June 2012

Hello Gardeners -

What a weekend! My poppies are blooming (and are almost as tall as I am!), my peonies are blooming, my false-blue indigo is blooming -- it feels like it's the middle of summer. I hope everyone had a great weekend and enjoyed the sunshine.

This email is going to be a smorgasbord of different things but I think it will be easier than sending multiple emails.

1. A HUGE thank-you to our members who took care of the downtown, Town Hall and Come-Unity center planters. They look wonderful. I had stopped at the Come-Unity Center on Friday and they were so thrilled and happy with the planters.

With the planters, we need volunteers to water. This is especially important if we continue to have such warm days and lack of rain. For our new members, we do have water available downtown but you will need to bring containers to use to water. Even if you can do one week, that would be appreciated.
The weeks of
June 3-9
June 10-16
June 17-23
June 24-30

July 1-7
July 8-14
July 15-21
July 22-28
July 29-Aug 4

Aug 5-11
Aug 12-18
Aug 19-25
Aug 26-Sep 1

2. The Lettering Lounge put together two different designs for our Welcome to Williamson signs. Due to time, we are not going to do the contest for this raised bed although we may do it for our next raised bed. Please take a look at the signs and we will discuss it further at our meeting.

3. Reminder - we have a meeting on Monday, June 4th at 7pm.

4. Reminder - If you are free on Thursdays, the WPHS gardeners will be working on the gardens. Please join them and bring your tools.

5. Mark your calendars! -
June 6, 7pm Pultnyeville Peace Garden
Williamson-Pultneyville Historical Society will host its monthly program meeting at the Pultneyville Bicentennial Peace Garden which is located in the south lawn of the W-PHS’s Museum at 4130 Mill Street in Pultneyville.
The program will include a presentation by Joyce Lorraine of the Bicentennial Peace garden project, a description of the Pultneyville garden by Lynda Parmelee, master gardener, and the story of the local encounter with the British by Joan Carey, President of the W-PHS.
Refreshments will be served and as always the monthly meeting is free and open to the public.

Happy Gardening!
Subrata

May Minutes 2012

May Minutes 2012

Attendees: Scott Utley, Cynthia Daughtery, Ginny Jones, John Ferrante, Linda Ferrante, Ed Jorolemon, Betty Morley, Esther Plyter, Darrell Plyter, Subrata Paul, Carol Hopkins

1. April minutes approved.

2. We have approximately $1800 in the treasury. Discussion on t-shirts to identify our club. Club fee will pay for the t-shirt and all members will get a t-shirt. Will need to decide on color of t-shirt and design. Looking for artist to create design. Lettering Lounge can create whatever we have set up. $53.17 paid for mulch for raised beds, solar lights for green space and stain for the community center planters.

3. Two wooden planters for the community center on main street have been donated. John will stain them and get them ready for planting. We can ask the community center to water them. Janis wants them on the wall but will need to take a look as they are designed to be on the ground.

4. Sign for raised beds. Looking to create something similar to the one on Ontario. $96 for a 2x3 sign and Chamber of Commerce will split the cost. Getting a design and according to lettering lounge we can do anything. Does the town have an image that we use so that there is some kind of continuity or branding? Suggestion: Do a contest encouraging students and artists to create a sign. Indicate that we reserve rights to use parts of the sign for our sign. Just need to give general dimensions. Give directions on what we are looking for with regards to words and descriptions. Set up description and then give to Sun and Record as well as high school and middle school. If we get more than one good design and they are similar, we can use different ones. Have it submitted to post office or by email. Question on whether to go to a 3x4 or 3x5 sign. Needs to be a little bigger so it can be seen as people can see it. John will follow up on pricing of signs. Current bigger signs are $1600 and now need maintenance. Set up committee to follow up on this. Looking for volunteers for this. John to meet with Lorraine to talk about plants for the planters and also to see what chamber can provide for any additional money they can provide. Will it be 50/50 or something else.

5. New raised bed for west lake road. There is a farmer with a farm there who will let us put in a raised bed. We will Ned to put in a sign for that. The cost is les than $100.00 to put in the beds. Talk to Perry to make sure we have permission for this.

 6. Lynda Parmlee to help John select plants for the planters. Last year, the grasses took over and the flowers were not so apparent. Lorraine reecommended begonias for those areas that get a lot of shade. We need something with height. Begonias grew 2 feet last year so they at a good choice. What did we use last year to raise them? Was it 5 gallon buckets? Can we cut a disk and wedge it in there? How about raising them off the sidewalk due to rust on the sidewalk? Lynda recommended plastic tubing for the bottom to stop the rusting. Plastic pots used last year need to be prepared. May 11, 9:30 am, John, Ed, Scott and Darrell will take out dead plants, loosen soil, remove trash from planters and cover planters in preparation of Apple Blossom. Will look at planters to see how to not use as garbage cans. John to bring a cart so they can be moved if needed. If you are available, please join them.

7. Planting of flowers. Will wait until the weekend after Apple Blossom Festival. Planting will be Wednesday, May 23rd, at 9:30. If you are available, everyone will be meeting in downtown Williamson, near the Green Space.

 8. After Fall planting and before Spring planting, when we take the trees out, we can put a plastic bag to cover the planters. Or we ned to move them over so they can go onto pallets and store until springtime. John has scrap plywood that we could use that to put the on.

9. Plant Sale. Eric and Subrata will set up a table at their house and sell plants through craigslist, etc. Will start selling as soon as we have enough plants, and it will be during the weekends. Subrata has extra pots if needed. Japanese maple trees.

