The Durham Council of Garden Clubs was founded in 1929 in federation with the National Garden Club and The Garden Club of North Carolina, Inc.
The Council served more than eight decades as the umbrella group for garden clubs and junior garden clubs in Durham, NC. Today, Durham Garden Clubs continue the same mission of philanthropic projects of preservation, conservation, education and beautification under District 9 of the Garden Clubs of NC.
Highlights from the District 9 Meeting, Oct. 22, 2015. Photos by Marcia Loudon and Jennifer Corser of the Durham Council of Garden Clubs.
The Garden Club of North Carolina’s District 9 Annual
Meeting convened Oct. 22 at St. Luke's Episcopel Church in Durham. Sixty-eight club members and guests were in
attendance representing 22 garden clubs in the District 9 Piedmont area. The clubs
in largest attendance were the Daylily and Croasdaile Garden Clubs of Durham and the Chapel Hill Garden Club, each with eight to six
members in attendance. The Durham Council of Garden Clubs took the lead in hosting
responsibilities with: logistics, catering, raffles, table decorations, and
program speakers, while other garden clubs like Chapel Hill lent their talents
in assisting GCNC executive reports regarding the state awards program; and the Hillsborough Garden Club offered table
handouts and favors including homemade seed packets with seeds collected from flowers in their home gardens.
District 9 Director Andrea Lewis called the meeting to order
at 10 a.m. and gave her report of the District 9 activity over the 2014-2015
fiscal year. GCNC President Judy Bond and her Vice Presidents then gave state reports
with national program overviews designed to drive garden club membership. Some District
9 garden clubs were surprised to be awarded with certificates recognizing their
gain in members during 20114-2015; the Forest Hills Garden Club of Durham led
the pack with five new members. Ideas presented to gain membership included: holding club meetings in evening and flexible
hours to accommodate working members, adding men/husbands to club rosters, taking
waitlisted members and forming a second neighborhood club, scouting for new
members by dropping business cards and an invitation to join into the mailboxes
of neighborhood homes with impressive gardens. Youth garden clubs and children’s
programs were also emphasized with references to children’s books that come
with study plans like “The Frightened Frog” by Brenda Moore and Jean Ohlmann of
National Garden Clubs, Inc. and “Katie’s
Cabbage” by Katie Stagliano. GCNC Youth Program Chair Darene Honeycutt shared in
her report a sample of the new guidelines handbook (soon available) that she
created for state junior garden clubs.
After the luncheon, the District 9 Meeting's keynote speaker
Dr. Manuel Reyes, NC A&T Professor of Biological Engineering, presented
'Natuculture' theory and urbane agricultural projects by NC A&T students
and Durham Public Schools students of the School of Energy and Sustainability
(Southern High School). Natuculture™, defined as “any human made system that
mimics nature in human disturbed landscapes,” began in the United States at the
campus of NC A&T by Dr. Reyes. See the Durham Council blog for more
information: http://durhamcouncilofgardenclubs.blogspot.com/2015/10/natuculture-and-dps-project-featured.html.
Dr. Reyes emphasized how critical it is now to motivate high
school students into agricultural programs. Moreover, he said, the United
States Department of Agriculture has a significant labor force of employees
aged 60 and older, and the next generation will be tasked with filling these important
federal roles for managing the nation’s food industry.
Erin Benzakein and her family have an organic flower farm in Washington’s Skagit Valley, and as a farmer-florist, she is extraordinarily particular about the flowers she grows. Seeking out the seasonal, abundant, and hardy—not to mention the gorgeous, too—she also has to weigh the practicalities of running a business.
In arrangements, chrysanthemums “mix so beautifully with other ingredients the season has to offer, such as grasses, changing leaves, fruit and berries on the branch, and vines.” says floral designer Erin Benzakein. She needed a good crop for fall months. “I was looking for something to extend our farm’s flower season, which normally ends in mid-October, and also something to supply late-blooming focal flowers to add to my fall arrangements. When I discovered the amazing options in the chrysanthemum family, I knew I had hit the jackpot,” says Benzakein.
But don’t mistake her flowers for your run-of-the-mill garden mums—the kinds that show up each September in garden centers and big-box stores with their mounds of tight little buds in white, gold, lilac, or rust. She’s enamored with varieties of chrysanthemums that lend themselves to surprise, varieties so elegant and aesthetically unusual that they beg a closer look. A few favorites are named ‘Wind Dancer,’ ‘William Florentine,’ ‘Kyoji,’ and ‘Mary Anne.’ Benzakein discovered them after learning how diverse the forms could be. “The varieties that we’re growing for cut flowers can be several feet tall,” she says. “They have this rainbow of color, and then there’s the shapes—the fluted petals, the big quilly ones, the spiders. No one would guess that they’re chrysanthemums. Floral designers are going crazy for them.”
