Sandy Spring Museum Fall Festival

The SSM's Fall Festival was on October 18th. Everyone had a wonderful time. The ambiance was amazing. The music was great and the food was delicious. The Garden Club members contributed in many ways to make the evening a success.

Sunny Banvard lead a team of Garden Club members and friends in decorating the museum in Fall colors. Some of our members who helped with the decorating include Amy Cohen, Ginny Singhaus, Miichele Harde, Barbara Gibian and Betty Hiner. 

Kathy Gaskill and Michele Harde helped with the set-up and coordinating the food. Nancy Aldous, Sandy Velsor and Kathy Leiberman were volunteers extraordinaire. They helped to make the evening special.

Everyone seemed to enjoy both the silent and live auctions. The Garden Club's "Fall front Porch Display and Hydrangea" was a popular silent auction item. Thanks to the team of people that worked on this effort including Penny Sidell, Mary Dominique, Leslie Cronin, Andrea Mohr and Amy Cohen.

The Garden Club was well represented at this event.

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Fall Garden Chores, Hints and Techniques

It's time to put the gardens to bed for the winter. Here are some hints and techniques, please feel free to add more hints to the comments below.

Fall garden chores from Mary Dominique:

1) Dig amaryllis - pot them up and put them in the garage. They want 8-10 weeks of cool dry conditions. Then bring them in the house, they will bloom during the winter.

2) Dig caladiums and dry a few days. Cut off leaves and store in a bag in the basement.

3) Dig a few annuals - lantana, begonias diamond frost euphorbia, geraniums - into the grrenhouse for the winter.

4) Patio pots go into the garage or the all season porch - spray with horticultural oil and keep watered through the winter. There's plumbago, tender ferns and diamond frost, as well as new gardenias.

5) Patio pots with hardy perennials stay outside and can withstand freezing temperatures.

6. Tunnels in the garden produce lettuce, kale, broccoli, spinach, arugula, radish, turnips and bok choy into the winter.

7) Rest of garden is covered with leaves or straw to keep the weeds down, or a cover crop is sown.

8) Tomato, squash, pepper plants go in the trash so as not to spread diseases

9) Save seeds: pick blossoms when dry and pit into envelopes for junk mail, label and date.
10) Dig dahlias after frost and store, as Adrian Higgins, suggested with a dusting of cinnamon.  He said cinnamon is an anti-fungal.  

From Jan:

For plants that are coming inside, I dunk the whole plant, pot and all into a tub of water for an hour or so. Hopefully it will kill or chase out the ant nests, potato bugs and toads that like to live in my pots on the deck.

Then I spray them with soapy water and let dry another day.,.

Here’s an easy recipe for Organic Dormant Oil Spray : Mix 2 Tbs ultrafine canola oil with 1 Tbs  baking soda and a gallon of water in a container and shake well, then pour into a spray bottle to apply.

This and other tips on facebook: Our Fairfield Home and Garden   Tucking the garden in for winter

Winter Garden Preparation from Empress of Dirt

Please share your hints in the comments below

Autumn is a Second Spring when Every Leaf is a Flower

Fall is a great time in the garden and an exciting time for the SSM Garden Club.

Next Spring we will be holding a seed and plant exchange. As you clean-up your garden this Fall keep this in mind. Separate your plants and collect your seeds so that you have something to share in the Spring.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at our fun Fall events:

Garden Club – Spooky Workshop

October 26 @ 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm

No Ghosts Allowed, but we’ll have lots of Ribbons and Bows.  In this workshop, we will continue with our preparations for the Sandy Spring Museum Garden Club Holiday Greens Sale.  Come and learn how to make many different bows of various sizes and shapes.  We will also make other trimmings to brighten the Holiday Greens.   Costumes are optional and treats will be served.   Please contact Lynn Mahoney, lynnmahoney1@verizon.net or Gloria Galyon gloriagalyon@verizon.net if you have any questions.

