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Next Membership Meeting, Tuesday, April 3
First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto
1140 Cowper Street between Kingsley & Lincoln
9:00 Coffee and delicious donut holes
provided by Karen Fry
9:30 Business Meeting
April Program - Member Garden Tour
Our annual "members only" garden tour is scheduled for Tuesday, April 3, immediately following our regular 9:30 am meeting of the Garden Club. The tour will feature the lovely Palo Alto Gardens of: Barbara Bowers, Pamela Garlick, Mary Lou Johnson, Katsy Swan, Marion Mack and Jeanne Spaulding. Jeanne Spaudling has graciously invited members to enjoy a box lunch in her garden following the tour.
Box lunches are being ordered from Draeger's. If you missed the sign up at the March meeting, it is not too late to place an order. Choices are:
The Parisian - Turkey breast and Swiss cheese on a croissant, fruit salad, spring salad and carrot cake $11.50
The Vegetarian - Vegetarian sandwich, spring vegetable salad and Waldorf salad $9.50
Orders can be placed by emailing Susan McDonnell, susangmcd@aol.com and sending a check payable to the garden club to: Susan McDonnell, 1715 Fulton St., Palo Alto, CA 94303. Deadline is Wednesday, March 27.
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Message from the President
April 2012
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Dear GCPA Members, What a productive and fun filled meeting we had in March. Our membership voted to put the Member Directory on the Garden Club of Palo Alto website, in the Members Only section. This will be very convenient, and as a bonus, address changes and other updates can be made quickly and easily. Thank you Leslie Huey for your efforts in maintaining our Website. Lee Newman and Anne Draeger took the food which they collected over to the Ecumenical Hunger Program right after the General Meeting. Our club donated 485 lbs. of food! The checks came to a total of $1,045.00!!! Anne and Lee delivered the contributions, and received a little tour of Ecumenical Hunger facilities. They report that there is a very organized program, in which they collect clothes and furniture. They have a little vegetable garden also. Thank you, Lee and Anne for your good work, and Kudos to all the Members for your generosity. Maureen Kennedy, of the Conservation committee, reminded us that what goes into the disposal does not disappear so it is much better to compost what can be composted. It was a treat to hear the outstanding talk by Barbara Tuffli in Companion Plants for Camellias. We were impressed with the enormous blooms and beautiful variety, as well as Barbara's extensive knowledge. We appreciated her good suggestions for excellent companion plants for our camellias. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, April 3, 2012. It will be at the usual time, we will have coffee, a business meeting, including three action items - Voting for New Members, vote for the 2012-13 Executive Board, and a ballot for Project Funding,. We will then proceed to the Members' Garden tour, chaired by Susan ODonnell. There will be 6 Gardens. A box lunch is available to order. Be sure that you get your order in to Susan. Spring is around the corner. Don't forget to start your seeds. It' not too early to do it.
Thought of the Day: My green thumb came only as a result of the mistakes I made while learning to see things from the plant's point of view. ~H. Fred Dale
Nancy Wong, GCPA President
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NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT
Chair Pat Davis, Carla Bliss, an Mary Jane Tapp
President: Nancy Wong 1st Vice President/Programs: Laurie Baldwin 2nd Vice President/Newsletter: Elizabeth Moder-Stern Recording Secretary: Vickie Thoits Corresponding Secretary: Nancy Drapin Treasurer: Maureen Kennedy Membership Chair: Ellie Thomas Parliamentarian: Carla Bliss (Co-President 2010-2011) Ex-officio member of the Board |
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Robin Allen (Ron) 650-365-8210 nanierobin@yahoo.com
2603 Delaware Avenue Redwood City 94061
Barbara Foster (Win) 650 328-1971 barbarabfoster@comcast.net
460 Washington Avenue Palo Alto 94301
Nancy Greenbach (Joseph) 650-323-3610 nancyjoe@ix.netcom.com
236 Camino al Lago Atherton 94027
Gloria Hom (Peter) 650-493-1142 dghom@yahoo.com
660 Towle Way Palo Alto 94306
Delia Laitin (David) 650-854-4882 delia.laitin@gmail.com
199 Leland Avenue Menlo Park 94025
Debbie Nichols 650-329-8558 dnichols@cbnorcal.com
2070 Bryant Street Palo Alto 94301
Joan Sanders (Elmo) 650-325-4912 jsan156@comcast.net
156 Hawthorn Drive Atherton 94027
Kathleen Schniedwind (John) 650-328-6407 kswind55@gmail.com
1933 Waverley Street Palo Alto 94301
Jeanette (Jan) Strohecker 650-906-6516 janstrohecker@yahoo.com
1610 Hamilton Avenue Palo Alto 94303
Here is a brief summary of the papers submitted by our talented incoming Class of 2012
Robin Allen: "Tussie Mussies: Message of Love."
