greenhouse notes - coastal master gardener association

Greenhouse Notes “A quarterly newsletter for Coastal Master Gardener Association members.”

Our Website: http://cmga.caes.uga.edu/ Spring 2012

President’s Notes:

Impatiens or Impatience?

Patience is defined as the capacity to

accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or

suffering without getting angry or upset.

I think that I missed the gene that gives

one patience.

This has been the craziest Winter and

Spring in years. Here I sit at my computer typing an article for

the Spring newsletter and it is almost 78º outside. All the trees in my yard are leafing out, the

Formosa azaleas are in full bloom, the Cherokee rose is spectacular and I am trying very hard

not to go out and plant my Summer garden and annuals.

As a seasoned Master Gardener I should have better sense, and having been burned by a late

frost in the past I should really know better. Back in 2007, we had a late frost on April 9, frost

on April 16, 2001 and one really late frost on April 23, 1993.

Some annuals will tolerate a late frost but many of our annuals and vegetables will get

burned with any frost. The other factor in determining when to plant is soil temperature.

Most annual plants will not even grow when the soil temperature is below 65º and optimal

growth is at 80º – 85º. This also holds true for warm season grasses such as Centipede and

St.Augustine.

After looking at the historical records, I will try my best to wait till April 1st,

but if the weather

stays this warm, it will be very hard to resist planting. In the meantime, while I ponder

planting dates, I want to let you know about a few of our exciting programs coming up this

spring and summer, please read the Calendar of Upcoming Events, below. I hope to see

many of you attend these functions.

Bob Izzo

President

PS:

Hindsight is 20/20 and The World's Most Expensive Tomatoes

You know the old saying, hindsight is 20/20. Several

years ago, we went on a family vacation to the beach

in Florida. I went fishing on a charter boat and ended

up with one small Spanish mackerel. We had that fish

for dinner and nick-named it the “Holy Mackerel”.

After spending a small fortune on the fishing boat,

along with the small grill we brought for cooking, that

was one expensive fish.

As I am sitting here writing this note, I have my tree

guy cutting about a dozen trees down around the

garden. You would think that having five acres of

land that I would have plenty of space for my garden.

When we moved into this house, the previous owner

had a small garden made mostly out of 5-gallon buckets and poles for staking. I thought - why

reinvent the wheel - and I expanded the garden site, fenced it in and built the greenhouse on

the outside corner. Over the years the oak trees and pine trees have gotten so large that

they were blocking out the sunlight needed for my veggies to grow. We decided that instead

of clearing a large patch of land in the back, which would cost a fortune, we would have the

trees around the garden cut. Needless to say, once again we are spending a small fortune all

for the sake of my passion for home grown vegetables. I think that I could go to Fresh

Market for the rest of my life and never recoup the cost that I put into the garden. If I had

known that the sun was going to be such a big issue, I would have had the trees cut long before

I put up the greenhouse, boat shed, and new storage building.

No one ever said that gardening was easy or necessarily cheap. Overall, you have to take into

consideration all of the enjoyment you get out of growing something and do what makes you

happy. I will never recoup the cost of clearing the trees, building the greenhouse or planting

the dozens of camellias, azaleas, trees, and shrubs that we put into our lot - but we both

believe that for our own enjoyment certain things need to be done.

I am sure over the next few years, we will be cutting more trees, rearranging the flower beds,

planting more trees and shrubs, and we will one day sell this house and move into town on a

small lot. Knowing the type of people we are, I would think that doing this would simplify my

life but I know that within a few months, we will be rearranging the yard to suit our needs. At

least then the scale will be much smaller and I won’t have the energy to do what I do now - and

that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Bob

NEWS FROM THE PROJECTS COMMITTEES

Projects Committee: Pat Ryan, Rose Mary Cone, Faith Sadley

Botanical Garden News

The Botanical Garden has been spruced up and is showing signs of Spring green-up.

The danger of a killing frost/freeze seems to be a thing of the past.

There are two events at the Garden you will want to put on your calendars.