Ed to dig some up and plant them for the sale. Two will go to Sodus Garden Club. We will not be setting up a table at Apple Blossom this year.

May 2012

Hello Gardeners!

Well things are coming up green and lush in our gardens. I'm hoping to get my vegetables in this weekend and am thinking of trying some of the container gardening techniques I've learned from the Mary Moss-Sprague lecture.

Just a quick reminder:

1. The Sodus Garden Club is having their plant sale this Saturday, 9-noon. They are located at the Sodus Primary School located on Route 88 south of the village. They have some great plants and wonderful deals - go early and bring extra money!

2. Downtown planters/Town Hall planters. Planting will be Wednesday, May 23rd, at 9:30. If you are available, everyone will be meeting in downtown Williamson, near the Green Space. Please bring your gloves and garden tools.

3. Cornell Cooperative Gardening Series Part IV: Attracting Birds to Your Yard. Ontario Library, Thursday, May 24, 7:00 pm Join Master Gardner, Ruth Schutt as she shares her over 30 years of gardening knowledge with us. Learn how many varieties of plants can be used to bring Mother Nature's symphony to your yard. Registration Required: call 315.524.8381

Finally, we have some plants for the Williamson Plant Sale. For those who have donated, if you have time, please email me what you've dropped off at our house as I want to tag them before we sell them. I hope to have things ready to sell next weekend, and will put up the ad on Craigslist after this week. I have extra pots if needed. If you need help digging up plants, please call. Enjoy the gorgeous weather!

Happy Gardening Subrata

April Minutes 2012

Hello Gardeners -

Well Eric and I have taken the plunge and are mulching and weeding and edging our gardens. It's so hard to believe that it's only April as my roses are leafing out and my peonies are definitely making their presence known! I hope everyone is enjoying their gardens.

Williamson Garden Club Meeting Williamson Library at 7 PM on April 2, 2012 Present: John Ferrante, Linda Ferrante, Lynda Parmelee, Betty Morley, Scott Utley
Note taker: Linda Ferrante

Lynda Parmalee reported on her Orchid presentations at the Ontario Garden Club and Senior Center in Clyde. Her reported that there is an Orchid grower, Allen Sulsman on Jackson Road. The Genesee Region Orchids Society has a listing of growers. Another source for orchids is Marlow Orchids in Scottsville. John noted that Mike DeVito from Walworth, who was an past presenter to the WGC indicated he could come to one of our meetings next year.

 John mention that a woodworker friend of his, Bill Wheaton, had volunteered to donate two planters to the Garden Club which could in turn be given to the Community Center after we filled them with soil and flowers.

The 2012 WGC plans call for putting a permanent metal sign up on our raised bed planter near the corner of Ridge and Fisher roads. The cost of a 2x3 foot sigh from the lettering Lounge is $96. John noted the sign would have to be mounted on plywood. We might want to consider a larger sign if the club members agree.

Williamson Pultneyville Historical Society will dedicate their Peace Garden on June 6th, 2012. Joan Carey has asked if the WGC could help weed and groom the garden before the dedication. John agreed to attend the WPHS meeting on April 3rd to discuss the plans with Joan.

Mary Moss-Sprague will give a presentation April 26th on Vertical Gardening at the Ontario Library (reservations are requested). May 24th the library will have a presentation on Attracting Birds.

The Master Gardeners Plant Sale will be May 12th at the Wayne Cornell Extension Center in Newark on Rt 88. Sale opens at 8AM but come early because thing go fast. At approximately 10:30 remaining items get marked down. Master Gardeners do presentations at Wayside nursery = check with the nursery for subjects and dates.

Planter plant selection for 2012- The club will have to go to Masons We asked Lynda Parmalee who is a master gardener to come and she is available the second week in May.

A Mural will be put on the west end of the pocket park by the Williamson Chamber of Commerce.

 Eric will check with Mike Orr of the BID to see if additional planters could be purchased for Main Street.

We still have to decide how we are going to prevent the down town and town hall planter from becoming trash receptacles between the removal of Christmas trees and the spring flower plantings

Next Members Meeting: May 7th at 7:00 PM

2012 Lecture Series for Williamson Garden Club

These are the lectures WGC is doing this year.

The last two are members-only events.

Membership is $ 10/year.

 Strawbale gardening 7/18/12 7:00 PM Mary Moss Sprague

Thyme for Herbs 8/15/12 7:00 PM Kasha Grisley

Stone wall construction 9/19/12 7:00 PM Gerry Benedict

Terrariums (hands on) 10/17/12 7:00 PM Wendy Mendola

March 2012 - Minutes

Hello Gardeners!

 It's hard to believe that it's March already. Eric and I saw crocus (crocii?) popping their little heads out of the ground with their small white flowerheads! hopefully being so close to the house will protect them from any snow or cold. March Items:

1. Our member's meeting is on Wednesday, March 7th. if you have any agenda items, let me know.

2. The Ontario Library is hosting a lecture on stonewall construction. Thursday, March 22, 7pm. You will need to call and sign up for the lecture.

3. Grossman Nursery is hosting a Garden Club meet & greet on Saturday, March 24th. GROW will have a table there. if you are interested in helping out at the table, let me know.