Katherine Anderson of Marigold and Mint and the London Plane in Seattle is a big fan. “I have actually always loved chrysanthemums,” she says. “I first encountered some of the awesome varieties at the Volunteer Park Conservatory in Seattle where they are on display during late autumn. It’s just an added bonus that Erin grows them and I am able to purchase such a variety for my two shops. I love their muted colors, which seem to signal the fade from fall toward winter. For me, they mark the end of a long, abundant growing season here in the Northwest.”
Benzakein harvests a wide array of mum varieties for her fall arrangements.
Chrysanthemums are in the Asteraceae family and have a concentric head that is comprised of tiny individual petals, resembling a sun surrounded by rays. Think of asteroids and then imagine watching a spray of twinkling fireworks traveling in reverse: an orb of shooting stars homing back to a central point. For the chrysanthemum (which, in fact, did inspire a certain firework design) that central point is Asia—specifically China as early as the 15th century BC and then Japan in the 8th century AD. We catch glimpses of this exotic past in brush paintings from the Song dynasty, Chinese export porcelain, and Japanese haiku. In China, the chrysanthemum has long been revered as a medicinal plant (the floral tea is a pick-me-up and tonic), and the flower is considered one of the Four Noble Ones—or Four Gentlemen—in art, a symbol of autumn and longevity, along with orchids for spring, bamboo for summer, and plum blossoms for winter. In Japan, the chrysanthemum is a badge of honor, where a citizen’s highest level of decoration is the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum.
Though the flower didn’t venture to American shores until the early 19th century, it has ultimately garnered a devoted group of enthusiasts who grow them for competition and even for elaborate displays that showcase the art of horticulture, such as Longwood Gardens’ annual Chrysanthemum Festival, during which the floral form is cultivated into mind-boggling shapes. This is serious art. But perhaps the flower’s more common association has been as the go-to for homecoming corsages or as fillers for fall container gardening. From high to low, the chrysanthemum is nothing if not versatile.
However, it’s the old cultivars that are drumming up interest from a new generation of floral designers. Benzakein attributes their renewed popularity to several factors: “First, mums are late flowering and coincide perfectly with the fall holidays,” she says. “Second, they are incredibly easy to grow and are a fun addition to any garden, large or small. Lastly, this plant family offers so many different flower types, forms, and colors, so they are a flower arranger’s dream.”
When everything else in the garden is retreating from summer, choruses of mums are perky harbingers of fall. “They mix so beautifully with other ingredients the season has to offer, such as grasses, changing leaves, fruit and berries on the branch, and vines,” says Benzakein. “Mums allow me to continue making abundant, seasonal arrangements all the way through the end of autumn, which has been a total luxury.” With hardy chrysanthemums, the fall show will go on—and the display just keeps getting more interesting.
A cheerful chrysanthemum design with spidery petals is dotted with light-pink puffs of ‘Peter Magnus’ and anchored with fuller blooms of ‘Norton Vic.’Arranging Mums
Erin Benzakein shares her tips for using chrysanthemums in floral arrangements
CUT THE FLOWERS when they are half to two-thirds of the way open, and then remove any foliage that will fall below the water line in a vase.
INSPECT THE PETALS for damage or hidden bugs and remove them.
PAIR MUMS with other late-season garden materials such as fall leaves, crabapples on the branch, ornamental cabbage, dried grains, and dahlias.
EXPECT MUMS TO LASTa long time in the vase, often more than two weeks. Add floral preservative to the water to help the cut blooms retain their vibrant coloring and also extend the vase life even longer.
To see more images of Benzakein’s farm, click here.
Mealybugs attack a purple basil plant (Ocimum basilicum). When insects grow to infestation stage, it's best to discard the plant and its soil. Photo by J.S. Corser, Durham Co. Master Gardener.
When a houseplant looks less than healthy, most often it is the result of improper care. Factors such as too much or too little water, light, heat or fertilizer can cause many plant problems. However, in some cases the problem results from a pest infestation. Several insects and other pests feed on houseplants. These pests most often come into the home on newly purchased plants or on those that have been outside for the summer.
