Our Gardens, Our Lives, Our Well-being

LOOKING FORWARD TO A WONDERFUL 2012 ~ 2013 GARDENING SEASON!

GARDEN CLUB PROGRAMS ~ July through September

Credits: 

Photographs by Marge Krupa, Sally Mattausch and Andrea Hamburger.  Research from the New York Botanical Garden website and the American Horticultural Society’s Encyclopedia of Gardening. 

Recent Meetings

Our recent meetings were well attended; but if you weren’t able to make it, here’s what happened. 

July:  The Cornwall Garden Club traveled to Storm King Art Center in Mountainville for our July meeting.  Club members assembled in the upper parking lot, and we divided into three groups.  Eileen Tulloch, Sally Mattausch and Sally Ryan donned their Storm King Art Center docent hats and led the groups on tours of the works located on Museum Hill.

Then we all took the tram tour with its spectacular views of Schunnemunk and Storm King Mountains.  The care given to the placement of the art work and the incorporation of the natural setting into the displays was evident.  The meadows filled with wildflowers and grasses, the maple allee, and the pin oak and weeping willow plantings contributed to the enjoyment of the art. 

After our tour, we enjoyed our brown bag lunch at the picnic grove and held a business meeting.  It was a perfect summer day for a picnic – not too hot and with a bright blue sky – and a perfect day to visit one of our community treasures – the Storm King Art Center. 

August:  The August program centered on medicinal and healing herbs.  Clinical herbalist Marguerite Dunne spoke on the use of herbs to improve well being.  She discussed growing and collecting beneficial herbs and the role herbs played prior to the creation of modern medicine.

The meeting included horticulture displays, talks about ginger and compost worms, and floral exhibits.  During the business meeting we welcomed Dawn Vacek as a new member. 

Welcome to Dawn!

Dawn Vacek joined the Cornwall Garden Club at our August meeting.  Dawn was raised in Cornwall and remembers Organic Gardening and Farming as one of the few magazines the family subscribed to.  She enjoyed a successful career as a real estate broker and now manages a few rentals around the area. 

Dawn looks forward to learning about floral design and said she thinks her arrangements have improved since she started attending meetings.  She is already growing red wiggler worms, and there are no blooms left on her hydrangeas because she’s been making so many arrangements. 

Dawn says she is excited to be part of the group.  Betsy Turner will serve as Dawn's Mary Mentor.  Welcome Dawn!

 

September:  Landscaping was the topic for our September meeting held at the Cornwall Presbyterian Church.  Joe Sapp, landscape designer, and Jodi Jenkins, horticulturalist, outlined how they approach their custom made design projects.  Joe said he begins his consultations by asking a client a series of questions with the first being “What is your primary focus?”  Other questions include “What will be your focal point?” and “How will the area be used?”  Jodi recommends the plants for the designs.  She stressed how important it is to use deer resistant plants. (see recipe below)

 

A horticulture display and talks on Egyptian walking onions, an heirloom onion variety, and permaculture, an ecological design system, were part of the evening’s agenda. 

During the business meeting, the membership voted to keep the floral design, horticulture display and horticulture design program the same for another year.

Deterring Deer

At our September meeting, we discussed the ever popular topic of dealing with our neighborhood deer herd.  First on the list of coping with the four-footed chewers was planting deer resistant plants.  Jodi Jenkins, guest horticulturist, said very few plants are deer proof as hungry deer will eat almost anything.

If your supposedly deer resistant plants are being eaten, club members suggested protecting small plants by covering them until they become established.  As plants mature, they seem to be less tasty.  Planting deer resistant plants in front of other types of plants also helps keep down the foraging. 

Several members reported success using our homemade deer repellent recipe and provided suggested modifications to make it easier to apply.  Here’s the recipe and some suggestions. 

Ingredients

2 raw eggs

1 cup skim milk

1 cup water

3 garlic cloves

1 Tbs. sticker/spreader (available at garden supply stores) or dish soap

Application

Blend together and mix well.  Add to gallon sprayer and fill to line with water. 

Spray every two weeks or as needed.  It will wash off, so respray after a very heavy rain. 

Member modifications and suggestions:  Place the mixture in a two liter soda bottle.  Punch a few holes in the plastic top of the bottle and squirt the spray on the perimeter of your garden.  This works well on wooden fences as the liquid soaks into the wood. 

Using garlic powder makes the process much easier; and, it seems to work just as well as using the fresh garlic.  Use three tablespoons of garlic powder in place of the raw garlic.  Removing the stringy parts of the egg white by straining the eggs helps keep the sprayer from getting clogged.    

A small – one gallon – hand pressurized pump sprayer works well for application.  They cost under $20 at Home Depot or Lowe’s.  A hand sprayer – an empty Windex bottle – would work, but it will be tiring to do a large area. 