See you on Wednesday! Subrata

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3/7/2012 Meeting Minutes – Williamson Garden Club

Attendees: Lynda Parmalee, Perry Howland, Subrata Paul, Eric Herriman, John Ferante, Scott Utley

1. We are moving the meetings to the First Monday of every month.

 2. Lynda Parmalee is doing a talk on Orchids in Clyde next month. She’s hoping to show her 15 orchids. Orchids love to be outside – in the summertime. They are tropicals. Don’t let them get below 50. Peter’s root & bloom mix at ¼ strength. Water weekly. Will send more information at a later date.

3. John has obtained 2 wooden planters that have been donated to the Garden club. They will need priming & staining. There are plastic inserts. Tentative plan is to give them to the Williamson community center as part of plan to beautify downtown. Sunday, John is leaving for Florida.

4. Perry: Talked with Ronnie Lawrence. 20 acres, hay lot. Laurie VanNostrand works for him. Ronnie is willing to work with us – Welcome to Williamson sign. This would be our fourth raised bed in Williamson. Raised beds – sign. $96 metal sign. Chamber would share the costs. Apple emblems .

5. Lynda: Plastic sheet for signage = 2ft X3 ft. cost = $6 per sheet. For signage. She has flower stencils (tulip). Eric Suggested to delay tulip bulbs for peace garden dedication. Date for the peace garden dedication - June 6, 2012 (Wed) possibly 9th.

6. John asks about Chamber of Commerce membership (not yet sent in yet). Subrata to send in the form and check.

7. Lorraine Mason is looking for someone to work on chamber of commerce website. Need to be able to dovetail with Quickbooks & Wegman’s SKU’s.

8. Upcoming events: 3/24 Grossmans 11-3 table/PR opportunity. Last year 20 – 25 garden clubs attended. Subrata is looking for volunteers to help her at the presentation. If you are available to help out, please let her know. Kris is in South Africa but will send Subrata pictures for the Garden Club powerpoint presentation. If anyone has pictures for the Garden Club, please send them to the grow14589@gmail.com.

9. Ontario Library lectures: Master Gardener presentations - 3/22 Stonewall construction, 4/6 vertical gardening, 5/24 Attracting birds. You will need to call and register for these classes

10. June - 6/20 Garden Tour Sodus Bay 5 Gardens + strawbale + village $10 per person tickets available at the first garden. 4-8. Lynda P. is working the tour. Did we want to meet as a group and see the gardens?

11. Williamson Garden Club lectures: Third Wednesday of the month: 7/18, 8/15, 9/19, 10/17 Current plan: Straw Bale Gardening Hands on Terrarium Hands-on how-to-build a rock-wall Herb Garden / Kitchen garden Woodlot management – Jim Miller. John may be interested in hosting @ his place. Pond Management class (Betty?) Suggestion: Wreathmaking (Kris and Ed) & Hytpertufa (Betty Morley) We are doing a mix of “open to the public” and “open to members only” classes this year

12. We would like to do more garden tours this year. If you are interested or know of someone who is interested, let John know.

13. May 9th, Lorraine Mason is teaching a container gardening class. It is $ 6, supplies are provided and it is from 7-9pm.

14. Q: What do we want to request from Mason Farms for downtown planters? Need more color. John has talked with Lorraine. We want plants that pop and attract the eye. Make selection first week in May. Lynda P. starts wave petunia from seeds. Canna bulbs?

15. Lynda recommends using material in soil to provide moisture control. That way we have some flexibility in watering the plants

16. We should check our pots to see how they survived. & planters. John’s action item.

17. Discussion on what to put on bottom of planters to avoid rust spots.

18. Q: What are we doing for apple blossom? Don’t know when it is. Q: Similar prep for George Ehrsman & the elementary school presentation. We need to put something into the planters for apple blossom. Into raised beds planters? Dusty miller . Wave petunia? LED lights. Solar strings for tree decoration. Dollar tree sells solar lights. Did we want to buy some for green space? Magazine: Gardener’s supply as an alternative for solar lights, etc. Eric spoke to owners of new bakery. They were amenable to putting an electrical source outside if we want lights for the tree.

February 2012

Hello Gardeners!

With the unseasonably warm weather, it has been hard to not go out into the garden and play around. I believe it's 50 degrees outside today! I hope everyone is enjoying the weather and thinking about their spring plantings.

Pull out your calendars for our February events -

Saturday, February 4th, 9 am - with the warm weather, we are going to pull out the Christmas trees and take down the decorations. We will meet downtown in front of the green space. If we have enough volunteers, it should take less than an hour to get them all down. We would like to replace the trees with something else so that the planters are not empty for 2-3 months. If you have suggestions, please let us know.

Wednesday, February 15th, 7pm - Members meeting. We will discuss our plans for 2012. We are meeting in the small library room at the Williamson Library.

Thursday February 23rd 7pm - the Ontario Library is hosting a Landscape Design class with the Cornell Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Program. It is open to the public but you must register by phone

Happy Gardening! Subrata

January 2012

Hello Gardeners!

Happy New Year! I hope everyone is keeping warm during this cold wintery weather!

It is a wonderful excuse to sit inside and think about things to do in the garden this coming year. I wanted to give people a brief update for this year's officers and some changes for 2012.

As we start planning for 2012, please let me about days that do NOT work for meetings and lectures.
For example, the Charrette meets every first thursday of the month, the American Legion meets every second thursday, the Town Board meets every 2nd and 4th Tuesday, etc. I don't know when the WPHS meetings are or the Chamber of Commerce meetings. Let me know by Monday, January 9th of any days that would conflict with our meetings.