THE PLANT SALE is planned for Saturday, March 31 (8:00

a.m. to 3:00 p.m.). This is an opportunity for MGs to earn

some hours. We will be getting ready for the sale on

Friday the 30th

with potting, pricing, and arranging plants

for the sale. On Saturday customers will need help and

advice in selecting plants for their gardens and loading

their purchases. If you have plants or garden sale items to

donate, please bring them to the Farmhouse on Friday.

The second annual ROSE FESTIVAL is on tap for Saturday,

May 5 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm - more opportunities to

earn MG credit and enjoy the rose garden in full bloom.

(The gardens, of course, are open from dawn to dusk every

day.) The public is invited to this Festival, and we would

like volunteers to give tours and talk about the gardens.

Harry Howard, our favorite rosarian, will be on hand to talk

about his prized roses. There will be lots of things

happening in the Garden.

If you would like to volunteer for either of these events, call 912-898-8373 or email me

at [email protected].

Projects Chair

Pat Ryan

Coastal Master Gardeners Association - Projects Among the many outreach ventures that the CMGA undertakes is providing financial and physical support for worthwhile community gardening projects. The CMGA awards grant money, as its resources allow, to individuals or not-for-profit organizations wanting to complete garden projects which promote and involve the community in gardening. The Project must have an educational element for the participants and/or recipients, and help to beautify a public-use facility. It should make a difference, even in a small way, to the community that it serves.

The basic criteria for receiving a grant are simple. A written application must be submitted. Application forms and guidelines can be downloaded from our website at http://cmga.caes.uga.edu/

Recently, we worked on a Project at the Jenkins Boys Club on Waters.

Virginia Cann, a member of the current Master Gardener Class, approached us with a request for help in re-landscaping the front of the Jenkins Boys’ Club. The application was approved by the Project Committee members and the Board and signed off by David Linvill. With assistance from Project Committee members Faith Sadley, Rose Mary Cone and Pat Ryan, the project was successfully completed on Saturday, March 10.

Virginia was extremely resourceful in supplementing the Master Gardener grant. She obtained seven donated 7-gallon viburnum shrubs for a screening hedge, received money contributions for plants and other materials, and financed the irrigation system.

A large number of people turned out for the planting. Master Gardeners Faith Sadley and Pat Ryan were joined by Virginia Cann and two of her fellow class members. Several men who are associated with the Boys’ Club, the director, Billy Covington, and a dozen or so young men who participate at the Club were on hand to help. By noon, the some 200 plants were in the ground, the area raked and pine straw laid. Hot dogs, snacks and drinks furnished by the Club were enjoyed as we all stood back and admired our handiwork.

The Project Committee is eager to receive proposals for additional projects. We plan to post a sample-approved plan on the web site soon to facilitate the application process. Contact Pat Ryan at 898 8373, [email protected] or other of the Committee members for information.

Bonaventure Update

This winter has been a very happy one for the camellias at

Bonaventure and we have been rewarded with wonderful

displays of blossoms from literally hundreds of plants. Anyone

not familiar with Bonaventure should go check it out soon for

the azaleas are coming in bloom and only add to the beauty of

this spectacular place.

This doesn’t mean that we can sit back and do nothing, quite the contrary. Now everything is

in need of fertilizing and we are waiting impatiently for Spring to really arrive. We especially

want to focus on the younger plants installed by the cemetery crew several years ago and

recently left unattended due to budget cuts.

Besides tending to the plants at Bonaventure we’ve had the pleasure to go to several older,

well-known gardens this past year and take many air-layers from older varieties of camellias

no longer available in this area. Air layering for us has proven to be the most successful way

to propagate plants and is much faster than taking cuttings. In the next few years we should

have many beautiful specimens, which can be incorporated into the landscape at

Bonaventure, and several other sites in the vicinity.

