May 11 meeting Mercer Garden Club

Buds & Blossoms Mercer Garden Club Newsletter May 2009

Message from the President

What a beautiful spring we are having.  My strawberries are blooming. I am picking lettuce that seeded itself in the containers in my garden.   I just got back from walking around the courthouse square. I took some pictures of the lovely tulips and daffodils blooming in our beds. 

   Thank you to everyone who has contributed to our raffles by donating items and buying tickets.  Thank you, Emmie and Chris, for putting together the April program on Daffodils.  Thank you to Pam and Alice for being hostesses and to Nancy Connelly and Monica for helping and bringing cookies. 

      I have been working in my garden every day dividing plants and potting some up for our annual spring plant exchange. I hope you are potting some up too.  Some of my favorite garden plants have come from our plant exchanges.  Thank you for sharing your gardens with all of us. 

  I am looking forward to our field trip on May 16 to Fellowship Riverside Gardens.  We will meet at 9 am at the United Methodist Church to car pool. 

    Our May meeting will be at Brandy Springs Community Building. Please bring your garden gloves and tools to help clean up the beds.  With everyone working last year we were able to do this job in less than an hour. 


    May Meeting Agenda 
 Short Business meeting. Treasurer & Committee reports 
 Review plans for the uptown planting the week of May 18-22. 
 Raffle 
 Arbor Day Trees will be distributed to members. 
 Spring plant exchange. 
 Work Session to clean up the beds at the community building.





  
April 2009 Minutes

A brief business meeting was held after the Program on Daffodils by Steve and Sarah Zolock. A correction was made to the March Minutes, correcting Nancy Griffith to Nancy Griffin.  Also the omission of the dates for the Uptown planting and the planting of the Gateway Gardens.  Minutes approved by motion of Natalie Shipton, seconded by Pam Rodemoyer.

Diana Jackal announced that the trees would be available for Arbor Day later this month.  She will have them available for distribution to the members at the May meeting.
The committee meeting will be held at the Mexican Restaurant in Greenville on Monday 4/13/2009.
More information of our next Field Trip will be next month.
Our next meeting will be our annual Plant Exchange and planning session for the Uptown Planting.
Happy May Birthday t.... 5 Arlene Peter Nancy Connelly
21 Shirley Koegler
On the Web: Vegetable Gardening
Thanks to Nancy Connelly submitting the following information on companion planting, found on the Park Seed website.
In May or June when soil has warmed, plant 5 or 6 corn seeds in a flat-topped mound 1 foot tall and 2 feet across. Space mounds 3 or 4 feet apart.
About two weeks later after corn reaches about 5 or 6 inches high, plant 6 to 8 pole bean seeds around the edges of the mound with a bit of Nature’s Aid to help them fix nitrogen.
One week or so after planting the beans, plant 6 to 8 squash seeds around the base of the mound, on flat ground.
After everything begins growing, thin the plantings to 2 or 3 corn stalks, each with no more than 2 bean plants winding around it.

Club News
Jack Hauser will have heart surgery at the Cleveland Clinic on May 21. We all wish Jack complete success and a quick recovery!

April’s Daffodil Program

Steve and Sarah Zolock presentation, “Daffodils in the Landscape” was enjoyed by Mercer Garden Club members as well as many guests, including Master Gardeners and visitors from Edinboro, Meadville, Greenville and more.

The Zolocks covered the parts of the daffodil, the system of classifications and daffodil divisions and cultivars. The technical aspects were interesting on their own and kept even more so by the excellent 20 page hand out, slides, daffodil blooms from their own gardens and warm, lively anecdotes. The program concluded with additional daffodil slides and a question and answer period.

• Bury your bulbs in plastic strawberry cartons and add sand, which will help prevent voles from
reaching the bulbs.

• Fan vases are great for displaying daffodils

• Feed your bulbs every year

• Oak leaves make a good mulch

• To divide a clump of daffodils, use a garden fork and lift the clump in late July. Let dry. Divide,
discarding any soft bulbs, bag and mark, keep in a cool dry place and finally, plant in the fall.

