Greenleaf

Hope all were able to enjoy your holidays with family and friends. Putting away my Christmas Décor was a little sad – only get to enjoy those heirlooms for possibly 4 weeks out of the year.

Nothing to do in the garden now, except spread mulch and hope the plants will survive another winter. I was invited to my friend’s house and they were apolo-gizing because their gardens

looked so bad. When the Esperanza, shrimp plants, etc. freeze back, we have to let the brown stems just stay there instead of neatly trim-ming them back (so the plant won’t completely freeze). We go from having lush green plants to having brown twigs sticking up in a haphazard fashion. A neighbor just moved back to Michigan. She doesn’t seem to have that problem. Those brown twigs are

coated with snow, ice, and crystals. I am including a

picture of her yard that she has just sent me. What a beauti-ful scene!

(Continued on page 2)

Newsletter of the Sugar Land Garden Club, Established 1932

www.SugarLandGardenClub.org

This fun-filled tour is full! The bus will leave from the Knights of Columbus Hall at 7:00 am, returning be-tween 5-6 pm. The Painted Churches tour will include

January 28, 2014 We Have a Full Bus, Leaving at 7:00 am Painted Churches of Shulenburg, Texas

January 2014 Volume 16 Issue 6

2013-2014

Club Officers

President:

Carrie Sample

1st Vice President:

Jo Beth Moore

2nd Vice Presidents:

Gay Chavez

Donna Romaine

Mary Ellen Twiss

Recording Secretary:

Jeanmarie Short

Treasurer:

Leslie Niemand

Parliamentarian:

Marilynn Zieg/Scanlin

President’s Message By Carrie Sample

Ascension of Our Lord in Moravia and St. John the Baptist in St. John. These 2 churches are only available on the guided tour. The other 3 Painted Churches are located in the communi-ties of Dubina, High Hill, and Ammannsville. They appear unassuming as you approach them, but as you enter the front doors prepare to have your breath taken away by the incredible beauty found inside.

Photos from Shulenburg

Chamber of Commerce

From plant geek to horticulture grad from Texas A&M University, to rose-rustler and owner-creator of Brenham’s Antique Rose Emporium, Michael Shoup knows roses. He has authored three books about roses, supplied photos and articles for trade magazines and national periodicals and en-joys treasure hunting for old garden roses. His latest book, Empress of the Gar-den, released in October, will be available for sale at our meeting. He hopes to graft his enthusiasm for roses onto our gardens.

January 21, 2014 Guest Speaker Michael Shoup “The Rose—Empress of the Garden”

By Jo Beth Moore

President’s Message

Now, you have to understand that I am a Native Houstonian, so I have never actu-

ally lived with the snow and ice.

Your board has planned many fun and

informative activities in the coming

months. Roses are the topic of the next general meeting. Our field trip to the Painted Churches will be this month. The workshop committee will be helping us make a terra cotta wine cooler/pot on Feb. 4.

The Garden Tour Committee will be mak-ing the final plans for our Spring Garden Tour. If you would like to be more in-volved in the Garden Tour, please give Cheryl Swanson a call. Both the Garden Tour and our Garden Art and Plant Sale are so well received in our Sugar Land Community.

2014 is going to be an exciting year for the Garden Club. Hope to see you at all or some of our activities!

(Continued from page 1)

Dues for SLGC are

payable each spring,

$30 for the following

year. New members

joining June 1-

December 31 shall

pay $30 for the

current year. New

members joining

January 1-March 31

shall pay $20 for the

current year. For

new members

joining in April, dues

are $30 and apply to

the following garden

club year. Each

member receives a

monthly newsletter

and copy of the club

yearbook.

Page 2 Greenleaf January 2014 Volume 16 Issue 6

MEMBER YEAR

BOOKS

Member year books

are available for pick up at the monthly general meetings.

Be sure to pick up your copy if you

have not yet done so!

Our 2014

Arbor Day

Celebration

is scheduled

to be held on

Tuesday,

January 21 at

1:00 pm,

following the

January general meeting. We will dedicate

the Arbor Day trees which we have gifted to

the City of Sugar Land and are planted in

Pawm Springs Dog Park. The dog park is

located in Sugar Land Memorial Park, 15300

University Blvd.

We are proud of the long standing tradition

of tree dedication in the history of our club,

which dates back to 1950. As pictures of the

dedication will appear in the local papers, we

would like for as many members as possible

to be present at the event. Please plan to

attend. Sugar Land parks and Recreation

officials will be attending. .

