Durham Council of Garden Clubs

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Council Joint Meeting Celebrates with a Call to Bees and Blooms

Beekeeping and a passion for all things bees filled St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Durham for the March 3, 2015, Joint Meeting of the Durham Council of Garden Clubs. The hall was abuzz with more than 60 garden club members representing all ten member garden clubs of the Council.

Tables were laden with yellow and black décor featuring homemade soaps of honey, marigold and oatmeal made by Council President Marcia Loudon; a bee trivia board game; scrolls of fascinating bee facts; as well as breaded bee hives decorated with forced Forsythia branches and bees made by Marcia, incoming Treasurer Martha Sanderford and a wildly creative crew of Heritage Garden club members. The most prominent decoration of all was undeniably 2nd Vice President Jean Gurtner who sported a white beekeeper suit and helmet festooned with whimsical bee slogans. The suit was later raffled and won by Garden Makers GC member Mary Jo Muzzey, who then donated it to guest-speaking nonprofit organization BeeDowntown.

The Joint Meeting's first order of business was the presentation of the slate of the 2015-2017 term officers and its vote for approval. New officers will be installed at the May 6, 2015 Council meeting. The 2015-2017 officers will be: President - Ardith Pugh (Heritage GC); 1st VP - Karen Bordeaux (Croasdaile GC); 2nd VP - Marcia Loudon (Heritage GC); Secretary - Bonna Robbins (Daylily GC); Treasurer - Martha Sanderford (Heritage GC).

Honors were given to two Council members whose service has always exceeded Council needs. Laurie Renard (Homestead Heights GC) was presented a Life Member to the Garden Club of North Carolina for her years of service to the Durham Council, and she was most recently recognized for her service award from the Maple Court Residence for Veterans. Not present, but also honored was Pat Cashwell (Heritage GC) with National Pin for her work on Blue Star Memorial the Council erected in front of the Durham Veterans Affairs hospital http://goo.gl/PmDEcM.

The Joint Meeting's educational program featured dynamic beekeeping presenters Leigh-Kathryn Bonner, a third-generation beekeeper, senior at NC State and prime mover in the development of BeeDowntown (www.BeeCityUSA.org) on the American Tobacco Campus, and Lynn Wilson, Journeyman Beekeeper, Secretary for the Person County Beekeepers Association and volunteer interpreter at the NC Zoo Bee Exhibit. (Several of Leigh-Kathryn's and Lynn's bee topics will be featured on the Council's Blog and Facebook pages in days to come, so please refer back. See the Durham Beekeepers website for certification programs and other classes on beekeeping (www.durhambeekeepers.org.)

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Renard Honored for Service to Maple Court's Veterans

Veteran Peer Specialist Sean Porter presents

Laurie's service award.

Director Daniel Oladele, Laurie Renard

and Asst. Program Director Jimmie Collins.

The veterans of Maple Court

raised their own money for the plaque.

Laurie had them sign the back.

By Laurie Renard

Vice President, Homestead Heights Garden Club

February 5, 2015 was a special day for one Homestead Heights Garden Club member—me!

I had been asked to be at Maple Court Transitional Housing for Homeless Veterans (located at 207 Commons Boulevard in Durham, near the intersection of Roxboro Road and E. Carver St.) at 2 o'clock; no reason given.

In the days before the 5th, I was asked for telephone numbers of certain garden club members and a couple of the Veterans who had moved to independent living. So, my assumption was that volunteers were going to be recognized, but I had no idea that I was the one being recognized until I saw the cake. What an honor!

Maple Court History:

In 2001 the VA reached out to Volunteers of America of the Carolinas (VOA) to build a facility for homeless Veterans in the Durham area. Working with the VA, NC Housing Finance Agency, City of Durham, and State Employees Credit Union, a four-building complex was built and was opened in April of 2009. Maple Court is comprised of three buildings of eight one-bedroom apartments plus an office/resource/community building.

