Great turnout at the Annual Holiday Potluck!!

We had over twenty revelers at the the 2013 Annual Holiday Potluck at the Charmoli's beautiful home on Thursday evening. I meant to count the crowd but was having too much fun to get the job done.  I did manage to get a few photos with my phone though not always in focus! Once again we outdid ourselves with tasty dishes and sweet treats! Thanks to everyone who made this a memorable affair!

And thank you so much to Mary and Jim for opening their warm and welcoming home to us.  It was a wonderful evening!

Memory Lake Park Holiday Display 2013

Check out the Burnett Garden Club holiday display at Memory Lake Park! 

Meeting Reminder, December 12, Thursday, 6:00 PM at Mary C's

One more reminder!! We will be meeting on Thursday December 12 at 6:00 PM at Mary Charmoli's at 9664 County Road D for our annual Holiday Potluck!! and first meeting of the new year!

Don't miss it!!

Details:
http://burnettgardenclub.blogspot.com/p/sign-weeding-schedule-2011.html

Map:
http://burnettgardenclub.blogspot.com/2013/11/annual-holiday-potluck-and-gift.html

Meeting Minutes, November 2013

GARDEN CLUB MEETING FOR NOV. 14, 2013

The meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm.
We have 12 members present.

The minutes from the last meeting are on the blog. No corrections noted- minutes were approved.
Treasurer's report: Balance as of end of Oct. is $1876.44.
There were a few expenses for Grantoberfest and there were some dues collected since then.
Balance as of today is $1852.48.

There was an audit of the books on Nov 12 with Georgianne, Mary G. and Janet. There are a few items to clarify, then the books will be audited again, with the same members,  before the New Year.

Old business: The garden club received a very nice Thank you card from the Grantoberfest Committee. We hope to have a booth again next year. Please think about whether or not you would be interested in setting up the booth and/or helping at the booth.

New Business: The Christmas party potluck this year will be held at the home of Jim and Mary Charmoli at 6 pm on Thursday Dec. 12.  Please sign up on a sheet on the back table to indicate what type of food you will be bringing (list will be posted on the blog, email Pam with your contribution). There is an optional exchange of gifts, also. $10 limit on the gift. Homemade items encouraged. Spouses are welcome.

The Burnett Garden Club was featured in the Grantsburg Chamber of Commerce newsletter celebrating the 25th Anniversary for the club! What a nice write up.

We have been contacted by the Spooner Advocate newspaper and they would like to feature our garden club, also.

Thank you to those who helped with cleaning up at the Welcome to Grantsburg sign: Kris, Janet and Lisa. It looks very nice.
We discussed dividing some of the plants at the sign for the plant sale next year. The plants are expanding very nicely and do need to be divided. These plants can be potted up for our plant sale. Please let Pam know if you would like to be a part of a group to meet and redesign the sign gardens in the early Spring. There was also discussion that we may want to add more Zinnias and or other annuals to the sign next Spring.

We are participating in Holiday in the Park in Grantsburg by Memory Lake again this year. We can start setting up at early as Nov. 25th. We would like to tweak our design a bit from last year. Becky T. has some additional decorations that we can use. Please let Pam know if you would like to help set up and if you have any items to add to our design. Pam will send out an email soon to let us know the date for setting up.

We need to set up a date soon for planning the events for next year. The current officers usually gather for a planning session, but all members of the club are welcome to come to the planning session. Please look for an email from Pam in the near future for the date. Kris will print up the books and try to have them ready to hand out at the Christmas party.

We did have some discussion about planting at the Grantsburg library again. We have not participated in that for awhile. We will need to find out if they have a budget to work with? Do they want us to plant and they will take care of the garden? We need to find out a few more details and then have further discussion at a future meeting.

We also discussed planting again at the Grantsburg Fairgrounds. Lisa and Audrey will talk to fair board and 4-H members. Do they just want us to choose and plant the plants and they manage it for the summer?  There will be more discussion at future meetings.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS:

PRESIDENT: Co-Presidents  Pam and Kris
VICE- PRESIDENT:  Wanda
SECRETARY:  Co-Secretaries  Lisa and Audrey
TREASURER: Georgianne

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE OFFICERS!