Sugar Land Garden Club Arbor Day Event By Beverly Baumann

Photo of past Arbor Day event

Jan 18, 2014 Annual Fruit & Citrus Tree Sale Preview

Fort Bend County Master Gardeners will present a preview of the fruit and citrus trees that

will be for sale at their 2014 sale on Saturday, January 18. Over 50 varieties of fruit trees and

berries and over 40 varieties of citrus will be featured in the sale on January 25. The public is

invited to this free program at the Bud O’Shieles Community Center, 1330 Band Road in

Rosenberg. Doors open at 8:30; program from 9:00 – 11:00 am. For more information call

281.633.7033 or visit www.fbmg.com. FBCMG is sponsored by Texas A&M AgriLife

Extension Service.

Jan 25, 2014 FBMG Fruit & Citrus Tree Sale

It’s time for the Fort Bend County Master Gardeners Annual Fruit Tree Sale. So mark

your calendar, bring a wagon if you have one, get the list of trees to be sold on our Website

and join the fun. The list with descriptions of the trees to be sold and the price list will be

available later this fall. Time: 9:00 am – 1:00 pm or until sold out Location: Fort Bend

County Fairgrounds, Building H

Feb 6, 2014 29th Annual FBC Vegetable Conference

29th Annual Fort Bend County Vegetable Conference Texas A&M AgriLife

Extension Service of Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Harris, Wharton, and Waller Counties

will host the 29th Annual Fort Bend County Vegetable Conference. Time:8:00 a.m. – 4:00

p.m. Location: Fort Bend County Fairgrounds, Building B & C, 4310 Hwy. 36 South,

Rosenberg, Texas. Registration on or before Monday, January 27, 2014 is $20 per person and

includes lunch. The charge for registration received at the door is $25 per person and cannot

be guaranteed a lunch. Attendees may receive up to five continuing education units (CEUs)

for attending the full-day educational event. The conference presentations will include:

Building Soils from the Ground Up, Improve Yields and Quality with Season Extenders,

Crop Rotation Strategies, Niche Varieties from Garden to Fork, Pesticide Laws and

Regulations Update, Grow it and sell it!, and Integrated Pest Management – Biological

Control Methods. Please contact Brandy Rader at the Fort Bend County Texas A&M

AgriLife Extension Service Office at 281-342-3034 for more information. Download

the Registration form and submit to address shown on form.

NATIVE PLANT

SOCIETY OF TEXAS

HOUSTON

Houston Arboretum and

Nature Center

in Memorial Park.

Meet at 7:00 pm. Program at

7:30 pm

January 17

Jason Singhurst, Texas

Parks & Wildlife Dept.

Botanist, “Rare Plants of

Texas”

Page 3 Greenleaf January 2014 Volume 16 Issue 6

Sugar Land

Heritage Hike

This historical hike is

held the 2nd Saturday

of each month at

10:00 am, leaving

from the Museum at

198 Kempner St. The

walk is about 1-1/2

miles and takes one

and one half hours.

Costs are $10 for

adults, $5 for ages 12

to 18, and free for

children under 12. For

information on group

tours, which may be

scheduled during the

week call

281-494-0261

Upcoming Events

Horticulture by Paula Goodwin

This is first time I have written this year’s number and it always feels awkward. I kept waiting, waiting for summer 2013 to be over and it was--for a few days. Now imminent spring is on my mind.

Choosing just one shade tree for our backyard has taken me months. No more live oaks. They S-P-R-E-A-D and power compa-nies love to mutilate them when they grow far beyond their planter’s estimation. We have one magnificent specimen in our front yard about 35 years old. If it ever fell over, our house would be toast. We occasionally got letters from the homeowners association about our tree limbs being too low for the street and too low for the sidewalk when the tree was smaller, and one polite request from our neighbor to keep the boughs from pushing up against her magnolia next door when it got larger. These were useful re-minders about what we should have done anyway. If you have trees, especially the ubiquitous live oak, keep them cleaned up and trimmed in late winter or early spring every couple of years. Many un-needed branches and foliage can turn your tree into a giant sail to catch the high winds of hurricanes. Find a good tree trimming company to do the job. Just watching guys dangle from high atop our tree with a running chainsaw makes my hands sweat. I am the supervising (self-taught) arborist. Basically, branches that tend to grow down—come down.