Prevention
The best way to control insects and related pests on houseplants is through prevention, as it is almost always easier to prevent a pest infestation than to eliminate one. There are several precautions that you can take which will decrease the chances of having to deal with a pest infestation of your houseplants.
Provide a plant with the growing conditions that it needs so that it is more likely to grow vigorously. Stressed plants tend to be more susceptible to pests.
Before buying or bringing a plant indoors, always check it and its container for signs of pests.
A plant that has been outside for the summer, especially one sitting on the ground, may have pests that have crawled in through the drainage holes. Take the plant out of the pot to examine the soil.
Isolate new plants from plants already in the home for six weeks to ensure that any pest brought in will be less likely to spread.
While plants are isolated, carefully examine them for signs of pests or damage on a regular basis of about once a week. Pay particular attention to the undersides of leaves where pests are most often found. Using a 10X magnifying lens will make it easier to see small pests and also immature pest stages. Infestations are often much easier to control if caught early.
When repotting a plant, use commercially prepared potting soil rather than soil from outdoors, which can be a source of pests.
Washing smooth-leaved plants every two to three weeks discourages pest infestations and also improves the appearance of foliage. Small plants can be inverted and swished in a bucket of tepid (lukewarm) water. To prevent loss of soil, cover it with aluminum foil or plastic wrap. Large plants can be hosed down gently, or upper and lower surfaces of leaves can be wiped with a soft, wet cloth. Large plants can also be rinsed in a tepid shower.
Since cut flowers from the garden can be a source of pests, keep them separate from houseplants.
Pests of houseplants can enter homes from outdoors, so make sure that screens and doors fit well.
Non-Chemical Control
The first step in control is to isolate any plant suspected of being infested with a pest. Keep the plant separate from other houseplants until the pest is completely controlled. This process may take several weeks or more. Before looking for a chemical solution to a pest problem on houseplants, there are several effective control alternatives that should be considered. However, do not expect the problem to be solved with one application. Some of these alternatives require persistence on the part of the indoor gardener, but they can give good control.
If only an isolated portion of the plant is infested, as occurs with leafminers, remove and destroy the infested parts. If the roots are infested, take a cutting and start a new plant. Be sure to start with a clean pot and sterile potting soil.
Early infestations can often be removed by handpicking.
Use a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol to wipe off insects such as aphids and mealybugs. Scale insects may need to be scraped off with a fingernail.
Spraying a sturdy plant with water will remove many pests. Be sure to spray all plant surfaces. Repeated water sprays help control spider mites.
Spraying the plant with an insecticidal soap can often eliminate a pest infestation in its early stages. Insecticidal soaps are contact insecticides and are only effective when they make direct contact with insects. Once the soap solution dries, it has no effect against pests. Insecticidal soaps are most effective against soft bodied insects and related pests, such as aphids, mealybugs, immature scales (crawlers), thrips, whiteflies and spider mites. Since pests may be hidden or in the egg stage, it often takes more than one treatment to eliminate them. See Table 1 for examples of products and additional comments about insecticidal soap sprays.
If the plant is severely damaged and is not a valuable one, the best and simplest solution may be to discard the plant and its soil and start with a new plant.
Chemical Control
If non-chemical control methods have failed, and the plant is valuable, a stronger pesticide may be necessary. Before choosing a pesticide, it is important to identify the pest accurately. In general, a single pesticide will not kill all kinds of pests. Some pesticides are only effective against certain pests or certain life stages of particular pests. In addition, it is important to understand that more than one application of a pesticide is often necessary for control. When possible, alternate the pesticide used from one application to the next as some pests develop resistance quickly.
Houseplant insect sprays can be obtained at garden centers and farm supply stores. Only a few pesticides are labeled for use indoors on houseplants. Before using a pesticide indoors, be sure that the label specifies that use. You may want to treat your plant outdoors and then bring it inside after the pesticide has dried completely. If you take plants outdoors to treat, make sure that weather conditions are mild. Spraying insecticides outdoors prevents over-spray from contacting furniture, drapes or carpet. Typically, a pesticide label will include both a list of plants for which the pesticide is recommended as well as a list of plants that are known to be sensitive to the pesticide. Symptoms of pesticide injury on plants include distortion of leaves and buds, yellowing of leaves, spotting of leaves or flowers, and burn along the leaf edges as well as total burn. When damage occurs, it often becomes visible within 5 to 10 days, sometimes sooner. In general, the damage does not kill the plant.
As always, before purchasing and using any pesticide, be sure to read all label directions and precautions, and then follow them carefully.
