Another Successful Grantoberfest!!

We had another great booth for Grantoberfest this year and netted a new member--also new to the community, Cynde Kleven; a sort of new member, Adrianna Addison; and a maybe!! New members keep our club growing!!

Here are a few words for our 2017 Grantoberfest Committee Chair!

Hello from Georgianne!

First a huge Thank You to Pam and Becky for loads of help; to Janet and Kris for tables; and to all who gave so many plants and other items to help our club!  Linnea, Janet, Pam, Mary G, Becky, Kris.

Our profit was $113.  

One t-shirt for $10, 

3 members for $20, 

and one cookbook for $8; 

the remainder for plants and miscellaneous.  

Yes I am correct: 3 members for $20.

Grantoberfest was very good this year.  The weather was nearly ideal with perfect temps and just enough breeze to keep away gnats, even though our booth was close enough to the petting zoo for optimal enjoyment.  That llama was Cute!

A lot of people came by our booth.  A few shared ideas and experiences, but many wanted more information on plants: culture, types, zone issues, problems . . .  We can explore lots of ideas for future booths, programs, community projects.  And there were lots of thanks for our lovely community gardens, too.

I'd like to share the most unusual encounter -- the man who used to own 8 greenhouses, named DaVine?, east of hwy 87, just into Polk County. He grew tomatoes there. They're vacant now.  He suggested an indoor community effort that reminded me of outdoor community gardens in cities where people want to grow vegetables and more flowers but don't have space at home.  He granted heating could be challenging, but had ideas on that as well. A discussion about this would be benefited by some outreach for needs in our area first.  I didn't want to invite him to do a program for us.  Discussion later if desired.

YIG,

Georgianne

A few Photos of our 2017 Grantoberfest booth!

Thank you to Georgianne for chairing the Grantoberfest Committee!

September meeting--It's good to be back!

While we see each other often throughout the summer with all our club activities, it is good to be back to a regular meeting. On Thursday, September 14 we gathered at our usual place, room 115 of the Grantsburg High School, to get caught up on all our activities over the summer and to start our fall roster of programs and planning for 2018! We shared plants and seeds just in time for fall planting, had delicious treats thanks to Linnea and Janet, and talked about putting the garden to bed!

Kris running the meeting

Sharing plants and seeds

Yummy treats!

Here are some tips on putting the garden to bed (thanks Kris):

Fall Garden Cleanup as determined by Plant Types
Kris Henning & Becky Dickinson, WI. Master Gardeners
Grantsburg Community Education Class, 9-18-00

Herbaceous Perennials
Cut back completely to the ground in fall and rake up debris. Examples:
Astilbe
Daylily
Hosta
Monarda
Peony
Phlox, tall

Semi-Herbaceous Perennials
Cut back dead stems and upper foliage in gall, but leave basal foliage. Examples:
Black-eyed Susan
Penstemon
Shasta Daisy

Evergreen Perennials
Cut back only flower stalks or leggy growth in fall.
In spring, only cut winter-damaged foliage and prune to shape.
Basket of Gold (Aurinia saxatile)
Candytuft
Coral Bells
Pinks
Phlox, creeping

Sub-Shrub Perennials
Don’t prune in fall. In spring, wait until you see new leaves sprouting along the stems, then prune back to healthy wood, but leave at least 6” above ground.
Artemisia
Butterfly Bush (Buddleia)
Lavender
Russian Sage

Meeting Reminder, Thursday September 14, 6:30, room 115

Our first regular meeting will be held on Thursday, September 14, 6:30 PM, room 115 at Grantsburg High School.

The program for the evening is "Putting Your Garden to Bed" and will be conducted as a forum where we can share ideas about winding up the season and getting a head start on next year! We also have our Annual Plant and Seed exchange so harvest those seeds and thin you perennials and bring them to the meeting!!

Let Janet know if you have any plants you'd like to buy from her. She is bringing me an Eyeliner lily (white with black edged petals) to the meeting. Her plants are half price so let her know if you need anything. 

Here is a picture of the white lily I got from Janet a few years ago. I managed to get a picture before the deer ate the blossoms!

Refreshments will be provided by Linnea and Janet

All meetings are open to the public!

And Remember:

Grantoberfest!! is on Saturday September 16 9am to 3pm (setup before). More on that in another post.

Good Showing at the Fair!!

Sunday morning at the Grantsburg Burnett County Fair was a little wet and quiet but Georgianne and I found plenty to see. Remember, you can click on the pictures to get a larger view.

Garden Club planters at the fair were looking great

And Janet had her perennials as part of the new Farmer's Market/Craft Sale. 

Wheelbarrows!

Thanks to Charlene for letting us know about the wheelbarrow competition. Georgianne and I weren't sure whose were whose as they were not labeled so I took a group picture. 

 Group shot. They were all fun. 

Georgianne thought a red, white and blue theme
had been discussed for the club entry. 

Member Entries

Members Linnea, Becky, Rhonda and Sandy made a good showing at the fair again this year. Here are pictures of their winning entries. If I attributed any of them wrongly, please let me know so I can correct it (please not correction, additional entry now attributed correctly to Rhonda). I apologize if I missed any entries.

Sandy

Rhonda

Linnea

Becky

Congratulations to everyone who entered or were part of making the fair a fun place to enjoy the fruits of our gardening efforts!!