October18, 2010 –
MEETING
Hillside
Retirement Community “Activity Room” at the Manor
900
N. Hill Road McMinnville, OR 97128
PLEASE DON’T FORGET 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. - Chris
Bridle - CARE AND FEEDING OF WILD BIRDS IN OUR GARDENS
You won't want to miss our October meeting. We have a special guest from Wild Birds
Unlimited in Salem -- owner and operator Chris Brindle. He will be talking about the care and feeding
of wild birds in our gardens.
Wild Birds Unlimited is a Nature Shop dedicated to
helping you turn your yard into a fall and winter habitat that not only
benefits wild birds and the environment, but also brings song, color and life
to your home. Wild Birds in a national
franchise in its 30 year. Chris
has owned and operated the Salem Wild Birds Unlimited for 15 years.
Backyard bird feeding for him started as a hobby
with a simple window bird feeder in an apartment is Seattle. His wife said he would never attract birds to
it, but when the first American Goldfinch show up, he was hooked.
You might like to look at the Wild Birds Unlimited
winter hobby guide at www.wbu.com/hobbyguide/ It will show
some of the things available at the nature shop -- basically anything that
attracts birds to backyards. They carry
their own hardware line called the APS Pole system to create your own tree for
hanging or mounting bird feeders.
Everyone who comes to the meeting will get bird seed
to take home. His presentation is sure to be full of information just
at the right time of year to help take the birds through winter.
OCTOBER Excursions:
Putting on the Ritz Tea & Raffle,
October 10, 2010 2:00 PM
Fundraiser
for National Garden Club’s 2nd VP, Oregon’s Linda Nelson.
Her installation will be in 2013 as National President!!! $15 donation Location: Multnomah Holiness Association, 1081
SE Holgate, Portland. Contact Peggy Olin peggyolin@msn.com
October 20th - Next field trip - Springfield,
Gossler Nursery. There will be box lunches available, which will include a
beverage, $12 per person. We will collect for the lunch at the next meeting, on
October 18th. Carpool from Bethel Baptist Church at 9:30.
October
21, 2010 - Pioneer District Fall
Luncheon/Meeting
Birds
of a Feather Flock Together Hosted by
Aloha Garden Club, Meriwether Golf Course, 5300 SW Rood Bridge Rd, Hillsboro.
$15 prepaid by October 5 to our treasurer, Stephanie J. We will
carpool from the Bethel Baptist Church at 7:45. Guest speaker will
discuss his favorite gardens of the Pacific NW.
Like
to play with play dough or get your hands into the dirt?
You’ll love the process of making hypertufa containers! These containers are
perfect for sedums and natural gardens. Samples will be at the October
meeting. This arts and crafts requires
preregistration so we have enough supplies for everyone. Sign up at the October
meeting or call Patty S. Cost:
$3/container. Bring your own plastic gloves, bucket, container
to mold your hypertufa around, and wear clothes you can get dirty! Meet
at the Bethel Baptist Church at 9:30 to carpool to Rosemary Vertgret’s.
Dress warm, this is an outdoor activity. Hopefully it won’t rain!?
October President’s Message
Fall Has Arrived!
The days are still warm but the nights are cooling off. Great time to
stop and take your last minute notes about plants to remove, move, or
improve. Or take pictures to study your overall design for the four
elements of landscape design: Color, Line, Form, Texture BUT
be sure to make time to just sit in the yard and enjoy the dry days before our
rainy season arrives! However, every time I’m outside I’m going to be
putting out slug bait. I’d love to see full leaves on my hostas next
spring…….
I really enjoyed seeing
so many of you at our September meeting. Your crew (board members) had a
great time decorating our meeting room in the “All Aboard” theme for the
year. We will continue to provide First Class seating for those who would
like to be closer to the “action”. A HUGE thanks
to those who brought the yummy treats served in the dining car and to those who
stepped up to take on leadership roles for the coming year. There are
several members who are repeating leadership roles from last year. What a
group!!! You are all the BEST!!!
I’m looking forward to
our speaker at the October 18 meeting from Wild Birds Unlimited! I love
learning more about the birds in our backyards AND I’m looking forward to the
field trip to Roger Gossler’s spectacular demonstration garden at his nursery
in Springfield on the 20th! Roger’s presentation last year was
inspiring and now we get to go see his plants in person! Of course,
you’ll always catch me with my hands dirty so I won’t be missing the hypertufa
container making activity on the 25th either. Plants may be
slowing down but the club is gearing up for a great year. Hope you enjoy
participating!
Themes
for 2011 Garden Tour
We're
on our way to another GREAT 2011 Summer Garden Tour. We would like your help in selecting a theme
this year. If you have any wonderful
ideas, please submit them to Jean (tojean@frontier.com) before the next
meeting. Below are the Themes from years
past. (Our secret word this month is “sunflowers”.)
Past
themes have been:
2001 Secret
Gardens Revealed
2002 Reflections
2003 Hidden
Vistas
2004 Rooms
In Bloom
2005 A
Mixed Bouquet
2006 In
The Garden
2007 Backyard
Havens
2008 Something
Old And Something New
2009 Hidden
Treasures
2010 The
Glory of the Garden
SAMBUCUS
nigra (Elderberry)
One of the plants that
I fell in love with this year is the
‘Eva’ Black Lace Elderberry tree. In
fact, Adrienne had one in her backyard on our garden tour.
The finely-cut foliage
is an intense purple black, resembling a Japanese Maple. It is deciduous and extremely durable and
adaptable. Creamy pink flowers in spring
contrast nicely with the dark leaves. They are followed by blackish red fall berries
which can be harvested for making elderberry wine and jam or left on the plant
to attract birds. It is very cold hardy,
easy to grow, and adaptable to most sites.
Full sun is needed for best color.
It can reach up to 8’ high but can be pruned back each year to maintain
a smaller shrub size.
I bought one this year
from Al’s. My husband offered to dig the
hole for me but didn’t move it over far enough, stepped on it and broke a
branch. Since it was a one gallon plant,
there weren’t many branches left! It
still pretty much looks the same after a couple of months. I’m not sure that this one is ‘durable and
adaptable’. If it doesn’t make it, I
will certainly buy another one, and try again, as it is such a gorgeous
shrub/tree.
Four members of the Garden Club, Stephanie Janik,
Evelyn Mundinger, Jacci Reed and Ann Silverthorne, visited the Oregon Gardens
in Silverton on Wednesday September 22nd.
Driving from McMinnville to Silverton, we were met by
the tour coordinator, Douglas Jenkins. Our guide was a very pleasant and
interesting gentleman who took us around the water gardens, where he showed us
a very rare water lily, from Asia, now in bud but which only flowers every few
years and has leaves the size of cart wheels. On the next part of the tour we
were escorted by a lady guide who showed us the conifer garden. We met the
gardener who gave us a lot of information about conifers.
The colors of some of the trees were magnificent and
the size of the plants inspiring to us humble gardeners. There are many other
areas of the garden to visit, which we did not get to see, so we thought that
we should plan another trip, possibly next Spring.
Internet Links:
Pioneer District Newsletter
http://oregongardenclubs.org/pioneer/
State website
http://oregongardenclubs.org/default.htm
Club Calendar of Events
http://mcminnvillegardenclub.org/newsletters_files/Aug2010NL_files/draft10-11calendar.htm
October links:
Hardy Mums
Fall Garden
Chores
Cleaning Patio
Furniture
http://www.hgtv.com/landscaping/patio-furniture-cleanup/index.html