Meeting adjourned at 7:05 pm.

Rosemary Burkman is here to present a Wreath Making class for us. The club has provided straw and styrofoam wreaths as the base and a few members brought the items to decorate the wreaths. Thank you so much for your presentation and assistance, Rosemary.

Submitted by Janet Byers

Annual Holiday Potluck and gift exchange 6:00 PM, Thursday, Dec 12 2013!!

View Larger Map

We will be having the annual holiday potluck on Thursday December 12 at 6:00 PM at Mary Charmoli's at 9664 County Road D.  (See map above-click on the minus sign to get a distance view.)

We have an optional $10.00 gift exchange. Bring a wrapped gift and participate in the dice game!! Homemade and hand crafted items encouraged.

Spouses welcome!!

Wondering what to bring?  Check out the sign up sheet to see what is still needed!  http://burnettgardenclub.blogspot.com/2013/11/holiday-potluck-sign-up-sheet.html

Anyone who wants to carpool from Grantsburg can meet at Pam's house at 5:30 -- 216 N Pine St.

Anyone else who needs a lift, let me know and I will help arrange a ride.

Hope to see you all there!

Holiday Potluck Sign-up sheet

The Holiday Potluck will be held at Mary Charmoli's (directions in another post)

Please sign up for  the type of dish you are planning to bring so we don't get too much of one thing!!

Hors d'oeuvers (pre-meal munchies): Rosemary, Kris (cheese plate), Georgianne (deviled eggs)

Enters: Kris

Side dishes (potatoes, rice, etc): Jennifer (chicken tortellini salad)

Vegie: Lisa

Salad: Rosemary, Pam

Dessert: Audrey, Susan A.

Beverages: Tim and Becky (3 bottles of wine and 3 bottles of sparkling pear juice),

Candy and cookies:  Lucille, we are counting on your--Rick is for sure!
Jolene (cookies)

Whatever (don't know yet):

The club will reimburse Mary C for paper products (plates, napkins, flatware, cups, etc)

Email Pam if you wish to add your name to the list (pameladavies @ yahoo.com)

Even the creatively challenged can succeed with capable guidance!

We had a good turnout for the November meeting of the garden club and got lots of work done!!

Our roster of officers for 2014

Co-presidents: Pam Davies and Kris Henning
Vice President: Wanda Biorn
Co-Secretaries: Lisa Slater and Audrey Edmunds!! This is a first for the club, co-secretaries!
Treasurer: Georgianne Kleiss!

Thank you to all the new officers. We will schedule a planning committee meeting to meet prior to the December Holiday Potluck. Note: anyone who is interested can join the planning committee so if you are a natural at organizing and planning, come join us!

Rosemary guided us in creating some fun and creative wreathes for fall and holiday display. Even Pam, who hasn't got a create bone in her body where crafts are concerned, came up with a really fun wreath!

Thanks Rosemary for helping us create some wonderful wreaths! Jolene and Jennifer--send me pictures of your wreaths so I can display them on the blog!!

Watch for the minutes of the meeting in subsequent posts!! See you at the Holiday pot luck.

2014 Officers

Co-presidents-Pam Davies 715-463-4289 Grantsburg pameladavies@yahoo.com and Kris Henning 715-689-2333 Frederic henning@grantsburgtelcom.net
Vice-President-Wanda Biorn 320-358-3858 Rush City, Mn
Co-secretaries-Lisa Slater and Audrey Edmunds
Treasurer-Georgianne Kleiss, 715-463-3343 Grantsburg georgianne@kleissgears.com
Historian-Lucille Danielson, 715-689-2288 Grantsburg lumd@grantsburgtelcom.net
Notification and blog admin-Pam Davies 715-463-4289 Grantsburg pameladavies@yahoo.com

Meeting Minutes, October 2013

Burnett Garden Club 25th Anniversary celebration October 10, 2013
                   
We had our meeting outside at Pam's. She had a wonderful bonfire going foŗ us to enjoy. We had a terrific potluck dinner. We had 10 members present: Pam, Janet, Nori, Jim, Kris, Wanda, Audrey, Lisa, Georgianne and Rosemary. The meeting started at 7:10 pm.  The minutes from the previous meeting were approved.