Veterans, referred by the VA or other agencies serving homeless Veterans, must be verifiably homeless, drug free for a minimum of ninety days, approved by the VA, accepted through VOA interview process, and with income below 50 of the median income for the county to be able to move to Maple Court. During the time Veterans are at Maple Court, VOA provides case management services designed to help them re-establish their lives and meet daily living needs, improve their education, life and job shills, and find employment. Once this has been accomplished, VOA/Maple Court helps the Veteran find permanent housing.

Laurie celebrates her service award with fellow

Durham Council officers Jean, Marcia and Martha.

In 2009 or 2010, I was introduced to Maple Court through a fellow St. Luke's Church member who was helping provide welcome baskets to incoming Veterans and who invited other church members to participate. As time passed, I found ways I could help the Veterans at Maple Court - by finding items they needed (clothes, furnishing, food), visiting, and having Veterans help with community service, and becoming friends with them. I keep in touch with several of the graduates, and these Veterans are helpful in providing help for the current residents. My church, St. Luke's, has added Maple Court to their outreach program.

Our Durham garden clubs can help with Maple Court, also. Items are needed when Veterans move in and even more so when Veterans move to new housing. Please contact me if you have items you think might be useful to the Veterans (my contact information is in the DCGC Yearbook).

Friday, February 27, 2015

March Calendar of Triangle Gardening Programs

The historic Gardens of Eyre Hall, Cheriton VA, will be highlighted
at the NC Botanical Gardens, March 19.

Sarah P. Duke Gardens

420 Anderson St., Durham, NC. http://gardens.duke.edu/events.

Please call 919-668-1707 to register.

Plants of Distinction: Hellebores in the Winter Garden Tuesday, March 3, 2-4 p.m.
Instructor: Jason Holmes, curator of Duke Gardens’ Doris Duke Center Gardens. Fee: $7; Gardens members $5. Fee to register for all five "Plants of Distinction" sessions : $30; Gardens members $20.

Durham Garden Forum - Bulletproof Plants: Tough Nuts for the Landscape
Tuesday, March 3, 6:30-8 p.m.

Guest speaker: Bryce Lane, a two-time Emmy Award winning television personality, retired horticulture instructor at N.C. State University, interim director at the JC Raulston Arboretum and accomplished garden speaker.
Lecture fee: Forum members free with annual membership; $10 per meeting for non-members payable to the Durham Garden Forum. For membership information, please email durhamgardenforum@gmail.com.

Plant Propagation: Seeds
Tuesday, March 10, 10 a.m.-noon. (one of four propagation sessions in the year)
Instructors: Jason Holmes, curator, Jan Watson, horticulturist, Lindsey Fleetwood, horticulturist, and Sara Smith, volunteer propagation team, Duke Gardens. Fee: $20; $16 for Gardens members & Duke students/staff. Complete series: $72; $56 for Gardens members & Duke students/staff. Location: Greenhouse classroom

Getting Started: the fundamental steps to create a garden
Tuesday, March 10 & 17, 6:30-9 p.m. Course meets for 2 sessions.
Make better choices by beginning with a scaled drawing of your garden area.
Instructor: Jan Little, landscape architect and Duke Gardens’ director of education and public programs. Fee per section: $45; $35 for Gardens members & Duke students/staff. Fee for complete series: $160; $120 for Gardens members & Duke students/staff.

Organic Vegetable Gardening: Spring
Class times: 3 Wednesdays, March 11-25, 6:30-8:30 pm, and Saturday, March 21, 9:30-11:30 am
Instructor: Andy Currin, avid vegetable gardener and Duke University campus horticulturist
Fee: $110; $90 for Gardens members & Duke staff/students. Textbook provided for those beginning the series.

Plants of Distinction: The Spring Awakening
Thursday, March 12, 2:30 - 4 p.m. (one of five "Plants of Distinction" sessions this year)
Instructor: Stefan Bloodworth, curator of the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants, Duke Gardens
Fee: $7; Gardens members $5. Sign up for the entire series for $30; Gardens members $20.

BONSAI: Create your own bonsai plant
Saturday, March 14, 9:30-1:30 p.m.
Instructor: Harold Johnson, Triangle Bonsai Society
Fee: $100; $80 for Gardens members & Duke students/staff. All materials included, but bring a lunch.

