Executive Board

President Ann Todd act14@embarqmail.com

1st Vice President/Programs Joan Lasek jml424@cfl.rr.com Joyce Anderson jande82211@aol.com 2nd Vice President/Membership Cyndi Nelson cyndiangel@centurylink.net Marge Lynch edlynch66@embarqmail.com 3rd Vice President/Hospitality Judith Shaw jshawrr@cfl.rr.com Joy Stricker shumanisjoy@yahoo.com Rhonda Hable xcrisco17@gmail.com Recording Secretary Joyce Anderson jande82211@aol.com

Corresponding Secretary Rosalene Feller rmfeller48@gmail.com Treasurer Gayle Lashley g.lashley@earthlink.net Parliamentarian Betty Smith bristolfl@gmail.com

Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club, Inc.

Inside this issue:

Calendar 2

Program Schedule 2

Bob’s Corner 3

President’s Message 4

Committee Reports 4-7

Photo Gallery 8-9

May 2015 Editor

Gay Momberger

gdmomberger@gmail.com

M e m b e r o f T h e N a t i o n a l G a r d e n C l u b s , I n c , D e e p S o u t h R e g i o n ,

F l o r i d a F e d e r a t i o n o f G a r d e n C l u b s , I n c . — D i s t r i c t V I I

INSTALLATION OF OFFICERS

PRESIDENT Bernie Delafield

1st VP—PROGRAMS ~ Margaret Kirkpatrick & Mary Beth Peavy

2nd VP—MEMBERSHIP ~ Cyndi Nelson & Cheryl Richards

3rd VP—HOSPITALITY ~ Joan Lasek

RECORDING SECRETARY ~ Joyce Anderson

CORRESPONDING SECRETARY ~ Barb Hunt

TREASURER ~ Gayle Lashley & Farrell Culberson

SOCIAL: 11:30

MEETING: 12:00

LUNCH: 12:15

Installation Following Lunch

Heathrow Country Club

$25.00

Respond by May 6

Please make checks payable

to: SWOGC and mail to:

Joyce Anderson 1404 Oak Tree Court

Apopka, FL 32712

Menu:

Salad: Mixed Garden Greens

w/Dried Cranberries, Pecans,

Blue Cheese and Sherry Vinaigrette

Hot Rolls w/Butter

Iced Tea - Water - Coffee

Asiago Chicken Breast w/Basil Cream Sauce

Fresh Seasonal Medley of Vegetables

Mashed Yukon Gold Garlic Potatoes

Baileys Chocolate Mousse Cake

w/Raspberry Sauce and Whipped Cream Special dietary requests should be made

at the time of your reservation

MAY LUNCHEON & MEETING

Monday May 11, 2015

2

May 2015 S U N M O N T U E W E D T H U F R I S A T

1 2

3

BD

Farrell Culberson

4

Board Meeting

@ Ann’s

5 6 7

BD

Dorothy Pet-

ticrew

8

BD Rae Martin

9

10 11

LUNCHEON

BD Mary DeVaney

12

Junior Gardeners

13 14

BD

Norma Riccard

Hospice

15 16

17 18 19

BD

Vanita Bulsara

20 21

Hospice

22 23

24

BD

Gay Momberger

25 26 27

BD

Linda Schnaufer

28

Hospice

29 30

31

May

GARDEN PAL

Betty Smith

JUNE 6 Sandra Englund

7 Barbara Defendorf

10 Pat James

11 Rhonda Hable

13 Joyce Anderson

18 Linda Lambie

26 Hillary Courson

30 Lisa McIntosh

JULY 8 Min Schwenderman

13 Vicky Horan

14 Joree Nielsen

15 Meredith McWaters

19 Pamela Ernst

25 Jackie Tseng

AUGUST 1 Marian Culbertson

3 Kirsten Collins

5 Kerrie Neujahr

9 Edith Matulewski

17 Margaret Wyatt

21 Marilyn Fender

21 Betty Smith

21 Deborah Perry

21 Arlene Polacheck

SUMMER BIRTHDAYS

3

First off, I would like to thank each of you for your support during my stint as

your Horticulture Group Chairperson. It is great to have Louise Gould step up and take on the position, and I cannot wait to see the “spin” she puts on

