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Essex & District
Horticultural Society Newsletter for
January 24, 2007
In this issue: Our new
Executive; coming events; about seed starting; All Season Peanut Butter
Suet Recipe for the
birds; a list of shrubs which entice birds and create a lovely and
interesting garden
all year round; and a
link to a low cost subscription offer for Ontario Gardener Living and/or
Canadian
Trees.
2007 Executive
At our
November 28th,
2006 Annual
Election of Officers, the following were elected.
President:
Sandy Ellenor; 1st Vice: Kathy Hudak; 2nd
Vice: Marie Tiborcz;
Secretary:
Teresa Vermeulen; Treasurer Bonnie Teskey
Directors: Second
Year: Walter
Gerard, Lynn Imeson, Camelia Mallia
First Year:
Connie Couvion, Roberta Hernandez, Stacey Hildenbrand, Evelyn Kogel,
Sandy McCrone, Pat
Newhouse, Tim O’Hagan, Doris Parr
Newsletter Editor:
Lynn Imeson
Committees:
Communities in
Bloom Liasons for Ward 1
- Tim O’Hagan and Kathy Hudak
Library -
Pat Newhouse; Lunch Committee Head - Marie Tiborcz;
Membership
- Walter Gerard & Bonnie Teskey;
Phone -
Evelyn Kogel, Teresa Vermeulen & Pat Newhouse
Planting
- Kathy Hudak,
assisted by Tim O’Hagan, Teresa Vermeulen & Stacey Hildenbrand
Program -
Doris Parr, Connie Couvion & Sandy McCrone
Publicity
- Camelia Mallia; Social - Peter & Muriel Ridley
Please bring forward
any ideas, information or concerns you have regarding our horticultural
society to any of the above persons.
Regarding this newsletter;
^ TOP^
While we will always
have a certain number of ‘hard copies’ of our newsletter at our meetings, we
hope
to be able to cut down
on our printing costs of the newsletter by having as many persons as
possible
access this website.
Please do your part by encouraging fellow members and friends to use
this web site to access
the newsletter. In addition, let them know that they can explore the entire
Ontario
Horticultural
Association website by visiting http://www.gardenontario.org
. There is much interesting
information on that
site, including The Trillium which is the OHA newsletter, and links to all
the various
horticultural
newsletters in
Ontario,
including this one.
Bring on the news!
Dan Hildenbrand is
continuing to do a great job keeping up our website. There have been a few
people
submit photos, tips and
techniques and also recipes, but Dan is sure that we can do better ! He
would
like this to “grow into
a vast amount of information, useful to all; No matter how small or large,
all
information is
welcome. Does any member have web links they would like to share? Do they
have a
favourite website,
gardening related or not? Have members been visiting the site? Do they
have any
input? Have they been
telling their friends and family? Send any ideas and submissions to Dan at
danhildenbrand@gmail.com
. He will make sure and fit your item into the appropriate spot on the
website.
Please also visit the
Ontario Horticultural Association website,
http://www.gardenontario.org if you
wish
to enter
competitions in the 2007 OHA convention in
Owen
Sound, August 10, 11 & 12 . There you will
find
forms and rules for art, photographic slide, photographic print, poetry
competitions and more.
To get to
the proper page follow these instructions; from the home page click
Convention on the top
black
bar; when that comes up, click Upcoming Convention in the left column; on
the next page that
comes up,
click Competition Guide Lines in the left column. From there choose the
appropriate
competition from those listed in purple in the middle of the page.
A Message
from our new President, Sandy Ellenor
Hi
Everyone:
Welcome
to the first newsletter of the year, 2007. I don’t know about you, but it’s
hard for me to get my
head
around the fact that it is 2007 and the first month has pretty well slipped
away. I can remember
WAY back
in public school when we talked about what the world would be like by the
year 2000. It
seemed so
far away we would never make it there. Well, here we are, long past the
year 2000, so I
guess we
had better make the most of it, right?
^
TOP^
Did you
make any Gardening New Years Resolutions?