Durham Garden Forum: Organic, Sustainable Vegetable Gardening
Tuesday, March 17, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
Topic/instructor: Organic Sustainable Vegetable Gardening with Keith R. Baldwin, Ph.D., farm services coordinator, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association

Landscape Plants for North Carolina Gardens: Spring
Class dates: 4 Wednesdays, March 18 & 25, April 1 & 8, 4-6 p.m.
Instructor: Jan Little, director of education and public programs, Duke Gardens
Fee: $110; $90 for Gardens members & Duke students/staff.

Attracting Bees, Butterflies and Birds
Thursday, March 19, 6:30-8 p.m.
This is part of the Extension Gardener Series with Durham County Master Gardeners. Advance registration requested.
Instructors: Faye McNaull and Lynne Nelson, Durham County Extension Master Gardeners
Fee: Free, drop-in event. No parking fees after 5 pm.

The Triangle Camellia Society will host its
annual flower show March 14 at the JC Raulston Arboretum.

Spring Plant Sale

Saturday, March 28, 2015, 8-noon

JC Raulston Arboretum

Ruby C. McSwain Education Center, JC Raulston Arboretum
4415 Beryl Road, Raleigh, NC.

http://jcra.ncsu.edu

Plantsmen's Tour: "Stop and Smell the Roses—Winter's Rose"
Tuesday, March 3, 1–2:30 p.m.
Tim Alderton, Research Technician
Camellias and hellebores have both been called winter's rose. Come and take a tour of some of our favorites in these groups and a handful of other flowering friends. Note: Due to the cold, the JCRA's camellias are not flowering. We're only highlighting hellebores on this tour as a result.

An Evening with the Explorers: Triumphs and Tribulations of the Plant Hunters Friday, March 6, 5:30–10 p.m.
Celebrate the start of spring with the JC Raulston Arboretum and six noted plantsmen. Hear extraordinary plant collecting tales from Andrew Bunting, Dan Hinkley, Ozzie Johnson, Greg Paige, Scott McMahan, and Mark Weathington. Enjoy hors d'oeuvre, wine, beer, other drinks, and a silent auction and a live auction featuring numerous rare plants and a two night visit with Dan Hinkley at his home and garden in Indianola, Washington.

Cost: $125.00 for members, $150.00 for nonmembers.

Douglas Ruhren, Ironwood Gardens and JCRA Volunteer

North Carolina Botanical Gardens

100 Old Mason Farm Road, Chapel Hill, NC.
http://reg.abcsignup.com/view/view_month.aspx?as=5&wp=184&aid=NCBG

LUNCHBOX series: Protecting our Forests from Pests and Diseases
Thursday, March 12, noon-1 p.m.
Bring your lunch and learn about the impact that serious pests and diseases have on forest health, some of the major threats to our southeastern native trees and what you can do to help prevent their introduction and spread. Free, but registration required.

Identifying and Controlling Invasive Plants
Thursday, March 12, 1-4 p.m.
Through classroom and field demonstrations, students learn the tools and methods needed to identify invasive species and effectively remove them under various scenarios. No prerequisites. $30 ($25 Members).

16th Annual Evelyn McNeil Sims Lecture: "Arborescent!: An appreciation of the trees of the Southeastern United States"
March 15, 2:30-4 p.m.
This lecture will explore the evolutionary history of the trees of the Southeastern United States, and their aesthetics, economics, and medicinal uses. Free, but registration required.

The Historic Gardens of Eyre Hall: The 5th Annual Herb Society of America and NC Botanic Garden Spring Lecture
Thursday, March 19, 2- 3 p.m.
Laurie Klingel is the head gardener at Eyre Hall, an early 19th century historic garden in Cheriton, Virginia. Eyre Hall boasts a formal garden which includes extensive Boxwood parterres, crape myrtles, and contemporary mixed garden borders. Historic outbuildings within the garden include a 1758 dairy, 1807 Smokehouse, and 1818 Orangery. Registration fee: $10.00 Free to HSA and NCBG members, but please register in advance to reserve a seat. For more information: NC Unit, Herb Society of America, Inc. Mary Jo Wilson—336-674-2424 www.ncherbsociety.org

LUNCHBOX Series: Diversity and Natural History of the American Oaks

Thursday, March 26, noon-1 p.m.
Bring your lunch and join us for a presentation emphasizing the patterns of species diversity in the oaks. The lecture explores the interface between the structure and function of traits and the significance in the natural history of this important genus throughout various woodlands of the Americas. Free, but registration required.