Treasurer's report   As of tonight we have $1861.44 . We had expenses for Grantoberfest for gas cards, prizes and the Sentinel newspaper. We gained 3 new members at Grantoberfest. We took in $15 for the new members.

New business  We are required to audit our books once a year. Janet and Mary G. have agreed to meet with Georgianne in November to audit the books.

We have 3 new members - two of them are present tonight. We want to welcome Audrey Edmunds, Lisa Slater, and Denise. Lisa and Audrey came tonight.

Do we want to start planting the containers at the Fairgrounds again? Lisa and Audrey will speak to the 4H groups to see if they would water the plants if we put them in. More discussion at the next meeting.

We need to clean up at the Welcome to Grantsburg sign. Please show up the sign on October 26th at 5:30 pm.

We will need to discuss Holiday in the Park at the November meeting. Set up is usually around Thanksgiving weekend. Any volunteers to help with it?

We had a wonderful booth at the Grantoberfest. It was a huge success. The booth was decorated beautifully. We had many visitors who stopped by. We drew names for prizes every one half hour. We should discuss if we want to make this an annual event for the club. If so, we need to form a planning committee for the next Grantoberfest.

We will be holding our elections at the November meeting. Wanda has agreed to be the VP. Pam has agreed to be President again only if she can have a co-president. We also have openings for treasurer and secretary.

We will be having a wreath making class at our November meeting. Rosemary will do the presentation. The club will furnish the frame for the wreath. Rosemary passed out hand outs at the meeting tonight which shows what you need to bring with to make your wreath. More info to come from Pam. Alma and Cynthia are signed up for refreshments.

Our Christmas party will be held at the home of Mary and Jim Charmoli. We always do a potluck dinner and we have a great time. Please sign up for the potluck at the November meeting.

Meeting adjourned about 8:15.

Thanks,
Janet

Thank you for a great job on the Grantsburg sign!!

A big thank you to Janet, Kris and new member Lisa for the great job cleaning up the Grantsburg sign!! This will really help next spring when we replant the sign.

Kris and Janet suggest that the gardens could use a bit of revamping in the spring. Ideas for what we might do will be added to the November agenda. Becky divided some things this past spring which we sold off at the garden club plant sale. We might keep this in mind when planning what changes we want to make.

Again, thank you to Janet, Kris and Lisa!!

Heads up on November 14 wreath making workshop--what to bring!!

Rosemary Burkman will be conducting a wreath making workshop at our November 14th meeting.  We will need to provide the supplies ourselves.  The Garden Club will be providing 10 bare wreaths for the Workshop.  If you want to do more than one wreath, you will need to provide your own. Walmart has the bare wreaths available. 

Rosemary passed out the handouts at the last meeting.  Items needed for creating our wreathes are listed on the handout. 

If you did not get the handout, here is a link to view it online.

http://www.mommylovescoffee.com/2011/10/diy-halloween-ribbon-wreath-tutorial.html

We should bring hot glue guns, glue sticks, wire cutters, ribbon and whatever else we want to put on our wreaths. Rosemary will demonstrate how to put the wreaths together.

If a few of us have glue guns, and wire cutters we can work in teams and share these (I have a glue gun and a number of wire cutters I will bring).  Bring what you can of the tools and we will all share.  

Thrift stores are great places to get ribbon. I will bring what I have and am open to sharing. 

This should be a fun workshop!! 

25 years of sharing our love of gardening celebrated!!

Ten members came together tonight to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Burnett Garden Club with a weenie roast, pot luck meeting. 

The windy day threatened to put the kibosh on the bonfire but at 6 PM winds died and the fire came to life!! 

As members gathered the sumptuous selections grew! New members Audrey and Lisa joined Pam, Nori, Jim, Wanda, Janet, Kris, Georgianne and Rosemary for a fun evening. We all marveled at the weather and what a wonderful evening for a lawn party. 

The meeting took place after dark, around the fire, Pam struggling to read her notes!!

