Garden Clippings

McMinnville Garden Club, PO Box 386, McMinnville, OR August 2011 503-434-4344

PLAN AHEAD

Monday, September 19, 2011 – MEETING

Hillside Retirement Community “Activity Room” at the Manor

900 N. Hill Road McMinnville, OR 97128

PLEASE REMEMBER TO PARK IN THE CHURCH PARKING LOT

9:30a.m. - 10:00a.m. - Social time

10:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. - Business Meeting and FUN
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. – Speaker- Linda McMahan, Horticulturalist, OSU Extension Service, “Gardening With Native Plants”

Meet our newly-elected officers for 2011-12:

President Vice-President Secretary Treasurer

Merle Dean Feldman Cozette Caster Rosemary Vertregt Mike Stewart

President’s Message
My first message as your new president will be short because Patty Sorensen and Evelyn Mundinger will write the important news about the Garden Tour and Faire and an update on the budget. This is the second garden tour I have participated in, but I am still in awe of what a wonderful group of folks you are and of how hard you work together to make the tour such a fantastic event. You all are amazing! It is exciting just thinking about the opportunity of working with all of you. I am very honored to get the chance to work with you and help achieve the important and worthy goals of this club.

Thanks to all of you that have helped me in this transition period. Please keep the comments and advice coming. The new board and I have read your surveys and appreciate all the good information. We are hard at work planning the activities for this coming year.

Mark Your Calendars:

August 19, Friday Field Trip: Blueberry Farm Visit Carpool leaves Bethel Baptist Church at 9:30a.

Cindy Flake’s husband is going to take us on a special tour of the blueberry farm that he manages. We’ll visit the fields, the processing area, and of course, have a bunch of berries to taste!

August 22, Monday Field Trip: Oregon Gardens Carpool leaves Bethel Baptist Church at 9:30a.
Ticket cost: Adults: $10, Seniors: $9. You may bring a sack lunch or eat in the Oregon Gardens concession area. We’ll head for home in the afternoon.

September 19, Monday First Meeting of the 2011-12 season: Speaker: Linda McMahan, Horticulturalist, OSU Extension Service, “Gardening with Native Plants: Yesterday and Today”

September 22, Thursday Nursery Crawl: One Green World and Edelweiss Nursery Carpool leaves Bethel Baptist Church at 9:30a.

These are located near Hubbard. Details will be provided in the September newsletter.

September 26, Monday Arts & Crafts Project: Leaf Casting – Beverly Mulkey's House 9:30a.m.
Evelyn Mundinger will once again help us create our own special leaf castings. Cost and other details will be noted in our September newsletter and at the meeting.

October 17, Monday Meeting speaker: Oregon poet, Marianne Klekacz, will explore the ways in which gardening and journaling complement each other, “Every Garden Is a Journal and Every Journal Is a Garden.”

“GARDEN PARTY” Tour & Faire 2011

Another successful garden tour has concluded and we are pleased to announce a net profit of $10,285. This couldn't happen without the support of our membership, so a big thank you for giving of yourself, your time and energy to this single fund raising event.

– Beverly Mulkey, Evelyn Mundinger, Co-Chairs

Past President Musings

What an incredible day we were treated to on June 26! Not only was the weather perfect, the vendor faire filled with great items and the gardens gloriously displaying their owners’ love, but garden club members were out in full force. While I was visiting gardens and when I was shopping downtown, I saw smiles and heard laughter all around.

It is amazing what one group of members in McMinnville can successfully coordinate. Ticket sales were over 660 and our profits ended up more than we hoped for, so we have money to put away in savings. Most importantly, we will be able to fund all of our community projects. Merle Dean is busy filling the slate of chairs for all those activities. If she hasn’t called you yet, call her! There are small jobs as well as big ones to tackle for 2011-12.

And to think that Myrna and Cozette are busy working on selecting new gardens for 2012 now! That means the cycle begins again. Before you know it I’ll be working on the ticket booklet again.

A huge thanks to Jean L. and Georgia Q. for their careful selection of the 2011 gardens, to Joanne D. and Cindy F. for their Garden Faire leadership, to Evelyn M. and Beverly M. for their well-orchestrated coordination of the day’s activities and of course, Mildred R. for allowing us to include her garden in the tour again! AND I can’t forget each and every one of you that helped in any way with the many tasks (both short term and long term) that are required to put on such a successful event. WAY TO GO. WOW.

I can’t wait to see all of you again in September. Let’s celebrate!

ID Tip

Patty Sorensen

In a magazine that I was recently reading, I found a tip that I’m going to give a try. I’ve got a drawer full of plant ID tags. Each year I think I’m going to get organized and draw out my yard’s master plan complete with ID of plants. Then plot out what I need to do each season to them.

The picture shows a doable way to organize the dozens of plant tags which have accumulated in my drawer. Wonder if I might even be able to organize it by making rings of tags for the trees, shrubs, perennials, etc.? Best ask me…..but wait for the winter months, I’m having too much fun digging, weeding, and enjoying the sunshine to get organized right now!

SUMMER WATERING TIPS

Cindy Flake

Since conservation is part of the McMinnville Garden Club pledge, here are a few ways that we can do our part to conserve water while improving plant health:

Water during the cool, morning hours. Watering mid-day allows water loss to evaporation and can blister tender leaves, when sunny. Watering in the evening invites slugs to the party.

If you water with a hose, always check the temperature of the water on the inside of your wrist, (the baby bottle test) to be sure it is not too hot. A hose left in the sun will push hot water out first and scald leaves.

Give plants what they need. Over-watering can lead to root rot, while under-watering can lead to plant wilt. Both can lead to plant death.

Group pots together to help plants stay cool and ease hand-watering.

Offer partial shade for potted plants that sit on south/west-facing decks and patios. Summer temperatures can practically “cook” them in their pots, as there is not enough soil to protect the roots as there would be if they were in the ground. If you can’t shade the area or move the pots, be sure plants are well-watered and shield (newspaper layer, tarp or blanket) the pots themselves to help plant roots stay cool and prevent desiccation.

Grass that is watered daily develops a shallow root system. However, grass that is watered deeply but less frequently develops a deeper, stronger root system that allows it to find water within the soil profile during times of draught. Wean your lawn back gradually. You’ll still have a nice lawn, save money on the water bill, and reduce the potential for plant diseases, earwigs, and slugs!

A Gardener’s Blessing

May the bunnies never nibble

on your young and tender shoots,

May your transplants settle in

and put down hardy roots,

May your weeds come out real easy

and your lawn be fungus-free,

May you never put your back out

or inhale a bumblebee,

May your roses never stab you

or your hoses spring a leak,

And may everyone come calling