Officers for 2012
John Ferrante and Scott Utley - co-Presidents
Linda Ferrante - Secretary
Scott Utley (backup: Subrata Paul) - treasurer
PR: Perry Howland
Photographer/newspaper: Kris Jorolemon (to send photo/writeup to newspaper after events)
Coordinatory of events - Subrata Paul
 If you are willing to take on a role, let John Ferrante know.

We would like to do recruiting this year as well as plan for our 2012 project, etc. There are a lot of great one-time roles you can take on if you would like.

For 2012, we will be doing things a little differently. We are not having lectures for January-March, just our regular members meetings to plan for the year. We are thinking of alternating lectures that are open to the public with hands-on, learning projects for members only. For example, we are hoping to have a terrarium building class, a stone wall building class, etc. We will keep you posted as the year continues.

Happy Gardening! Subrata

August Lecture - Beginning Bonsai

The Williamson Garden Club presents
Beginning Bonsai

Bonsai is an art form using miniature trees grown in containers. This is a wonderful gardening experience to use your creativity and ingenuity. Come to this lecture and learn the techniques to create your own bonsai tree.

The Williamson Garden Club is pleased to announce that a Master Gardener from the Wayne County Cornell Cooperative will present a talk detailing the facts about bonsai.

This free public presentation will take place Wednesday, August 24, 2011 at 7 p.m. in the community room of the Williamson Free Public Library.

August Members Only Project - Hypertufa Class

Hello Gardeners!

I hope everyone is having a lovely August. Our vegetables are starting to come in (our first ripe tomato!) and the flowers are really enjoying the rain.

If you have a chance, drive down Route 104 and check out the new raised bed near Motts. We had a small but able group to help put the bed together -- a BIG THANK YOU to John Ferrante, Eric Herriman, Scott Utley, and Penny's husband and son, Bill Bishop and Evan Bishop. We have not yet planted flowers yet but plan to do that soon. If you have mums or stella d'oro daylilies to share, please let me know.

Also just a reminder about dues ($10/year). We've received some check and are happy to accept dues at our next event if you'd prefer not to send a check.

For our members only meeting, Betty Morley has generously offered to host a hypertufa class. It is a wonderful opportunity to create something wonderful for your gardens. Last year, she showed us how to make pots. This year, you can do pots or a leaf casting.

The event will be on Wednesday, August 17th, at 6:30. While Betty will provide the material to create the hypertufa, there are some things that it would help if you could bring
1. sand
2. if you want to do a leaf casting, please bring a hosta leaf (or let me know that you need one). Any leaf with good strong definite veins are good for this project.
3. you will need to bring a strong board to carry your project. It will take a few days to cure.

Please let me know if you can attend so that we have enough supplies.

In case of rain, we will meet on Wednesday, August 31st at 6:30.

Happy Gardening!
Subrata

2012 Project - Raised Bed on Route 104

Hello Gardeners -

For our 2011 project, we are continuing with raised beds around Williamson. We are planning putting up a raised bed nears Duffy-Motts on Route 104 and one on Rte 21, across the street from the school.

We are going to work on the one on Route 104 this week. John Ferrante needs 2-3 members to help him move the raised bed to the area and put it together. If you are free during the week, please contact him so he can make sure he has enough people to put it together.

On this coming Saturday, we will be meeting at 9 am at the Duffy Motts sign on Route 104. We will be unloading the truck and filling the raised bed. If you have any mums you can donate to the cause, please let me know. We are planning on putting in bulbs later in the year (fall time).

Please bring buckets, wheelbarrow and/or shovels if you have them.

We hope to see you on Saturday!
Happy Gardening!
Subrata

July Lecture - Moonlight Gardens

The Williamson Garden Club presents
Moonlight Gardening
By Master Gardener Mary Moss Sprague

Moonlight gardening -no, this is not something you do after your day job! But if you need a quiet garden to soothe the stresses after a long hard day, nothing brings the problems down to size better than a fragrant moonlight garden of white and pale colored flowers and foliage that literally glow in the dark.

Don't just think of flowers that shine at night. Foliage plants can do the same, or scent the air. Paths with thyme or mint growing between the stones or along the edges are scented as you bruise the leaves along the way. Variegated leaves with white predominating brighten up the area with their reflective glow.

The Williamson Garden Club is pleased to announce that Master Gardener Mary Moss Sprague will present a talk detailing the facts about moonlight gardens.

This free public presentation will take place Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at 7 p.m. in the community room of the Williamson Free Public Library.

June Event - Garden Tour and Montly Lecture

Hello Gardeners!

I hope that everyone is enjoying the gorgeous weather! My peonies are blooming like crazy and my roses are looking pretty good.

The Garden Club is planning to provide monthly garden tours for our members this summer. If you are interested in joining or learning more about our Garden Club, please let me know. Eric (the President of the Garden Club) and I are going to have the first tour at our house. Our Members Meeting will be on Wednesday, June 22nd, 7pm at our house. We'll start off with a brief tour of our gardens and follow-up with our meeting.

Our June lecture, June 29th, at 7pm, at the Williamson Library. It is going to be on the Emerald Ash Borer. Laurie Van Norstrand is going to show us how to identify infestation, what the borer looks like and what steps can be taken to fight this problem. She is very knowledgeable and helpful and it looks to be an excellent lecture. As always, our lectures are free and open to the public.

Happy Gardening!
Subrata

2011 Garden Club Schedule

Hello Gardeners -

I don't know about you but I think I can smell Spring in the Air. Pretty soon we'll be able to sink our hands into our gardens and start planting and growing things!