the job; I’m sure it will be very exciting! So what else is exciting? Recently I attended a class in which the presenter

got physically excited about the inner workings of a lawn sprinkler head…that was pretty cool! And just recently, we were able to share where potatoes come from with

a very special person…we moved beyond the marketplace! And I have to admit get-ting very excited about the manner in which Gay puts the newsletter and all those no-

tices together each month. I do not know how the inner workings of the club’s recog-nition program works but she has got to be right at the top of the list! And, how could

I not help but recognize everyone that is responsible for the great snacks that have forced me to move to a new belt-hole in recent months!

But unfortunately, there is one thing that generally upsets me greatly as I expand my knowledge and interest in horticulture and our environment and that is the sound of

chainsaws. Rather than rant on here is a list of things I feel each of us is committed

to being aware of: No tree should be removed or trimmed without consulting a professional

arborist. No tree should be removed without consulting with the City or County Arborist

(or representative) to ensure proper permits and regulations are obtained and followed.

Each landowner should consult an arborist on the condition of trees on the prop-erty at least every 5 years and budget for some necessary tree work.

Each landowner should understand that trees grown in our yards have neither the same growth habits as those in a woodlands area (and as a result have very

different growth habits) nor the ability to “self-prune” or provide for needed nu-trition.

Each landowner should realize that tree feeder roots can extend well beyond the “drip-line,” and careful consideration

should be taken when using weed and feed and herbicides.

And perhaps most important, after consulting an arborist, only a currently licensed and insured tree company should

be used for any necessary work.

So there we go! Thanks again!

Bob floridamastergardener@cfl.rr.com

Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club, Inc. May 2015

BOB’S CORNER

Trees

4

Please bring your

yearbooks to our

general meetings

for reference. GARDEN CLUB POLO SHIRTS

Please contact Rae Martin

to purchase a polo shirt.

407-869-1137

It’s membership renewal time again

$25.00

Make check payable to SWOGC

We will collect your checks at the May luncheon

Or mail your check to

Cyndi Nelson 1870 Parkglen Circle Apopka, FL 32712

Questions: 407-889-9983 or cyndiangel@centurylink.net

MEMBERSHIP

The Garden Club had a busy April. The nominating committee presented their list of the executive leaders for next year, and they were accepted

by the SWGC members. Pat James had a beautiful program on leaf print-ing techniques. It was so interesting. We would love for her to conduct a

workshop for us sometime in the future. Thanks to Marjorie Abbas, the ways and means chairman, we made $364.00 on her plant sale.

Bob Hotaling gave his last talk as horticulture chair. Everyone learned many things from him about gardening and taking care of our gardening tools. He will

come back to speak to us a few times next year. Margaret, Lois and Ann attended the FFGC convention in Boca Raton. The guest

speakers were great, and the workshops were so beneficial Winners of awards for the year were announced at the convention. Our club did very

well. Thanks to Gay Momberger we won the Newsletter; thanks to Gail Arena the Year-

book won the FFGC state and has been sent to Deep South. Keep your fingers crossed for that award. The Junior Gardeners won six awards.

As we come to the close of another SWOGC year, I must say it was an honor to be your president. Everyone was so supportive of our projects; this really made my job

so rewarding, and I thank each one of you. I look forward to working with our leaders next year. Have a great summer

A Word from our President, Ann Todd

5

Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club, Inc. May 2015

A plant sale was held on Friday and Saturday April 9th and 10th at the

home of Margaret Wyatt. We raised a total of $308 and a further $56 at the meeting on April13th giving us a total of $364.