We experienced Hurricane Alicia in 1983 and I learned how wind

and rain-saturated ground can easily topple trees. We had a Jerusalem thorn tree (Parkinsonia aculeata) that fell into the street and soon guys came around wanting to haul trees off for a fairly small amount of money. The day two young men came to chop up and load this tree took an unusually long time. I know about such things. After finishing, one came to the front door for payment. When I opened the door, I was struck by the amount of blood running down his shirt-sleeveless arms (this was in an awfully hot August). He said, “Ma’am, did you know your tree had thorns”? My (and most certainly this young man’s) lesson from this experience is: choose your trees and their location wisely—even if you are only cutting it up and hauling it off.

After much reading, I finally chose the Chinese Pistache (Pistacia chinensis). There is a new male cul-tivar “Keith Davey” that will not drop berries. The berries on the female trees will feed birds, though. This tree has been selected as a Texas Superstar. It is deciduous, has great fall color, does not get too tall, has a nice rounded shape, and grows fairly quickly. November is the optimal time to plant trees here, but I am waiting until after the holi-days to find a 35-gallon specimen. A tree is an investment, so I will be looking for a good trusted nursery to plant it and guarantee it for one year. The word Chinese made me

Page 4 Greenleaf January 2014 Volume 16 Issue 6

wary—after once having a backyard with four Chinese Tallows. They are now considered invasive, are extermi-nated on public land, and are illegal to sell in Texas. You could search far and wide and not find a more trash producing tree—unless it is the mi-mosa. Seedlings turn up in my flow-erbeds all the time and I finally dis-covered that criminal monoecious tree right down the street—which scatters about 100,000 seeds per sea-son. Monoecious means both male and female flowers are produced on the same plant.

Having deciduous trees will give you winter sunlight and will also give you leaves to make leaf mold. Leaf mold can be used as a moisture-retaining mulch, soil conditioner, or seedling mix.

Recipe: run over leaves with lawn mower to shred if possible; toss in black ultra-strength garbage bags with enough water to thoroughly wet; tie off loosely; and poke holes in one

side. Stack the bags as high as you want in an inconspicuous place. You can never have enough. Untie a bag and check next spring. If you still identify the stuff inside as leaves, it is not ready to use yet.

The pecan is our state tree. Pro-

nounced pa-cahn, not pee-can.

(Pistacia chinensis)

Volunteers Needed for

Sugar Land Butterfly

Garden Workday

January 23 Thursday

Sugar Land Branch

Library, 550 Eldridge

8:00am—9:00am

Garden Club Personality Dolores Ottenhouse by Gretchen Cockerill

My name is Dolores

Ottenhouse, and I

joined the Sugar Land

Garden Club in 2007.

I was born and grew

up in Littlefield,

Texas, which is lo-

cated northwest of

Lubbock, just south of

the beginning of the

Texas Panhandle. As

you may know in this

part of Texas there are more dust storms than rainfall which makes garden-

ing difficult.

My mother always had a vegetable garden. I had two sisters, and it was our

job to pull weeds, and help prepare the vegetables for canning. I can still

remember sitting in the kitchen with my two sisters stringing and snapping

green beans .

A more pleasant gardening experience was going to my grandparents’ farm

in Littlefield. My aunt and I would go into the garden. We would take a salt

shaker with us and pick a tomato to eat fresh off the vine. My grandparents

had a cellar which served a dual purpose. One was storing canned vegeta-

bles, and the other was a shelter from tornadoes. My grandparents came

from Oklahoma, and my grandmother was terrified of tornadoes. When-

ever the weather looked threatening, she would call us and say, “Ya’ll better

come to the cellar.”

After graduating high school, I went to Our Lady of the Lake College in

San Antonio, and earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration

degree. Afterwards, I was off to Dallas to find a job.

I went to work in the Dallas Engineering Department of Magnolia Petro-

leum Company, now Socony Mobil. My husband worked in sales for an

oilfield service company. We met at a Society of Petroleum Engineers

meeting in Dallas, and later married. In September, we’ll celebrate 52 years

of marriage. My husband was transferred to Houston in 1966, and we lived

there until we moved to Sugar Land in 1994. We have two children. Our

daughter was born in Dallas and now makes her home in Canada. Our son

was born in Houston and now lives in California. Unfortunately, we don’t

get to visit too often, but keep in touch via email and telephone.

