Creating Whimsy in the Garden

The Merry Weather Garden Club met on March 15^th at the home of Sally Neal who hosted the meeting and program. The club “walked the garden” as its horticultural talk and noted the early spring blooms.  Besides the usual white and blue wisteria beginning to open, the dogwood, iris, redbud, snowdrops, late daffodils and forsythia were showing their colors. Other plants the club asked to be identified were Neal’s grandmother’s lilac that was beginning to bloom and give off its heady fragrance, Carolyn Gilbert’s Tropicana colored flowering quince she had passed on to Sally, and the showy golden kerria. The members carpooled to the Neal’s farm in Mountville where the speakers for the meeting waited.

   The subject of the program was bringing whimsy to the garden to encourage young gardeners. Neal pointed out the numerous books and web sites that had tips for gardening with children.  “Make it fun” was high on each author’s list with other advice like giving garden space to a child and letting them have ownership of the plot, and sowing popular seeds like sunflowers, lettuces, radishes, snow peas, cherry tomatoes, nasturtiums, bush beans, potatoes, and pumpkins.

   While adults often put composting, insects, and getting dirty at the bottom of their idea of having fun, children think the opposite. Getting dirty or “mucking in the soil” is an important part of growing up. Composting and rotting discards, playing with and counting seeds, having a lab garden, watching cool and weird insects, browsing catalogues, having their own scaled down tools, building frog houses, making tee pees for climbing beans, dressing a scarecrow, designing “pizza gardens” or theme gardens like those for wildlife are all part of the wonderful outdoor classroom that is a garden. Besides becoming a good steward of the earth, children will usually eat their healthy produce.

   Garden art or whimsy in the garden was the topic demonstrated by speakers Mary Ann Rasmussen and Martha Evans, both of LaGrange.  Rasmussen’s daughter Caryn has created delightful fairy houses using gourds.  The unusual shapes of the common birdhouse and dipper gourds are accessorized by Caryn with moss and pebble lined doors and windows, and buckets and gardening tools add to the scene to create magical villages for the wee folk.

   Martha Evans described her experiences growing up as the middle child of six children who regularly were told to go outside and play, and the door locked to keep them outside.  They dug in the dirt and created mail boxes, rock and leaf houses, stick and leaf people and in the process unlocked and nurtured wonderful imaginations all while having great fun.

   Growing up on the fringes of Brenau College, Martha met one of the professors who took her daily constitution through Brenau’s scenic woods.  The teacher introduced Martha to the sprites, elves and fairies that populated the woods and spun stories that have stayed with her.  Today she manufactures and sells fairies that she designed over three decades ago and are more popular than ever.  Her fairies and garden furniture and gardening tools are in demand for creating miniature gardens and inspiring imaginations. 

   Evans placed a layer of moss in a flower pot, added a metal arbor and birdbath and simply transformed an ordinary potted plant into something special. Her gardens have won national awards as she tours with her products.

   Evans echoed the message of the speakers by pointing out her children’s guests don’t get to bring video games, cell phones and movies to their farm but are turned loose to explore and create.  The resulting forts, fairy houses, animals and people made from nature give the children favorite, long lasting memories all the while inspiring their creativity.

   In club business, Neal announced the April meeting would be on the 19^th and it would attend the 14^th annual Lunch and Learn hosted by the Concord Garden Club with speakers Beth Jones, Martha Boswell, and Anna Evans touting home grown projects. The May meeting will be on the 17^th and will be a tour of Andrea Harding’s Breezy Hill home and new addition.

   Mary Ann Rasmussen described the Basic Design Course that was held on March 13^th by the Elms and Rose Council which was the first of five daylong classes teaching flower arranging and this class studied line and line mass designs and color harmonies. Four other classes will follow throughout the year.  The cost is $25 and includes materials and lunch.

   Toots and Ed Hobson visited Gibbs Gardens in Ball Ground recently.  The spring daffodils were in full bloom and are called the largest mass and number of varieties outside of Holland. The grounds feature a replica of Monet’s bridge and lily garden at Giverny, a Japanese Garden, arbor garden, manor house, summer house, children’s garden, bakery and more.

   Treasurer Jean Biggers gave the fiscal report and Neal distributed the 2007 awards (that had just arrived!) for participating in the Backyard Habitat Category from the Community Wildlife Project to Sallie Mabon, Peggy Jones, Mary Anne Harman, Linda Wilburn, Neal and Karen May.

