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Garden Club of Palo Alto
Founded in 1921 Celebrating Our 90th Year
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Volume 90 Issue #8
| April 2011 |
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Next Membership Meeting, Tuesday, April 5th
Congregation Etz Chayim, 4161 Alma Street, Palo Alto
9:00 Coffee and Conversation
9:30 Business Meeting
10:00 Program
11:30 Adjournment |
" Garden Conservancy"
Speakers: Betsy Flack and Shelagh Fritz
Betsy Flack is program coordinator for the San Francisco Office of the Conservancy that opened in 2003. She will discuss an overview of the conservancy. Her lecture will then focus on local projects, including the Green Gables project. Betsy is a licensed landscape architect in California. Shelagh Fritz is the project manager for the Gardens of Alcatraz since 2006. She is the first gardener on the island since 1963. She will have a lot to share about what has been happening during this time. Shelagh specializes in Horticultural Science for the conservancy.
Their program is certain to amaze all of us with the diversity and extensive projects sponsored by the Garden Conservancy.
Chairwoman of the Day: Pat Starrett
Hospitality table courtesy of the class of 2005:
Carla Bliss, Carolyn Reese, Patricia Sanders, Marilyn Sokol, Christine Sorensen and Lonnie Zarem.
Smaller Bouquets:
Alexandra McFarland, Class of 2006
Victoria Thoits, Class of 2010
Lonnie Zarem, Class of 2005 |
Co-President's letter Dear Members - February and March have been very productive months for our Club. The Board and Sub-Committees have been humming with meetings. I've had the privilege to serve on several and want to share some news. We developed a site search group including Nancy Wong, next year's President, and program Co-chairs, Pat Davis and Barbara Bowers. Sharleen Fiddaman rounded us out as we evaluated future locations for our general meetings. The established criteria that we took into account were: cost, location, parking, building, equipment, ambiance, furnishings and audio-visual capabilities (including room darkening). We think you'll be pleased with our progress. The committee to determine the use of our $18,100 gift for Gamble Garden's 25th anniversary was very creative. We are providing $15,000 to fund the second and third phase of the rose garden rehabilitation, which includes the patio entrance and iceberg circle. To begin a heritage fund for horticultural expertise and encourage other donors to join in, we have given $3,100 as seed money. We hope to see our investment grow and be used over time. The project funding committee has fully funded new projects very worthy of our support. For details, please see Joanne Koltnow's article. If you didn't make last month's meeting, you missed a very entertaining speaker! Author, Amy Stewart was both funny and informative. Her review of Wicked Plants and their historical use was great. The luncheon afterwards at Allied Arts was delicious. By the way, the found coat belonged to the Chronicle Reporter who was following Amy that day. Enjoy the spring blossoms and we will see you in April. Carla Bliss, Co-President |
Project Funding

It's Time to Vote on Grants
This year, the Garden Club's Charitable Trust has $7100 to award. Your Project Funding committee reviewed four proposals and recommends funding three (Mesa Verde, Woman's Club of Palo Alto, and Environmental Volunteers) and declining one (Canopy). The first two organizations are new to our grant process and Environmental Volunteers has received only one previous grant. All three made proposals that deserve full funding. Although we applaud Canopy's work, we have limited resources this year. Since we funded their proposals many times in the past, we did not recommend this one.
We recommend granting $6379 to fully fund three proposals and keeping the remaining $721 for the future. The Board has accepted our recommendations. Voting, by active members, will take place during the April 5 meeting.
La Mesa Verde promotes the development of organic home gardens that provide convenient access to affordable, fresh, and culturally appropriate food for low-income households. The program provides education, raised bed gardens, and mentoring. Sponsors Connie Cavanaugh and Janelle Fodor, who mentor five families in the program, request funds to provide gardening tools for 100 families who will join the program in 2011.