I have a whole lot of them. Here goes -
I will
take better care of those over wintering plants I stuck in the basement -
yes, I will check them every
few days,
not every month. In Spring and Summer I will keep the weeds under full
control. Next fall I
will dug
my canna bulbs and dahlias earlier and not be out there freezing my hands
off while I am
digging
them up. I will close my eyes when I see those dratted clearance signs the
end of November for
tulip and
daffodil bulbs - I won’t be out there at Xmas trying to find a spot to put
in more bulbs. In the
summer I
will do a better job of keeping up with the deadheading of my beloved
feverfew and
columbines. I will take in all my garden tools in the fall and wash and
disinfect all of them and during the
winter I
will wash and put a little bleach in the water and have all my pots clean
and ready to go in the
spring.
I will for once and for all rid my yard of bindweed and chickweed and keep
at it all season not
just in
the Spring when I am in the mood.
I am
going to be a busy little bee, aren’t I? These will be filed alongside my
dieting and organizational resolutions - whoops - hmmmm - seems like the
lists looked the same last year. Oh well, another year
to try I
guess !
If you
can manage it this month please see Bonnie and Walter about renewing your
membership. It
really is
the best bargain you will ever get for $7.00. We rely on that money to
cover a lot of our cost
including
the printing of this newsletter, so it is very important to us that you pay
as soon as possible. A
lot of
dedicated people work hard and volunteer many hours to make your meetings
pleasant and
informative and I thank all members of our Board in advance for their time
involved in doing just that.
I would
also like to ask any of you who knows of anyone in the club who is sick or
has lost a family
member to
please alert our Secretary Teresa, 776 - 6537, (or when Teresa is away
contact Lynn Imeson
at 839 -
4751) who will send them a card form all of us. Many times we just simply
don’t know until well
after the
fact. In the last few weeks Walter Gerard had surgery and I can happily say
he is getting well
again,
and our friends Karen and Alan Batke lost Karen’s mother. A get well card
and our sympathies
were sent
to them respectively.
I would
just like to say on behalf of all our executive (and a special welcome to
first time directors Connie
Couvion
and Sandy McCrone)we wish you all a joyous New Year and Happy Gardening in
the year
ahead.
Sandy
Ellenor
P.S. Go
through your new calendars right now and mark the dates of all our
meetings. Executive
meetings
are the 2nd Tues., Regular meetings the 4th Wed. of
the month except July, August and
December. Include a reminder that we will have a silent auction at our
February meeting, so clean out
your
cupboards, basements, etc. now and keep a box of no longer needed items to
bring along.
Someone
may want your no longer needed treasures and we can sure use any $$ for our
club.
Thanks in
advance !
From our
Returning Secretary, Teresa Vermeulen
Hello
Fellow Gardeners:
^ TOP^
I trust
you all had a wonderful Christmas as I did, and I would like to wish you all
a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.
Here we
are starting a new year and our weather has been simply amazing. I have
bulbs at the front of my house which are up 3 “ already. I wonder what this
cold weather will do to them now. A friend of mine said her Tete -a - Tete
daffodils are showing their buds ! This tiny extra early variety has been
know to peek through the snow. We’ll have to wait and see what happens !
In the
January 2007 Issue of Birds & Blooms Extra I found a list of 16
“Berry Good Choices” for anyone who is thinking of planting new shrubs this
year. Birds do not have to be persuaded to meet daily requirements of fruit
the way we humans do. You will have year round interest in your garden with
these plants.
Name
Zone
Barberry
[Berberis
species]
3 - 8
Chokecherry [Prunus virginiana]
2 - 8
Coffeeberry [Rhamnus californica]
7 - 9
Crabapple
[Malus
species]
3 - 8
Highbush
Cranberry [Viburnum trilobum]
2 - 8
Manzanita
[Arctostaphylos
species]
8 - 10
Mountain
Ash [Sorbus
species]
2 - 7
Mulberry
[Morus
species]
4 - 8
Pagoda
Dogwood [Cornus alternifolia]
3 - 7
Serviceberry [Amelanchier
species]
2 - 9
Southern
Waxmyrtle
[Myrica cerifera]
7 - 9
Spicebush
[Lindera benzoin]
4 - 9
Sweetbay
[Magnolia virginiana]
5 - 9
Virginia
Creeper [Parthenocissus quinquefolia]
3 - 9
Washington Hawthorn [Crataegus phaenopyrum]
3 - 8
Winterberry [Ilex verticillata]
3 - 9
Also from
the January 2007 Birds & Blooms Extra is the following gem:
“Keeping
a bird feeder full is a great way to be entertained for the price of chicken
feed”
Take
care, Teresa
A
message from our Youth Gardeners:
^ TOP^
Grace
Taylor has received her award from the Youth Gardeners for her year long
effort on her Larch tree for the Adopt - A - Tree Program.