Thank you to everyone who helped by working, donating or buying plants; I couldn’t possibly have done it without you! Special thanks to Margaret

Wyatt for including us in the Wekiva Community Sale and giv-ing us a nice shady spot in her front yard. Also, thanks to Patty Scott,

Louise Gould and Farrell Culberson for donating plants to sell; to Vanita Bulsara and Cyndi Nelson for helping transport the plants from my garden

to Margaret’s on Thursday; Louise Gould and Bob Hotaling for their help with repotting plants a few weeks ago; Ann Todd, Bernie Delafield, Marge

Lynch and Vanita Bulsara for their help with the Friday sales; Cyndi Nelson, Barbara Hunt, and Farrell Culberson, for helping on Saturday, and cleaning up after the

event……. Thank you All!

This really is a wonderful way to promote the Garden Club in our community and also meet the general purpose of the club according to Article II of our By-Laws.

We received lots of compliments for being “ the group that does the Garden Fair” as well as compliments on our “healthy plants”. Many people had gardening questions

and questions about the garden club in general. It was a very productive and worth-while event.

Next year we would like to get more members interested in growing plants, both for our sales, and the personal enjoyment that it can bring. My wish is that the Ways and

Means Committee can raise enough to cover the general operating expenses of the club, and that money raised from the Garden Fair can be used in the way we advertise

“for our scholarship fund.”

Marjorie Abbas

WAYS AND MEANS

Moving into the next garden year of 2015-2016, the Horticulture Group will

include visits to members homes as we have done in the past. We need 3 or 4 members to open up their gardens to our Horticulture members to

visit starting in October. We will walk your garden from 9:30 to noon and have a small talk with questions and answers on Horticulture. We can

definitely learn and share from all size gardens. The new information will be in the Au-gust or September newsletters. The new Horticulture Chair will be announced at the

May luncheon meeting.

HORTICULTURE

6

National Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday in April; and over the

course of our history, Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club has planted numer-ous trees along the Wekiwa Springs corridor. This past Friday, April

24th , our club held an event at the Sweetwater Baptist Church on Wekiwa Springs Road. The Club has held its’ monthly membership meet-

ings in the classroom building of the church for the last two years.

The club invited Benjamin Bandor, Park Services Specialist from the Wekiva River Basin State Parks to speak to our gathering about Controlled Burns in our

state parks. He was a delightful and informative speaker who was happy to share his knowledge with our group. He brought pamphlets to share with our group and was

available for question/answers. He is anxious to reach out to homeowners associations that surround the park to share information about the services that the Florida Depart-

ment of Environment Protection provide in our community. He may be reached at 407/884-2006, Ben.Bandor@dep.state.fl.us.

This year a Forest Pansy Redbud tree was

purchased for planting among the canopy of native Florida trees growing in a very

large grassy and treed island at the far east end of the Church property, just be-

yond the classroom building. Scientific name Cercis Canadensis- ‘Forest Pansy’

irregular growth will form a graceful, flat- topped or rounded crown as it matures.

These trees often have more than one

trunk, zigzag branches and red heart-shaper laves in early summer. By sum-

mer, leaves change to mostly green with some red in the veins. When mature, the

tree will reach a height of 20-30 feet and spread 15 to 25 feet. The tree will bare 1-3” brown pods in the fall but present no significant litter problem and some birds are at-

tracted by the beans! The significant contribution of the tree to the landscape is the purple flowers that appear all over the tree, popping right out of the bark in April or

May before the leaves emerge, often persisting for several weeks! Beautiful! What a delightful addition to the serene surrounding choice for this beautiful church campus it

will be!

Irrigation is run 3 times a week to the grove and a nearby water source will assist club members in watering the tree as necessary at times of drought.

Members enjoyed hospitality of strawberry and chocolate chip cookies, snicker doodle

cookies, fresh strawberries, nuts and lemonade under a white tent festooned with col-orful pennants. The food table was decorated with pink and green paper pinwheels.

