Our Program Season Gets Under Way!

We're officially in gear for our 2016-2017 program season!  Our first meeting is Thursday 9/8 at the Bartram Trail Library, 10-noon.  We can't wait to see what programs our officers have lined up for us!  Look for them to be posted on our calendar shortly!

Last month a few of us were able to have lunch and meet one of our newest members, Jeanne Powell-Hendricks.  Although she's a relative newcomer to Florida, she's been a busy gardener with an avid interest in butterflies, especially monarchs!   Welcome, Jeanne and Fran Ziolkowski.

After our last club event in May we found out that our club had won a National Garden Club award for our environmental video in support of the NGC President's Projects.   This award was in addition to the FFGC awards our club won for its website and Dianne Battle's photography.  Click the links in this paragraph to see the photos and videos.  Remember you are currently viewing the award-winning website!

The District IV meetings have been announced.  See the District IV site. www.district4ffgc.org, for these and other updates as they occur:

District IV Fall Meeting October 7th at The Garden Club of Jacksonville

Gardenfest:  November 5 at the Duval County Extension Center

Environmental Studies ESS Course IV:  January 18-19, 2017 Garden Club of Palatka

District IV Spring Meeting: Garden Club of St. Augustine  May 5, 2017

For those of you who are interested in monarchs, we've posted an article on the monarch's summer activities in our Resources page with information from the Monarch Butterfly Migration Log in the educational website, the Journey North.  For most monarchs in North America, breeding season is over and southward migration season has begun.  Learn about the physiological changes this generation is undergoing in order to complete its  journey to the wintering grounds in Mexico and to return to the US to breed the generation of butterflies that will undertake the journey north.

In contrast to the majority of monarchs, our local butterflies will stay here longer and travel less far.  Our Monarch Committee hopes to visit a monarch breeding house built by local Master Gardener Woody Wilson and his wife Dian, this month, and to stop by Mike Adam's Monarch Waystation to see how the milkweed we donated to Saturiwa are doing!  Stay tuned for our October blog posting!

It's peak breeding season.

It's peak breeding season.

Summertime Isn't Blue for Us!

The temperatures were hot on June 8 and 9, but the inside of the library was cool.  Our intrepid garden club members, Claire, Joan, Mickey, Carolyn, and Dianne manned a table at the library entryway during Garden Week to talk to the many patrons about gardening, monarchs, and the many books our library system has for discovering the great outdoors.  Thank you, Carolyn, for bringing us fans.  They were much appreciated!

Later that month, Mickey and I got to attend the third Environmental Studies School class:  Air and Related Issues.  The class field trip to the Museum of Science and History (MOSH) was very enjoyable, so much so that my husband and I returned to the MOSH for my birthday to see some of the exhibits the class couldn't fit in during our 2-hour visit, including a display of animals found along the St. Johns River.  These creatures were too wounded to be able to be returned to the wild.  A Master Naturalist helped us with our questions.  We got to see a large salamander shedding its skin!  I'm glad I took the ESS course and returned to the MOSH!  See the District 4 website for a future announcement for the fourth and last ESS course:  Water and Related Issues.

The last piece of garden club news is that our club won a National Garden Club Award for best video in the Environmental Category of President's Projects.  Turn on your speakers and click to see the video, Dancing with Butterflies or check out A National Garden Club Award for Us .

Thanks to Clarke Bailey for installing new timbers in our garden!  And enjoy the July Issue of The St. Johns Sun, "Have a Succulently Fun Summer."

What's up with monarchs?  Click the MORE >>> link below for updates from monarchwatch and watch a slideshow from the Weather Channel, "Do You Know Your Bees?"

A Wonderful Day at the Library and WE'LL BE BACK!

We enjoyed meeting so many of you today at the Bartram Trail Library and we thank you for your time and attention.  The library is a wonderful resource for books for all ages about gardens and the creatures that enjoy them.

We'll be back again tomorrow, 6/9 from 11AM-3PM and we'll have more free plants for you early birds (they went like hotcakes today).  Stop by and see our display of projects and informative handouts to help you enjoy nature (and give her a helping hand).

For those of you who took one of our business cards, here are the links we mentioned.

• Lists of recommended books and other media (sorted by age group and topic) that are available at the St. Johns County Library.

• Lists of regional gardens and museums/exhibits featuring plants, gardens, and the creatures that love them!

We hope to see you tomorrow.  And we hope you'll be able to enjoy all the resources we residents have for appreciating gardens and the natural world.

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.