Garden Clippings
Vol.
5 No.
Organized in 1926
McMinnville
OR 97128 http://mcminnvillegardenclub.org Information: 503 434 4344 Meeting Information Meeting Day: Third Monday September through June Optional Brown Bag Lunch Meetings are open to the public. Executive Board
President Kim Jongedyk Vice President Sandy Ford Secretary Judy Eggers Treasurer Marilyn Coats Conservation Pledge
I pledge to protect and conserve the
natural resources of the planet Earth, and promise to promote education, so
we may be caretakers to our air, water, forests, land, and wildlife. Ongoing Projects The Scholarships for Horticulture Garden of the Month Blue Star Memorial Marker City Beautification “Garden Clippings” is a monthly publication of the September
26th
Field
Trip to
Address: Car
pool from
Ron and Debbie Monnier
are owners of Monnier's Country Garden's located in
Woodburn, OR., specializing in 1200 varieties of fuchsias and offers for
sale the largest fuchsia collections outside of Europe. Ron will
give a talk and presentation on fuchsias before the garden tour and lunch. As a young boy Ron helped his father on their
vegetable farm planting, harvesting and selling the harvest. In 1981 Ron graduated from Reservations are required by Club History
Garden Club met in the Chamber of
Commerce rooms at All other business was postponed, the meeting was then turned over to Mrs. Tibbetts, chairman of committee on Achievements, to
introduce Clayton E. Lewis of Although attendance was not large, considerable interest was manifested in Mr. Lewis’ lecture and a number of questions asked on various subjects which he was glad to answer. Treasury balance: $22.20. Mrs. Wortman Secretary-treasurer Dorothy Mathiesen Website to Check Out Don’t you just love those little hummingbirds that zoom past our heads? Check out this website which documents the nesting/hatching/flight of a pair of tiny hummingbird babies. Be sure to look at the last slide which shows the size comparison! http://Community-w.webtv.net/Velpics/HUM Minutes of previous meetings are available from Judy E. at meetings. Committees A big thank you to all of you who
worked as committee chairs this past year.
Your work was appreciated! There is a meeting on September 8 at
Newsletter Columnists Welcome to our new newsletter columnists. Evelyn Mundinger is now doing the Horticulture section and Julie Maahs is writing the Backyard Habitat pieces. Thanks for sharing your expertise with us! |
Fun for all! Potluck, plant exchange and a look ahead. 2155 Business meeting Lunch and plant exchange Please bring your favorite potluck dish
and plate, etc. Coffee and tea will be provided. You are also invited to bring
a plant (a single plant or one that is dividable to exchange with members).
The plant exchange activity is optional and not required. It could be a fun way to become acquainted
with some new plants, learn how to divide them, and to share what we’ve learned
from growing them. If
you are planning to participate in the plant exchange please bring your
plants in plastic bags and label them with the plant name. There will be a
table provided where you can put the plants you would like to share. We will have reference manuals at the
meeting for plant identification.
Remember to keep the plant(s) moist during transportation and after
planting for better success. Also your membership dues of $12 may be overdue! Get them to Sandy Bolmer
ASAP. October
17 is our next meeting featuring
planting bulbs. A field trip Oct. 24 to Aerbutus is also planned. Backyard Habitat Summer Care Our feathered friends need your care even in the time of plenty. Every few days, especially in the heat of summer, be sure to clean dirty bird feeders to prevent avian disease. Removing old, molded, spoiled seed is important. Clean the feeders with one part white vinegar to 20 parts water. Make sure the feeder is completely dry before adding new seed. Clean those birdbaths too! Scrubbing with a stiff bristle brush and using the same vinegar solution is best. BLEACH is not necessary (besides being harmful to the environment.) Got
Bullies? Bluejays and Starlings have a “sharing problem”. The seed you set out for your lovely songbirds is being greedily eaten up by those bigger birds. Back to the old standby, the tube feeder. It is tidier, has smaller individual perches (perfect for small songbirds) and the clear tube allows you to see when new seed needs to added. Tip: Feed only as much as the birds will eat in a day. This prevents seed from going rancid. Turn
Off Those Zappers! They don’t kill mosquitoes but they are incredibly effective in locally reducing biodiversity, including insects that would likely kill more mosquitoes than the devices. Studies have shown that these devices are killing mostly non-biting aquatic insects or predators and parasites. Citronella candles work great. Water…..Water….Water Yes, birds get thirsty too and need a plentiful supply, just like we do. Running water, bird baths, water dishes, etc. help out. Remember never to fill your birdbath to full, just a few inches will do. Placing a stone or figurine inside the birdbath allows a perch to just get that needed drink, and also provides a look-out stand to keep Miss Kitty at bay. Our little ones on the ground enjoy a cool drink as well, living in that wonderful compost pile you have thoughtfully provided for them, surveying their surroundings or sitting upon those branch and twig cuttings you put there just for them. Natural