Hosta

January 2012

The Merry Weather Garden Club met on Thursday, January 26^th at Marilyn Austin Carter’s home in Woodland.  She and Lynda Woodall hosted the January meeting that began with a delicious soup and sandwich luncheon.  The group of ladies welcomed new members Joan Allen of Manchester and Carla Snider of Woodbury.  The congenial group gathered in the kitchen for lunch and was so comfortable they remained there for the program in order to view the speaker’s pictures and gardening tools close up.

Georgia and Alabama Master Gardener Ellen Averill from Cataula presented a program on hostas, formerly called Plantain Lilies and named after Austrian botanist Nicholas Host. The herbaceous perennials include over 3,000 cultivar varieties varying in colors of green, blue, yellow, chartreuse, and gold. It is really a wax on the leaves that make them blue, and Averill pointed out that darker leaves mean a hosta needs more shade. The plants are shade tolerant, she said, but not necessarily shade lovers, but hostas never need hot afternoon sun.  Most members’ successful hosta beds receive morning sun as they are planted on the east side of their homes, and the plants are in shade during the afternoon. 

Averill  explained the size designation of the many varieties: dwarf-less than 4 inches tall, miniature-4 to 6 inches, small-6 to 10 inches, medium-10 to 18 inches, large 18 to 28 inches, and giant over 28 inches tall.  There are waist high specimens that are truly impressive. The club members quickly learned  that it takes four to eight years to reach maturity with members admitting to having given up on their hostas or dividing them too early.

Hostas bloom from spring to fall but many gardeners cut off the bloom to encourage plant growth and cause less pull on the roots. Hostas cannot be propagated from their seeds. Fertilizers may be granular, Osmocote, or liquid but Averill recommends fertilizing when the hosta first appears in the spring, six weeks later, and then in midsummer. Like peaches, the plants need thirty days of forty degree and below temperatures.

Moisture is critical to good hosta growth. An inch to 1 ½ inches per week is needed.  Averill offered a master gardener tip to ensure you know how much your sprinkler system is watering an area: use a tuna can under the irrigated area and when it is full, the area is getting an inch of water.  Averill explained what the hosta drip tip is and should it turn brown, there is a moisture problem.

Hostas are edible but unfortunately deer, slugs, and snails really love hosta.  Other than recommending electric fences and having dogs to keep away the deer, Averill did have suggestions for snails and slugs.  She takes a plastic water bottle, cuts off the drinking end and inserts it into the bottle, stapling it firm.  Snail and slug bait is put in the bottle and she places the plastic bottle under the hosta leaves.  The slugs enter the trap and die and the pest poison is not leached into the soil.

Disease common to hosta shows up as yellow spots on the leaves.  There is no remedy and she suggests digging up the plant and throwing it away.  Never compost it as the disease stays in the composted soil.  When dividing plants in early spring, she sterilizes her knife and lifting fork with a bleach solution to make sure fungus and disease are not passed along.

Averill gave the members handouts that listed hostas for beginning gardeners (August Moon, Golden Tiara, Guacamole),and  hostas best for our Georgia area ( Illicit Affairs, Pandora’s Box, Shiny Penny, Night before Christmas). Some of the most popular varieties are Sum and Substance, Saga, Great Expectations, and Patriot. Close to us are Southern Growers in Columbus and Pine Forest Gardens in Tyrone that have hosta displays or nurseries.

Club members ended the meeting by touring Marilyn’s home and admiring her art and unique sculptures.  She always has interesting artwork scattered throughout her garden that supports or juxtaposes nicely with her plants; however in January, few plants were up and so the members clearly could see the “bones” of the garden. Our warmer than usual winter did have hellebores and jonquils in full bloom. The pond with its ducks, the chickens, and bottle trees and artwork made for a colorful walk in January.

The Secret Life of Bees

October 2011

The Merry Weather Garden Club met on Thursday, October 13, 2011 at the home of Jean Biggers. Linda Latzak co hosted the meeting. Guest speaker was Jim Byce whose topic was bees and beekeeping.  Unfortunately an unexpected thunderstorm precluded the plans to meet at the Byce home where his hives are located, but Jim brought the basics of beekeeping to Jean’s living room!

Byce started keeping bees about 35 years ago when he moved to the country.  He was not successful in his first attempts but today people in the county call Byce to remove swarming bees. Byce explained how useful bees were for gardens and pollination and many members had seen the 18 wheel transports moving bees to areas where pollination was needed.

Byce began by explaining the types of bees: the queen, drones, and workers. The drones sole purpose is to mate with the queen and then they are shoved out of the hive by the worker bees.  The queen’s only job is to lay eggs. The workers bring the nectar to the hive, make the honey, and make sure the queen is maintained at a perfect temperature-92 degrees.  To do this they fan to circulate air or cuddle and group around her.