Congratulations Grace !
Coming Soon:
Hopefully
by April we will have for you a nursery discount list that will incorporate
every horticultural club's list from Windsor - Essex and perhaps even
Chatham-Kent and Lambton
About Seeds from Evelyn Kogel
What do I
know about seeds?
Well, I
know they vary in shape and size; the smallest are like dust and the largest
is the coconut.
And of
what use is a seed?
I think
we can say it’s like the connection between the present plant and the next
generation. We gardeners buy and collect seeds and we don’t think much
about dispersal. I will ever by amazed at the diversity of provision in the
natural world. Stop to contemplate.....How are seeds distributed in the
natural world?
Wind?
Yes, have you ever watched a maple key drift to the ground in autumn?
Water?
Yes, coconuts are the largest seeds, and some have traveled in water
thousands of miles from where they were born.
Animals?
Some seeds hitch a ride on animal fur and other animals eat fruit and
berries and the seeds are distributed all over the place.
Birds?
It’s said that even more fruit travels through the digestive tract of the
birds.
Force?
Some seeds like Witch Hazel and Boxwood are ejected with force and expelled
for a distance of several feet.
Humans?
I’m sure you’ve walked out in the country and arrived back home covered with
burrs; they have barbs firmly attached to your clothing.
I am
amazed at the longevity of seeds. Some must be sown as soon as possible
after they ripen; then other seeds remain viable for 2 or 3 years or more.
Some vegetable seeds can be kept for ten years and still be viable. While
Checking this out in my garden reference book I noted that some trees are
not producing seeds every year. This is the case of the spruce tree beside
the house but this year is its year.
In the
past weeks we have been checking out our seed catalogues. Soon we will be
planting seeds indoors and outdoors. Many annual seeds are viable for 3 - 3
years and some 4 - 5 years. Many vegetable seeds are good up to 10 years.
All seeds keep longer if stored cooler: -40 is proving to be ideal for
seed storage. So a good place for seed storage is in your fridge. Most
Annual and Perennial seeds will germinate in 2 - 4 days.
To
Start Seeds Indoors
^
TOP^
Prepare a
mix of 2 parts soil and 1 part peat or sand. Fill pots or a flat with this
mixture and bottom water. By placing your filled container in another pot
filled with water the soil will absorb the water until it becomes damp;
don’t let it become wet. The fine seeds or small seeds can be sprinkled on
the damp soil; firm a little, then place in a plastic bag so it will not dry
out. Do not sow seeds too thickly; the new roots will be too hard to
separate when transplanting.
A recipe
for Bird Feed, guaranteed to attract woodpeckers and nuthatches.
Evelyn
Kogel found this in a bird magazine a few years ago.
No
Melt, All-Season Peanut Butter Suet Recipe
1 cup
crunchy peanut butter
2 cuts
quick cook oats
2 cups
cornmeal
1 cup
lard ( no substitution)
1 cup
white flour
Melt lard
and peanut butter. Stir in remaining ingredients. Pour into freezer
containers about 1 ½" thick. Allow to cool; Cut into squares; store in
freezer. Put squares into mesh bags and hand from tree branches or place
them directly into purchased hanging suet baskets.
Evelyn
did hers a little differently. Without melting anything, she mixed all the
ingredients together.She took 5" long evergreen cones and moulded the
mixture around the cone and pushed as much of the mixture as possible in
between the scales. She suspended these cones from tree branches. The
trick was to suspend the cones in the midst of thin branches so that the
bigger birds, blue jays and cardinal could not easily access the cones.
Shortly afterward she had nuthatches, chickadees, cardinals, blue jays, tree
sparrows, house sparrow, down woodpeckers, red belllied woodpeckers, doves
and goldfinches eating from the cones. A few days later she also spotted
red winged blackbirds grackles,cowbirds and a starling eating the mixture.
