4/19/2013

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.

4/14/2013

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

Meeting Minutes, April 2013


Burnett Garden Club
Meeting Minutes
Date:  April 13, 2013

The meeting was called to order at 10:05 am at the Wood River Garden Center.

Eight members and one guest attended: Pam, Mary G., Cindy K., Cynthia, Alma, Leah, Lori, Kim and new member Barb Blume of Grantsburg

Secretary’s Report : Janet was not present, March meeting minutes posted on the blog were approves after motion (Cynthia) and second (Alma)

Treasurer’s Report: Georgianne was not present, no report.

Announcements: How many will be attending the Tea on May 5? Please RSVP by April 26. To prepay you can drop off payments to Mary G. on Monday and Wednesday at the Village office (Water Dept) or Tuesday and Thursday at the Fitness Center. Or you can RSVP to Teresa and pay at the door.

We would like to know how many are interested in attending the Como Park trip?  Register through Community Ed by June 10 with payment. Please let Pam know if you are planning to attend. So far we have Pam and Barb who have said they are planning to attend.

Standing Committee Reports

a. Potting party on Thursday, May 2nd @ 6 PM

  • Should this be pushed back one week to May 9th because of the late season? Check with Kris.
  • Everyone pretty much knows the drill for this—they can call Kris or Pam if they have any questions.
  • If people are bringing miscellaneous iris or plain orange daylilies, we will be stuffing more of them into each pot so we don’t have so many. Use gallon pots for these.  
  • Kris is out of business for daylilies this year, and will not have any more white plant sticks. She will see if the Flower Shop will donate some. Alma suggested white plastic knives. If anyone has any to donate, bring them to the potting party or give them so someone who is going to the potting party.
  • We need plastic gallon pots and quart pots for the potting party. 
  • Kris wants to know what people are able to bring this year. Let her know. Mary is bringing 8 (hopefully) fern type bleeding heart plants she wintered over indoors (small).
  • Can we push the potting party up a week


b. Plant Sale is on June 8th (not on the first as we thought previously)

  • Kris needs more tables for plants—she only has two 6’ tables; we need 4-5 more. Mary C not present but she usually brings tables—check with her. Pam can bring saw horses and a 4’ X 6’ piece of plywood.
  • Kris has a card table for checkout. Georgianne has the cash box and will need to get 150.00 in change (1s, 5s and 10s) 
  • We need another canopy—Kris has one 9 x 9 square and will need help setting it up; Mary Charmoli may be bringing another small one; we could maybe use a third.  Pam has a small one that has one bad pole but we can probably make it work. Anyone else?
  • We need pop/can flats or small boxes for carry-out. Dean has about 100 hard sided plastic flats that he needs to get rid of. Let him know a few days before we want them and he will bring them from home.
  • Kris can bring card stock and markers for signs, any one have other sign making supplies like paint or other sticks for holders? We discussed the importance of proper labeling and signage last year. People want to know what they are buying.
  • Have folks be sure their stuff is labeled if they are bringing it directly to the sale or that they know what it is so it can be labeled.
  • We need to print up signs to be distributed locally. We can bring some to the May Tea Party for folks to put up around town. Pam has the sign for this year, with the new date on it and may have some full color printed at CrexTechs and will hand them out at the Tea Party.
  • Chris will get in touch with the Sentinel and Village Office about getting on the lists for Big Gust events and for advertising. Suggestion from Alma (it think it was Alma, my memory is terrible) to get on the events calendar at the Sentinel a month early.
  • We will discuss the sale more at the May Tea Party. 

c. Sign Planting:

  • Plants ordered from Wood River Garden Center: 16 large zinneas, 12 small. Dean has them growing already!! 
  • Should we push this back a week due to the late spring?
  • Need to find out about the soaker hose and will Tim be handling watering and about mulching, who has provided the mulch and done the mulching in the past.
  • Weeding schedule posted on blog. Pam explained the sign planting project to new member Barb, will add her to the weeding schedule. 

Old Business: already discussed.

New Business: none

Any Other Business: none

The meeting was adjourned at 10:25 with a motion and second from Alma and Kim

Wonderful scones were provided by Cindy K. and Kim brought delicious raspberry and lemon bars.  Thanks so much. And thank you Kim for stepping in with treats for Sue who could not make the meeting.  The annual Pre-season tour of the Wood River Garden Center was conducted superbly by Dean. Thank you so much to Dean for sharing his expertise with us.

Meeting minutes respectfully submitted by Pam Davies. Please advise if corrections are needed.