The workers travel to hundreds of blooms to collect nectar and bring it to the hive in their “honey pouch.”  Other workers chew the nectar and break down the sugar with their enzymes and produce a simple bacteria resistant sugar mixture which they put in the honeycombs, plug with wax, and keep until they need to eat it.

Queens are larger and more elongated than regular bees and may be spotted in the hive. Byce has removed older queens which are not productive and replaced them with a new queen.  The new queen comes in a small cage that is plugged with bee candy.  The workers chew through to get to the new queen and the hours this takes allows the new queen to spread her distinct pheromone on to the workers so they will accept her. The distinct pheromone of a hive is what keeps the bees knowing who is a stranger or invader.

Club members asked about killer bees which are an African strain that was crossed with a European variety in the hopes of cross breeding to make better bees.  African bees are hard workers at pollination and making honey but also aggressive.  They have migrated into Georgia now.

Byce answered questions about yellow jackets that can re-sting and chase you down whereas a honey bee stings once and the stinger comes out.  Beekeepers wear white as it is a calming color for bees. Long sleeves, gloves, head protection are also important. The cost of three pounds of bees and queen is about $75, the hive and frames, $125.  The costs get higher if you buy a honey extractor which spins the frames to release the honey and the heated knife to cut the wax plug from the combs.

Byce showed the frames of a hive and the brood chamber.  He recommends a 2:1 ratio of sugar water to help a new hive build and boost production.  He demonstrated using a smoker to fool the bees into thinking there is a fire and they go into the hive to protect it. Byce reads extensively about bees and explained well how bees think and operate.  The “secret life” of bees made for a fascinating program.

Autumn Wreath-making

The Merry Weather Garden Club met on Thursday, September 22, 2011 at the home of Helen Claussen in Harris City.  Toots Hobson co hosted. Claussen lives in Meriwether’s first gated community-one that she developed-and it was interesting seeing the new extension to our county airport on the drive in to her home.

Members were met with delicious refreshments made by Claussen and many brought back by Hobson from Hawaii featuring macadamia nuts or coffee flavors.  Claussen entertained the group with readings from popular emails, jokes, and stories before the business meeting.

Linda Wilburn gave an update on Greenville streetscapes noting that the work is coming to a completion. The wrong size railing was ordered and delivered, but that error was caught by Sally Estes and corrected. The $300,000 Phase II portion has been approved that will renovate the west side of the downtown area. Matching money from the Callaway Foundation, the city and the county should allow for the project to be done. $50,000 was raised privately for Phase I, and $70,000 will be needed for Phase II. Wilburn expressed her thanks to Sam Welborn of the DOT who has been most helpful with extra funding for Phase I.

Phase II will reuse many of the granite slabs currently on the sidewalks as well as add pavers. The next step will also redo the traffic signs with the hope there will be fewer of them. Currently one downtown island has eight directional and traffic signs on it.

Toots Hobson presented the program on wreaths noting that their use goes back to the Greeks who “wreathed the vines” and used them as crowns. She showed the club Scandinavian wheat straw woven into wreaths that were displayed hanging horizontally instead of on the usual vertical plane.  African grasses from Tanzania are commonly woven into wreaths as are German E aster wreaths of twisted grass.

Months earlier, Hobson had cut grapevines and twisted and shaped them into wreaths for the club members to use.  She purchased colorful and whimsical fall items for the ladies to decorate their wreaths noting, as Diane Sawyer also found, that she could find no American made decorations at the craft stores. Scarecrows, bright orange leaves, feathery plumes, sunflowers, ivy, and beautiful ribbons all made for a fun afternoon of decorating wreaths which each member took home.

The next meeting of the garden club will be October 13^th at which Jim Byce will entertain the club with the secret life of bees and the fun of beekeeping.  Jean Biggers and Linda Latzak will host the meeting.

Serenbe Farms

August 2011

The Merry Weather Garden Club met on Friday 19^th of August and toured Serenbe Farms in Palmetto. The tour and lunch was arranged by garden club hosts Sallie Mabon and Mary Anne Harman.

The club was met by Ryan Graycheck a UGA landscape architect graduate who was serving one year apprenticeship at the organic farm. Maya Velasco, a second apprentice, helped with portions of the tour.

Graycheck explained the mission of Serenbe Farms: to grow organically as much healthy produce as possible on five acres; to educate the community about healthy farming practices; to build community through food. The farm is fulfilling its goals as the small five acres produces a 60,000 pound harvest yearly which it sells to the Serenbe community’s three restaurants, and supplies their 115 subscription families with food, plus supplies the weekly market sales made at both Serenbe on Saturdays and at Atlanta markets. The subscription cost to receive thirty weeks of fresh produce is $25 per family.