Come out and help us if you can. The more you volunteer,

the easier it gets and the more you learn about everything,

not just plants. There is also the new Walz

garden that could use some master gardeners

to lend a hand. We generally meet on

Wednesday or Thursday mornings at 9:30 am

on Mullryne Way and evaluate what needs the

most attention that day.

If interested email [email protected] or call 912-376-2886 and leave a

message.

If you can’t make it out to Bonaventure but are specifically interested in volunteering with

camellias, both the Botanical Garden on Eisenhower Drive and the Judge Solomon Camellia

trail at the Bamboo Farm are excellent selections and the camellia lovers out there would

appreciate your input. Contact information for both places are listed in the volunteer section

of the newsletter.

Jane Morel Sommers

Old Jail Art Center and Museum in Darien

The Old Jail has been a project of the CMGA since 2006 and looks so much better than when we started. Many thanks go to Jimmy Vann for his generosity in providing his expertise and many of the plants. On a workday on Jan 20th, the roses and small shrubs were trimmed and weeds were pulled thanks to our master gardener volunteers, from left to right:

Gail Rodgers, Chris Arthur, Kristi Jordin, Erv & Diane Houston, Mary Wishart; front row, Ginger Pruden, and Linda Lamb from Coastal Wildscapes. (Bob Izzo not shown - you know how shy he is).

Also seen working on those weeds is Kristi Jordin, left. On Feb 24th, we fertilized the 70 knockout roses in the front island and replaced the invasive miscanthus with native little blue stem grasses. Another hard working group

of volunteers that day included Chris Arthur, Ginger Pruden, Gail Rodgers, and Mary Wishart. The effort of master gardeners is much appreciated by the McIntosh Art Association.

If you are interested in working with us, contact me at (912) 832-3466 or [email protected].

Ginger Pruden

Roots and Shoots

The Program is in full swing for Spring school visits to the

Bamboo Farm. It is lots of fun and very important to teach

kids in grades K-5 about gardening and conservation of our

resources. Classes come around 10:00 and have a 30-minute

nature walk and then a 30-minute classroom lesson which

includes basics of plant growth and seed or cuttings planting.

Kids leave happy and so will you.

Roots and Shoots teachers are needed for the dates listed

below in March.

*Monday March 19th

Tuesday March 20

th

Wednesday March 21

st

Thursday March 22nd

at 10am - Ludowici Elementary,

45-50 students per day.

We will need two teachers per day to split

the class

*Monday March 26th

Tuesday March 27th

at 10am - Ludowici Elementary,

45-50 students per day.

We will need two teachers these days

*Wednesday March 28th

, 10am - Pooler Elementary Pre K/K, 44 students, 8 adults

*Thursday March 29th

, 10am - outdoor walk only - Ford Academy 22 pre-K children 3 adults

Contact Liz Lubrani at 912-921-5460 or [email protected] if you are interested in

volunteering to be an instructor, or get some OJT by joining the current instructors on the

walkabout and classroom sessions.

Freya Zipperer

Programs Committee: Cheryl Drwiega,

Spring is upon us in the Coastal Empire. The redbud and azaleas are blooming in my yard and I see the jasmine in the woods. I hope those of you that went to Dunham Farms had a pleasant day and learned a little more about camellias. I would like to welcome Gaylen Young and Paula Wheatley to the Programs Committee. They are joining Jeannette Byrd, Faith Sadley, and myself to plan and execute the educational and enjoyable events for CMGA

March 24 - Spring Festival at the Bamboo Farm

We will have a plant sale that day, come early and visit the plant

booth that is going to be located down by the pavilion. T

winter the CMGA volunteers have been busy in the greenhouse.

We literally have hundreds of plants for sale and many interes

varieties.

April 14 - Plant Sale in the greenhouse at the Bamboo Farm

April 28 - CMGA Garden Tour

Our committee has planned a second (annual?) garden tour. Pat Ryan, Faith Sadley, and

Rose Mary Cone are allowing us to visit their home gardens on th

for us to visit the Walz garden at Bonaventure, as well. The garden tour was a great success

last year and we hope you will come out and enjoy this event again. Look for details soon in

your email and on the website.

