Drying Flowers, Composting and a lively Business Meeting.

We had our January General Meeting this morning. Here is part of the board listening to Joyce and Bev tell about the Youth Program through the State Garden Club. We decided to fund an award for a Youth Essay Contest for the next two years. It will be $50 to one winner per year.

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Another thing discussed was the Afternoon Tea to be held on May 9, 2009. We might have a place for the event to be held and now we need lots and lots of volunteers to help with the planning and the tea. Talk to June to let her know what you are able to do.

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We also discussed the upcoming Garage Sale to be held on March 28th at Sherry's home. Start saving all your great stuff so we can make lots of money with this. Sherry is willing to store anything you have so if you want to take it over to her house just let her know.

Lillian, President, Sherry, Programs Chair and Evelyn our wonderful Secretary.

There weren't too many flowers and plants today for the horticulture. Considering what the east is going through right now with Ice Storms and cold we are very lucky to have any flowers out in the garden!! Ron told all about the plants and what the judges in the flower shows look for. All the flowers were great but I really liked Pat's Poinsettia plant. Pat said she got the cutting years and years ago from Evelyn so it is a very old plant. Ron said it is a old fashioned style that you don't see in the nursery anymore. It is different than anything I had seen before. I think I need to get slips for this one and see if my Brown Thumb can get it to grow!! Pat or Evelyn go ahead and bring in cuttings when you can!!

Here is the group listening to Ron tell about the flowers.

Our first speaker at the meeting was Dick Wolf. He talked about composting and the Sun-Mark Garden Composters that he sells. He gave some very good information on how to compost and how it helps the plants and the dirt. If anyone is interested in contacting him for more information his number is: Dick Wolf 805-495-7996. The CVGC gets no part of the money from the sales and we don't make any claims about this composter. This is just for your information.

Our own Sherry was our main speaker on Drying Flowers. She said that when she was growing up her mom was always drying flowers. She showed some samples of plants that her mom had put into books years ago. She was saying she was watching HGTV and they pressed some ferns and then mounted them into a frame and it make a wonderful picture for the wall.

She explained about the Flower Drying Crystals that she had bought at Jo Anne's. She was saying the flowers will hold their color if you put them in this instead of just drying them without. I know I have several things that I just let dry and they lost all their bright colors so I think I will try this the next time.

She brought in a framed wedding invitation for her daughter's wedding. Around the outside of the invitation she had put her daughter's wedding flowers. It really makes a great way to store and yet still be able to see the flowers.
It was a great talk and she passed out lots of great information for us to take home. I was beginning to read it this afternoon and it looks great.

Thanks Sherry!


During the break I took a picture of Joyce and Margaret with the jacket that Margaret painted last year. I'm sure you remember the district had a contest last year that had each club decorate a jean jacket and then they auctioned them off at the State Convention. Margaret was kind enough to do ours and it turned out so pretty. I tried to get it at our auction at the May meeting but Joyce out bid me. Oh well. Here is the front and ....

Here is the back. I thought it should go up on the blog so everyone can remember how pretty it is. Don't forget you can "click" on the picture and it will enlarge so you can get a good look at the art work.

Good job, Margaret!!
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That was the January meeting in a nut shell. If you weren't there we missed you and hope you can make next month's. We had 5 guests at this meeting!! Welcome all and I hope to see you all back again!!
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Speaking of next month we will be doing a tour instead of a regular meeting.
We will meet at the church at 9 am and have a short business meeting. We then will car pool down to

The Japanese Garden in Van Nuys.

Bring a sack lunch and we will have lunch at the park next door afterwards. Any questions call Sherry.

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