Hose wreath workshop, April meeting

In April we will be having a hose wreath workshop conducted by Rosemary Burkman. Rosemary showed off a beautiful hose wreath at our February meeting and suggested that we could sell these wreaths at our plant sale fundraiser in June.

As we get ready for spring we can start collecting the things we will need for this workshop. Here are the items we will need:

• Hose, any color, at least eight feet long
  
• Plastic ties (zip ties), 8-12 inches long, Rosemary will have some on hand
  
• Hot glue gun, if you have one, bring it
• Florist wire
• Greenery, vines, pine
• Flowers, any color
• ribbon, to match flowers and ornaments
• Ornaments, small terracotta pots, bird houses, seed packets, lanterns, shovels, pine cones, garden trowels, garden glove (only need one new for each wreath), etc
• Scissors, heavy duty, utility, if you have one, bring it
• Utility knife or saw to cut hose, if you have one, bring it.

This should be a fun workshop, we will meet at the High School as usual.

Fairy Garden Workshop

On May 14th 2009 we will be meeting at 6:30 pm at Kris's Spirit Lake home for a fairy garden workshop. It is not too soon to start planning for this workshop so here are the details.

Bring your own favorite container to plant a fun Fairy Garden! A Fairy Garden is a miniature container garden including fairies, furniture, structures, and living plants which is usually placed in a secluded, quiet, magical area of your garden. Your container must have a drainage hole.

We will provide: potting soil, two or more mini plants or herbs, gravel for pathways/mulch, small flat stones for stepping stones, mini ceramic tiles for patios, and one fairy.

You may want to bring: any other accessories or plants that you wish to place in your fairy garden, such as a fairy house (fairies like their houses made out of natural materials), miniature garden furniture, a small mirror for a pool (fairies do like to admire themselves!), some homemade gates/arbors/ fences from Popsicle or other sticks, extra fairies to keep each other company, any special mini plants you like, etc. Fairies do love herb gardens, so an herb that you can prune like a tree would be great to bring. Get great ideas from the websites below!

Pre-registration is required so we know how much material to get for you. Please contact Kris by May 7^th if you are coming. Wear casual clothing as we just may get dirty! If it is raining, we will pot up in the garage.

Some websites for fun perusing:

twogreenthumbs.com (a Seattle nursery with great ideas)

miniature-gardens.com/fairy-garden (Enchanted Gardens website)

finefairyhouses.com (a Minnesota company)

summerspastfarms.com (cute metal furniture)

thefairysgarden.com (Wayzata, MN.)

fairygardens.com

faeriemagazine.com

veronicasdollhouse.com

bjcraftsupplies.com/miniatures (check their furniture and garden)

herbcompanion.com/articles/02_03_05fairies

. . . and on, and on, and on . . .

Miniature gardens websites:

 http://www.miniplantkingdom.com

 http://www.miniforest.com

 http://www.northwindhorticulture.com

 http://www.mnhosta.org

 http://www.hosta.org

 http://www.heirloomroses.com

 http://www.johnsminiatureroses.com

 http://www.heirloomroses.com

 http://www.monrovia.com

 http://www.daylilies.org

 http://home.earthlink.net/~darrellpro

 http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/plants/2007sp_epimedium.html

 http://www.gardensofricecreek.com (Design /Build)

 http://www.hiddenspringsflowerfarm.com (Harvey Buchite 2009)

 http://www.stepables.com

Pam’s Cauliflower Potato Vichyssoise

1 head of cauliflower cut up in florets
1 large potato pealed and diced small
6 or 8 green onions, use white part only, diced
5 or 6 celery stalks, use whitest parts only, diced
2 tables of olive oil or butter or mix
white pepper
salt
nutmeg
3 cups chicken stock
¼ cup plain unsweetened yogurt
1/3 cup of sour cream

Sauté the green onion and celery in the olive oil/butter in large sauce pan
Add potato and cauliflower, salt, white pepper, nutmeg (to taste—you can add more later)
Add chicken stock
Simmer covered until cauliflower and potatoes are tender (12 to 15 minutes)
Puree in blender (don’t over pack blender) let cool a bit first
Return to pan
Blend the sour cream and yogurt and add to the puree
Season to taste with pepper, salt and nutmeg

Serve slightly warm, at room temp or cold. Fabulous summer soup.