Request: $2500
The Woman's Club of Palo Alto,
which maintains its historic clubhouse at
the corner of Homer and Cowper, is in the midst of a four-phase project to beautify the surrounding grounds. Sponsors Leslie McLaren and Carol Kuiper request funds specifically for new landscaping at the corner of the building, adjacent to the main entrance. The goal is to create a garden that complements the 1916 building and is environmentally compatible with the overhanging heritage oak.
Request: $1667
The Environmental Volunteers trains volunteer docents to provide hands-on natural science education to children. The organization believes that if young people develop an appreciation of the natural world they will become responsible environmental stewards throughout their lives. Sponsors Mimi Meffert and Anne Page request funds to review, update, and reproduce the Forest Ecology Teaching Guide-a document used by volunteers and teachers.
Request: $2212
Questions?
Contact a member of the Project Funding committee: Joanne Koltnow (chair), Carla Bliss, Crystal Gamage, Jean Gee, Mary Jo Levy, Betsy Okarma, and Karen Olson. |

Garden Club of Palo Alto
Report of the Nomination Committee:
Proposed Slate for Executive Board 2011-2012
President: Nancy Wong
Co-1st Vice Presidents: Barbara Bowers & Pat Davis
(Programs)
2nd Vice President: Elizabeth Moder-Stern
(Newsletter)
Recording Secretary: Connie Cavanaugh
Corresponding Secretary: Bonnie Street
Treasurer: Karen Douglas
Membership: Janet Heilman & Carol Kuiper
Parliamentarian: Mary Jo Levy
Respectively submitted to the Board,
Pat Davis, Bonnie Street, Mimi Meffert, chr.
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GAMBLE GARDEN NEWS
April is always a very busy month at Gamble Garden, highlighted of course by the Spring Garden Tour which takes place this year on April 29 and 30th. All Garden Club members are invited to volunteer for this important fund-raiser, by being a garden docent, selling tickets, helping in the office or in numerous other positions. Look for sign-up forms at the meeting or go ASAP to STvolunteers@GambleGarden.org.
It is the Garden Club's pleasure each year to offer tea and homemade cookies to Gamble's Spring Tour guests. We still need a few bakers to meet the demand, and a few more volunteers to staff our serving table. If you haven't yet signed up, you may contact either of us directly, or look for sign-up sheets to be passed at the next membership meeting on April 5. We're counting on you!
At the April meeting, please also make a point of signing the Memorial Book which will be on a table with a tribute to each of the seven members which it honors. This is a new procedure and we want to be sure that all of our members have a chance to leave their signatures before the book is presented to the Gamble library.
At the time of this reading, there may still be time to attend the evening Special Event on March 30 at 7:30 p.m., when Elizabeth Murray shares her photographs and art inspired by over 20 years association with Monet's garden at Giverny.
For more on this and on the Spring Teas and family events for Easter and Earth Day, visit wwwgamblegarden.org.
Carol Malcolm and Sharleen Fiddaman Gamble Garden Liaisons
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Membership Corner
MEMBER UPDATES
Please make the following changes to your Membership Handbook:
New phone & email for Mary Gallagher
(650)325-4642 marygallagher88@gmail.com
New apartment number & phone number for Gerry Gilchrist
Correct apartment number: A304.
Correct phone number: (650) 561-9221
New email for Jane Hartman
jshartman8@gmail.com
TO DO!
Now is the time to invite friends and neighbors who share your delight in gardening to attend the April 5 general meeting. Please talk to them about joining the Garden Club of Palo Alto. Updated Sponsor/Co-Sponsor and Candidate forms for the 2011-2012 year will be available at the April meeting. After April 5, the packet will be available online or from Jan Heilman, Membership Co-Chair.
A gentle reminder, our May meeting is a tour of Member gardens and is reserved for current members. Especially welcome to this year's tour is our Class of 2011.
Please add their contact information to your Membership Handbook.
CONGRATULATIONS, LADIES!