Oak logs for the Shitake Mushrooms

Education through garden club tours and apprenticeships are proving successful too especially for apprentices who move on to top jobs because of their experience in Palmetto. Serenbe’s last objective of building community recognizes that a generation of people have grown up eating out or consuming fast food, and its goal is for families and communities to harvest, cook and sit down together to enjoy healthy home grown meals.

Four people work the five acres that were once a cotton farm.  Lots of organic matter is added to yearly to the soil to build it up. Composting, crop rotation, and cover crops are the three C’s practiced.  Buck wheat is the most popular cover crop because it adds phosphorus to the soil, and ryes and legumes add nitrogen. A ten year vegetable rotation plan is used. Drip and light spray irrigation is used on our hot summer days with 3-4 hours of water on the crops.

The fall crop from seeds germinated nine weeks earlier in the greenhouse had been planted with summer crops in full harvest.  The crew was dreading picking the itchy okra. Five varieties of okra were planted such as Red Burgundy, Hill Country Red, and Clemson Spineless. A number of varieties of every vegetable are planted to ensure full production. Fifty four varieties of peppers are planted and they are in beds marked sweet to hot.

Edamame (soybeans) almost ready to harvest.

The garden club first viewed the beds of greens: lettuces, mustard, bok choy, arugula, and cilantro that were under a shade cover. Blueberries, raspberries, watermelons and muskmelons were being cleared of pests by free ranging chickens that are part of Serenbe’s pest control plan. Heirloom varieties, especially tomatoes, have an increased number of pests.  The farm uses Neptune’s Harvest and Maxi Crop which are certified organic products in its irrigation system.

An eight foot electric fence protects the wooded side of the farm from deer. Cover cloth is used over young squash, cucumber, and zucchini plants until blooms appear and the cover is removed for pollination.

After touring the garden, the club enjoyed slices of cold watermelon-a new yellow meat variety grown on the farm.  Members watched one apprentice as she readied greens for market.  Club members were allowed to pick flowers (celosia, amaranth, and zinnias) as well as pot seeds (patty pan, zucchini, and cantaloupe). The garden club day ended with a stop at Frank’s Family Restaurant where everyone enjoyed a delicious lunch.

Southern Belles Soap Co.

When you combine an artist and a gardener into a laid back, fun loving farm girl, the garden and home results are a mix that makes for whimsy, interest, surprise, and fun.  Members of the Merry Weather Garden Club and two guests from the Iris Garden Club met at Marilyn Austin Carter’s home and garden in Woodland for the July 18^th meeting.  Co hosting was nearby neighbor Lynda Woodall.

Garden clubbers met early and car pooled to Woodland and beat the heat by walking through the garden in cool morning temperatures with the dew still on the grass.  Carter’s garden is a myriad of paths lined with colorful bottles, folk art, and artistic creations. Carter has taken bicycle rims, spray painted them and used them to support phlox and other fine stemmed bloomers.  But the symmetrical addition of the horizontal circles makes for interest and surprise in the garden.

Carter has also taken the bike rims and wired in odd patterns of crystal saucers that catch the light and then hung them from trellises and trees. The artsy focal point is an addition that members said they were going home to make for their gardens.

Carter’s flower beds surround her lake and home with a purpose-moving through vegetable areas, to areas with bright bursts of colorful annuals to classic Southern perennials.  Unusual plants she pointed out were toad lilies, white and blue native orchids, water magnolias, and the fruit areas of pomegranates, blueberries and grapes. “Naked Ladies” was a lovely pink blooming plant on a tall stalk with no leaves-hence called naked.

Guests enjoyed seeing Carter’s chickens and guineas and her back yard buildings filled with flea market and estate sale items she will turn into beautiful art. She currently is working on odd pieces of colored crystals from glasses to saucers that she “married” into statuesque garden art that reflects the light.

Carter introduced her friend of forty years and one time relative, Nancy Barrett, who presented the program on Southern Belles Soaps that are made in Warm Springs and shipped worldwide. Barrett has worked with the soap company for six years that was started twelve years ago by Linda and Bob Seymour. Nancy said she was the guinea pig for testing the new recipes and fragrances but has thoroughly enjoyed working with the handmade milk soaps. She said some like the earthy fragrances while others go for the floral scents. Scents and ingredients have purpose in their soaps with some made for those with allergies, some made to calm the nervous temperament, and others to soften and smooth the skin.

