memorial tribute to two past members who died this year. It was about end and renewal as it happens in the garden and how the meaning of that is manifested in the life of everyone.
After this touching moment, the various officers gave their reports, and all the club presidents of gave their annual reports. Then the district Chairpersons attending gave their reports, and the Scholarship chair asked me to tell the group a little bit about Ben. You can imagine how eloquent I was, not being aware ahead of time that I would be asked to do this--of course I neglected to tell everyone Ben's LAST name--thanks to some wiser person who asked me what it was--but at least I don't think Ben will have to attend the State Banquet with a bag over his head. Then Joyce addressed the group--she is such a hoot. We are very lucky to have formed our club during her tenure. She "gets" groups like ours--she is pretty much like us--irreverent and caring--and as Bobbi noted--she is the correct height to be a member of our club. Now that Bobbi knows that Mr. Bulington is not the pilot of the REAL Air Force One, she knows that Joyce is just like the rest of us.
Then we went on to Business stuff--at this point my brain froze and I couldn't absorb everything. The nuggets I came away with are as follows:
There is a committe forming to work on the 2012 State Meeting which our district will be hosting. EVERYONE is going to be needed to help out in some way. I have a form that I started to fill out, figuring the committee post would just fall to me--but it occurred to me that someone else might be willing to step in and contribute to this. Working on this project will necessitate attending meetings that will move from one location to another throughout the district to equalize the distance driving between all the members. If someone is willing to take this on--I would love it--just let me know. You can finish filling out the form and I will get it back to Joan.
Also--we figured out how to send in new member stuff. I will get on that quickly so our new members can start getting their newsletters and be counted in the district's new member head count.
And speaking of newsletters--there was a questionairre about how you want it--postage is insane so the idea is for it to be electronic only. They come as PDF's now, but they want to know if you have other preferences. I will get this out to everyone so you can answer the questions and I will just send the results on.
After all the official jazz it was time for lunch--so back to the Fellowship room we went, to visit, eat, and check out the displays some more. In a very sweet gesture, the prayer before lunch included all of us singing one verse of "America the Beautiful".
The program for the day ensued back in the Sanctuary, where Sonya Miller, owner of Country Comfort Greenhouse, told us all about the quilt gardens in Amish Country. This grass roots undertaking has grown to a total this year of 17 plantings, and has proven to be a much needed boost to Elkharts tourism industry. Sonya was a great speaker--knowledgable and spontaneous, and she had a very nice powerpoint display with photos of all the gardens in various stages of growth.
After all that--the winners of the raffles were announced, people went back to finish up purchasing things from the Ways and Means, do a little more networking, and then it was time to go home.
I am certain I have forgotten a lot of stuff--my brain just doesn't function well in stuff like this. Mary Ann and Bobbi--poke me if you remember other things that happened so I can add them to this account. The main thing we all came away with was the fact that we had a very nice time, and this organization we are a part of is full of wonderful people united by the common love of gardens and gardening. As time goes on we will find our "place" within its structure so they can benefit from us, and we in turn from them.

Celebrate with Unity Gardens

Hey folks--I received an invitation from Sara Stewart at Unity Gardens--On Sat. Oct 30 Unity Gardens will have its Harvest Celebration. This is a Potluck meal that will take place from 11 am to 2 pm at the Potowatomi Greenhouse at 2105 Mishawaka Ave. in South Bend. They will be recognizing their contributors and members at this event as well as sharing a meal. The invitation is open to anyone who wants to participate. Rob and I are going to try to go, and if Ben is available he plans to go too. This winter I hope to get Sara to come and tell us all about Unity Gardens, and hopefully our groups can work together in the future to everyones benefit. So if you have some free time on that day, whip up a batch of something and head on over there to meet the folks!
Fearless

Don't forget to water!

Hi everybody--Just a quick reminder--as Debbie said in the Garden program at the library--we are in the midst of a drought right now. How our plants (especially our woody plants and conifers) go through the next several weeks as they enter winter growth patterns is going to have a big impact on how they survive the winter. Plants are stressed right now for lack of moisture, and we don't want them going into dormancy in this stressed out state. Keep watering your gardens--an inch a week if we don't get rain. Pay special attention to recently transplanted plants, woody trees and shrubs and especially your conifers. Keep this up until the ground begins to freeze. If you have a valuable tree, you can take one of the little overhead spray sprinklers and turn it on very low and just leave it on for an hour or so to soak the ground. If you pay for your water, watering cans and buckets would probably be a more intelligent way to go about it. Don't forget your gray water can be used for this. Pull your washing machine drain hose up and run the final rinse water into buckets. If you have dehumidifiers use the water they collect to water the garden with. Mulching deeply after a thorough soaking will help conserve soil moisture. Its a pain to have to keep watering this late in the year--usually by now the fall rains have stepped in to give us a break, but it's not to be right now.
HTTD! Fearless