May 19 - Coastal Master Gardener Picnic

The annual Master Gardener Picnic and Plant Swap will be at the Bamboo Farm. We will

welcome our newly minted Master Gardeners. We will also recognize those who have been

in the Coastal Master Gardeners for

chicken and beverages and we ask you bring a side, salad, or dessert. If you have any plants

you want to share, please bring them also

June 12 - Sapelo Island Tour

You should already have received

advised that there is limited seating. If you are interested please contact Faith Sadley at

[email protected].

Committee: Cheryl Drwiega, Jeanette Byrd, Faith Sadley,

Paula Wheatley & Galen Young

Spring is upon us in the Coastal Empire. The redbud and azaleas are blooming in my yard and I see the jasmine in the woods. I hope those of you that went to Dunham Farms had a pleasant day and learned a little more about camellias.

ome Gaylen Young and Paula Wheatley to the Programs Committee. They are joining Jeannette Byrd, Faith Sadley, and myself to plan and execute the educational and enjoyable events for CMGA

Spring Festival at the Bamboo Farm

e will have a plant sale that day, come early and visit the plant

be located down by the pavilion. This past

winter the CMGA volunteers have been busy in the greenhouse.

We literally have hundreds of plants for sale and many interesting

in the greenhouse at the Bamboo Farm

our


Rose Mary Cone are allowing us to visit their home gardens on the islands. Pat has arranged



your email and on the website.

Coastal Master Gardener Picnic & Plant Swap



in the Coastal Master Gardeners for at least ten years. As usual, CMGA will provide the


you want to share, please bring them also.

Sapelo Island Tour

You should already have received by email the info on the Sapelo Island trip. Please be


Jeanette Byrd, Faith Sadley,

Spring is upon us in the Coastal Empire. The redbud and azaleas are blooming in my yard and I see the jasmine in the woods. I hope those of you that went to Dunham Farms had a pleasant day and learned a little more about camellias.

ome Gaylen Young and Paula Wheatley to the Programs Committee. They are joining Jeannette Byrd, Faith Sadley, and myself to plan and


e islands. Pat has arranged





at least ten years. As usual, CMGA will provide the


by email the info on the Sapelo Island trip. Please be


June 30 - Hypertufa Workshop

Hypertufa is creating planters or molds using mortar, peat moss, and perlite

Bob Izzo will show us how and we will

follow.

July 21 - Ogeechee Canal Butterfly Tour and Walk

Programs Chair

Cheryl Drwiega

Did you know, for the first time since 1990, the US Department of Agriculture has revised the official guide for the nation's 80 million gardeners

hardiness zones?

for more details, click on

Hypertufa Workshop

creating planters or molds using mortar, peat moss, and perlite

Bob Izzo will show us how and we will each make our own piece. Date and location info to

Ogeechee Canal Butterfly Tour and Walk

, for the first time since 1990, the US Department of Agriculture has

revised the official guide for the nation's 80 million gardeners - the map of US plant

for more details, click on http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

creating planters or molds using mortar, peat moss, and perlite.

make our own piece. Date and location info to

, for the first time since 1990, the US Department of Agriculture has

the map of US plant

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

Fun Facts to Know and Tell

OKRA (Hibiscus esculentus), which is

believed to have originated in the area around present-

day Ethiopia, came to North America, specifically New

Orleans, with the African slaves. At that time, it was

variously called gombo, guingombó, and guiàbo. Okra

readily adapted to its new environment and continued

to be grown as a popular food by African Americans. In

particular, they harvested the pods when still immature

and tender, usually preparing them as an addition to soups or stews. In fact, today's

"gumbos" of southern cookery take their name from the African American name for this

plant. Okra was also served dipped in cornmeal and then fried. Although it was occasionally

eaten boiled, this method of cooking okra was considered less desirable since boiling gives

the vegetable a slimy texture.