Best wishes,
Jan Heilman and Carol Kuiper
Membership Co-Chairs

In Memorium
As announced at our March meeting, Sue Flakoll, a member since 1995, died on February 14. She was sponsored by Leannah Hunt and contributed to the club in many ways through her active years serving as Hospitality Co-chair (coordinating refreshments for the club's 75th birthday), Floral arrangement chair, Chair of the Membership's New Members Committee and Co-chair of Field Trips. She had a wonderful, positive outlook--appreciated by all who knew her. A memorial service is pending and will likely occur in the summer according to her son Clark. We will keep the membership informed.
Margaret Arnold passed away March 1, from the severe stroke she suffered earlier in the week. She had been an active Garden Club member since 1982 . Many of us will remember the hand made dolls and stuffed animals she made for sale at Holiday Affaire. A memorial service has been held.
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Conservation News  "First refuse, refuse, refuse and then reuse, recycle and rot (compost)", explains Bea Johnson in the January 2011 issue of Sunset Magazine. "The first step is to refuse products and packaging that you'll have to dispose of later." This Mill Valley mother of two was recently featured in the magazine because her home has no garbage. Three years ago, her family downsized from a 3,000 square foot home to a 1,400 square foot home and started getting rid of things. "In a recession, people are inclined to keep things, but I feel the opposite. The less I have the richer I feel. Stuff weighs you down." The Conservation Column last month introduced the concept of "Cradle-to-Cradle" or "Closed Loop" recycling (materials can be reused or placed directly back into the production cycle). We have the choice of buying products that fit into a desirable recycling system that leaves no garbage, or refusing to buy a product that eventually ends up in a landfill. Refusing to buy or use plastic straws and plastic bags, for example, is probably the better option. So simple !! Kim Chansler The Johnson Family...CLEAN GARAGE!!! |
Report from Hort
To Defend Against Disease, a Plant Checks the Clock
An Arabidopsis plant with downy mildew disease, caused by a fungus-like pathogen.
Plants, like many other organisms, have circadian clocks that help them anticipate various environmental and biological events that occur at precise times of the day. Processes like photosynthesis, fragrance emission and time of bloom are all regulated by this timekeeping mechanism.
Now, researchers report in the journal Nature that genes in certain plants fend off infections with the help of the clock as well.
Twenty-two genes in the plant Arabidopsis, all connected to the plant's ability to resist infection, were expressed only from the evening onward, peaking at dawn. The timing corresponds with the formation of spores in a fungus like pathogen that attacks the plant and results in a condition known as downy mildew disease. The disease weakens the plant and forms an unsavory coating of fuzzy mildew.
"From what we know, the pathogen forms spores at night and disseminates them at dawn, so that's when the infection threat is highest," said Xinnian Dong, a biologist at Duke University, and one of the study's authors.
During the day, when the pathogen is not likely to attack, the genes were not expressed.
This is the first time researchers have been able to make a functional connection between the circadian clock and pathogen resistance, Dr. Dong said.
She believes that if researchers can sort out the intricacies of the relationship between pathogens and hosts, and their circadian rhythms, there may be practical applications.
Pesticide treatments could be timed to have maximum impact, for instance. Or it may even be possible to determine ideal times for administering medications in humans, she said.
New York Times February, 2011
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IMPORTANT WEB SITE REMINDER
Dear Members.
This is a reminder that you need to use your real name as your User Name when you register for the Website. I have been able to verify some of you based on your e-mail address that is listed in the Garden Club Membership booklet but not all. I have attempted to e-mail a couple of you using the e-mail address you listed when you applied to register. If the e-mail bounced back and I can't verify the applicant as a current Garden Club Member you will not be verified and allowed on the private side of the site. If this has happened to you please reregister with your name.
Thank you, Website Administer, Leslie Huey
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Upcoming Dates
General Meetings
Tuesday May 3rd
Private Tour of Members Gardens
June 7th Annual Luncheon
Board Meetings:
March 29th at Mimi Meffort's
April 26th at Carol Malcom's
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Garden Club of Palo Alto encouraging gardening and horticulture
P.O.Box 898 artistic use of flowers and plants
Palo Alto, California 94302 conservation of natural resources
educating the community
beautification of public places
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