Calendula is infused in the soap and helps with diaper rash; zinc oxide helps those with acne, eczema, and psoriasis; and citronella goes into the Bug Off Soap. Southern Belles Soap have a spa line with soaps made of coal and clay to exfoliate, Dead Sea salts and Neem Oil to clean then heal, milk and mud to tighten skin, and Sea Buckthorn for cell regeneration. They make soaps for athlete’s foot and for your favorite pooch’s hot spots.

All the soaps are made by hand in small batches of fifty bars.  Nancy cuts the giant square mold of soap with a cheese cutter, and says the process may be viewed on Utube under Georgia Goats Milk Soap. For the Seymours, the business started at the kitchen stove then moved to the spare bedroom and bath before moving into the garage, expanding, and adding additions to the garage. 

The business imports items from as far away as Egypt. They have six goats they milk. They grow the “tried and true” herbs natural to this region and import others from organic growers. Some herbs are dried while others are cooked and added into the soap.  The ingredients are mixed with oils like coconut, olive, palm, sweet almond, grape seed and soybean or with butters like shea and cocoa. The softened mixture is heated with goat’s milk added and stirred for 5-8 minutes.  Goat’s milk is preferred because it has more peptides than cow’s milk. After being poured into a heavy wooden square mold, the soap sits for several days drying before being cuts into logs, drying some more, then cut into bars with the edges mitered. The trimmed edges are rolled into “Family Soap” or round balls. 

Currently Southern Belles Soap is preparing for the Christmas season.  The soaps are finished in 4-6 weeks and vendors buy in September and October for Christmas. Popular winter purchases are their Hand and Heels stick.

Lynda Woodall and Marilyn Carter served a delightful lunch and guests spread out throughout Carter’s interesting house and garden to dine.  The next meeting of the Merry Weather Garden Club will be on August 19^th when the club will tour the organic community gardens at Serenbe in Palmetto.  To make reservations call Sallie Mabon by the 12^th .

First Flight: A Mother Hummingbird's Story

The Merry Weather Garden Club met on Tuesday, June 21^st 2011 at the home of Linda Wilburn.  Wilburn and Babs Gordon hosted the meeting. Members and guests enjoyed shortcake, ice cream, and fresh peaches from Woodbury while they chatted and had a brief business meeting.

Wilburn gave an update on the streetscapes noting the special order engraved tiles were the delay and when they come in much of the work can be completed. Landscaping will not take place until October when simple dwarf crape myrtles and shrubs will be installed on the islands. Phase 2 of the streetscape plan has been approved with $300,000 for renovating the west side of the square. Wilburn also gave an update on the animal shelter noting the hearing in Atlanta, meetings with the commissioners and Friends of the Meriwether Animal Shelter with the plan to get one commissioner on the board of FOMAS.

Linda Wilburn provided the garden club program which came from a purchase she made from Birds and Blooms magazine, a publication much admired for its stunning nature photography. The video, First Flight: A Mother Hummingbird’s Story, was filmed and produced by Las Vegas homeowners Noriko and Don Carroll. They purchased a home that had a Black chinned hummingbird make its nest on their clothesline in the open sided garage attached to their home. The clothesline gave the cameras a 360 degree view of the action at the nest making for near perfect filming views. The camera was triggered by a remote that family operated in the house when they saw movement.

The bird came every year for three years, rebuilt the same nest, laid clutches eggs, and raised her young. She made the nest on the clothesline between two clothes pins that kept the nest upright. It was made of plant fiber plus spider webs that were sticky yet flexible so the nest stayed secure in breezy weather. The nest was about two inches in diameter.

The hummingbird made the migration to Mexico every year but always returned so the Carrolls began filming.  The eggs are the smallest of all birds’ eggs compared to their size and were the size of a coffee bean. The mother protected the eggs for about two weeks until the hatching happened.  The film was phenomenal showing the movement inside the shell before hatching then the baby birds made a line of holes in the shell and worked for hours to emerge.

The mother bird’s life went into speed mode as she began to feed the babies insects on a dizzying schedule. It was a constant two weeks of foraging for food for her young. By day 14 the pin feathers were clearly showing, and the wing flapping and fluttering began.  They used the oil from under their tails to preen their feathers.

By the 17^th day the babies were so big she could not land on the edge of the nest to feed them but had to hover with the wings beating 50-70 times a second. There was also humor in the film when the family cat hung out in the garage.

The fledglings were more difficult to film and follow but the Carrolls had snippets of film of them learning to fly and land on limbs. The mother bird was stressed to stay with and protect the birds.  The film was most enjoyable as most club members followed hummingbirds in their yards and had colorful sugar water feeders for them.