This stuff smells, so spray when you are not planning on being in the yard for awhile.  If you don’t use up the entire batch, you can keep it for use later.  Warning – it really gets smelly after a few days.  Making a half batch (using one egg) is a better idea than saving it.  

Garden Club Signs

Signs informing passersby that the gardens at Chadeayne Circle and the Bandstand are maintained by the Cornwall Garden Club are a new addition to the gardens.  Club member Jayne Petersen spearheaded the initiative to have the signs made and get them installed.

Jayne pointed out that the purpose of the signs is to let the community know what the Cornwall Garden Club does.  The signs may also inspire someone to join our ranks and contribute to our community service efforts. 

Club members Margaret Vatter and Beverly Abraham and spouses Chris Olander and Tom Petersen assisted in the purchase and installation of the signs.  Many thanks to all!

Hurricane Irene

When Hurricane Irene passed through Cornwall, the Canterbury Creek, usually a scenic babbling brook, became a community hazard.  The creek overflowed its banks and water streamed over our gardens at the Chadeayne Circle and down Main Street. 

In a matter of days, Cornwall Garden Club members pitched in to remove rubbish and rake.  Displaced plants were gently replanted, and mulch was replaced on the flower beds.   

Soon Chadeayne Circle was looking back to normal.  Although there is some hurricane damage in Cornwall especially along the Moodna, we are thankful our community was spared the devastation seen in some areas. 

Chrysanthemums

Although the hours of daylight are lessening and fall is here, nature still has floral beauty for us.  A hallmark of fall – the chrysanthemum – is in full bloom in our gardens and at garden stores. 

Chrysanthemums come in a wide variety of forms from the dainty pom-pom to the showy spider.  Their vibrant colors and long lasting blooms make them wonderful additions to our gardens. 

Mums bought at garden stores can be planted directly into your garden.  Plant in a sunny location in well drained soil.  Mums are sensitive to the length of the day and bloom when the days shorten.  Make sure you don’t plant your mums where they will receive artificial light from a street light or your porch.  Remember to give them room to spread.  And even though we have had so much rain, don’t forget to water as needed. 

After a strong killing frost that withers the plant’s foliage, adding a light mulching will help the plant survive the winter.  Keeping the foliage over winter rather than pruning back in the fall will help protect the plant from freezing. 

Come spring, the mum should send up new shoots.  Pinching back the shoots encourages branching and helps keep the plant from getting too tall and leggy.  When a shoot is between four and six inches tall, gently pinch out the apical bud of each shoot every few weeks.  Stop pinching the middle of June in order for the plant to set up flower buds.

A well established mum will bloom profusely for several weeks each fall, giving you one more beautiful flowering plant even as summer fades.

Annual Plant Sale 2011

As it is said, a picture is worth a thousand words, there is no doubt that a lot of fun and teamwork brought about a very successful, well organized day.  Members, of course didn't hesitate to pose and have fun during the very long and arduous planning that goes into the annual plant sale's success.   Thanks go to Marge Krupa who was able to capture the best moments throughout the day.

 Helka

 Alma and Chic

 Andrea and the Tomato Station

 Sally

 Grandma's Attic w/ Dorothy and Alma

 Margaret

 Tara

 Jayne

 Rachel

 Arlene

 Michelle

 Helka and Diann ~ w/ fine Japanese Maple donation

 the Silent Auction table

 Sally

 Rita, Betsy and Sally

 Lisa

 Gift Wrapping table

Eileen 

 Beth

 Beth

 Beverly coming by with refreshments

 Orchid table...a new addition

 Marie~Elise

 Marie~Elise :-)

 Sally

 Carol

 Plants were moving

 Phyllis at Holding Area

After the gracious and supportive community selected and purchased their plants, visited and treated themselves to baked goods, found trinkets and prized treasures from Grandma's attic for the little ones, and were rewarded with their silent auction winnings, our members were left to pack it all up for another year and head over to the lovely home of Sally and Mike Mattausch for some fun and fine dining on pizza and wine.  It's allowed to rain now, and rain it did!





Everything's Coming Up Tulips!

Cornwall Garden Club

Installation Luncheon

March 18 2011

Thanks to the gracious hosting efforts and dynamic teamwork from Angela Calabro's creative spirit and Betsy Turner's attention to detail, the annual garden club luncheon was again delightful and delicious. It takes a bit of patience to get into West Point and then strong legs to march up the hill in heels to the hotel, but once inside, the historic strength of the building wraps around your senses and in the company of familiar faces, you are drawn to the floor to ceiling picture windows that frame the glorious Hudson River. Our home. This was the perfect place to celebrate the start of spring and the renewal of friendships.

