bloomin’ timesrakeandhoe.org/ebt.dec2015.pdfbloomin’ times -- december 2015 --3 more committee...

Bloomin’ Times -- December 2015 -- 1

Upcoming Activities . . .

Community Projects & Service

12/8 Proj: Decorate Jardine

Juniors

12/16 Making Jewelry. At Beth S.’s home

1/20 Making ‘Bugdominiums’. At Beth S’s home

Meetings

11/30 (Dec) Board Meeting at Pat W’s home

12/9 General Meeting at Westfield ‘Y’

1/4 Board Meeting at Barbara M’s home

1/13 General Meeting at Scotch Hills CC [note change in venue]

1/21 By-Laws & Long-Range Planning mtgs. At Pat W’s.

1/25 Finance Meeting at Carolynn P’s.

Workshops 1/15 Photography: Cropping & Prep for

GCNJ Flower Show. At Inge B’s home.

1/26 Flower Design: Basics of Flower Arranging

1/20 Garden B’s: Mason Bee Houses 1/28 Garden B’s: Movie Night at Lee

www.rakeandhoe.org Member of the Garden Club of NJ and National Garden Clubs, Inc

DEcember 2015

Bloomin’ T imes

December Program. . . .

Members’ Holiday Project

Sssshh! It’s a secret! They’re not saying, but Tracy and Pat have been hard at work preparing a special members-only Holiday workshop. Their doubled talents and design expertise are sure to inspire and

guide us in producing a memorable decoration for our Holidays. Enjoy!!

Notes from the November Program. . . . “The King’s Gardener ”

Kirk Brown, well known national lecturer, presented an enjoyable and entertaining slide program with examples of beautiful gardens and flowers for our annual joint meeting with the Westfield Garden Club. Kirk, in full Quaker costume, portrayed John Bartram (1699-1777), a colonial gardener who had a passion for botany. John, born into a Quaker farm family in Pennsylvania, is often credited with introducing a variety of American plants

and trees to England. His favorite plant is "one that lives" John would say. Although an old man he called himself a young gardener. As postmaster and friend, Ben Franklin would expedite John's shipments of trees and other botanical orders to England. John quipped "England never had a Fall before " until they planted his American trees with their brilliant red Autumn colors. John was America's first "master gardener" and advised many early American gardeners from George Washington to Thomas Jefferson. The King of England appointed John "The King's Botanist in North America." The "world is your garden" was John's motto. His 45 acre garden and estate still exist today in South Philadelphia and is recognized as America's first botanic garden. Both Garden Clubs thank Kirk (as John Bartram) for his masterful and fun program.

- Richard P.

(New) Members’ Info & Updates

Betsy Chance 371 Greenbriar Court Mountainside, NJ 07092 [email protected] 908-232-1662 (h) and 908-723-3338 (c) Joe DaRold 1401 Martine Ave. Plainfield, NJ 07060 [email protected] 908-37-9549 Fran Brader Brighton Garden, Room 256 1350 Route 22 West Mountainside, NJ 07092 908-232-4972

Coming in January. . . . “Botanical Jewelry”

The timing is perfect! January’s program will help to brighten the winter doldrums. Our speaker, Linda Williams, is an ac-credited Flower Show Judge, Garden Study consultant, and member of the Hunterdon Co. GC. Her program on botani-cal jewelry will help broaden both horticulture & design hori-zons. Sit back and enjoy!


Announcements & Committee News . . . .

. . . . from the Prez

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and is getting into the Christmas and Holiday spirit right now! I want to thank Janet G. and Lee P. for a very festive, fun ornament craft workshop for Cere-bral Palsy. Lots of hands made light work and we churned out some very cute deer festooned with holiday wreaths!

We also had a great Thanksgiving floral design workshop hosted by Carol S. and Jeannie P.—Thank You, ladies! Our membership is really getting exceptional at floral designing. We will all be ready for our upcoming flower show!

Big news from the BOARD! Due to difficulties facing our membership at the YMCA facility, we will be trying out a new venue at the Scotch Hills Country Club at 720 Jerusalem Road in Scotch Plains for the January and February gen-eral meetings. Please let me know what

you think of this loca-tion for future usage.

To all, please enjoy your holiday season with family and friends, healthy, safe and fun.

- Diana Kazazis

Updates. . . . . .continued

JANUARY 20 Insect House workshop rescheduled

The workshop which was scheduled for November 5 has been rescheduled to Jan. 20 for 1:00pm at the Mountainside Recreation room, second floor. Please contact Tracy for any balance you might owe.

JANUARY 26 Basics of Flower Design workshop

Time has changed!!! to 1:00pm at the Mountainside Recreation room, second floor. Clipboard signups will start at the December meeting. VERY IMPORTANT!!! NEW VENUE for January and February

The Board has voted on having some trial meetings at a new venue this winter. For meetings January 13 and February 17, please go to the Scotch Hills Country Club at 720 Jerusalem Road in Scotch Plains.

If you would like to read about this historic site which Scotch Plains is trying to preserve, please read: http://www.preservationnj.org/site/ExpEng/index.php?/ten_most_11/archive_by_city_detail/2008/Shady_Rest_Golf_and_Country_Club

The reason for this is to make it easier on members to park and get to our meeting room. We also will have access to a kitchen to prepare warm dishes for the membership in the cold, winter months. Please come and evaluate our new space as we want to hear your opinions.