Our members meetings are on the 3rd Wednesday of each month. As mentioned earlier, Eric and my work schedules have changed pretty drastically. For our non-snowbirds, please let me know by Friday if you can attend on 3/16. If we don't have enough attendees, I will plan cancelling the meeting and sending information by email.

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Pull out your calendars as we have a number of great lectures coming up! The Master Gardeners from Wayne County Cornell Cooperative are providing their services as guest lecturers.

MARCH - 3/23, 7pm, Williamson Library - Vegetable Gardening

APRIL - 4/27, 7pm, Location TBD - Landscape Design

MAY - 5/14 - Apple Blossom Festival,
5/28 - Possible Garden Sale (to be discussed further)
Downtown planting

JUNE - 6/29, 7pm, Williamson Library - Emerald Ash Borer

JULY - 7/27, 7pm Williamson Library - Moonlight Gardens
7/16 - Pultneyville Homecoming (to be discussed further)

AUGUST - 8/24, 7pm, Williamson Library - Beginning Bonsai

SEPTEMBER - 9/28, 7pm, Williamson Library - Hands-on Terrariums (we'll be creating terrariums)
9/17 - Pultneyville Garage Sale

OCTOBER - 10/26, 7pm, Williamson Library - Stone Wall Construction

NOVEMBER - 11/12 or 11/19 - planting Christmas Trees

DECEMBER - date TBD.

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I am hoping to set up some Garden Tours as well as members-only hands-on classes (such as the wreath-making and hypertufa classes of last year). If you'd like to volunteer your garden or skills, let me know.

Happy Gardening!
Subrata

February Minutes

Hello Gardeners!

What a gorgeous day! I hope that you get a chance to go outside and enjoy the sun a little bit. This weather makes me want to start digging into the soil and plant things right away - or at least pull out my catalogs and start planning my gardens.

We had a small group of people for our February meeting. Due to time constraints for Eric and myself, I have two requests:
1. I'm going to ask people to let me know if they can attend the members meeting. If we don't have a large enough group, I may cancel the meeting and we can try to discuss outstanding issues by email.

2. I need a volunteer who can call the library every month to schedule the room for the third Wednesday of the month. Please let me know if you can take on that responsibility. We can't reserve the room ahead of time, it needs to be done on a month-to-month basis.


Here are the notes from our meeting:

February Garden Club Minutes

1. Lifetime membership sounds good (suggested $200 for lifetime membership). What about a corporate rate -- $500 or $1000. Did we want to set up an annual corporate amount?

The Garden Club brand is popular enough to Williamson and we have done enough projects to raise our profile.

Give businesses a certificate once they are a corporate sponsor for the garden club.

Did we want to provide signage at table? – at Apple Blossom Festival

At Pultneyville Garage Sale

2. We received a call from Martha Stewart Inc. On the 1st of March, she is doing a garden special and is wondering if we (members of the garden club) wanted to be in the audience for the presentation. Her show tapes in New York City.


Calling All Gardeners! March

Do you spend hours tilling the perfect spot for your vegetable garden? Do you enjoy picking the perfect perennials to complement your yard? We're filling our Garden Show audience with gardeners of all kinds -- vegetable gardeners, flower growers, and more! If you're interested in requesting tickets, please tell us about your garden and why you would like to be a part of this special audience.

Request Tickets for This Show - http://www.marthastewart.com/get-tickets#gardeners


If you sign up to attend, please let us know. We're trying to figure out a way to have a t-shirt or something made so that the Garden Club's name appears on TV.

3. Monthly lectures okayed (dates okayed – presenters still be finalized)

ACTION ITEMS:

- Perry - starting the publicity of those (church organizations, etc.)

- Penny – work on the posters for the events

Question: Did we want to do a generic poster for the 3rd wednesday, members meeting and 4th Wednesday for lectures and then post them at the libraries and offices/business?


4.Lectures from Cornell Cooperative Program

a. Protecting and Enhancing Your Woodlot: Advice for Landowners
Saturday, March 12, 2011, 9:00 am - 12:00 noon
This program will be held at Wayne County Cooperative Extension, 1581 State Route 88 Newark NY
Registration fee of $10 includes the workshop and printed copy of reference material.

Your woodlot is a valuable resource, providing both a place for recreation and the potential for a financial return. This workshop will show you how to protect your woodlot from both human and natural threats, and offer you ways to maintain a healthy and productive woodlot. Topics will include how to avoid timber theft and poor logging practices, how to recognize various invasive species and the effects they can have on a woodlot, how to develop a management plan, and what resources are available to help landowners practice good silviculture on their woodlots.
Registration deadline is March 5th 2011. To register, send your $10.00 payment along with your name, address and phone number to: Cornell Cooperative Extension of Wayne County, 1581 Rte 88 N, Newark, NY 14513

b. Controlling Invasive Species is an outdoor hands-on session and will run from 9am to noon on Saturday, May 21st at a woodlot in Sodus.

We'll cover identification and control options for invasive species in the woodlot and introduce participants to crop tree management, a forestry method well suited for owners of small woodlots. This session is intended to build on our March 12th program but you need not have attended to register for this session. Registration is $10.00

To register for either session send your payment along with your name address and phone number to Cornell Cooperative Extension of Wayne County, 1581 Rte 88N, Newark, NY 14513

Any additional questions please call (315)-331-8415 or e-mail mgwayne@cornell.edu

5. Ontario Library Garden Series – Along with the butterfly garden lecture next week, Ontario is having garden lectures in March and April. Please call them to register.