The late-season blue macrophylla hydrangea required no assistance from other flowers to approximate the hues in Morris Louis’s 1954 painting, ’Intrigue.’ Vessel, designer’s own. Photo: Stephen Kent Johnson for WSJ, Floral Styling by Lindsey Johnson, Prop Styling by Carla Gonzalez-Hart
By Lindsey Taylor WSJ, Oct. 5, 2015 As fall weather creeps into the Northeast, the more vibrant flowers in our gardens wither away. I experience this less as a loss than as a seasonal shift that ushers in new colors and textures. Blond, bronzy and purple hues fill the sky thanks to the flower plumes on ornamental grasses. Late bloomers such as asters, cimicifugas and Japanese anenomes take over our beds. Hydrangea blossoms mellow into their autumn shades.
For this column, I typically pick a painting to serve as the inspiration for a flower arrangement, but this month, I found the flower first. I’m drawn to the colors of fading blooms, which gardeners lop off all too soon. Few let their flowers enter into senescence with grace. My studio, however, is littered with blossoms past their prime, crispy with desiccation but still rich in tone. Hydrangeas, for instance, mottle their way through many beautiful color phases as they age. In a certain blue macrophylla hydrangea, I saw similarities to the watery palette of American Color Field artist, Morris Louis (1912-1962).
With fellow artist Kenneth Noland, Mr. Morris formed what is known as the Washington Color School. After an early 1950s visit to artist Helen Frankenthaler’s studio in New York, where they admired her stain-painting technique, the two returned to D.C. and played with similar ideas. By pouring thinned pigment onto unprimed, unstretched canvas then manipulating the material, they found that colors took on an ethereal, translucent character.
I settled on Mr. Louis’s large 1954 canvas “Intrigue.” The blue hydrangeas, whose hues ranged from blue to purple in an ombre effect, already evoked the painting’s rich, layered tones, so once I placed them in an indigo glass vessel, they needed nothing more. I simply cut the stems short so the blooms would appear full, crowding over the vase’s rim. In a week, I will pour the water out, put the hydrangeas back in the vase, and watch them further change in form and tone—like a lady who understands the elegance of aging with dignity.
Hope Valley Country Club will be the site for the T&C GC 'Awesome Auction.'
Town & Country Garden Club's "Awesome Annual Fund Raiser Silent & Live Auction" will be held Wednesday, November 11, from 11-2 p.m. at the Hope Valley Country Club. The Luncheon will cost $25.00 per person.
The Silent Auction will include: a 'Pantry' for all the home made goodies, a 'Holiday Shop' for Thanksgiving and Christmas items our members donate or make, and wonderful gifts and home décor in the 'Bazaar Section'. Live Auction to include: original art, beach houses, mountain getaway, and gourmet farm to table dinner for eight, plus more!
In 2014, the Town & Country Garden Club raised a record amount and supported among others:
Museum of Life and Science in Durham - new area of the museum called Hideaway Woods
Duke Homecare & Hospice
Community Life and Recreation Center
Reservations for Luncheon must be given to Paige Ward by Nov. 6, 2015. Space is Limited!
HVCC account # accepted or please mail checks payable to Town & Country Garden Club to: Paige Ward, 3630 Hathaway Rd, Durham, NC 27707. The Hope Valley Country Club is located: 3803 Dover Road, Durham, NC 27707.
Town & Country Garden Club is a recognized 501(c)3 charitable entity, which means you may be able to deduct, as a charitable contribution, a portion of what you purchase at the auction. Checks, Cash & Credit (or debit cards) for your purchases.
Dr. Manuel Reyes describes the fine points of 'Natuculture' in the demonstration laboratory at the Southern School of Energy and Sustainability. Photos by J.S. Corser
Oasissofa beds in the demonstration garden use the practice of cover crops to enrich raised beds.
By J.S. Corser (FHGC) Durham Co. Master Gardener
Going Green… Sustainability... Permaculture… And now, 'Natuculture.' New ecological models and trends continue to shape public thinking of our natural resource management.
‘Natuculture’ will be the featured program of the October 22, 2015, District 9 Meeting of the Garden Club of North Carolina to be held in Durham. Keynote Speaker Dr. Manuel Reyes, NC A&T Professor of Biological Engineering, and Durham Public Schools Ruth McDaniel, Co-Director ‘Natuculture in Schools Program’ for the School of Energy and Sustainability (Southern High School) will both present 'Natuculture' theory and a current project by DPS students.