Referenced in the 1440s, tussie mussies speak the language of flowers. These tiny bouquets appealing to sight and scent were a craze during the Victorian Era and were planted in Robin's heart in childhood by her mother's tiny bouquets from their garden. Robin shared her love with a generation of kindergarteners making Mother's Day bouquets. She gives the symbolic meaning of some flowers and instructions for making a tussie mussie.
Barbara Foster:"Is the Olallieberry Endangered? Three Recent Developments Spell Trouble."
For more than 30 years, Barbara has been a happy grower and groomer of a 55-foot row of Olallieberry vines, making pies, cobblers, puddings and jams each season. Now her delicious berries are under attack by a new pest, a tiny fly named Drosophila Suzuki, or spotted Drosophila that threatens the very survival of olallies everywhere.
Nancy Greenbach: "Hydrangea 101"
Nancy's favorite Hydrangeas are the Mop heads adorned with colored blue, pink or purple balls and Lace caps with their compact center of fertile buds, fringed by sterile, showy flowers. Proper timing and pruning of this woody, deciduous shrub with its cane-like growth is the key to healthy, abundantly flowering plants.
Gloria Hom: "To Deck or Not to Deck; that is the Question."
Gloria's paper describes how a diminutive woman with meticulous research, determination, the right tools including a jack hammer and table saw- and true grit-can transform an under-used garden space into 1,000 square feet of new decking, complete with a 10' x 10' storage shed.
Delia Laitin: "Working in the 'Dirty Knees Brigade' at Gamble Garden."
Delia salutes the dedication and camaraderie of Gamble Garden's hands-on garden volunteers. She shares what she has learned about planting, pruning, propagation and nurturing surplus, transplanted volunteer plants and vines into her own garden.
Debbie Nichols: "Planting a Window Box Garden." Debbie's New England heritage is expressed when she describes these miniature gardens that brighten homes and neighborhoods. Inexpensive annuals of different heights, colors and textures artfully arranged; the right soil with good drainage and proper maintenance including watering and deadheading are keys.
Joan Sanders: "The Modern Terrarium." A passion of Victorian gardeners, Terrariums-the growing of plants under glass-bring joy to the designer, are easy to maintain and make perfect gifts. Joan advises to start with a clean, clear glass container, small plants-and creativity!
Kathleen Schniedwind: "The Kitchen Garden at Villandry" Kathleen's favorite of the six beautiful gardens at Villandry, a lovely French Chateau in the Loire Valley dating to the Middle Ages, was the Kitchen Garden. Designed on a scale as grand as the villa, its nine squares include 85,000 vegetable plants and 125,000 bedding plants each year that resemble a three-dimensional painting. Kathleen describes the seasonal highlights of this breathtaking garden.
Jeanette (Jan) Strohecker: Jan is the third generation of Garden Club gardeners to love and grow the queen of flowers, the rose. She describes the history and attributes of three of her favorite red hybrid tea roses: "Veteran's Honor Rose", "Black Magic Rose" and "Dream Come True".
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PROJECT FUNDING
Voting for Project Funding will take place at the April 3, General Meeting. Only Active members may vote. Ballots will be handed-out before the meeting. Since the Member Garden Tour is that day, please review the proposal summaries listed below so that questions and comments can be discussed in a timely fashion.
Summary of Proposals & Recommended Funding
This year the Garden Club received five proposals requesting funding for grants from the Charitable Trust. After a careful review process the Project Funding Committee recommends that the following three projects be funded.
Requested Funds: $11,121 Available funds: $11,445
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The Museum of American Heritage GCPA Sponsors: Pat Davis,
Crystal Gammage
The Museum of American Heritage, in its desire to continue and maintain the restoration of their gardens, request funding for high quality plant labeling and interpretive signage. The funding is for 300 botanical labels containing text and images, as well as 8-10 large panels as introduction to the gardens. The Museum staff has the assistance of a professional person and sign-making machine. Gwenyth Claughton, the executive director of the Museum, gave a detailed description of the weatherproof materials needed.
In addition, the Museum asks for funding to create a visitors' brochure for self-guided tours through the garden. Volunteers at the museum have plans to create a multilingual translation of the guide. The funding support of the Garden Club of Palo Alto will be acknowledged in the new signage, and in the Museum's newsletter.
Requested funds: $5,622. A grant of $5,622 is recommended.
Environmental Volunteers GCPA Sponsors: Mimi Meffert, Anne Page
Environmental Volunteers requests funding to purchase interpretive signage for the native plant areas surrounding EcoCenter. The grant will help the organization's objective to ensure that the landscape surrounding the EcoCenter is a beautiful, educational and engaging experience for visitors of all ages. The newly designed landscape plan will incorporate native marsh plants. New general information signs, as well as the plant signs, will contain fun, interesting facts and photos to provide a self-guided tour in the natural areas surrounding the EcoCenter. A total of 12 weatherproof signs will be created.
The Garden Club's funding donation will be recognized on the permanent signage in the plant garden.
Requested funds: $3000 A grant of $3000 is recommended.