6. If you have tarps, please bring along to put on the floor for next week’s lecture. Does anyone have seed starting mix to donate or seeds to donate?

7. Penny: please bring sandwich board

8. Business card/seed packet.

Liked the idea but the price was too high. Suggestion – buy seed packets and order business cards from vista or similar. Need to discuss type of seeds, etc.

9. We would like to take out the trees while the weather is nice. Let me know if you are available to do that and we can send a note to everyone who is available. We will leave our truck available for scott or whoever to drop the trees off.

10. The soil and conservation district forever green tree program has a website with a color catalog www.lakeontario.net/swed
Orders by March 20. Pickup april 7 and 8 8338 Ridge Rd East in Alton.

That's all for now

Happy Gardening!

Subrata

January 2011 Minutes

Garden Club Agenda 1/19/2011

ACTION ITEM:
Subrata: check on 501(c) status (non-profit organization). What is paperwork, etc. needed for that.
Subrata: check for folder with history/background for garden club.
Eric: follow up with Cavallero and drop off paperwork
John: get rid of pumpkins for 2010 project

Pick up tulips from conservatory this year – a) to plant in raised beds this year and b) for sale at PHS sale


1. Plans for 2011 –
- Discussion of change in Eric and Subrata’s work schedule/work load.
- Will try to set up lectures through the the Master Gardener program for the 4th Wednesday of the month. (The 3rd Wednesday will be the member’s meeting and the 4th Wednesday will be our monthly lecture/event). Need to hear back from the library to make sure we can set it up through the end of the year.
- Idea of creating lifetime membership for $200(?)

2. Focus on recruiting new members / outreach into the community
- Send Penny info for monthly posters for events to put out in community. John recommended creating smaller postcard size to put on library desk
- Send info to Don for town calendar
- Penny to check to see if there is lighter sandwich board to use to publicize meetings
- Membership attendance – set up phone tree again (Linda to take on that responsibility)
- Penny - list of presentation/calendar of event for what Garden Club will be doing 2012
- Perry has master list of churches – can set up (1/2 sheet of events). Better off with churches for recruitment than organizations
- Kris to pretty up the sandwich board? Possible to leave it at library on a permanent basis?
- Firemen/School putting up signs for the Garden Club? – Perry to ask Doug about sign. John Manahan for Fire – John to follow up on that (for fire department).

Focus from now until June to do PR and move things along.

Give presentation to organizations
1. Penny to follow up with boys scouts

3. hands-on lectures/garden tours – terrariums (John has small plants in his woods/Penny has moss) – September/October; hypertufa and wreath-making – use as fundraiser/recruit members (make these events members-only).

4. spring plant sale - Talk to Sodus about doing a plant sale
- Possibly Sunday rather than Saturday – car show or airport/pancake breakfast
- Look at business cards as seed packets – Check out this link http://www.4imprint.com/product/6604
500 seed-packet business cards printed with the GROW logo (probably as black and white line art) for $310 or so.
- PR / seed packs / calendar for the year of events?

5. 2011 summer project
- Route 104/Motts – do some outreach to Motts and see if they are interested in donating
- Depending time, Rte 21 (across from school)
- (John to buy materials ahead of time)

- 2010 – stella d’oro daylilies for Cavallero. Go there in May to clean and see how tulips are working.


February

Seed Starting – Penny/4th Wednesday of February (tentative) July:


March
Learning Fair, March 12
August

April
September
PHS Sale


May
Apple Blossom Festival (2nd Saturday of the month)/Plant Sale

Downtown Planting (end of the month for actual plants)
– will need to put in bottom for new planters and put in new soil (discuss in March/April members meeting).
- Put drainage holes in plastic bucket inside the new planters
-hardware fabric

- Begonias for town hall

-Use packing peanuts (compression/floating issues)?
-Peat gravel (John or Penny)
- 4x6 lumber pieces from barn (John) – use for spacers
- causes rust. Need something on bottom so they don’t rust onto sidewalk. Plastic “feet”? wooden base?

ACTION ITEM: bring in unused new planter for next meeting to look at and decide how to best handle it for May.
October

June:
1. Emerald Ash Borer – Cornell Cooperative – 4th Wednesday of July (tentative)

2. PHS House Tour, June 11
- Request for centerpieces (herb planted pots?
- Request for extra plants for homeowners
- Force bulbs for June?
- Ask Masons regarding wholesale plants?
November
Downtown Planting

December
Flower Arrangement


Suggested Master Gardener Lectures
Beginning Bonsai Bulbs: Planting, care and succession of bloom
Beneficial Insects Hands on Gardening
Diagnosing Plant Problems Garden Design with Perennials
Orchids Putting Your Garden to Bed (Fall)
Stone Wall Construction
Honeybees Spring Garden Tasks
Daylilies Perennials
Dahlias

Hands-On (members-only)
1. Wreath-making
2. Hypertufa
3. Terrarium
4. Creating a succulent wreath

Garden Tours
Audrey Ferris Rose Garden
Sylvia and Phil Bornath Oriental garden
Do Members’ Garden Tours for summer as our members meeting
? suggestions for other garden tours

May Minutes

Hello Gardeners -

What a great meeting we had yesterday! Lots of excellent information and ideas came out. But first I want to welcome our newest member, Meddy, from Meddy's Musings! She has been a great guest lecturer in the past and joined our Garden Club this past month.