Thanks all, hope you had a wonderful and thankful Thanksgiving!

- Diana

Updates from the Board

DECEMBER 9 Christmas Work-shop for our General Mtg

Tracy and Pat have created our Christ-mas workshop project for Dec. 9, our general meeting at the Y. You will be making a wonderful holiday decoration for your home. This is a members only meeting, thanks. Please bring the fol-lowing to the meeting: -staple gun -scissors to cut ribbon -as many evergreen cuttings as you can -clippers -holiday picks to embellish

The Board members were treated to a wonderful display of Christmas Decorations in every room when Pat W. opened her home for the Board meeting on November 30th. Cyndi C. & Jeanne Marie R. were co-hostesses with Pat for a delicious re-past. This decorating is a hard act to follow.

- Barbara M.

Flower Design . . . .

A Thanksgiving Flower Workshop was conducted just before the holiday by Carol Sch. with Jeanie P. assisting. It took place at the Mountainside Carol did an excellent job in her presentation as she instructed everyone step-by-step how to make the arrangement. Every-one enjoyed the workshop and their arrange-ments were lovely. [Pls. visit the Photo Gallery for more photos]

- Jeanie P. Another, "Basics of Flower Arranging" workshop is scheduled for January 26th. The time has been changed from 10 am to 1pm, at the Mountainside Communi-ty Room. A clip board will be passed at the December General Meeting for sign up.

- Cyndi C.

You are invited to a

Wine and Cheese Christmas Open House!

Sunday, December 13th,

from 2-4:00pm at Hetfield House (near the Mountainside library)

Please contact Alice Cowell for more information


More Committee News & Features . . . .

Juniors . . . Lead by Clare M., the Juniors completed their bee and butterfly habitats to be entered in the flower show before being installed outside next spring as bugdominiums. The girls had previously prepped their wooden boxes (made by Clare's husband Jim) by dipping them in a black walnut solution. In November they inserted hollow reeds and bamboo to provide nests for mason bees along with bark and other natural materials to shelter butterflies. Then, with their usual flair, they embellished the exteriors with

natural materials. A big project but, thanks to lots of help from the committee, very successful. In December it will be on to small terrariums. If anyone has a covered glass

container suitable for planting three small plants, please contact Alice or Beth S. as we're still short a few. Thanks in advance.

- Beth S.

- Horticulture Tips - Place winter mulch on garden beds after the ground has frozen. Set tree guards around young trees to prevent damage. Water freshly cut Christmas trees daily. Increase humidity around all houseplants. Choose new plants to try growing next year. Check houseplants frequently for mealybugs, white fly and other pests. Remove snow from evergreens by gently tapping the undersides of branches with a broom.

- Carolynn P.

Photography . . . .

In preparation for the upcoming State Flower Show (Feb. 11-14, 2016), we will be conducting a hands-on workshop to help especially those interested in sub-mitting entries to the show. A prelimi-nary show schedule can be found online at http://floramity.com/Alt_Host/GCNJ/FS-2016-Schedule-120615.pdf

[Note: you don’t need to be an ace photog! Last year several neophyte members took top honors (ribbons) at the show!]

Topics to be covered at the workshop include photo selection and cropping. Frames for exhibiting your photos will also be available ($3 each). This is a very informal workshop, even for those not yet ready to ‘test the waters’, but would like to improve their photographic skills. Space is limited to 12.

Sign up at the December meeting or contact Inge B.

In Case You Missed It!! R&H Website - For those of you who haven’t recently visited the R&H web-site, it’s time to take another look!! Di-ana K. continues to improve our already beautiful and informative website, www.rakeandhoe.

Did you miss a past issue of the newslet-ter? Missing a form? Need to look up something in the handbook? Looking for our latest publicity? Schedule highlights? It’s all right there, at your fingertips, on our fabulous website. Take a peek and enjoy! R&H on Facebook - Our club has a growing readership on Face-book. If you haven’t already, visit our FB page and ‘like’ us! You will find interesting and informative posts on garden tips & design, birds, and other related topics. Feel free to post your comments and share a photo from your garden!

Need a Hostess Gift this Holiday Season?

The Rake & Hoe Cookbook, “Well-Seasoned” is still available!!

A veritable bargain at only $5!

Pls. contact Karen J-G.

Winter Tips for the Birds As the weather t r s colder, remem-‐

ber your feathered iends are

counting on you . Remember to:

Feed reg larly. A variet of oil-rich seeds are

best. Supplement with nuts & dried its

and/or suet blocks.

Provide clean water, especially during eezing

temps

Provide shelter. Do not pr ne bushes now;

these provide shelter. Everg een t ees also

protect. (Recycle your Christ as t ee by plac-‐

ing outside aster the Holidays)

Keep your binoculars & camera close by!

Feeding & watering stations will draw a large

variet of birds for you to enjoy!!

www.audubon.org/news/how-welcome-winter-birds


The Rake & Hoe Photo Gallery. . . . . December 2015

November Joint Meeting. . . (photos by ‘Pelikan Pix’.)



Thanksgiving Design Workshop

(photos by Pelikan Pix)



Membership Tea at Pat’s

(photos by ‘Pelikan Pix.)

News from Margot!

Greetings from traveling on the Inter Coastal Water Way South. This was taken during a cold snap in Georgia. We are now warmer in St. Augustine, Florida. I will miss working on a Xmas ornament with you all this Wednesday.

- Margot

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