Thursday, February 21, 2008

Update on February Lecture Event

Hi Members!

We don't normally do an update after our monthly lectures but I feel like this one warrants an exception.

We had 26 attendees for our February lecture. I believe this is the largest turn-out we've had so far for one of our events.

We had people from Clyde all the way to the city of Rochester. Penny did a great job and most people left with little pots of seeds to sprout.

I think we also generated some interest for upcoming lectures and hopefully this will encourage some attendees to become members or friends of the Garden Club.

Happy Gardening!Subrata

Friday, February 15, 2008

What's going on with the Williamson Garden Club!

Hi Fellow Gardeners-

1. The grant application is in the mail. A BIG thank-you to Eric for putting all the parts of the grant together and into the mail. Now we just wait to hear the (good) news :)

2. The high school students, Noah and Evan, did an excellent job on the video. They worked really hard and turned it around in just a few days. Eric and I were really impressed with their professionalism, hard work and dedication to this project. We are planning on writing a letter to their advisor regarding the excellent work that they did for us.

I would also like to recommend that we extend honorary Garden Club membership to the two students, as our way of saying "Thank You" for all their hard work. Please let me know what you think about that idea.

Here is a picture of Eric with one of the students, Noah. http://www.williamsonchamberofcommerce.org/WilliKids.html

3. Kris Jorolemon reminded me that she is looking for photographs, news clippings, etc. for the scrapbook that she is creating of the Garden Club. If you have any to share, please let her know.

4. Finally, is there interest in viewing the DVD that we submitted to Fiskars? I know that we have at least a couple of snowbirds and could wait until our March or April meeting to having a viewing, if there is interest. The video is about 10 minutes long.
Happy Gardening!
Subrata

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Update on Project Orange Thumb/Fiskar Grant

Hi -

I just wanted to let everyone know what the status is with the grant application.

We have finished writing Questions 2-5 and have the most recent version of the Garden Plan&Design, as well as a color painting representing the greenspace. Eric has filled out the application form.

The two high school students who are working on Question 1, Noah and Evan, have completed the video. They did an excellent job and Eric and I were really impressed with the quality of the video that they created. They are planning on burning the DVD today and Eric will be picking it up today.

We'll get the material together tonight and it will be ready to be shipped tomorrow morning.

I'd like to thank all the people who helped with encouraging us to apply to the grant, brain-storming, writing, re-writing, re-organizing and just overall helping the Garden Club successfully complete their first (but definitely not last) grant application. Thanks to Shirley Schultze, Perry Howland and Penny Higgins for all their writing and revision work. Mary Jane Haugh did an amazing job with Garden Plan and Design. Garden Club photos were donated by John and Linda Ferrante, Carol Hopkins, Shirley Shultze, and Kris and Ed Jorolemon. Mary Jane, Lorraine Mason and Jim Hoffman also graciously donated their time and agreed to be interviewed for the video. Additionally Scott Utley, Nathalie Fuller, and Carol Hopkins provided moral support and encouragement in the grant application process.

Happy Gardening!
Subrata

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

February "Virual" Meeting

Hello Members!

Welcome to our first "virtual" meeting.

1. First course of business: choosing the spring plantings. After talking to Lorraine and Doug Mason, a mix of perennials/drought tolerant plants may be our best avenue this year. According to Lorraine, 5 - 1 gal pots of perennials would cost approximately the same as the large petunia 12" pot which we used last year.

If you feel strongly that we should not use perennials (or should use a different mix of perennials), let me know. Otherwise, we need to get our order to the Masons by next week.

Click on the URL. Please pick 3 ouf the 5 combination planters listed below and email me your vote by Monday, February 18th.
http://tinyurl.com/248w58
1. purple passion
2. towering inferno
3. fire and ice
4. summer salsa
5. twist of lime

2. Second course of business: Chamber of Commerce. Did we want to join, as a group, the Chamber of Commerce? If we join as a group, even though only one person gets to vote, all meetings, etc. are open to any member of the Garden Club. Dues are $35 (I believe) and we have money in our budget to cover them.

I think this would be a good relationship to build upon. Lorraine has started the year very strongly and has already shown enthusiasm and dedication to the Garden Club.

Let me know what you think. If you feel this needs longer discussion than an email would suffice, we can table this question for our March members meeting.

3. Third course of business: in an effort to create one main place where we can upload digital pictures of garden club events, Eric has created a kodakgallery account. If you have pictures you would like to upload to the kodakgallery site, please contact him for the password information.

If there is a better site for pictures (such as Flickr, etc.), let me know what it is and why you think it would be a better fit for us. We are not dedicated to kodakgallery - it is simply the one that we personally use.

I look forward to hearing from all the members-

thanks!
Subrata

Monday, February 4, 2008

February Event - Seed Starting 101

Hello Fellow Gardeners!

If you are ready to get your hands dirty and start gardening, join us for our February lecture, Seed-Starting 101!

The Williamson Garden Club is happy to have Penny Higgins, past president of the Garden Club, present a hands-on lecture on starting seeds. We will be providing seeds, soil and pots so attendees will have the opportunity to start seeds for their gardens. This would be a great event to bring your kids!

The lecture will be on Wednesday, February 20th, at the Williamson Public Library (6380 Route 21) at 7:00 pm. This event is free and open to the public, so feel free to invite friends to attend.

Happy Gardening!
Subrata

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Fiskar Grant Update

Hello Fellow Gardeners!

Quick update on our progress with the grant. We are moving along, thanks to the hard work of our members.

We are also very fortunate to have 3 eager volunteers from the local high school who are going to help us out.

There are five questions that need to be answered-
Question 1 - Three high school students will be working on this item.

# 1 Overall Inspiration/Vision
1) If you had no limits of time or money, describe your dreamgarden project, use any medium you like to show yourvision.

Question 2 and 5 is being worked on by Subrata
Question 3 is being worked on by Perry
Question 4 is being worked on by Shirley and Mary Jane. Mary Jane has submitted some AMAZING drawings for the green space and it is going to look wonderful when completed.

While Eric is overseeing everything, Kris and Ed Jorolemon are also providing copyreading support.

Penny is our advisor and providing excellent feedback and guidance to make sure our grant answers look and sound good.

All this hard work is going to pay off in a beautiful green space for downtown Williamson.

Happy Gardening!