The Kind of September

It's September and that means the start of another Garden Club of Switzerland program year!  We have a new roster of officers for 2017-2019, installed at our May luncheon (thank you for the photo, Deborah), and we appreciate their willingness to serve.  A note of appreciation too for our outgoing officers from the 2015-2017 term!

Our monthly meetings are the second Thursday of the month from 10AM-noon from September through May.  They take place at the Bartram Trail Library and are open to the public, unless otherwise indicated.   The program schedule is at our Events page and on our Calendar.  If you see a program you would like to attend, consider yourself invited!  Please do us the courtesy of letting us know in advance so that we may have enough refreshments for everyone.  Use our contact info, SwitzerlandGC@gmail.com.  If you would like to become a member after you meet us (how could you resist?) ask for an application form or open the online Membership Application and mail it or bring it to a meeting.

The photos above and below are of our end-of year luncheon at the Bailey Ranch.  As always, it was a lovely event, and we thank Sarah for hosting it and Deborah for taking the pictures.  At the start of this "Kind of September" may your grass grow green and you be mellow.  And don't forget to join us for some memorable moments starting on September 14!

Springing Ahead for Spring!

March 12 is the first day of Daylight Saving time, but we're not waiting for the clock change to spring ahead.  We're sprucing up the butterfly garden at Alpine Groves so it will be ready for the Bartram Bash on May 13.  Our monarch committee had its kickoff meeting to plan for distribution of the native milkweed we expect shortly.  We had the pleasure of visiting Jeanne's flower garden and monarch nursery featuring the biggest monarch rearing tent we'd ever seen.  Two chrysalis' were already hanging inside!

We also saw the biggest staghorn fern we'd ever encountered.  It is so big it has to be hoisted up into a tree by crane so it can take advantage of warmer temperatures.  Jeanne's husband acquired it in 1978 and it's become a member of the family.   Lastly, Jeanne was kind enough to give us some of the spring flower bulbs she collected at the end of the planting season.  They'll keep nicely in the refrigerator as long as we keep them away from fruits or vegetables (which emit gasses that can interfere with flower production).


The latest issue of the St. Johns Sun has hit the streets featuring, "Monarchs on the March," an article about the monarchs returning from their overwintering grounds and our own experiences raising monarchs at home.  The monarch committee has some history doing this and we are always adding to our store of knowledge.  See our updated Resources section and the posting, "More About Monarchs."

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.

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.