The Craft of Woodturning
Sunday, March 29, 3- 4:30 p.m.
As a former forest manager, Michael Thompson appreciates the trees of the SE in their native habitat. Upon retirement, he shifted his appreciation to using wood as material for wood turning and the creation of fine art pieces, especially from burl wood (wood grown in a deformed manner). He explains his art of woodturning through demonstration. A number of his pieces will be on display. Free, but registration required.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Book Review: Beekeepers' Bibles Times Two

Durham Garden Club members are busy bees preparing for the Durham Council of Garden Club's March 3, 2015 Joint Meeting. In preparation for the Durham Beekeeper Association's program and to enhance general knowledge of our pollinator friends, here are two (edited) Amazon reviews of widely consulted beekeeping reference books.

The Beekeeper's Bible: Bees, Honey, Recipes & Other Home Uses

Authors: Richard Jones, Sharon Sweeney-Lynch
Hardcover: 416 pages
Publisher: Stewart, Tabori and Chang; first U.S. edition (April 1, 2011)
SBN-10: 1584799188
SBN-13: 978-1584799184

The Beekeeper’s Bible is as much an ultimate guide to the practical essentials of beekeeping as it is a beautiful almanac to be read from cover to cover. Part history book, part handbook, and part cookbook, this illustrated tome covers every facet of the ancient hobby of beekeeping, from how to manage hives safely to harvesting one's own honey, and ideas for how to use honey and beeswax. Detailed instructions for making candles, furniture polish, beauty products, and nearly 100 honey-themed recipes are included. Fully illustrated with how-to photography and unique etchings, any backyard enthusiast or gardener can confidently dive into beekeeping with this book in hand (or daydream about harvesting their own honey while relaxing in the comfort of an armchair).

The ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture: An Encyclopedia Pertaining to the Scientific and Practical Culture of Honey Bees Hardcover

Authors: Amos Ives Root, Ann Harman, Dr. Hachiro Shimanuki, Kim Flottum
Hardcover: 911 pages
Publisher: A I Root Co; 41 edition (May 1, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 093602822X
ISBN-13: 978-0936028224

The 41st edition of The ABC & XYZ Of Bee Culture has over 900 pages and more than 1,000 photos. It was compiled to serve as an easy-to-use and comprehensive encyclopedia of most everything in the beekeeping world: from African Honey Bees, beeswax, comb honey, G. M. Doolittle, essential oils, Karl von Frisch, extracted honey, more than 50 of the most popular honey plants to laying workers, honey bee mites, nucleus colonies, Queen piping and Queen rearing, the A. I. Root Company history, smoking colonies, top Bar Hives, Varroa, to wintering to worker cells.

The 16-page Glossary is user-friendly and contains hundreds of entries to make learning the science and art of beekeeping easier and faster than you can imagine. No other book contains a more comprehensive listing of the people and events that make up the history of keeping bees. Hundreds of individuals are highlighted and their contributions to the beekeeping community. Most prominently mentioned is the A. I. Root Company with an in-depth look at the family and the extensive role it played in American and global beekeeping development and manufacturing advances. More than 50 authors were pulled in to assist with this book, each contributing the most up-to-date information in their respective fields.

The ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture offers readers both the science of honey bees and practical beekeeping instruction: how to lay out a small, medium or large honey house and choosing equipment, how to equalize colonies, assemble equipment, collect pollen, instrumental insemination, make nucs, rear queens, harvest honey, use smokers and how judge honey for show. A wealth of beekeeping how-to exists alongside the science of beekeeping that supports why beekeepers do things the way they do. Often called The Beekeepers Bible, The ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture should be on every beekeeper shelf....for emergencies, for background, and for fun.