Fall-ing in love again

Hi all--We had a great time last night, attending the presentation on Fall Color at the North Liberty Library branch. Many thanks to their wonderful speaker, Debbie, for all the great information she passed along. Its clear to see that the library has chosen well in hiring her as their gardener; her love for plants was very evident. She started off with a number of suggestions--the most important of which was basically contrary to our plant crazy instincts--don't rush out and buy. Instead she recommended carefully studying our sites so we choose plants wisely, and photographing our gardens to help us decide (and then remember) where to put new plants for the best effect. She also suggested studying area gardens and noticing what looks beautiful in them that could be added to our own spaces. Add to that a little careful investigation into the habits and requirements of the plants we are considering, and hopefully you end up with easy maintenence gardens that pack a lot of visual wallop in the space they occupy.

Fall is a great time both for planting as well as buying--she reminded us to watch for good prices on clearance plants at season's end. Sometimes this takes some legwork as inventories are at low ebb, but great bargains can be found--and who says hunting for plants to buy is a hardship anyway??

Then we got into her show and tell, and what a beautiful array of examples she had to show us. From trees, including Oaks, Maples, Sweetgum, Tulip poplar, Dogwood, Serviceberry, Baldcypress and Dawn Redwood, through shrubs like Miss Kim Lilac, Aronia, Hydrangea, Fothergilla, Clethra and Witch Hazel, she showed us an array of colors that would beautify any garden. For smaller areas, Debbie introduced us to asters, sedums, echinacea that had been deadheaded for a repeat flowering, grasses and numerous seedheads that are attractive and structural accents to the colorful leaves. She also showed us a most unusual "Wahoo" Euonymus, which is boring most of the time, but ends the season with an amazing show of pink bracts and fruit.

To make the whole experience even better, she generously passed some plants along to lucky winners, with Maggie winning a beautiful magnolia, Cindy going home with a Serviceberry, which will be perfect in her yard, and several other lucky partcipants received a wonderful living gift from this terrific gardener. She also passed out divisions of an Oncidium orchid, and Patrick and Rosie both will have a new project to interest them as they begin the adventure that is orchids.

After the program we hiked across the parking lot where Gerry Brown greeted us at the door of Bluebird House. Coffee and cookies had been laid out by Gerry and Debbie's daughter, Kirstin, since Debbie had been sidelined by the flu. We were so pleased to have two guests attend--Mary Ann's neighbor, Eva came with her, and I kidnapped my friend Lorraine and she was nice enough to come over as well. We are so very happy they joined us and hope to add them to our membership. Everybody toured Bluebird House and enjoyed visiting with Gerry as he explained the history of how the house was saved from destruction and renovated to the charming state it is in now. Bluebird House can be rented as a Guest House if you have family coming in for a visit or reunion, or friends coming for a football weekend. Just call the Browns at 656-8093 and they will be glad to accomodate you.

Then it was on to the meeting. We had no minutes--Marianne was at work. Shirley gave us the treasurers report which consisted of the balance as of the most recent bank statement. I had a copy of the July District meeting minutes for anyone interested in reading them, and we discussed the Oct. 20 meeting in Middlebury. 4 of us are going and Shirley is going to drive. Of course we are all so organized we couldn't figure a timetable out for this, but we will get it done and communicate the information to those who are attending.

I also wrote up a short blurb about our clubs activities for the year to submit at the meeting, and there was a copy of that for anyone to look at too.

As to our upcoming meeting, we had to bump the date back by a week--we are now going to Lurie on the 13 of November. I have communicated this to Ben and it should work out fine. Keep an eye on the blog in case there are any changes. I will have Bobbie send out alerts and put Busia on the phone if there is any last minute news to report.

As for the blog--new pics are up. Thanks to Shirley for sending me a set of pics--I have to figure out how to strip them out of the Kodak gallery, but I will get Rob on the case and it will be resolved soon.

Then it was on to new stuff. The Indiana Gardens issue was emailed to everyone--a couple people thought it was spam and threw it out. Rosie didn't get one because once again my brain had a synaptic failure and I never reported her as a new member to anybody. Sorry about that, Rosie--I will get a copy of the current one to you and take action to add you as a member.

There also was a very important entry in the newsletter about a project being taken on by the Deleware Garden club. This task of planning and installing a garden at Dover Air Force Base to help and protect families who go there to claim the remains of their loved ones killed in military service is something we should all support, either with a donation or our prayers--better yet both. Look for the blog post titled "Something very important" for a link to take you to a page where you can find out how to donate.