Feed Now is the time to allow some of those Annuals to go to seed. Between the birds who love those tasty snacks, the critters below the group who keep your garde(s) wonderfully tilled (NO, not the excavation as in Gopher and Moles), thrive on those seeds. And don’t forget the wind who decides where next year’s volunteer seed will be placed. You will have that wonderfully pleasing spot of color that works surprisingly well. A new book, Birds of the Willamette Valley Region, by Harry Nehls, Tom Aversa, and Hal Opperman should be a helpful reference when trying to identify birds in your yard. A new program on the Discovery
Channel, Backyard Habitat, also might be worth viewing at There’s plenty of sunshine left to enjoy outdoors though! Julie Maahs
|
President’s
Corner Welcome back! I’m hoping that you all had a wonderful summer and are looking forward to getting back to Garden Club
activities. I sure am. I am confident
that you will enjoy this year’s programs and fieldtrips. Sandy Ford has
worked hard compiling the survey data and organizing our programs and field
trips to meet your requests. She is excited to share what she has planned for
all of us at our September meeting. I would like to thank all of you that made the Garden
Tour/Garden Faire such a great success. We sold 654 tickets! I’m looking forward to the same great
efforts again next year. This event is our main fund raiser and allows our
club to be a successful group. I urge every member to take an active part in
some way so that this event will continue to be a great success. Our
club has grown and has added a few new committees that help with our mission
to help work on city beautification as a part of our contribution to the
community. We will go over these in the business meeting at the September
meeting. None of this can happen without your outstanding effort and the
volunteering of your time. I welcome you all back, look forward to the future and as
always enjoy continuing to learn the art of gardening from our speakers and
from each other. Kim Jongedyk Horticulture The hot days of summer which wilted both plants and people have once again been replaced with the cool coast breezes. It gives us renewed energy to tend our gardens, to give thought to the global warming we’re in, and to seek out drought-friendly plants. Some plants that stand up to the heat with very little moisture are the Lavenders and Sages (including the woody stemmed salvias, Santolina ‘Lemon Queen’ and a Curry plant (of which I don’t know the name). Annuals usually are moisture hogs, but the zinnias and marigolds by my concrete driveway have been beautiful with just once-a-week irrigation. Drop me an email and tell me about your drought successful plants. I’ll compile a list for reference in 2006. Very soon the soil will be ready for bulb planting. A few nurseries already have some in stock, but I want to remind you that our club can obtain field-run daffodils from a grower again this year. I’ll have information at our meeting. Looking for shrubs for winter color? They are twice as nice if they are fragrant. Some suggestions: Witch Hazel (hamamelis), several varieties; Viburnums, a large group but v. bodnantense ‘Dawn’ is fragrant; Sweet Box (Sarcococca hookeriana, humliis), of the Boxwood genus with white flowers under the leaves; and the very fragrant Daphnes, especially d. odora. One should visit nurseries during all seasons in order to visualize and plan for your own landscape. Kraemers accepts gallon or larger sized plastic pots for recycling, and Oregon Waste is working on a program that will include all plastics. Won’t that be wonderful! Pot up your extra plants for this month’s garden club meeting. Add a bit of info. if it has some unusual requirements or habits. Please let me know the kinds of information you want to read in this column, so that you find it useful. Evelyn Mundinger Sunshine We are pleased to report that Irene Hahn is doing much better in her recovery after a nasty fall this summer. Committee
Chairs Backyard Habitat Julie Maahs Garden Tour 2006 Judy Eggers Patty Sorensen Garden Faire 2006 Gaye Stewart Historian Dorothy Mathiesen Horticulture Eveyln Munsinger Hospitality Rosemary Vertregt Membership Sandy Bolmer Newsletter Patty Sorensen Anne Silverthorne Parliamentarian Gaye Stewart Publicity/PR Sandy Ford Scholarship Cindi Miller Sunshine Joan Friese Telephone Mary Whinery Yard of Month 2006 Linda Coburn Carolyn Davis Yearbook Kim Jongedyk Sandy Ford Newsletter Deadlines The
deadline for submission of articles for our monthly newsletter is the
last day of the previous month. Please send them to Patty Sorensen. Thanks! Do you
know of any prospective Garden
Club members? Be sure to let Sandy Bolmer know names and addresses. We would love to send them our newsletter for three months. |