February 2009 Meeting Minutes

Thursday, February 12, 2009

The Burnett Garden Club met at 7PM Thursday evening, February 12, 2009 at Grantsburg High School. There were 13 members and 2 guests in attendance: Jane Bell, Yvonne Bergman, Rosemary Burkman, Janet Byers, Mary Charmoli, Lucille Danielson, Pam Davies, Mary Griesbach, Kris Henning, Alma Karels, Cynthia Leonard, Linnea & Rick Seume, Becky & Tim Tessman.

Secretary’s Report: Mary gave an overview of last month’s minutes, stating they had been posted in their entirety on the website. Minutes were accepted as presented with a motion by Janet seconded by Tim.

Treasurer’s Report: Becky Tessman reported a balance of $1,182.62 and her report was approved as read.

Old Business: Kris went over a detailed update on tours planning:

The tour of gardens at Tina Walker’s home arranged by Janet has been changed by request of Tina from June 11 to June 18th. Carpool from HS at 6:30 PM. This will be our regular meeting for the month of June.

June 13 – Iris & nursery tour coordinated by Kris. The optional High Tea experience at Terrace Horticultural Books for groups has been eliminated. Anyone interested in going with Kris and Pam should contact Kris.

July 16 – community garden tour coordinated by Janet. Carpool from HS at 5:30 PM. Janet is still talking with people about who will host.

July 18-19 and 25-26 – Twin Cities Pond & Landscape Tour scaled back to about 20 gardens this year.

July 26-28 – First World Travel Garden Tour in western MN. Linnea and Becky are going. Approx. $300 ea. double occ. Early registration deadline in March. They are mailing Linnea a brochure.

Spooner Twilight Tour – no date yet.

Upcoming Events:

Mar. 7 – Chisago Co. Master Gardeners Event

Mar. 14 – Isanti Co. Master Gardeners Event

Mar. 21 – Minong Northwoods School Event

Mar. 28 – Pine City Hort. Day

Apr. 4 – Barron Co. Master Gardener Event

May 16 – Spooner, Barron & Chippewa Counties Plant Sales

Nov. 14 – Herbaceous Perennial Symposium in Ames, IA

New Business:

Kris reminded us to bring interesting seeds to share and any 6-packs or other suitable seed starting containers to our next meeting, March 12. The Club will purchase seed starting soil for this use, as hopefully many of these plants will be donated to the Plant Sale in June. Mary Charmoli indicated she will be asking for ideas and donation pledges for the June 6 plant sale at next month’s meeting.

Rosemary brought a sample hose wreath and passed out a list of supplies in preparation for our April 9^th meeting. It will be posted on our website in case you did not get a copy for yourself.

Kris brought guidelines to pass out for the Fairy Garden Workshop on May 14. They will be posted on our website in case you did not get a copy for yourself.

Kris also reminded us that she forgot to enter the Container Garden Contest in our schedule book. It will be our regular August meeting, Thursday, August 13, 2009. We will meet at Seume’s cabin on Big Wood Lake between 5-6 PM for a potluck dinner as well as the contest. Begin thinking about your winning container!

At every meeting, Melinda Myers’ donated copy of “The Garden Book for Wisconsin” is available for checkout by members.

Janet acknowledged Pam for a GREAT job developing and updating our website. Thanks, Pam!

Mary Griesbach was the featured speaker for the evening, having prepared an interactive presentation of growing herbs for teas. A wide variety of loose-leaf herbs were made available for personal infusions accompanied by a fine host of treats (scones with complimentary spreads, chai cookies, shortbread and tea sandwiches) prepared by Mary Charmoli. We all enjoyed the refreshments very much – thanks to the Marys! At the end of the evening, Becky and Tim presented a ‘thank you’ to Mary Griesbach which included 3 Artesian Tea Balls and the instructions on how to make them “bloom”! Mary will bring to the March meeting for all to experience and enjoy. She is also appreciative of the gift certificate to Village Floral!

Our next scheduled meeting is Thursday, March 12, 2009 where we will be starting seeds for the upcoming gardening season. Refreshments will be provided by Pam Davies and Wanda Biorn.

My apologies for errors and any information that was inadvertently omitted.

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Griesbach

February 12 Meeting

We will be meeting at Grantsburg High School, room 111 at 7pm on Thursday, February 12 for a tea party!

Mary G. will be presenting "Growing Herbal Teas" and co-hosting with Mary C. a tea party!

We will also be updating the tours planning.

Hope to see you all there.