Natuculture™, defined as “any human made system that mimics nature in human disturbed landscapes,” began in the United States at the campus of NC A&T by Dr. Reyes.
'Natuculture' uses ‘MCD’ principles of conservation agriculture:
M – minimum soil disturbance which involves no tillage (or weeding); C – continuous mulch which involves growing fertilizer-producing mulch in the site, rather than bringing in processed mulch D – diverse species which involves spatially planting different species at various cropping cycles.
Dr. Reyes said 'Natuculture' is based on farming systems used in Cambodia.
“In Cambodia, we have around 30-50 percent reduction in labor [with 'Natuculture'] so no more tillage, it destroys soil. We use continuous mulch provides food for microorganisms and many others.” Moreover, natuculture creates diversification of species, like the forest, and utilizing cover crops to nourish the soil prior to vegetable planting,” he said.
Dr. Reyes said the mission of NC A&T is focus on small farmers, but ‘Natuculture’ is applying small farmer concepts with urban angle. Dr. Reyes is leading 7 international projects, with a 'Nutuculture' focus on commercial vegetable/home gardening profit.
Durham Public Schools is a fortunate benefactor of land grant universities like NC A&T that are creating outdoor laboratories for students to learn and literally grow. Dr. Reyes is hoping to partner with Durham garden clubs to bring more scholarship opportunities for DPS students to create a ‘Natuculture’ business for Durham neighborhoods. “Why not develop a vocational school to provide this service in neighborhoods, rather they [students] would not just mow ‘drug-addicted carpets’…We could change the paradigm that they will produce food for the homeowner,” he said. “The benefit for students is to have fun, but solve complicated issues in growing food at the same time, the food will feed the neighborhood. That is a system we could create vocational angle, also draw from home gardener clubs to support,” he said.
Dr. Reyes said his hope is to get homeowners to create 40 percent of their properties as food-producing instead of simply an expensive ornamental space. “I remember when I was still crazy, I was paying like $2,000 a year for somebody to mow and maintain my lawn at home.” said Dr. Reyes.
An outdoor laboratory of 32 vegetable beds or “oasissofas” were built and installed by students at the School of Energy and Sustainability in December 2012. An oasissofa is a 6’ x 3’ carbon-sequestering vegetable bed. The bed is the size of a sofa to symbolically discourage students from becoming couch potatoes and by going outdoors to the “oasissofas.” The bed is called an oasis, because many households due to lack of fresh, nutritious and artificial chemical free produce in diets are home deserts symbolically needful of an oasis. Oasis sofas mimic a forest since ‘MCD’ are fundamental attributes of a forest.
To see and learn more on how Durham garden clubs can become involved in the DPS 'Natuculture' project, visit with Dr. Reyes at the District 9 Meeting on October 22.
Southern High School was rededicated "Southern School of Energy and Sustainability" in 2013. Its academy schools include: School of Biomedical Technology, School of Business Management and Sustainability, School of Computer Technology Engineering, School of Infrastructure Engineering.
From Amazon Down the Garden Path has stood the test of time as one of the world's best-loved and most-quoted gardening books. Ostensibly an account of the creation of a garden in Huntingdonshire in the 1930s, it is really about the underlying emotions and obsessions for which gardening is just a cover story. The secret of this book's success---and its timelessness---is that it does not seek to impress the reader with a wealth of expert knowledge or advice. Beverley Nichols proudly declares his status as a newcomer to gardening: "The best gardening books should be written by those who still have to search their brains for the honeysuckle's languid Latin name..." As unforgettable as the plants in the garden is the cast of visitors and neighbors who invariably turn up at inopportune moments. For every angelic Miss Hazlitt there is an insufferable Miss Wilkins waiting in the wings. For every thought-provoking Professor, there is an intrusive Miss M, whose chief offense may be that she is a 'damnably efficient' gardener. From a disaster building a rock garden, to further adventures with greenhouses, woodland gardens, not to mention cats and treacle, Nichols has left us a true gardening classic.
Sponsored by the Piedmont Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society in Cooperation with the JC Raulston Arboretum Jimi Blake, Hunting Brook Gardens
Weeds, Water, and Words of Wisdom Sun., Oct. 11, 3- 4 p.m.
Presentation by Lissa Lutz and Andrea Laine South Regional Library, 4505 S. Alston Avenue, Durham, North Carolina 27713 Register online at the Durham County Library website durhamcountylibrary.org. Click on "Events" to find the full calendar of events. Go to the date of the class and sign up. You can also call the Information Desk at South Regional Library to register: 919-560-7410.