4/11/2013

Azaleas! It's spring in Tyler Texas! Member travel photos...

I am always excited to receive emailed photos of member's travels to gardens across the country  Here are photos from Yvonne who traveled to Tyler, Texas to photograph these amazing azalea gardens!!  Thanks for sharing your fabulous photos with us, Yvonne.















4/08/2013

2013 Grantsburg Sign Weeding Schedule


The Grantsburg sign planting this year will be on May 30th at 5:30 pm. Bring your favorite tilling tool and work gloves!  We will clean up the beds and plant zinneas!

Here is the schedule for Weeding the Grantsburg Sign this summer.  Feel free to trade dates as you need to.  Coordinate with your partner (s) as you like--go together or each take half the garden. Phone numbers and email addresses are in the program booklet.

June 16  - 22     Kris Henning and Lucille Danielson
June 23 -  29   Mary Griesbach, Noriko Katzmark and Jacki Bedworth
Jun 30  -  July 6   Pam Davies and Wanda Bjorn
July 6 -   July13   Georgianne Kleiss and Lori MacKean
July 14 - 20         Becky and Tim Tessman
July 21 - 27         Teresa Halls and Rosemary Burkman
July 28 - Aug 3       Janet Byers and Alma Karels
Aug 4  -  Aug 10      Carrie Byers and Sue Augustine
Aug 10 - Aug 16      Linnea and Rick Seume
Aug 17 - Aug 23      Mary Charmoli and Cindy Kollars

If I have missed anyone, please let me know and I will add you to the team of your choice!!

Meeting Minutes, March 14, 2013


10 members present for the meeting- Pam, Jackie, Becky, Mary G, Sue, Rosemary, Janet, Teresa, Kris and Georgianne.

Meeting called to order at 6:35 pm
Minutes from the previous meeting are online for review. Kris moved to approve the minutes, motion was seconded by Janet.

Treasurer's report:  $1693.27   There were no new expenses and no new income.

Sue A. brought lovely daffodils to sell for a fund raiser for the Cancer Society.

New Business:
Our annual fund raiser is our Plant Sale. The sale is on June 1 at TDawgs parking lot at the Mall. Set up is at 6:30am.  We still need volunteers to work the sale.

Plant Potting party is at Kris's home on Thursday May 2 at 6pm. Please bring quart and gallon size pots with you, as well as the clumps of plants to be potted up for the sale.  Kris will take care of the plants until the sale.

The Welcome to Grantsburg sign planting is Thursday May 30 at 5:30pm. We still need volunteers to help with that project. Janet B. will purchase a container of Osmocote for the planting. The club will order 16 large Zinnias and 12 small Zinnias from Wood River Garden Center. Kris may have a small container of Osmocote to use, also.

Weeding schedule needs to be set up. Janet made a motion to have Pam set up the schedule. We don't need to weed for at least the first two weeks after planting. If you are set up for a week that won't work for you, you may ask another club member to switch with you.

Look in your Community Education flyer for details about the bus trip to Como Park Conservatory and Japanese garden on Sunday June 23. The cost is $40 per person which will include a coach bus ride and a tour of the Japanese gardens and time to look around at the Zoo. Please sign up soon. Lunch will be on your own.

Our April meeting will have a change from our usual Thursday meetings. We will meet on Saturday April 13 at 10am at the Wood River Garden Center on Hwy. 70. Dean will give us a tour and show us what is NEW for this year. Will be lots of fun.

Meeting adjourned at 6:50. Refreshments provided by Pam and Georgianne.

Our presenter this evening is Jackie Bedworth.  She will show us how to make our own Garden Globe out of willow. Jackie brought all of the items needed for the project. Let's get started.....  We each created wonderful and unique garden globes to take home to decorate our garden, if it ever warms up. Thank you so much, Jackie, for your expertise and guidance. We had so much fun. It is not easy to do and each one looked different.

Submitted respectfully by Janet B.

4/05/2013

Meeting Reminder, Saturday, April 13, 10 AM at Wood River Garden Store


We will be meeting on Saturday, April 13, at 10:00 AM the Wood River Garden Store 
  • Program:  Dean of Wood River Garden Store will give us a tour and show us what is new for spring!! 
  • Agenda:  Sign planting, plant sale, potting party, quart and gallon pots needed! 
  • Refreshments:  ? and Cindy. 

A number of people will be unable to attend due to work obligations and trips out-of-town. Please let me know if you will be attending.  

We need someone to bring refreshments with Cindy as Sue will not be available that day.