While I was working, I saw notices in the paper for the Sugar Land Garden

Club meetings, and thought that I would like to join. For the first few

meetings, I went as a guest, and decided that I really did want to join. Since

then, I’ve learned that there is much more to gardening than pulling weeds.

Of course, there is that too. I’m thankful to the SLGC members who gen-

Page 5 Greenleaf January 2014 Volume 16 Issue 6

Contact

Joel Chavez

Joel.chavez@earthlink.net

832-633-0400

erously shared their knowledge and

plants. I have learned a great deal.

One thing I learned early on is that

small caterpillars eating your plants

may not be bad at all, but future but-

terflies. Unfortunately some met their

demise before I learned this.

Other than gardening, my hobbies are

arts and crafts. My favorite is decora-

tive painting. Since I’ve been in the

garden club, I’ve chaired workshops

which have been interesting, fun and

entertaining.

My gardening has been curtailed for a

while since I had back surgery in

March. If I listen to my doctor, I

should not ever garden again. We’ll

see………..

Delores in her garden

Don’s Nature Corner Think Forest Floor

The smell of the forest is refreshing. How did it get that way when no one is taking care of it? No

one fertilizes; no one is watering, or pruning. It is left alone and it seems to take care of itself.

Nature knows how to recycle nutrients to keep the next generation of plants flourishing. Is this a

lesson for gardeners? Is there something that the forest is doing that we can do? I think so.

With the days getting shorter and the temperatures cooling, leaves are beginning to turn color and

are falling, so I will be collecting them for our compost pile. There were years when I raked my

yard and bagged my leaves so they could be taken to the landfill. Not anymore!

Several years ago, during the Master Gardener classes, I discov-ered that I was buying bags of compost at the same time that I was throwing away my leaves and cut grass, the ingredients for making good compost. Now, when I mow our yard in the summer I do not bag the grass; I let it fall to the ground and decompose. The cut grass has the same nutrients as the grass on the lawn. By leaving the grass, those nutri-ents help fertilize the yard. See: https://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/earthkind/landscape/dont-bag-it/ In the months when the leaves fall, I collect the grass and leaves so that I can make compost. Both the leaves and grass contain nutrients that I want to return to the garden. In addition to the leaves and grass, we put our kitchen fruit and

vegetable scraps into the compost pile. A combination of bacteria, fungi, oxygen, water, and numerous small ani-mals, all working together, produce humus. However, one does not have to know the science of composting in order to create good compost. According to Karen Overgaard’s The Composting Cookbook, you should mix equal weight of grass and vegetable scraps with leaves. We have a 3x3x3 wire mesh Shepherd’s Composter which allows air to circu-late on all four sides and the top.

http://www.ceshepherd.com/complete_composter.html. The material decomposes slowly since we do not turn it. In order for the compost to decompose more quickly it will need to be mixed more frequently. I avoid including sticks because they de-compose more slowly than the other materials.

After several months, I move the bin and begin to place the top of the current pile at the bottom of the new pile. I continue to remove the leaves until I come to good compost. At that point I harvest the compost and distributed it to our garden. Al-though our bin is thicker than the forest floor, essentially the same thing happens in both places. With little effort I can create the forest floor in our garden. If you want to read more about building a compost pile click on the following link:: http://eartheasy.com/grow_compost.html

Page 6 Greenleaf January 2014 Volume 16 Issue 6

Sugar Land Garden Club member Don Johnson , is a member of the

Fort Bend Master Gardeners’ Entomology Group and of the Texas

Master Naturalists, Coastal Prairie Chapter.

This is finished compost from early in 2013.

I have more leaves than cut grass at mo-ment. They will be used in the next pile.

This is my “traveling compost pile” which I use for demonstrations. Some of the material has decomposed while some is still identifiable. There are many small animals in the tub.

The isopods are working on this unfinished compost.

Page 7 Greenleaf January 2014 Volume 16 Issue 6

Christmas Luncheon Photos By Tricia Tompson

Hospitality by Suzanne Hanks and Jean Waleke

All members are required to help with hospitality, which includes supplying refreshments for the meeting, helping

with set-up before the meeting and helping with clean up after the meeting. If you realize several weeks in advance

that you are unable to help during your month please contact us so we can try to move you to another month. Of

course, we also know that sometimes things arise at the last minute. If that occurs, and you are unable to meet

your obligation please note that our by-laws require you to find a replacement or pay $15 to the club (check should

be make out to Sugar Land Garden Club). The money will be used to purchase paper products or other refresh-

ments. Thanks to all the wonderful members who have volunteered to be monthly host chairs

September Jonita Ramirez

October Sharon Pence and Carolyn Salmans

November Elizabeth Jones and Jeanmarie Short

December Patty Ranson and Social Activities

January Gay Chavez

February Debe Fannin

March Marian Kozlovsky

April Rose Ann Acosta

Thanks to garden club

members who pushed total

club donations from Diana

Miller’s vendor sales and

raffle to a total of $612.00 to

Sugar Land Garden Club.

