Good Friends, Good Books, a Garden, and a Fond Farewell

Our garden club closed out a successful year with a pot-luck tea party at the Bailey Needmore Ranch.  The day was beautiful and so were we!  Thanks for the photos, Carolyn.  We won two awards from the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs, Best Club Website and Best Digital Photography of Plants (click the link to see the photos).

Shortly after our last get-together were were given the sad news of the passing of our dear garden club member, Beverly Fleming.  Many of our members were able to attend a memorial for her, which, in accordance with her wishes was a "party" featuring beautifully decorated tables, a light buffet, and the lovely nature photos Beverly was famous for.  We shared our recollections of Beverly while we enjoyed each others' company.  To honor Beverly's wishes we're going to get out and enjoy nature. The St. Augustine Record is also honoring Beverly by reprinting one of her articles in the Saturday gardening section, 5/28/16.

While there are no more Garden Club program meetings until September, we are staying active, and we think this would please Beverly greatly.

We'll be at Bartram Trail Library during Garden Week  6/6-6/11.  Drop by on 6/8 or 6/9 and see what we're up to.   Click here to see our suggestions for library books for you or the kids to enjoy and for nearby gardens to visit, no matter what your gardening style,  Our recommendations are on our Resources page, "If You Have a Garden and a Library, You Have Everything You Need."   Make your summer an opportunity to immerse yourself in the wonders of the plant kingdom!

Last, but not least, our Monarch Committee acquired 64 plugs of native tuberosa and swamp milkweed from monarchwatch.org to populate monarch waystations.  Several club members are planting them on their own property, and Mickey brought  a large number of both varieties to Saturiwa for Mike Adams to plant in suitable locations.  Mike is developing a monarch waystation in order to support his wildlife conservation efforts and to educate the public visiting his property about how to support our local monarchs.   If you're a monarch supporter, check out the latest updates on migrating monarchs and how to grow milkweed from seed by reading "more" here.

Monarch Migration News, May 16, 2016:  Confirmed:  March Storm in Mexico Caused Many Fatalities

March storm in Mexico caused high levels of mortality and morbidity - See more at: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/spring2016/19/c051916_logging.html#sthash.Vtk0RZJI.dpuf

March storm in Mexico caused high levels of mortality and morbidity - See more at: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/spring2016/19/c051916_logging.html#sthash.Vtk0RZJI.dpuf

March storm in Mexico caused high levels of mortality and morbidity - See more at: http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch/spring2016/19/c051916_logging.html#sthash.Vtk0RZJI.dpuf

Monarch Migration News, May 19, 2016:  Tell the monarchs from the pretenders and learn more about the monarch's migration north and how they fared after the huge storm in their wintering grounds.

Monarch Migration News: May 26, 2016

Monarch Migration News: May 26, 2016

 Monarch Migration News, May 26, 2016:  The monarchs have reached Minnesota.  Find out how to grow-you-own-milkweed for monarchs from seed to support next year's migrations in this 1-hour video titled, Growing Milkweed for Conservation, from www.monarchwatch.org.  Click here for an excerpt from the video containing information relevant to growing milkweed in Florida (PDF).

And here's a "cool" photo of some shade loving caladiums from Carolyn's garden.  A little oasis for the eyes.

Monarch Migration News: May 26, 2016M

Monarch Migration News: May 26, 2016