Founding member, Kris recalled the inception of the club and the first meeting around her kitchen table. Did any of those first member guess we'd be celebrating them 25 years later?! 

 Audrey brough a delicious spinach, strawberry and almond salad.

 Audry, Wanda, Janet, Kris, Nori and Jim 

Janet under the canope 

The fire blazed mightily then died down to lovely hot coals, perfect for roasting marshmallows!

Very Sad, Linders is closing their doors.

I saw this report on the news last night and on Facebook today. Linders is closing their doors. From truck farm to serving the gardening needs of St. Paul and well beyond, Linders has been an institution for over 100 years. What a loss to a community. We have to love our on Wood River Garden Store and keep it going by spending our dollars there. We do not want to ever be without it. I'm heading over there tomorrow to buy some shrubs before the weather turns!!

http://www.startribune.com/local/east/227092611.html

Meeting Reminder, October 10, Thursday, 6:30 PM at Pam's

Celebrating our 25th Anniversary!!

October 10, Thursday, 6:30 PM 

We are celebrating our 25th Anniversary with a bonfire and weenie roast. 

Where? 216 North Pine Street, far east side yard. You can park at the end of Brad Street where it dead ends at our yard just north of Fiedler Ford and the ambulance garage. You will see the bonfire (unless it is too windy then I will bring the grill down).

I will have hot dogs, buns and condiments, potato chips, and a cake!! Chris is bringing a cheese tray and some spiced wine!!  Everyone, bring what you would like to share for our weenie roast or just bring yourself!!    


Hope to see you there!

Meeting Minutes, September 2013

BURNETT GARDEN CLUB MEETING SEPT 12, 2013

Meeting was called to order at 6:40pm

Members present::
Nori, Janet, Pam, Georgianne, Mary G., Mary C., Teresa, Wanda and Linnea.
Guests who became members tonight:: Jennifer Doornink and Jolene Meyer.
Welcome new members!

Pam read a nice poem to start the meeting. The last meeting was in May, which was the Tea Party at the home of Jesse Byers. 
There are no minutes from that meeting, as the secretary was one of the hostesses of the party and was not able to take notes.

Treasurer's report::  In July we had $2083 minus expenses for the planting party. In Aug. we had $2029.48 minus expenses for the picnic and container garden/ cut flowers competition at the cabin of Linnea Seume and family. Monetary prizes were given to the first and second place winners.  We had a wonderful time visiting and had great food, too. As of today, we now have $1946 in our account.

The speaker for our October meeting has been cancelled at the request of some of the club members. We now have no program for the Oct. meeting. Any suggestions??

Pam has invited members to come to her home on Oct. 10th at 6:30pm 
for the celebration of our garden club's 25th Anniversary. If the weather allows, we could have a bon fire and pot luck meal. Thanks so much Pam!!!!!

We are collecting dues for the next year. Still just $5.00. What a deal!  If you would like to order the Northern Gardener magazine, that is still $37.00. Please pay Georgianne for dues and magazines.

Our club will have a booth at Grantoberfest. Please let Pam know if you can help at the booth.

Does anyone know where the Club brochures have gone? We will need to order new ones from the Sentinel soon.

Committee reports:
Plant sale  $736.50 proceeds minus $114.50 for soil and potting expenses. Profit for the club was $622.00 .

Would we like to participate in Holiday in the Park again this year? We will discuss further at the next meeting. Pam is willing to chair the committee.

Officers will need to meet this fall to plan the book for the club for next year. Please provide your suggestions to any of the club officers. Kris will print the booklets when info is ready.

Mary and Jim Charmoli will host the Christmas party this year.  Thank you so much Jim and Mary!

Sign up sheets will be passed around for the next couple of meetings. Please sign up for the committees you would like to help with.

We need to hold election of officers in November. We will need a new President, Secretary and Treasurer. Wanda is willing to be Vice President.

We have plants here for our annual plant and seed exchange. A nice selection.

Tonight's program is: Gathering Wild Materials for Natural Decor. Mary Griesbach is presenting.

Thank you Mary for providing wonderful examples of the items we could pick, dry and use for our arrangements. She also gave us a nice and informative hand out.  Very nice presentation.

