4/08/2009

April Meeting Postponed One Week

Due to numerous scheduling conflicts, the Easter holiday and the closing of the school for the holiday break, we will be meeting on the following Thursday, April 16 at 7:00--we apologize for the last minute change. Rosemary will be conducting the hose wreath workshop as planned. We hope this works for everyone.

If you have any questions contact Kris at henning@grantsburgtelcom.net

Happy Easter to everyone.

3/16/2009

MEETING MINUTES, Thursday, March 12, 2009

The Burnett Garden Club met at 7PM Thursday evening, March 12, 2009 at Grantsburg High School. There were 6 members and 1 guest in attendance: Ruth Anderson, Jane Bell, Wanda Biorn, Mary Charmoli, Pam Davies, Mary Griesbach and Kris Henning.

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 Mary C. seconded by Wanda. Mary also brought an Artesian Tea Ball demonstration for the evening.

Treasurer’s Report: There was no treasurer’s report due to the absence of Becky Tessman.

Old Business: Kris reported that Janet has arranged for 3 hosts for our community garden tour in July thus far: Mary Griesbach, Mary Charmoli and Virginia Hennessey. We noted that all these gardens are north of Highway 70! Janet hopes to arrange for more gardens for the tour.

New Business:

Mary Charmoli is this year’s Plant Sale Chairman, the sale being held on the Saturday of Big Gust Days weekend, June 6, 2009 8-noon or until sold out. Set-up will begin at 6:30. Mary will send out an email reminder of the needs to pull this together and how various members can contribute plants, time, other items or all of the above.

Kris reviewed an article in the current issue of Northern Gardener magazine about the best new annuals for 2009.

We then broke for refreshments provided by Pam and Wanda and also proceeded to share seeds, prepare soil and pots for seed planting. Everyone went home with new crops to nourish during these last days of winter and get thinking about the upcoming growing season.

Our next scheduled meeting is Thursday, April 9, 2009 when Rosemary Burkman will be teaching us how to make hose wreaths. A materials and ideas list was handed out earlier and is also available on our website. Refreshments will be provided by Tim & Becky Tessman.

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

Respectfully submitted,

Mary Griesbach

3/14/2009

Planning the plant sale

Hello Everyone!
It's that time of year again....time to begin thinking about our big fund-raiser, the Annual Plant Sale:
Saturday, June 6 (Big Gust Weekend)
Espresso Cabin
8:00 AM until Noon (Set-up at 6:30 AM)
As usual, we will need the following items to make this a success. I will be contacting specific members to ask if they will, once again, be responsible for certain tasks.
Here are the items that we need:
  • Advertising - Our Garden Club Sign (who has it?); Posters/Small signs - to make a couple posters & a few small signs to place strategically around town; Contact the newspapers
  • Canopy tent - we have one 10 x 10 and possibly a larger one
  • Sawhorses with 2 x 4's for plant displays
  • Old tables for plant displays
  • An old tarp - great backdrop for large potted plants, shrubs, large clumps of plants (like Iris, Lilies)
  • A card table for the check - out table
  • Lawn chairs (each person usually brings their own on the off chance that they get to sit down)
  • Cardboard boxes - for shoppers to take plants home in
  • Plastic Bags - Kris has these
  • Cash box & cash
  • Pens & notepads for tallying plant sales
  • Photos of plants on stakes - we have most of these from previous years but if you have something unusual or a different variety, email a photo to me or tell me the variety so I may print a photo
  • Plants: As each of you may be starting some seeds inside, consider a few extra plants to donate to the plant sale. Of course, it's early yet, but as you clean out your flower beds this spring and need to divide, pot them up and bring them along.
If you are unable to participate, please let Kris know so that your plants can be dropped off somewhere or delivered that AM

Label Guidelines -
Please label your plants with as much information as you know, even if is "Common Iris - Yellow." This is a BIG help! Also....

Pricing - generally small plants in 2" to 4" pots run $1. If the plant is larger, increase the price. As the pot and the size, quality or rarity (is that a word?) of the plant increases, then so does the price. Please use even numbers $1, $1.50, $2.00 and so forth.

Other Items - If you have other garden/nature-related items that you'd like to donate, we'd be happy to take them

Volunteers!!!! We ALWAYS need people to come, set up, staff the sale, and clean up. The sale goes quickly and it's a great time to visit with your fellow members and talk about our FAVORITE topic - gardening.

Don't forget your sunscreen and a jacket as the weather changes throughout the day.

(Remember, at the end of the sale, prices are "slashed" and you may go home with some wonderful additions for your own garden at a great price.)

I'll update you at the April 9th and May 14th meetings. Let me know what you can do to help. Anything will be appreciated!
Hope to see you there.
Mary Charmoli
715-349-8388

2/22/2009

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.


2/18/2009

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 7th 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


2/17/2009

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.

2/16/2009

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 9th 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