I recently enjoyed a wonderful trip to England and Scotland. While walking in an old part of London, I stopped to admire a particularly gorgeous, and eye catching, window box. One of our members, Jennifer Wey, makes beautiful containers and I try to send her inspirational photos from time to time. Next to this container was an award plaque. It was from “The Worshipful Company of Gardeners”. I loved it. It could easily be a suitable description of our club and all its members. We are a wonderful company of talented women—some are expert horticulturists, some are imaginative designers, some are extraordinary photographers, and some are creative geniuses in the botanic arts—all of us are volunteers. Thank you for all that you do to make our club a vibrant organization.
There are still spaces left in three photo categories: Walking Bridge(s), Fruit Tree(s), and Garden Sculpture(s). Let’s fill them up! Send your photos to Beth NOW!
The photo entries will be on display in a slide show at the October luncheon with the Cleveland Garden Club at The Country Club. Let’s do ourselves proud!
Three intrepid members of SLGC, Suzy Hartford, Margaret Ransohoff, and Karen Colini, entered the Horticulture division, and Leslie Marting entered Botanical Arts division of the Cleveland Garden Club Flower Show this week, and just about every entry won a ribbon. Karen Colini won the prestigious GCA Rosie Jones Horticulture Award for her stunning and unusual dahlia. Check out the entries in this Gallery to get some inspiration for the SLGC Flower Show in a few weeks. Surely you have something equally stunning in your backyards!
What will you bring to our fall flower show, Cornucopia?
This is your opportunity to show off all your beautiful fall plants! Our schedule is here. Entries can be just about any fall blooming perennial, annuals that are still blooming, ornamental grasses and ferns, cut branches- deciduous or evergreen and so many others.
August’s Visiting Gardens was a celebration of the flower. First we were greeted by Karen Colini and her two daughters, Katie and Mary, and a gaggle of ducks at Sweetbay Flower Farm. As we walked between the rows and rows of flowers we could focus on the beauty of each bloom and we understood the amount of work they committed to the garden's creation.
Fall is approaching and soon some of our members will be lighting fires in their fireplace or in a wood-burning stove. That made me wonder, “Is wood ash good for my garden?” The answer, of course, depends. Wood ash is alkaline, so if you have acid soil, adding wood ash to your compost or to your garden could be helpful as long as it comes from untreated wood. It is a fine idea to test your garden rather than guess what your soil conditions are. Soil test kits are readily available from the county extension service and can also be found on line.
Now, where were we on our exploration of the history of western garden design? Just about to depart the Islamic gardens of the Middle East, as I recall? Let’s have a quick recap of the classic garden elements we met there.
What's the news? What did you hear over the garden gate? Has your contact information changed since the new Directory was published? Who heard what? Who has learned something to share with us? Who has a great new idea? Who loves to share the miracles of nature? It's all here!