Refreshments were provided by Linnea and Becky T.

Meeting adjourned.

Respectfully submitted by Janet B.

Fun at Grantoberfest and 5 new members this month!!

Our first year at Grantoberfest was a lot of fun and a great way to let everyone know that Burnett Garden Club is celebrating  our 25th anniversary! Thank you to Georgianne for spearheading this effort to get our face out in public!

We displayed some of our workshop projects from the past few years. Thank you to Mary for letting us use her twig trellis, willow trivet and hypertufa planter. Georgianne brought dried autumn foliage and Pam brought wheat weaving ornaments as well as an autumn bouquet.  

We held drawings throughout the day and gave out a number of prizes!! 

It was fun to see some faces from the club. Alma was there as was Jim (minus Nori) to mention a few.  

The club acquired 3 new members at Grantoberfest.  With the addition of new members Jennifer and Jolene  at the September meeting, we have 5 new members in September.  Yippee!!

Burnett Garden Club at Grantoberfest Saturday, September 21!!

Come and see us at Grantoberfest!!  

The 5th Annual Grantoberfest will be held Saturday, September 21 from 10am-4pm at the Grantsburg Fairgrounds.

It is FREE to attend and there are tons of free activities for people of all ages. We hope you plan to attend and bring the whole family! For a list of events, please visit our website: www.grantoberfest.com.

Here are some of the highlights:
·         New: Corn Cob 5k (9am) and 1K Family Fun Run (10:30am) – sign up online at www.grantsburgfitnesscenter.com
·         New: Corn Maze at Burnett Dairy – free admission on the 21st and 22nd of September. Open weekends through the end of October with proceeds going to local 4-H and FFA groups.
·         Kid Zone with inflatable obstacle course, bounce house, sand box, sawdust pile, bubbles, football toss, Twister, tug of war and more! All free!
·         Kid’s activities: clown (10am-Noon), face painting, corn box, Great Pumpkin Contest, pumpkin bowling, temporary tattoos, high striker, bean bag toss, ring toss, and many more arts, crafts and activities.
·         Fun for the family: hay rides, Tracasaurus rides, paintball shooting practice, water balloon toss, cow milking contest, mini golf, petting zoo, kickball tournament (pre-register at Community Bank or on our website), pie auction, “tours” of police cars, an ambulance and fire trucks.
·         Food vendors: pizza, hamburgers, brats, hot dogs, mini donuts, homemade bread, baked goods, cotton candy, sno cones, kettle corn, popcorn, cheese, kettle corn, coffee, beverages
·         Additional businesses and non-profits with information, and vendors selling jewelry, kitchenware, candles, cleaning products, totes/bags, paintings, dips/mixes and children’s books.  (and the garden club!!)

Looking for a way to get involved? We need volunteers (www.grantoberfest.com/volunteer) and donations of pies and bars for the Grantsburg Dollars for Scholars fundraiser (www.grantoberfest.com/pie-auction).

Grantoberfest is hosted by the Grantsburg Area Chamber of Commerce and is supported by the following premier sponsors: Grand Casino, The Pizza Place, Indianhead Credit Union, Burnett Medical Center, Community Bank and Burnett Dairy Cooperative.

Visit our website www.grantoberfest.com for more information. It’s going to be another great year for Grantoberfest! See you on the 21st! Questions? Contact Nicki Peterson at 715-463-5988 or info@grantsburgchamber.com.

Meeting Reminder, Thursday September 12, 6:30 PM Grantsburg High School

We are back to our regular meetings at the High School, room 111.

This is our annual plant exchange so bring what you have to share.  Plants and seeds!!

Program: Gathering and Using Natural Materials for Fall/Winter decorating, Mary Griesbach! Mary always does a fantastic presentation.

Business: Dues for next year, signup for refreshments, brainstorm for program ideas for 2014! Nominate new officers!!  Yikes, the year goes by so fast!

Refreshments: Becky and Linnea

Hope to see you there!

Prepare for the September presentation

Here is a message from Mary Griesbach who will be presenting in September on Gathering and Using Natural Materials for Fall/Winter Decorating! 