• Among the many “must have” daffodils the Zolocks mentioned:
Sir Winston Churchill (very fragrant)
Decoy (white and pink)
Mission Bells (a white Triandrus daffodil…Triandrus daffodils have blooms that hang like bells and
there are usually two or more blooms per stem.)
Silver Charms (a white Tazetta…Tazettas usually have more than three florets on a stem and are very
fragrant.)

• Galanthamine, a tertiary alkaloid extracted for snowdrops, is approved in over forty countries for the
symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease. A company in Wales is working on supplying this
product from Narcissus, which will make Galanthamine more affordable.


The Zolocks also have 2,000 daylilies! They welcomed us to come visit in July. The Zolock Gardens website is HYPERLINK "http://zolockgardens.com/" http://zolockgardens.com/



Steve and Sarah Zolock, with just a sample of “Pittsburgh Someplace Special”, bred in Oregon
the daffodil blossoms they brought from their and among the sample blooms.
collection, to show and give away after the program.


Recipe… Thanks to Jack Hauser for submitting this recipe!

Jill’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup Butter-flavored Crisco 1/2 cup Butter, softened
1 cup Brown sugar, packed 1 cup Sugar
2 Eggs 1 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 tsp. Salt 1 tsp. Baking soda
1 tsp. Baking Powder 3 cups Flour (pref. low gluten or cake flour)
6 oz. Semi-sweet chocolate chips 6 oz. Milk chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Blend the Crisco, butter and sugars. Add the eggs, vanilla and salt. Mix the flour, baking soda and baking powder and add to the butter mixture in thirds. Stir in chips. Refrigerate the dough overnight or at least for four hours.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop 3/4 full ice cream scoopfuls of the dough on to the parchment paper, pressing the dough down slightly. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. Makes two dozen cookies. The dough can be mixed up and stored in the refrigerator or freezer for later use.
Calendar for May


May 9 Master Gardener Plant Sale 9:00 a.m. – 1 p.m. 4 H Park Exhibit Bldg. Route 19,
Mercer.

May 11 Mercer Garden Club meeting at Brandy Springs 7:00 p.m. Business meeting and
spring clean up at Brandy Springs. Bring your tools and gloves.

May 16 Mercer Garden Club Field Trip Fellowship Riverside Gardens. Meet at 9 a.m. at the
church to car pool to the Gardens.
 
May 16 Garden Mart in the Park 9 a.m.- 2 p.m.  Plants, Crafts, Master Gardeners, Food. 
Grove City Memorial Park.
 
May 16 Garden Party 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Outdoor gardening exhibits. Main Street, Volant

May 19 A Spring Double Feature: “Native Plants in the Landscape”, “Bird Feeding 101”
Munnell Run Farm 7:00 pm Phone 724.662.2242 for more information.

May 21 Herb Container Gardening 101 7-9 p.m. Plant’s Herb Farm, 104 S. Foster Rd, Mercer.
$15. Pre-registration required. Phone 724.301.3273.

May 23 Wildflower Walk McConnells Mill State Park, Portersville, 10a.m.-12p.m. A botanist
Carnagie Museum will lead the walk. Meet at Hell’s Hollow parking lot (no facilities),
which is about a 15 min. drive from the old mill. The half-mile hike is easy walking.
You are welcome to bring a sack lunch to enjoy after the hike. See HYPERLINK "http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/Calendar/view_event.asp?CalendarID=8954&Location=List" http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/Calendar/view_event.asp?CalendarID=8954&Location=List
for more information.

May 27 & 28 Moss Basket Workshop Cottage Gardens, 6 p.m.; $45. Phone 724.981.2911
for reservations.
 
May 31 Container Class DJ’s Greenhouse 1:00. 1004 East Lake Rd. Transfer. $25 Phone
724.962.1230 for reservations (Limited to 20)

Cottage Gardens offers a Nursery Walk at 9 a.m. every Saturday in May.




The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind.
But the goodness of a person spreads in all directions.
Chanankya