1. 2010 Project - Laurie Van Norstrand from the Cornell Cooperative graciously attended our meeting and was an amazing source of information. While we did stray from our original topic (we had to take advantage of having such a knowledgeable Master Gardener in our midst!), we did get a lot of information for our 2010 project.

2010 project -- Two raised beds in front of "Welcome to Williamson" signs. One on Rt 21, near the school, and one on Rt 104, near Cavallaro Neubauer.
1. Talk to Jerry Hubright regarding drainage issues around Rt 21 site and potential spraying around signs by the department and any potential right-of-way issues

2. Need to be aware of snow/wind/traffic in general. salt may be an issue. Remember that the snow load might be piled on which could crush the plants
.
3. Raised beds, not simply mounded areas, was decided. Recommended mixing existing soil with new soil and use newspaper to smother grass/remove sod.
Use top soil and compost. Additionally these should be well-mulched to reduce the need for weeding. Adding gypsum to soil can help alleviate the salt problem.

4. The soil will probably settle and will need to be re-set. Traditionally these would have been done in the falltime, allowing it time to settle. Recommendation to do
annuals this year to allow soil settlement and reset

5. Discussion of upkeep and maintenance. Important to make sure we can keep up with it otherwise no use in starting this process.

6. Suggested plants: low-growing juniper, tulips and daffodils, daylilies, shorter grasses, sedum, yucca, canna, hostas (not blue-leafed ones), annuals. Laurie to send
list of salt-tolerant plants for us to look at and choose from.

7. Recommended looking at size of flowers before deciding on size of raised beds. Look at impact of long-term plantings once we plant perennials. Keep in mind
lessons learned from Green Space in terms of placement.

8. We could take care of the weeds/seeds with preen or round-up although more organic methods should be look at as options.

We will set up a meeting in mid-June to discuss the logistics of taking on this project for this year. Last year Shirley was the lead person in moving the Green Space project forward. If anyone is interested in being the lead for this project, please let me know.

Then we segued into a discussion of how to handle pests in our gardens, what may be causing rotting in daylilies, and tomato problems.

The CCE recommends using copper fungicide for tomatoes and make sure you plant your tomatoes where it can dry off. The blight survives on live plants so get rid of last year's tomato plants/potato plants that might still carry it.

If you have questions for the CCE, their master gardener hotline is 331-8415 x107 and they are available on Tuesday and Fridays, 9-12p.

Pest Alert: the Emerald Ash Borer. http://www.pestalert.org/viewNewsAlert.cfm?naid=33. if you think that your ashes have been infected or you find an ash borer, contact the Cornell Cooperative. They are waiving their $3 fee for this as they are trying to catch it before it becomes an infestation. (image: http://www.na.fs.fed.us/fhp/eab/). the CCE may be offering a lecture later this year on this pest.

2. MARK YOUR CALENDARS: The Cornell Cooperative is hosting a Great Gardens of Wayne County, Saturday, July 3rd from 11-4pm. There will be 6 gardens and they are IN Ontario, Williamson and Sodus. Tickets are $10 per person and can be picked up at Cornell Cooperative Extension Wayne County, 1581 Rt 88N, Newark, NY 14513, Phone: 315-331-8415.

Gardens include an oriental garden, an arboreteum, perennial/water garden, a straw-bale garden as well as others.

Additionally, the CCE is looking for nominations for gardens in Wayne County that you think might be one of the “Great Gardens” that could be included in our tours in future years. If you or someone you know has a potential tour garden please let us know. This program will be an ongoing program and they will be contacting owners of possible 2011 tour sites this summer.

3. Review of Apple Blossom Festival/Suggestions for 2011
Attendance appeared lower for this year's festival and we did not make as much money as last year/discuss the Garden Club with as many people. We had initially set up at Apple Blossom to publicize the Garden Club and it has segued into a plant sale. Suggestions for next year:
1. Set up on Sunday, during the car show. People park much closer and walk around more. More likely to buy plants and more likely to make contacts with
Williamson/local area for potential members.

2. Set up stand-alone Plant Sale on a following weekend. Would need to advertise more strongly and could set up a sandwich board at Apple Blossom to let
people know of sale.

a. This year, the CoC accepted material from different organizations to hand out during Apple Blossom so we would get some publicity
b. Set up at Breens / alternate location that would attract people (other ideas?)
c. advertise in sun&record / pennysaver / set up sandwich board / flyers / posters
d. See if we can coordinate with another garden club (sodus/ontario) for a combined plant sale
e. Talk to members of Sodus/Ontario about how their sales are set up - tips/ideas/suggestions for a successful plant sale

4. planters status - new planters/current planters
We are getting 12 new planters for downtown. No set date yet on when that will happen. Currently 18 planters downtown are planted. When new planters come, we will
replant 12 of them and keep the remaining 6 planters. Next year, we will probably only do the 12 planters (to be discussed further).

This is the third year that plants have died in May due to the cold weather. Discussion of putting something temporary and then putting in the plants at the end of May. One
suggestion is putting in Apple Twigs with fake Apple Blossoms, in keeping with the Apple Blossom festival. We would create a concrete base so that the planting would not
fly away. This needs further discussion.

5. watering of planters
Kris and Ed, Shirley, Perry and Darrell & Esther have volunteered to help with watering. if you can help, please let me know. Typically volunteers water for one week.