This is an advance "head's up" for our September presentation on gathering and using natural and wild materials for decorating: NOW is the time to collect CATTAILS! (Typha latifolia and Typha angustifolia) The ditches and marshes are still fairly dry and easy to access. Cut long stems in bunches and then bring inside a garage or shed to dry. You can hang them upside down, but it's not necessary. I just have mine upright in a 5 gallon bucket. If you wait until after the September meeting, it might be too late because the brown cattail heads will start to explode. Even if they're not exploding, they are so mature that they won't set up well for you and will disintegrate prematurely.

Another plant to gather NOW are stems of the yellow-blooming TANSY (Tanacetum vulgare). Although this is a non-native plant and somewhat invasive, it does make for nice fall arrangements. Their populations are scattered and I don't know of any real strong stands in our immediate area. However, they are common along most roadways and can be really dense. These should be cut and hung upside down to dry so that their stems stay straight when they dry and stiffen. Again, if you wait until our September meeting, tansies will likely be finished blooming, so you need to get them now if you want them this fall and winter.

Hope this gets everyone excited about our fall lineup of Burnett Garden Club meetings.  Bring a friend!!

2013 Summer Potluck, delightful as usual!

Nine of us (including Linnea's mom, Shirley, and photographer Pam) attended the 2013 Summer Potluck. The food was marvelous (as usual) as was the company. We missed everyone who could not attend.  

Lucille won the prize for best container garden. Alas, hers was the only entry but it was definitely worthy of first place! 

Becky took first place in the cut flowers competition with a lovely bouquet based on two! Beautiful!

Lucille took second place in the cut flowers competition with this lovely bouquet of summer flowers. 

Here is Lucille with her two winning entries.

Thank you to Linnea and Shirley for hosting the event!

The Grantsburg sign is looking great!

Thanks to everyone who has been weeding and caring for the Grantsburg sign garden. The sign has been recently painted (a few plants got a little trampled but oh well!) so it is looking bright and beautiful. The zinneas and perennials are looking fabulous despite the dry weather. I think visitors to Grantsburg will be impressed and we can be proud of our efforts!

Annual Summer Potluck and Container Garden/Cut Flowers Competition!! Thursday, August 8, 5:30 PM

We will be having our annual Summer Potluck at the Nelson/Seume cabin on Wood Lake on Thursday, August 8, at 5:30 PM, rain or shine--and most of us wouldn't mind some rain, it's been so dry!! Last year we had a little sun shower and a double rainbow!

We will also have our Container Garden Competition with 2 prizes, first and second place. Container gardens can include fairy gardens as well as pots and hanging baskets.

We will also have our Cut Flowers in a Vase Competition, 1 prize.   

Bring a dish to share. The club will provide meat and buns. 

This is a fun event for old and new members!! Everyone welcome.

Watch this blog or your email for any changes to this event. 

Where:  11601 North Shore Drive

Directions: HWY 70 to County Road Y (west of Alpha), south to North Shore Drive (left turn), about a quarter to half mile along the North Shore Drive look for cabin with lots of cars. That will be us!

The 2013 Community Garden Tour, a great success!!

Twelve members turned out for the 2013 Community Garden Tour. 

We began at 6:00 at Pam's where we discussed the extensive storm damage of 2011 and all the changes and challenges that brought. 

We then headed to Kris's where we got to see the results of the apple and grape trimming seminar she held at her place in the spring as well as her perennial beds.  She took time out of her very busy schedule to show us around then headed back to her duties as co-chair of the 2013 American Hemerocallis Association National Convention on July 24-27.

We finished at Ruthie's extensive gardens on Little Wood Lake. Ruthie has been putting in gardens at their lake home for almost twenty years. The large sloping lot with varied sun and shade areas has given her a wonderful canvas. Ruthie has combined hardscaping and plantings throughout to create a veritable wonderland. Ruthie treated us to homemade strawberry shortcake and lemonade. Nori and Jim brought banana bread and Janet brought watermelon. We had a lovely time chatting around the fire pit enjoying a beautiful view of the lake and the great company of gardening enthusiasts! 

Thank you to everyone who made the 2013 Community Garden Tour a success!!