African American slaves also used parched okra seeds

as a coffee substitute, since real coffee beans were

rarely available to them. In fact, during the coffee

shortages of the Civil War, the southern white

population was encouraged to copy practices of their

slaves and to use this "okra coffee" until commerce

and transportation were once again normalized with

the North.

In addition to using okra as a food and beverage, there

were other traditional African American uses for the plant. For example, extracts of the plant

were used to soften medicinal poultices or plasters and the pods were eaten to terminate

pregnancies.

Okra is a nutritious supplement to any meal since the pods are rich in phosphorus and

calcium. In addition to being eaten as a vegetable in its own right, present-day food

manufacturers use it to stabilize products such as salad dressing, cheese spreads, and

candies. Additionally, since World War II, periodic laboratory research has been undertaken

on powdered extracts of okra pods to determine if a blood plasma substitute can be

developed from the plant. To date, no conclusive findings on this research have been

released.

From "Plant Pioneers - American Indian and African American Medicinal and Food Plants"

Orbis Associates, Washington, DC

WINTER Mystery Plant

Crinum Americanum

Crinum lily, Seven sisters, Swamp lily, Southern swamp lily, String lily

Some authorities place this beautiful flower in the amaryllis family instead of the lily family. It differs from many lilies in that its floral parts are attached above the ovary rather than below.

Nancy Tamarak guessed this 10 minutes after the newsletter was

issued. She received a decorative and very practical brass

dragonfly hook for her swift recognition of the mystery plant.

There is a prize for the correct guesser

It might be exotic seeds or a unique plant, or an absolutely cutesy gardener's doo-dad.

(Answers should be sent to [email protected].)

Spring Mystery Plant

\

On-going Volunteer Opportunities Contacts

Bamboo Farm ....................................................Kathy Deloe ....................................... 921-5460

Bonaventure Cemetery ......................................Jane Sommers .................................. 897-0581

Botanical Gardens .............................................Bill Grubbs ......................................... 897-1693

Downtown Extension Office ...............................Tonia Rudrow/Susie Edwards ........... 652-7981

Bamboo Farm Greenhouse Plantings ................Bob Izzo ............................................. 727-2034

Habitat for Humanity ..........................................Jay Volker .......................................... 727-1002

Native Planting ..................................................Pat Ryan ............................................ 898-8373

Old Darien Jail ...................................................Ginger Pruden ................................... 832-3466

Owens-Thomas House ......................................Diane Houston ................................... 233-7919

Roots & Shoots ..................................................Cassy Davis ....................................... 921-5460

Savannah-Ogeechee Canal ..............................Chica Arndt ........................................ 920-2299

Savannah Tree Foundation ...............................Diane Houston ................................... 233-7919

Board Members

President ......................... Bob Izzo ........ 727-2034 .................................. [email protected]

Vice President ........... Faith Sadley ........ 272-2768 ................................. [email protected]

Secretary ................ Marianne Izzo ........ 727-2034 ................................ [email protected]

Treasurer ............. Louise Grotheer ........ 925-2623 ...................... [email protected]

Past President ............. Bill Grubbs ........ 897-1693 ............................ [email protected]

Directors ........ Paulette Bomberger ........ 247-7706 ...... [email protected]

................ Jeanette Byrd ........ 355-0218 ........................................... [email protected]

.............. Rosalind Brady ........ 656-2968 .......................... [email protected]

............. Cheryl Drwiega ........ 598-1746 ................... [email protected] .............. Carol McCurdy ........ 398-5467 ............................ [email protected]

............. Sandra Morgan ........ 443-5913 .......................... [email protected]

............... Ginger Pruden ........ 832-3466 ............................. [email protected]

....................... Pat Ryan ........ 898-8373 .................................. [email protected]

Programs............................... Cheryl Drwiega

Projects .......................................... Pat Ryan

Membership ......................... Sandra Morgan

Communications ........... Paulette Bomberger

Liaison Friends BBF & MG ..... Gaylen Young

(Note: All Area Codes are 912

CMGA

greenhouse notes - coastal master gardener association

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