Another upcoming topic of interest is the newly formed Michiana Horticultural Alliance. This umbrella group which seeks to provide a common ground for all aspects of Horticulture, from everyday gardeners to industry professionals has just begun its journey, and everyone is invited to join and go along for the ride. Membership is and always will be free--so sign up today! Website is http://www.michianahort.org/.

We briefly touched on the idea to have our Dec. meeting at Thyme of Grace Restaurant. I am going there next Friday and will talk to them to see what we can figure out. This will most likely be a lunch meeting.

Then we began looking to the future and discussing plans for next year. After a lot of helpful discussion, Rosie suggested that everyone come armed with ideas for topics and presentations when we meet in December. In light of the fact that our club doesn't have a Vice President, whom Rosie pointed out was responsible for compling a program book in most clubs, Cindy suggested an alternative method used by a garden club her sister belongs too. In this club people draw out of a hat and each person is responsible for the meeting that they "draw". In Cindy's version, the person draws a month and then is in charge of coming up with a program, a meeting site, the whole works. This will all go into the "idea stew" that is our club, and in December we will thrash the whole concept about and come up with the method that suits us the best. Thanks to everyone for their input into this issue. I would really like for us to develop a way of handling this that is uniquely our own. Then everyone's personality will shine through in its own way.

Also--I would like to have someone volunteer to just compile a listing of area bustours that might be of interest to the club. We are too small and its awfully complicated to charter a bus and do all that crazy stuff. Much easier to find trips we want to take and then just glom on to someone else's hard work instead. Again--we will take this up in December and get the job delegated.

We closed the meeting with a reminder about the recent Pet Food Recall on Blue Buffalo dog food. Thanks to Nick for filling us in with the details of how to check the internet for information.
With that, Patrick (in his new Pucci shirt) was nice enough to adjourn us--and we all drifted away into the night.

HTTD!

IMPORTANT Change of plans for Lurie Gardens trip

Hi all-- Rosie just sent me a copy of a schedule statement that says the South Shore line will be closed between East Chicago and South Bend on the 6th of Nov. when we were planning to take our trip. Ben suggested we nudge the date back to the 13th, which is the following Saturday. I will bring this up at the meeting and we can decide then what we want to do.
HTTD

INFO FOR THE LURIE TRIP

Hi folks--Ben just posted a map for where we will meet on the Michiana Horticultural Alliance page--if you don't know what the MHA is--you should go there and check it out anyway--and JOIN. Its free and hopefully will lead to great things.
Here is a link:
www.michianahort.org

Check it out.
Fearless

Something very important

Hi everyone--in case you haven't seen this is your GCI newsletter, I am reproducing it here. If you agree that this cause is worthy, please support it by sending them a contribution or spreading the word by whatever way seems appropriate to you.
First off--here is a link if you want to send a contribution. My check will go out tomorrow.
http://www.ngccar.org/delawarememorialgardenproject.html

This is what this is about--I am quoting from the newsletter:
"The Delaware Federation of Garden Clubs has embarked on a project of constructing a Memorial Garden at the Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware. The Dover Air Force Base has the distinctive, heartbreaking task of receiving home the bodies of service personnel killed in the line of duty. Since lifting the ban on photographs of the flag-covered caskets, nearly 2000 relatives have come to Dover for the body transfers. In January, the base opened a much needed facility called the 'Center for the Families of the Fallen'. This building is used by the families when they arrive at the base from all over the nation to receive their loved ones. Although the inside of the building is well furnished, the outside desperately needs an enclosed garden area, screened from the road, to afford the family's privacy and peace. When this garden club saw the site, they knew it was a project they wanted to embrace. Because of the special requirements posed by the base, the DFCG decided to engage a prominent therapeutic Landscape Architect, Rodney Robinson, to design and develop a plan for construction of this garden. The garden clubs of Delaware and its members now need to raise the necessary 125,000 to cover the cost of this project. It is a daunting task and they are a small state with an organization that has never taken on a project of this magnitude. DFGC is trying to reach out to everyone to help meet their commitment of providing a Memorial Garden at the Dover Air Force Base for the 'Families of the Fallen'.

Once again--the link to contribute:
http://www.ngccar.org/delawarememorialgardenproject.html

HTTD.

Newsletter

Hi folks--You should have all gotten your Fall issue of "Indiana Gardens" which is the publication of the Garden Club of Indiana. It comes as a PDF file, and you just click on the file or highlight it and click "open file" to see it. Its best to print it out, since it shows up sideways, having been formatted to print on your printer. If you want a hard copy and can't figure out how to print it, let me know and I will make one for you.
HTTD! Fearless