Sign Weeding and Community Garden Tour, Thursday July 11 beginning at 6:00

Please check the sign weeding schedule on the blog for your assigned week to weed.  Here is the link:  http://burnettgardenclub.blogspot.com/p/weeding.html

Our Community Garden Tour will consist of three gardens.  We will visit the gardens of:

Pam Davies 216 N Pine Street at 6:00 (car pool from Pam's house)
Kris Henning 22163 Spirit Lake Road E. at 6:45
Ruth Anderson 22918 Wood Lake Drive at 7:15 or so where we will have refreshments.

We need volunteers to bring refreshments.  Please let Pam know if you would like to bring a refreshment to share at Ruthie's



View Larger Map

Como Park visited by one member on a rainy day!!

I visited the Como Park Conservatory and Japanese Garden on Sunday, June 23. The morning had been rainy and remained heavily overcast yet the park was full of families. The Conservatory was as lovely and well kept as ever and the Japanese garden was peaceful and serene. There was a wonderful display of bonsai as well which is part of their permanent collection. Here are a few pictures including this amazing orchid.

Annual Plant Sale Saturday June 8

Saturday June 8 is our Annual Plant Sale to benefit the club and make possible all our activities.

We will start setting up at 6 am (sale officially starts at 8 am). We need folks to pick up plants at Kris's the night before or earlier if need be and you have a shady place to park the truck!! Becky may also need help transporting plants. Their phone numbers are in the printed Garden Club program.

Kris may also need more tables so if you have tables or sawhorses and plywood, give her a call.

If you can't come to setup, come to sell and/or to tear down and by all means come to buy!! Get first shot early or come at the end for half price left overs.  Tear down is a noon.

Hope to see you all there!!!

PS: Jim of Jim and Nori said they would make a pancake breakfast run for us!! And there is coffee and breakfast at TDawg's. We are in TDawg's parking lot again this year. Thanks TDawg's

Correction from Becky!

Becky corrected me on some of the plants she brought to the potting party. She did have plants up in her gardens after the warm spell we had the previous week.  She brought FIVE types of flowers from her home including or in addition to ferns and fringed bleeding heart. 

From the Grantsburg sign she brought latris and aster.

Last evening was so conducive to gardening that she potted up two types of grasses from the sign (13 pots). She also started two type of sunflowers from seeds (24 pot) and potted up sedum (six pots) and prim rose (six pots).

Wow!! Lets all get out there and pot like crazy!! Becky has given us a really great start!!
 
Thank you so much Becky. 

Remember, if you need pots or potting soil, contact Kris or me.

Update on Potting Party

We has a cold bluster day for the potting party. Nonetheless Kris, Nori and Jim, Mary G, and Pam arrived ready to work but without any plants! We all settled in around Kris' dining room table to drink wine and coffee, eat goodies and commiserate on our situation.... Well, the weather, you know, couldn't be helped (as my Grandmother used to say). Nothing was quite ready in any of our gardens to be dug up and separated. Even with the extra week and a couple of nice warm sunny days, the return of the cold slowed everything down again.

Then Becky arrived to save the day! Becky brought plants!

Becky spent an hour and a half cleaning up the Grantsburg sign.  She couldn't stand it looking so raggedy!. She found plants needing separating and since her garden wasn't ready to dig up yet, brought big clumps of stuff from the sign. Great thinking Becky!  We should start using the sign gardens as a space to propagate plants for our sale, mostly everything we've put in does quite well there.

We were able to pot up 70 plants from the items Becky brought.  Thank you so much Becky!!

We will need lots, lots, lots more for the sale so please, please, please set aside plants for the sale.

You can pick up premixed potting soil and pots from Kris or Pam to pot up what you have or if we get requests for another potting party we could work on setting that up.

Wonderful afternoon at the Victorian Tea Party!

Our final meeting before the summer activities schedule kicks in was an amazing afternoon in a Victorian wonderland! I knew that Teresa, Carrie, Janet and Molly were going to make this event spectacular but they went way beyond!! We all had a great time. Everything was beautiful and the food was fabulous! Thank you to these very talented women. We are so lucky to have you in our club!