Fort Bend County Fairgrounds, Building B & C

4310 Hwy. 36 South, Rosenberg, Texas.

Registration on or before Monday, January 27, 2014 is $20 per

person and includes lunch.

The charge for registration received at the door is $25 per per-

son and cannot be guaranteed a lunch.

Houston Federation of Garden Clubs

February 14, 2014 10:00 am

“Jewels of the Desert”,

Darrin Duling, Dir Mercer Arboretum

West Gray Multi Service Center, 1475 W. Gray, Houston

SLGC General Meeting Tuesday, February 18, 2014 Social 9:30 am, program 10:00 am “Help! One-On-One with Randy Lemmon” Open question and answer format Knights of Columbus Hall, 702 Burney Rd 77498

Fort Bend Master Gardeners Seminar

February 20, 2014 7:00 pm

Bud O’Shieles Community Ctr, 1330 Band Rd, Rosenberg

SLGC Field Trip

February 25, 2014 Martha’s Bloomers and Tea Room—

Navasota

SLGC Butterfly Garden Workday

Thursday, February 27, 2014 8:00 am

Sugar Land Branch Library, 550 Eldridge 77478

For more information contact Joel Chavez at

joel.chavez@earthlink.net or 832-633-0400

Native Plant Society of Texas—Houston

February 21, 2014, 2013 Meet at 7:00 pm. Program at 7:30 pm

Lynn Herbert—River Oaks Garden Club- “Native Plants in

the new A Garden Book for Houston and the Texas Gulf

Coast”

Native Plant Society of Texas—Houston

January 17, 2014

Meet at 7:00 pm. Program at 7:30 pm

Jason Singhurst, Texas Parks & Wildlife Dept Botanist,

“Rare Plants of Texas”

Houston Arboretum and Nature Center

in Memorial Park. 4501 Woodway 77024

Fort Bend Master Gardeners

January 18, 2014 8:30 pm

Annual Fruit & Citrus Tree Sale Preview

by Fort Bend Master Gardeners

Bud O’Shieles Community Ctr, 1330 Band Rd, Rosenberg

SLGC General Meeting Tuesday, January 21, 2014 Social 9:30 am, program 10:00 am “The Rose-Empress of the Garden” Speaker Michael Shoup Knights of Columbus Hall, 702 Burney Rd 77498

SLGC Arbor Day

Tuesday, January 21, 2014 Following General Meeting

Sugar Land Memorial Park, Pawm Springs Dog Park

SLGC Butterfly Garden Workday

Thursday, January 23, 2014 8:00 am

Sugar Land Branch Library, 550 Eldridge 77478

For more information contact Joel Chavez at

joel.chavez@earthlink.net or 832-633-0400

Fort Bend Master Gardeners

January 25, 2014 9:00 am—1:00 pm or sell out

Annual Fruit & Citrus Tree Sale

by Fort Bend Master Gardeners

Fort Bend County Fairgrounds, Building H

4310 Highway 36 South, Rosenberg

SLGC Field Trip

January 28, 2014 Painted Churches Tour—Schulenburg

Bus departs at 7:00 am from Knights of Columbus Hall, 702

Burney Rd 77498

SLGC Workshop

Tuesday, February 4, 2014 10:00am—12:00 noon

Mosaic Wine Cooler/Pot by Lynette McQueen.

Imperial Park Recreation Center

234 Matlage Way, Sugar Land, Texas 77478

29th Annual Fort Bend County Vegetable

Conference

February 6 2014 Time:8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

January Calendar of Events February Greenleaf January 2014 Volume 16 Issue 6 Page 8

NEW GREENLEAF ARTICLE

SUBMISSION DEADLINE

So we may issue the Greenleaf the week prior to the

General Meeting, it is now requested that you submit

your articles no later than the 1st day of the month. Send

your article and any photos by email to

both Diana Miller, dmiller@realtor.com and

Gay Chavez, GayChavez@earthlink.net