Native Edibles and Kale Wreaths

November 9th, 2pm-4pm 

As winter closes in, the Garden Club will turn our sights to the wild side as we learn about the historic and modern use of native edibles and sample some culinary delights from our own back yards.  Crafty gardeners will display their close-to-home food knowledge by assembling a decorative wreath of live winter kale during our featured project. A small fee to cover supply costs will be collected at the door: $5.00 for members and $7.00 for non-members. Everyone is welcome and  RSVP's are appreciated by November 2 to Chelsea Soneira chelsea.soneira@gmail.com.  Please contact us if  you have any questions. 

Congratulations to Anne Petzold, recipient of the 2014 SSM Mary Rice Founders Award

On September 11 at The SSM Annual Membership Meeting, Anne Petzold was awarded the SSM Mary Rice Founders Award. This award recognizes an individual that has made a significant contribution to the Garden Club over several years.

Anne has been active in the Garden Club for many years, volunteering at the Strawberry Festival Plant Sale, Greens Sale, and the Garden Tour. She has served the Garden Club in the capacity of Treasurer, Secretary and Co-President.

 Congratulations Anne!.

Museum Courtyard

Kudos to Mary Dominique for heading up the beatification of the Museum Courtyard. Accolades have been received from a museum board member, " The gardens at the Museum are eye-popping. I just left a committee meeting in the library and the courtyard stopped me in my tracks."

A cool gardening website: Empress of Dirt - Creative and Frugal Garden Ideas. 

Now is the time to get your garden tools all clean and pretty.

How to: http://empressofdirt.net/4-keys-best-garden-tool-care/

Floral Arranging and Harvest Potluck

Wonderful program at our General Meeting on Sunday. Kathy Jentz, editor and publisher of Washington Gardener Magazine spoke to us about hand-tied floral arrangements. Her presentation included how and where to buy, prep, and keep flowers fresh, what tools to use (and not use) and how to choose and decorate a container. It was nice to learn that there are no real rules for arranging and why odd numbers are preferred - it makes our brain look around at the whole display. We learned to form our choice of flowers into a tight rounded grouping bound with a rubber band, and we all went home with beautiful arrangements to adorn our homes.

Kathy has posted pictures of our event on her Facebook page. She also has a blog:. HERE . The YAHOO group, also called Washington Gardener, is a forum for local garden issues, a garden tip of the day, and event postings.

Thank you everyone for the food at our Garden Harvest Potluck. It was grand!!

Behnke's Gardener Night Out is this Friday Sept 19 from 5-8 pm, with sales, demos, food, wine, music and Kathy Jentz.

Sandy Spring Museum Garden Club

Welcome to the Sandy Spring Museum Garden Club Blog.

 This page will serve as a historical timeline,an online resource and a forum for club members and visitors to share SSM Garden Club events as well as those of other clubs in the area, local gardens, plant sales, shows, and photos of our own gardens or those visited far away, Please feel free to comment with questions/answers, observations, pictures and reminders throughout the garden year.

Looking forward to this Sunday's Program:

           Sandy Spring Museum Garden Club

                           General Meeting: Sunday September 14, 2014  2-4pm

                                        Flower Arranging and Harvest Potluck
Growing beautiful flowers and foliage is one thing, but showcasing cut plants is another challenge entirely!  Join the Garden Club as we explore the art of flower arranging in September.  Participants will learn how to capture the balance, beauty and surprise of their favorite gardens through a presentation and practice session.  Please bring your favorite small-medium vase or jar to hold your arrangement.  A small fee to cover supply costs will be collected at the door: $5.00 for members and $7.00 for non-members.
Additionally, we'll celebrate our inspiration with a harvest potluck! Please bring your favorite garden-inspired hors d'oeuvre to share.  RSVPs are appreciated by September 7 to Chelsea.Soneira@gmail.com .

Other events in the area:       Bluegrass on the Farm

                                           

 An article from the iconic Martha Stewart at this link. Martha Stewart Fall Gardening 

Happy Gardening!!