Snowed in on April 19, 2013, Potting Party pushed back to Thursday May 9th

Last week we had the Wood River Garden Center preview and had hopes for spring, today we are buried in 15 inches of snow.

Now that we know Big Gust Days and our Annual Plant Sale are pushed back a week to June 8, we will go ahead a push back the Potting Party at Kris' to Thursday, May 9th. Hopefully the extra week will bring enough of a warm up so we can see what our gardens have in abundance for spring.

We will wait to see what happens in early May and will decide about pushing back the sign planting.

Wood River Garden Center Preview 2013

We had a great turnout for the 2013 preview at Wood River Garden Center on Saturday, April 13. The air inside the greenhouse was heavenly with the dense smells of soil and new growth and that lovely humidity we've missed for the last 6 months!

Eight members and one guest were present. We welcomed new member Barb B. from Grantsburg.

Here is everyone except Pam (me) who took the picture and Barb. Now were is Barb?

There's Barb, sitting next to Alma. Be sure to introduce yourself to Barb at our next meeting or event. Goodies were provided by Cindy K. and Kim.

We had our brief meeting before the tour on the comfy deck inside the Garden Center. Dean brought us all coffee to have with our goodies.

After the meeting Dean began by asking what we wanted to concentrate on this year. Of course we said everything!! 

Dean led us to the "chicken coop" to show us his latest experiments with grafting hybrid tomatoes onto wild tomato stock. The extensive root system of the wild stock give added vigor to the hybrid tomato. The new graft will appear to be failing at first. It will droop and look pretty sad but will rebound once the shock period has passed, that is, if the graft is successful!

Click on the pictures to get a larger view.

Notice that some of the grafts are drooping while others are rebounding nicely. Dean uses special clips to hold the grafted  tops in place. An angle cut is used and must be matched in order for the two ends to make good contact. 

Moving on to the Annuals!

Thousands of plants are being propagated from plug and seeds in the green houses. With the cold weather and gray skies the plants are growing slowly.  Plants that would normally be moved outside this time of year are still indoors making for tight quarters and putting deliveries behind as well. Dean will open on schedule nonetheless!

Dean talked about more colors selections and  improved color quality in some of the annuals introduced in previous years. He is recommending New Zealand Impatiens this year to avoid the downy mold. If you love traditional impatiens, keep an eye on them and report any mold issues to Dean. Also, do not compost, any infected plants. Talk to Dean about a good fungicide to use to guard against downy mold.

Hanging pot of  the mini-petunia Lemon Slice. Best viewed up close as this is a small blossom. If you make your own handing pots, talk to Dean about the proper soil mix to use for good moisture retention. 

 Angelface Blue summer snapdragon, for great summer color

Santa Cruz Cascading Begonia with a different sort of flower, great for pots  

The Ravers Sunspot African daisy

  geranium calliope lavender rose

 osteopernum Tradewinds Yellow Improved

Moving on to the next green house. 

                                                What a shock stepping out into the cold!

It is always amazing the transformation the Garden Center goes through before opening!

evergreen begonias

Dean holding cherry cheesecake petunia. Petunias are the best sellers among annuals! 

million bells

On to the Vegie House. 

Dean discussed varieties of peppers and tomatoes for best results.If you love peppers, ask Dean about peppers that will produce well. with great colors and flavor

Small, delicious, great producer, Mountain Fresh tomato. Also try Health  Kick, meaty like a 
Roma with 50% more anti-oxidants

Cajun Belle peppers, hot and sweet, great sauteed with zucchini

Mary in the vegie house, her favorite place!

Alm and Leah discuss heucheras. Dean reommends these for foliage color as opposed to blossoms. Cut back blossoms to encourage a more luxuriant plant.

The sun broke through as we browsed the perennials! Dean, Barb, Lori with Kim in the foreground. Kim made great use of her smart phone to record information. 

Primrose viewed from between clematis vines

What a great preview. Thank you to Dean. He and his staff at Wood River Garden Center are a great resource for gardeners in our area. They are always ready with the information we need to be successful!!

Photos provided by Mary G., Pam and Kim