If you
would like to subscribe to the Ontario Gardener Living, a magazine
recommended by several of
our
members, or to Canadian Trees, both an a great price, you can access the
subscription form
on the
Ontario Horticultural Association website at
http://www.gardenontario.org
. On the home page
click on
Gardenshare on the black line at the top of the page. On the page that
appears, click on Online
Newsletter on the column at the left. On the next page, click on Winter
Newsletter in the column to the
right.
On next page click on the purple words Winter 2006 Newsletter. Scroll down
to page 9 where is a
form that
you can print out and mail in. If you are interested in subscribing to a
hard copy of the Trillium
Newsletter (rather than accessing it on line), go to page 8 and print out a
subscription form for it also.
The price
is $18.00 including GST for a year’s subscription to Ontario Gardener Living
or the same price
for 4
issues of Canadian Trees.
Coming
Events:
^
TOP^
Jan
24, 2007
General meeting at Kinsmen Field house, Fairview Ave., Essex
7:30 pm
Our member, Margaret Gold, will speak on “An
Environmentally Friendly Lifestyle
in Holland”
Feb
10
Dan
Bissonnette will host a help workshop on public speaking at the former Holy
Names
School in Essex in order to help people to build
their confidence and become better
public speakers. Time:
9:30 am -
1:30 pm
with a short lunch break. Cost: $25.00
If interested, call Dan at 519 - 726 - 4656
Feb 13
Board Meeting Kinsmen Field house,
Fairview
Ave., Essex
7:30 pm
Feb 21
Youth Gardeners Club - activity to be announced
Feb 28
General Meeting at
Kinsmen
Field House Fairview Ave.,
Essex,
7:30
Speaker TBA
Silent Auction also
March
3
Winter Blooms II at St. Clair college 9 - 5. Entrance fee is nominal, we
believe it was $5.
last year. Proceeds go to Hospice and to the
College Fund.
March
21
Youth Gardeners Club - theme - making our own wind socks and bird houses
March
28
General meeting - usual place and time - speaker TBA
April
10
Board meeting usual place and time
April
18
Youth Gardeners - flower drink holders and sidewalk chalk
April
25
General meeting - usual time and place -Speaker TBA - Plant and Seed
Exchange
May ?
Plant and Bake Sale
9 am - 2
pm - Essex Train Station - date TBA
May 8
Board meeting usual place and time
May 16
Youth Gardeners - topic TBA
May 23
General Meeting
June
12
Board meeting
June 2
Youth Gardeners - bring in a white T-shirt along with a handful of medium to
large
Leaves plus plastic jell-o making supplies.
Pizza party for summer
June
27
General meeting
June ?
Bus Trip - Date and details TBA $60. For members, $65. For non-members
July ?
Flower show during Fun Fest - date TBA
Sept
11
Board Meeting
Sept
26
General meeting - Speaker TBA - Plant and Seed Exchange
Oct 9
Board meeting
Oct 24
General meeting
Oct 28
District 11 Annual Meeting hosted by
Belle
River - Location and speakers TBA
Nov 13
Board meeting
Nov 28
Annual Dinner Banquet with Election fo Officers
6 PM
Pot Luck: bring your own (Christmas) place
setting
Speaker TBA
^
TOP^
Our meetings are held the fourth Wednesday of the
month, January, February, March, April, May, June,
September,
October & November at the Essex Kinsmen Field House, near the Arena on
Fairview
Avenue,
Essex at 7:30 pm. Membership is $7.00 a year. Bring a friend !
The Youth
Gardeners Club holds its meetings on the third Wednesday of the month, at
the same
location
from 6:00 - 7:30 pm. All children, ages 6 - 12 years are welcome !
Membership is $5.00 a year.
Regarding
our newsletters; We encourage all our members to share your literary skills
with us. If you
have a
little story or some news you would like to share, please contact Lynn
Imeson at a meeting, by
phone at
519 839 4751 or e-mail her at
lynneal@gosfieldtel.com
and she will make sure it gets into the
newsletter. It would great to hear from different people which would make
our newsletter even more
interesting.
Regarding
our photo album: If you have a photo of an item in your garden, or of
someone or something
at one of
our functions that you would like to share, make sure to get it to Lynn
Imeson and she will put it
into the
album.
An
environmental concern: Every month at our meetings we contribute Styrofoam
cups to the garbage.
We want to
make a change in the world. When you come to a meeting ... don’t come alone
...Lug A
Mug ...
with thanks from the executive.
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