March Club Meeting
Date.......March17, 2005
Time.......7 pm
Place.......Butterfield Youth Services
Address.......1180 Highway WW in Marshall
Our program will be presented by Jeff Oberhaus of Vintage Hill Farm. His programs will be on Tropical and Temperennials. Tropicals are plants that originate in the tropics and have to be brought in during the winter. Temperennials are plants that are not hardy in our part of the country but are hardy in other parts of the country.
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Report
Approximately 30 people attended the club's annual Christmas Dinner on December 16, 2004. The dinner was held at St. Cloud Restaurant in Miami, MO. The food was great and the company even better.
Larry presided over the brief (and VERY informal) meeting. Two board members were honored as their terms of office ended, Arline Borchers and Carl Hufford, and two new board members were voted in:
Kathy Wright
Ray Prichard
Other board members, whose terms had not yet expired, include:
Bob Emery
Mark Thomeczek
Denise Cantlin
Sandy Hendrix
All current club officers were re-elected unanimously for another term. They are:
President—Larry Arrowood,
Vice president—Arline Borchers,
Secretary—Wendy Ragan,
Treasurer—Connie Rieth.
Annual Centerpiece Contest
Members present voted on their favorite center piece made by club members. The winners were:
First Place—Rex and Denise Cantlin—$15 gift certificate from Elsea Gardens
Second Place—Fred Borchers—$10 gift certificate from Granddaddy’s Garden
Third Place—Sandy and Dewey Hendrix—$5 gift certificate from Granddaddy’s Garden
Photo Contest winners from our November meeting were presented with their gift certificates. The winner of each category got a $5 gift certificate from Springwater Greenhouse and the best overall winner got a $10 gift certificate. The winners are
Pond Views—a tie between:
Kristi Brown and Sue Davis
Fish and Frogs—LaDonna Arrowood
People in the garden—Sue Davis
Garden Features—Sue Davis
Flowers—Sue Davis
Most Unusual—Sue Davis
Best Overall—Steve Drake
Click here to see the these winning pictures !!!!!!
The Lotus Blossom of the Year Award was presented to Kathy and Bill Wright. (Read more about this award below.)
A game show-style contest was held where members were thoroughly humiliated by being asked questions from "The 300 Dumbest Christmas Jokes" book. (I won't put any names here in order not to embarrass those that figured out the right answers!) Prizes were won by all, because we're such good sports!
Many door prizes were awarded during the evening. The door prizes were donated by Sandy Hufford, Fred Giesler, Kathy Wright, Linda Connors, Sandy Hendrix, LaDonna Arrowood and the Butterfield Village Cellar Store.
SPECIAL THANKS
The club would like to extend a special thanks to Larry and LaDonna Arrowood for all the hard work they do every year to make the Christmas Dinner SUCH a fun and entertaining evening for everyone!
Lotus Blossom Award
Each year the club recognizes outstanding members of the club with the Lotus Blossom Award. The 2004 recipients are Bill and Kathy Wright. They have been very supportive of the club for many years. They have been on the water garden tour two times and have made their water garden available for private tours sponsored by the club. They helped to build the Jim the Wonder Dog Park and volunteer to do maintenance on it each year. Bill has served on the board and Kathy will be a new board member this year. Kathy has been co-chair of the water garden tour for three years and both have helped host the tour each year. Both of them have helped to build our community service projects. The club is pleased to recognize Bill and Kathy for their outstanding service to the club and the community.
Past recipients of the award are Shiela Ruff, Sandy Hufford, Connie Rieth, Katye Elsea, Arljne Borchers, Katie and Tom Boehner, J I and Barbara Akeman, Rex and Denise Cantlin
2005 Public Water Garden Tour
It has been decided that we will NOT have a public pond tour in 2005 due to a lack of new water gardens. We have contacted persons to be on the tour for this year but could not get more than 5 water gardens including our community service project. It has always been our intent to show only new or remodeled water gardens on the tour. Several water gardens are being constructed that would be available next year.
We realize that some persons attend the tour each year and will be disappointed that we are not having it this year. It is our plan to send out postcards to those persons who are on our list to be notified of the tour. That way we will let them know that we are not having a tour this year but that we will have one next year. Please notify anyone you know that usually comes to the tour.
Long range planning has started for the 2006 tour that will include some special features besides the water gardens. Some thoughts include demonstrations on water gardening, an end of season plant sale by local nurseries, and a fish sale. If you have ideas about the tour or know a water garden that would be good for the tour, contact LaDonna Arrowood.
Dear Polly,
I started to winter Hyacinth about two months ago with fish in a pool setup in my basement. Everything was going quite well until we did a cleaning and 30-40% water change for the fish. Now the Hyacinth seem to be losing the bright green color. We have not seen any new grow since we cleaned up the bottom of the pool, did the water change. We have grow lights, filter system, heated water, fish, etc.
I was told to use 10-10-10 fertilizer in the water;” this would help” with wintering Hyacinth. Will this stuff harm the fish I have in the wintering pool?
Also can granules be used if they are dissolved first?
Freak’n out
Thanks,
Mark g.
Dear Freak’n Out,
Keeping water Hyacinth over the winter is like going to the casino---sometimes you win but you usually lose. It is very difficult to keep them over the winter. The most success has been with people who have a greenhouse and can keep them in natural light but with the changes of day and night. It sounds like you are doing as much as possible to keep them alive. I do not know about adding the fertilizer to the water. I think it would be risky to the fish for the benefit to the water Hyacinth.
You might want to weigh the importance of keeping the Hyacinth alive in the winter with the cost of lights, electricity, etc. Most people buy new Hyacinth in the spring and have more than they need by mid-summer. If you are successful in keeping your Hyacinth alive, remember to wait until the water temperature is at least 65 degrees to put them back outside. I know it is hard to see your plants die, but is it worth “freak’n out” about it.
Polly
To learn more about Polly Ponders and view other Polly Ponders articles, click here.
Send your questions to:
Polly Ponders
Saline County Water Garden Club
PO Box 555
Marshall, MO 65340
or e-mail Polly at:
Gardening Hints
By LaDonna Arrowood, Mrs. Greenthumb
A couple of new lily tabs have come on the market recently. The new lily tabs enable us to fertilize the lilies only once or twice a year. Pond Pearls fertilizer is similar to Osmocote but it is made just for pond plants. You put them in when you pot your lilies . The fertilizer lasts up to 4 months. You can fertilize the lilies earlier than the other long lasting spikes. This also gives you more control over when to stop feeding the lilies. You can use the regular fertilizer to finish the season.
The other long term fertilizer spike is used after the lily has started to grow. This fertilizer should last the season. Both fertilizers have been tried with great results. The spikes are available locally at Elsea Gardens and Rural Beginnings.
Remember the lotus needs to be divided early in the spring. They are very fragile, so handle the growing tips carefully. Put in a large (shallow) round pot. Fill the pot half way with a mixture of sand and dirt. Lay the lotus on the soil and carefully cover with small pebbles that is heavy enough to hold it down until it starts growing. It will grow in a circle around the edge of the pot. The sand mixture makes it easy to remove the lotus to divide it next year. Fertilize the lotus heavily. The lotus won’t bloom much before July or August. Be patient, they are worth the wait.