After sharing an exquisite lunch buffet, we turned our attention to Sally Mattausch and Jayne Peterson who in turn presented a beautiful potted plant to our president Andrea Hamburger. With applause and everyone standing, club members thanked her for all the enthusiastic leadership she shared for the past two years. Thanks Andrea! Andrea will be passing the presidency over to Margaret Vatter for the 2011 ~ 2012 term. Congratulations Margaret!

District X Director, Alberta Rosiak helped to give thanks to the 2010 ~ 2011 officers as well as announce and congratulate the 2011 ~2012 board members with a single rose bouquet.

President

Margaret Vatter

First Vice Presidents (Membership)

Rita Chase ~ Marie-Elise Pearson

Second Vice Presidents (Beautification)

Beverly Abraham ~ Helke Pavlacka

Third Vice Presidents (Program - Yearbook)

Michele Farr ~ Eileen Tulloch ~ Marjorie Krupa

Recording Secretary

Sally Wortman

Corresponding Secretary

Karen Guarino

Treasurer

Arlene DeSocio

Congratulations everyone! It's going to be a bright and colorful year.

Now one might think that when one attends a scrumptious luncheon they would be looking forward to the display of desserts topped with coffee or tea. Well, those things are nice, but it's a bit different for garden club members.  What the real anticipation that seemed to build up in the room was the unveiling of the new Cornwall Garden Club Yearbook! Kudos goes to Michelle Farr, Eileen Tulloch, Sally Mattausch and all others for another program packed yearbook. The title theme for this up-coming year is called Growing Our Gardens. The idea behind the concept is that "each member will be working to "grow" a more beautiful environment for people of all ages and walks of life so that our community is visually and emotionally more beautiful and a better place to live and raise a family."

Thank you for sharing your life loving talents

Joel Stephen McKible

April 24, 1932 ~ March 24 2011

Our prayers, steadfast comfort and friendship

go to his wife, Garden Club member,

Rachel McKible and her family

October ~ November

The Cornwall Garden Club

CORNWALL CAPERS ON-LINE

http://cornwallcapersonline.blogspot.com/

October ~ November 2010

The President's Message:

Dear Club Members:

It's the middle of October and still no killing frost, but I've been thinking about what plants to bring in from my deck for the winter once that first frosty night shows up.

Of course, the Christmas cactus will make the trip. I think I've had that plant for more than thirty years. And my big begonia and several smaller ones will come in too. I have one begonia with

pink pompom flowers that my brother gave to me as a cutting ages ago that I just love.

But should I try to overwinter the geraniums?

Some years they have done fine; other times, they languish until a slow death claims them in late March. I have a lot of coleus that could survive in a sunny window; but, then again, Adams has a lot of coleus come June.

Clearly, my first priority to make the trip into the house are those plants that have some sentimental value. Like that treasured knick-knack that you couldn’t give away at a yard sale, but you just love because you got it from Aunt Sue when you were ten years old, some plants value is in the memories they bring us.

The wonders of gardens and plants are never ending; and, along with beauty, they bring us the gift of remembrance.

My wish to you this October season is that you have at least one plant to save from freezing that will give you the joy of a memory when the winter snow is falling.

~Andrea

From the Editor's Corner:

Autumn Greetings!

From the shadows, I emerge like the creepy (or is it sleepy) old man from the Irving folktale Rip Van Winkle. I feel as though the summer season sped quickly by as she presented herself at first as the mellow and welcome arrival which later turned into the swooning heat wave for nearly the full month of July. The rains managed to provide a few inches during August just enough to fill the streams and keep our flower beds and gardens happy.

So quickly does the time fly, that my days were filled with, of course, working, preparing my children for their college experience and missing three months of Garden Club programs! June's Walking Tour of member gardens, July's Green Home presentation and most regrettably the trip to Palaia Winery. I did manage to attend September's meeting called "Houseplants; Adding to the Ambiance of Your Home" I was the Hosting Chair, so, naturally, I didn't want to blow it!

It is always a great feeling to be around such enthusiasm that comes from this extraordinary group of gardeners and flower arranging women whom I can call friends.

Happy Harvesting and Winterizing!

~karen

District X Fall Meeting and Luncheon

Apples of the Hudson Valley

Celebrating the apple farming heritage of our region

The Cornwall Garden Club cordially invites you and your guests

to the FGCNYS, Inc., District X Fall Meeting and Luncheon

Wednesday, October 13th

The Powelton Club

29 Balmville Road

Newburgh, NY 12550

$28.00 per person

Continental Breakfast & Business Meeting 9:30 a.m.

Social Hour 11:30 ~ 12:30 (cash bar)

Luncheon 12:30 p.m. followed by program

R.S.V.P. & Check payable to Cornwall Garden Club by:

October 1, 2010

Questions? Contact Andrea Hamburger (845) 534-9088

Ann Bloom (845) 534-7005