6. updated Garden Club events
Penny is having a sale in mid-June. We will be selling our plants during that time. After the sale, we will have a plant exchange for members (and friends!). if you have any
"wants" or "offers", let me know and I'll see about posting them closer to the exchange.

7. membership dues - Everyone owes dues (except Meddy, our newest member). $ 10 to Scott Utley, PO Box 202, Williamson, New York 14589 or you can send it to Eric Herriman, 2814 Rosemarie Lane, Ontario, NY 14519. Any checks should be made out to the Williamson Garden Club.

8. logos/t-shirts - Penny has created a logo which I will be sending out for people to look at. We want to create a t-shirt that all members can wear so we are easily
recognizable.

Perry, were you going to see where we could get these t-shirts printed/pricing to get them done?

9. We still need to discuss the Green Space dedication and signage

Finally I am happy to say that we were finally able to repay the Sodus Garden Club for their generosity to us these last couple of years. Eric and I dropped off some Japanese Maple Trees as well as some other plants for the Sodus Garden Club Plant Sale. Of course, I ended up buying way too many plants at the Sodus Garden Club Plant Sale which was as awesome as I had heard - it was great to finally attend the sale after hearing so much about it. The Sodus Garden Club was again very generous and gave the Williamson Garden Club their extra plants at the end of the sale.

Happy Gardening!
Subrata

July 10 & 11

3rd Annual Lavender Festival

9:30 - 4 :30

Celebrate Lavender at this fun and relaxing informational event. Pick lavender from our field, visit with our many craft artisans as well as the Olfactory Soap Shoppe. You may also purchase lavender plants, Enjoy musical entertainment Sample baked goods and herbal tea made with lavender and Participate in one of our hands on workshops.

This years key speakers are

Marcia Dixon, Medical Herbalist, business owner, and lecturer from Toronto ON . She will be speaking on "How to relieve stress and anxiety using herbs"

Julie Mitchell, Medical Herbalist, Owner of Eos Botanicals, and American Herbalist Guild member from Vermont will be speaking about herbal hydrosals, making and using them. Julie is also an Adjunct Professor at Middlebury College, and has worked as a Horticulturist at Addison Gardens in VT.

Chef Kevin McMaster will demonstrate how to cook with this wonderful herb and will be sure to offer some tasty samples!

Arleen Hodge, Owner of Cranberry Creek Herbs in Avon NY. Will be speaking about growing and using Lavender.

Cathy Maletta, an herbal tea consultant will be speaking about many different varieties of herbal tea.

There will be a small farm museum, hay rides and a childrens area.

Admission is $3.00 12 yrs & under FREE

Events

I'll be sending the minutes from our meeting later. Bring out your calendar as there are some dates for you:

1. April 27th - Public meeting

Meeting Subject: “What can the Town of Williamson accomplish through sustainability?”

Background Information: The Town of Williamson was awarded a Program Opportunity Notice grant through NYSERDA for $30,000.00 in late 2009 to conduct Energy Conservation Studies of the Town’s Municipal Buildings and street lighting. Larsen Engineers, the Project Consultant, would like to share what was learned through the study. The meeting will cover the amount of money that can be saved through implementing energy conservation measures, and what this could mean to the Community, going forward.

The main question posed will be: “What can the Town of Williamson accomplish through sustainability?” We would like to know what green measures you would like to see in place in your community. Your ideas and input are important.

Meeting at 6:30 at Town Hall.

2. May 7th - Planting main street/town hall planters. John and Carol will be picking up the plants from Mason Farms. We will be meeting downtown at 7pm and planting. Please join us!

- take a look at your calendars and let me know if you can water during June-September

3. May 8th - Williamson Clean Sweep starting at 9am at King's Auto.

4. May 15th - Apple Blossom Festival. 9 am and we will (hopefully) have the same spot we've had for the last couple of years. Please bring plants to sell.

- If you need pots, please let me know.

- If you can work the tent, let me know. We will probably be there from 9am-2pm

5. May 20th - Ontario Library is hosting a "Shade Gardening" class at 7pm. Their last two lectures have been excellent (the last one actually got Eric and I planting cold-hardy vegetable seeds for our vegetable bed).

Just a reminder that Mason Farms opened on Wednesday. I can't wait to get in there this weekend and look at their plants! They are open from 9-6 on weekdays and 9-5 on the weekends.

April - Members Meeting

Happy Spring! After the invigorating talk on vegetable gardening last week, Eric and I ended up planting some cold-hardy plants such as lettuce, spinach and beets. Our pea vines are starting to poke their heads out and growing so it is definitely feeling like springtime!

Just a reminder that we have our members meeting. I'm excited to let you know that Laurie VanNorstrand, from Cornelle Cooperative, is going to come to our meeting to help us talk/plan our 2010 project. She was a great help last year in planning the Green Space and I'm looking forward to asking her questions and learning from her.

In addition, we will try to discuss these items also. If you have more, let me know and I'll add them to the agenda.

Also we have our members meeting next Wednesday, April 21st at the Williamson Library's small meeting room. (For the bookworms amongst us, the Library is holding their book sale so come early to buy books!).

Items so far:

- Plan for the Apple Blossom Festival

- Plan for downtown/town hall planters including watering schedule

- Plan for 2010 project (raised beds near "Welcome to Williamson" signs)

- Update on Garden tours for the summer

- New residents packages/Chamber of Commerce

- PR/Marketing/new member drive

- Green space update

If you have other items you'd like us to discuss, let me know and I'll include it in the agenda.