Matthew, Meetings, and Monarchs

October was not kind to us in northeast Florida, nor to residents of the Caribbean and up into the Piedmonts of North Carolina as Hurricane Matthew spun in a fury both on and offshore.  Members of our club were not affected too badly, and we are thankful for it.  However, neighbors were not so lucky.   Matthew hit on the day we were to hold our District Meeting,  So we will have to reschedule that.

But we still have GardenFest to look forward to on November 5.  We'll have several baskets to raffle off:  spa, childrens, movie, wine, and desk set, along with sales of plants and Christmas gift and decoration items.  Everyone in the club has pitched in to make our sales table overflow with goodies.  Doris will wrap the raffle baskets to make them extra special, Claire and Janet will set up the sales table, and Mickey and Carolyn will man it.

Another item to take note of in mid-November and it concerns our website name:  www.switzerlandgc.org    The name will not change, but we are going to use a different vendor to support the name.  While we change over from one vendor to another, the name may not work, BUT you can ALWAYS get to our website using it's alternate name:  

www.switzerlandgc.blogspot.com

It's a mouthful, so please make a note of it now.  We'll let you know when you can start using the "shortcut name"  www.switzerlandgc.org again.  Thanks for your patience!

Our first club program featured Mickey and her many ideas for reducing waste in the environment.   And Arlene shared her first experiences with the new children at Julington Creek Elementary.  She told them about Johnny Appleseed and his travels in the New World planting the seeds that would grow apple trees.  When she told the class that he had visited Toronto and asked if anybody knew where Toronto was, one young lady informed her that Toronto was near Orlando (we think she mistook Tampa for Toronto).  The anecdote gave us all a good laugh!

Our next meeting is on November 10, where we'll learn about two favorite blooming flowers:  roses and camellias (did you know that the red Camellia japonica is our club flower).  Please feel free to join us at the Bartram Trail Library from 10AM-noon.  See our program calendar for details.

Find out where the monarchs are meeting as they travel south to their overwintering grounds.  Click the more link below.




Monarch Migration Log, September 8, 2016.  Monarchs are migrating across the Great Lakes into the heart of the United States.  Along the way they need to find lots of blooming plants to nectar on.  From the time they start their journey from the north to their overwintering grounds in Mexico, they must increase their lipid (fat) stores almost fourfold to survive the winter.

Click this image to watch an interactive map of monarch migrations.

Monarch Migration Log, October 20, 2016.  The first monarchs, pushed south by a cold front, arrived in Mexico, and several of them have made it to Sierra Chincua Sanctuary where they will overwinter.  Bienvenidas, mariposa monarca!