Thank you, Rae Martin for providing the food and drink and Lois Silverberg and Ann Todd for your assistance in setting up the tables and chairs

Finally, members were treated with an “I Planted a Tree Today!” pin to wear

and take home as a memento of this lovely National Arbor Day event.

Hillary Courson

ARBOR DAY

7

Happy Springtime! The Spring Floral Design

workshop was very successful. Eighteen members created beautiful floral designs for their holiday

tables. Two workshops will be planned again for next year, one in the Fall and one in the Spring.

The dates for these workshops will be published in our next yearbook. Be sure and put the dates

on your calendar early so you don't miss out.

This past Fall 10 very enthusiastic mem-bers participated in 6 basic floral design

classes. They are anxious to continue expanding their knowledge. We will

again offer the basic 6 floral design classes in the Fall followed by the 3 ad-

vanced floral design classes in January. This chairman would

like to begin a bi-monthly floral design workshop where we can meet together and continue to expand our knowledge on the art

of floral design. If you are interested in participating in any or all of these opportunities, please let this chairman know.

This chairman has enjoyed working with all of you this year. New friendships have formed and I can't wait to see all of you

again next year.

Happy designing, Margaret

FLORAL DESIGN

The April Junior Gardener's program was presented

by Barbara Hunt along with her little red wagon full of sea shells. She displayed the shells on a table so the

students could see and feel the shells. They learned about bivalve and univalve shells. They were all fasci-

nated with the huge clam shell and listening to the sound of the sea from the conch shell. Louise Gould

brought in several sea shell necklaces she collected from her Ha-waii trip. The students had to draw and describe the shells that

Barbara had talked about. We will submit their work for an award next year. Barbara made a bag of shells for each student to

take home. They made plans to do many different things with their shells. The stu-dents as well as the Garden Club members learned and enjoyed this program.

April Volunteers were Louise Gould and Barbara Hunt.

We meet the second Tuesday each month at 9:30 at Starchild Academy. Chairman, Ann Todd

JUNIOR GARDENERS

8

Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club, Inc. May 2015

HORTICULTURE @BOB’S

Wonderful

presentatlon

on butterflies

given by

Donna & Carol

Seminole County

Master

Gardeners

We always love seeing Bob’s

Yarden and hearing about his

newest plantings.

9

Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club, Inc. May 2015

April

Meeting

Photos

10

May 2015

BOARD MEETINGS

First Monday of the Month September-May at 10:00 AM

810 Fox Valley Drive, Longwood, Florida

GENERAL MEETINGS

Second Monday of the Month, September-May at 9:30 AM

First Baptist Sweetwater Church

3800 Wekiva Springs Road. Longwood. Florida

HORTICULTURE GROUP MEETINGS

Fourth Monday of October, February and April at 9:30 AM

See the Calendar of Events for Location

JUNIOR GARDENERS

Second Tuesday of the Month at 9:00 AM

FLORAL DESIGN

Every Thursday at Hospice of the Comforter 12:30-3:00 PM

Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club, Inc. Meeting Schedule

Club Flower—Rose

Club Bird—Cardinal

We’re on the web!

www.swogc.org

Member of National Garden Clubs, Inc.

Deep South Region

Florida Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc.

District VII

Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole & Sumter Counties

Organized—January 9, 1974

Federated—January 27, 1975

Incorporated—September 14, 1992

Mailing Address:

P.O. Box 915233

Longwood, Florida 32791

Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club, Inc.

The purpose of Sweetwater Oaks Garden Club is the education of its mem-

bers and the community in their relationship to horticulture, conservation

and environmental needs, as well as the art of floral design.

If you know of a member who could use an extra kind

thought, please contact me. I prefer receiving the informa-

tion by email, but please call if you don't have email ac-

cess. Rosalene Feller

rmfeller48@gmail.com or 407.718.0612