Friends of Palo Alto Parks GCPA Sponsors: Shirley Finfrock,
Carla Bliss
Friends of Palo Alto Parks requests funds to complete Phase II of the Bol Park California Native Plot. Approximately 30 new plants and a new tree will be added. In addition, the funds will make possible the expansion of the irrigation system to the new planting, and fresh organic materials to line the walking paths. An outside contrator will be paid to do the heavy-duty maintenance of existing plants and trees that need pruning or removal.
The on-going support of the Garden Club is acknowledged on a permanent sign in the Bol Park.
Requested funds: $2500 A grant of $2500 is recommended.
2012 Project Funding Committee: Karen Douglas, Laurie Jarrett, Karen Olson, Jane Stocklin, Nancy Wong, and Betsy Okarma, Chairperson.
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From Horticulture The New Universal Language of Plants
When Linnaeus standardized the system of species description in the 18th century, Latin was the language of science. So it has remained, if only in a highly technical sense. The binomial names used by Homo sapiens are Latin, and for years botanists, unlike zoologists, were still required to use a page or two of Latin to describe the distinctive characteristics of a newly named species - the attributes that made it different from any other. But no more. As of Jan. 1, diagnostic botanical descriptions may be written in Latin or English, and the electronic publication of new names is accepted.
These changes acknowledge some basic facts. Botanical Latin is barely Latin at all, since it includes a huge new scientific vocabulary that would have stumped Cicero. Nor is a Latin description of a new species likely to be more accurate or internationally intelligible than one in English. Furthermore, scientific publication is increasingly moving to the Internet, expanding accessibility. It makes no sense to slow the rate of botanical description by forcing scientists to learn how to encode their discoveries in Latin or by putting up with the lag time in getting a discovery into actual print.
Unlike modern botanists, Linnaeus felt no special urgency in going about his job. As climate change alters our world, anything that speeds up the description of species before they vanish is welcome. As it is, botanists have described roughly 200,000 species, with about 2,000 new species being described each year at the current rate. At best, they are less than halfway through the task of indexing all the plants, fungi and algae on earth.
A version of this editorial appeared in print on January 6, 2012, on page A24 of the New York edition with the headline: The New Universal Language of Plants.
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A History of Earth Day
1970-2012
Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does. ~William James
Earth Day was founded in 1970 by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson, who witnessed the devastating January 1969 "blowout" below a Union Oil platform off the Santa Barbara coast. It spewed 3 million gallons of crude oil from the ocean floor, coated thirty miles of sandy beaches, and covered hundreds of miles of ocean with black sheen. That disaster is acknowledged as the impetus for the environmental movement.
To organize Earth Day, Nelson recruited conservation-minded California Republican Congressman Pete McCloskey as co-chair, and Denis Hayes as national coordinator. On April 22, 1970, twenty million Americans massed in the streets, parks, and auditoriums, demonstrating for a healthy, sustainable environment. That Earth Day achieved a rare political alignment of groups suddenly galvanized to realize that they shared a common cause. Republicans and Democrats fighting against oil spills, factories and power plant pollution, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, the extinction of wildlife, rich and poor, city slickers and farmers, tycoons and labor leaders all desired to protect the environment and earth.
The result was spectacular! In a matter of months, the following legislation became law:
Comprehensive and expanded Clean Air Act, December 1970* (major amendments to the original 1963 Clean Air Act)
Creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Act 1973
Earth Day went global in 1990 and is the world's most widely observed secular holiday. Earth Day 1990 observance gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and paved the way for global environmental efforts.
To commemorate Earth Day April 22, 2012, Garden Club members are encouraged to TAKE THE CHALLENGE! to do something new for the earth. What you do DOES make a difference. Please see the Conservation Resources information on the Palo Alto Garden Club website (http://www.gardenclubofpaloalto.org) for "Easy Conservation Tips" and other helpful information!
Mary Sweeney
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News from Gamble Garden
Spring blooms are bursting forth throughout Gamble's gardens.
All the camellias are lovely...did you know that Gamble is on the national "Camellia Trail. The arched entry to the rose garden, which we funded, is growing rapidly. New plantings will be in red and white along the Embarcadero strip. You must go for a walk.
Join "Friends of Gamble Garden" and receive many benefits, one being a discount on the informative classes. Visit the website: www.gamblegarden.org for details about the numerous classes, delicious luncheons, and special events.
Spring Tour, the annual fundraiser, April 27-28 will feature five fabulous private gardens and an optional luncheon. Don't miss the free festivities at Gamble where our garden club will be serving Tea & Cookies...an affair not to be missed. Tickets available now.
Sharleen Fiddaman, Toni Wisman
Gamble Garden co-Liaisons
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Upcoming Dates
Tuesday, March 27, GCPA Board Meeting
Tuesday, April 3, General Meeting and Member Garden Tour
Tuesday, April 10, New Member Tea
Sunday, April 22, EARTH DAY
Tuesday, May 8, Garden Club Field Trip
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