The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is now.

Our garden club got started off on the right foot with a full house of guests and members looking forward to Arbor Day in Florida, January 16.  Here we are looking back over our shoulders to greet our guest speaker, Master Arborist, Chuck Lippi.  There is nobody better qualified to entertain and educate us with humanity's foibles when it comes to planting and "caring for" trees. He had photos galore of the mistakes that professional landscapers, arborists and nurserymen routinely make, all in the name of giving the paying public what it should know better than to ask for.   Bad arboriculture will never die as long as there is a buck to be made from it - especially since its effects might not show up for years. The sad truth is that Mr. Lippi has made a steady, if not princely income doing triage on abused trees.

The author has a few tales of her own, and one  has even won her a prize by exposing the barbarous practice of crepe (and other species) murders in her "pruning" exposé, "The Killing Fields in Mandarin:  Secret of Winn-Dixie Plaza" - my winning photo was featured on the front page of the 2014 Southern Living Crepe Murder Contest (please go there and Like it).  Now is the time YOU can best appreciate this year's new crop of atrocities and even photograph them.  Submit your photo to the Grumpy Gardener's 2015 Crepe Murder contest  between 2/2 and 2/21/2015.  Like me, you could win an appropriately sized crepe myrtle for your special picture like the one here.

In addition to the meeting's informative presentation by Mr. Lippi, our members were treated to Arlene's recounting of her elementary students' reaction to the Story of Pedro's Beard, a folktale about the origins of Spanish moss. The club was reminded that the Arbor Day Tree Seedling Giveaway (featuring several of our members) is on 1/16, 8:30-11AM at the Bartram Trail Library.  Claire told us that District IV of the FFGC will be installing a Blue Star Memorial Marker at Jacksonville Memorial Cemetery 1/24 at 10AM, (see our Calendar).  The St. Johns Sun published its inaugural issue with an article, "Right Tree, Right Place - The Right Thing to Do".  Carolyn won our raffle tickets to the Jacksonville Symphony - yea!!!  Beverly is back after her surgery (here she is telling us about the native Florida persimmon) and she shared her plans to install the bluebird houses we made in October - stay tuned.

While you're still here:  did you sign up for the ESS Course, The Living Earth?  By February 2, it will be too late.

This month's recycling tip:  save the beautiful cards you get from friends and family.   You can cut the pictures into interesting decorations for wreaths, ornaments, gifts, and labels.  A good family or rainy day project that your recipients will appreciate!  Send us your ideas to Reuse the Refuse!

Suggestion for the New Year:  Let's improve stewardship of our trees; plant an appropriate one or two - can you say, "free seedlings," - and practice good maintenance.  If you didn't do it twenty years ago, the second best time is now.

2014 Article Archive

Happy New Year 2015!  Here are the current postings:  Resolution:  Recycle More in 2015 (Resources), Arbor Day and Upcoming ESS Course (including a link to my article on Arbor Day in the St. Johns Sun) and a News note about the Monarch Butterfly.  As for recycling, help us all be better stewards of the earth by submitting your ideas on how to Reuse-the-Refuse.  We'll feature them right here!

The close of this year marks the Garden Club of Switzerland's first full year of its website operation.  For a club of barely 20 members, there sure was a lot going on!  Below is an archive of the postings over the past year; no grass growing under our feet!

The author is happy to report sighting one of the two bald eagles that take up residence across our pond.  Learn about eagles and their nesting sites in St. Johns County; maybe we'll see some fledglings again this year!

And do take a moment to enjoy these microscopic photos of snowflakes from Scientific American and appreciate the first man to actually photograph one in 1885:  Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley.  His passion for these wondrous creations is summed up in this quote:

"Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated. When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind." 

                                                 Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley 1925

An inspiration to each of us to appreciate each day's miracles, which like snowflakes, are unique and evanescent.

Celebration, Appreciation, Participation, and Dedication

(Apologies from the author to those who receive this posting again because I needed to make a correction:  I misspelled Mickey's name.  It's spellcheck for me from now on!)

Our club had Christmas luncheon at the Blackstone Grille.  Nobody can say we don't know how to celebrate a great year!  We're officially members of the clean plate club.  A few of the ladies shared desserts - now THAT'S friendship!  Mickey shared some recycling tips (which will be in the next posting).  Dianne spoke about an upcoming public hearing on a new PUD (planned unit of development) on Roberts Road, and Sarah and Phyllis provided background information on the area.  Mickey sponsored a doorprize giveaway which Linda won.  She got to choose one of Dianne's painted hyptertufa garden decorations.

Since the last postings, we participated in a wonderful GardenFest, got our butterfly garden, now an Official Monarch Waystation (with a Certificate of Appreciation to prove it), weeded, seeded, and generally cleaned up, and reflected on the importance of Stetson Kennedy's life at the dedication of his homestead as a national literary landmark.  Members of the club donated toys, money, and raffle items to Pie-in-the-Sky, Hastings, and helped out at their Holly Jolly Hastings Christmas Party.

The author is maintaining her tradition of posting the inspirational that is read at the club's Christmas luncheon, and this year we were happy to have two wonderful ones.  Please continue reading.  We hope the words will inspire you to share the message of the season with all you meet.

How Do You Spell Organic? K-Y-V

The speaker for our November meeting was Francisco Arroyo from KYV Farm 1670 Borrow Pit Rd., Switzerland.  KYV is a CSA with a USDA organic certification.  Sound like alphabet soup?  Well, this is how Francisco explained it (supplemented with some information from the University of Florida).

KYV is one of only two farms in our county that are certified organic farms.  The University of Florida has a publication on Organic Production.  Francisco's explanation was a little less technical but just as accurate.  KYV farms uses no chemical pesticides or fertilizers.  Francisco farms like he did when he lived in Puerto Rico.  At that time he had no idea that his practices were "organic".    It was the only way Francisco knew how to farm.  He hadn't even heard of the term, "organic" until he and his wife Vivian started KYV Farms here in 2006.  Traditional methods of farming:  crop rotation, cover crops (green manure), overplanting (to compensate for loss through disease and insect destruction), cured farm animal compost, are combined with modern efficient irrigation and cold frame use at KYV to produce the highest yield of healthy and organic produce.

Find out about CSA's and what the name, "KYV" means; check out the rest of this article (click the Read More >> link below).   And this month our website features articles on junior gardening by Arlene Hendrickson,  Growing our Future Gardeners, and the Old Settler's Reunion at Alpine Groves Park by Carolyn Mullinax, Oh, the Fun We Had.