Put-in-Bay Garden Club News July 2014
Garden Club News July 2014- The Put in Bay Garden Club’s second program of the season was held at the Yacht Club on June 17th when Susan
Hildebrandt presented a slide show and lecture on “Low Maintenance Gardening” to more than thirty enthusiastic gardeners. Pictures of the event and the gardening handout can be viewed on our website at putinbaygardenclub. com. The handout includes a chart showing deer and drought resistance and sun and shade requirements of the low-maintenance plants recommended in the talk.
Kathi Spayde, our web designer, also introduced the new Garden Club News website at the meeting. She navigated through
the site to the ooohs and aaaaahs of the crowd as she explained the site’s various links and capabilities. Please check it out if you haven’t already done so! On June 19th, from 10 a.m. to noon, fifteen volunteers got their hands dirty at Bathing Beach, weeding the sand and flower beds there. We are grateful to the Village of Put-in-Bay for removing the seaweed and raking the beach beforehand, making the weeding task easier.
Several hundred mayflies, an enormous bullfrog, and a baby water snake, were on hand to keep things exciting. Thank you to everyone who participated in this sandy but satisfying task. Islanders and tourists alike will enjoy our weekly progress toward beautifying our bathing beach. Please join us any Thursday between 10 a.m. and noon as we continue with our beach clean-up. The task will become less daunting if we keep up with it every week.
An even bigger thank you is due to John and Peggy Leopold, who spent four hours on ladders AFTER the beach clean-up scooping thousands of dead mayflies out of the lamppost baskets in DeRivera Park. The flowers were no longer visible due to the piles of mayfly carcasses coating the top of the baskets.
That dirty job was necessary to save the flowers, but certainly not fun! John and Peggy deserve a gold medal for the countless hours of work they have put into the flower baskets, the irrigation system, and the shed preparation work! We are all so lucky to have them on board! Also helping with the mayfly flower basket clean-out and deserving a huge thank you are Jack Spayde, Jean Hilt, Susan and Jim Hildebrandt, and Frosty’s staff of volunteers.
Put-in-Bay Garden Club News is thinking “Out of the Box”! The Lake Erie Islands Nature and Wildlife Center (LEINWC) asks you to do the same. At our 2nd annual benefit at the Goat this August 20th, we plan to hold an “Out of the Box” Silent Auction to raise funds for the porch addition to the Wildlife and Nature Center. We need YOUR help in two ways.
First, we need all artists, clever craftspeople, and creative thinkers to find a box and decorate it for our auction. When decorating your box, we ask you to go wild – as in wildlife and nature themes. Second, we need the support of all our friends to come to enjoy the delicious dinner and choose beautiful boxes to bid on during the evening. If you are lucky and persistent, one of those boxes will be yours to display and hold your treasures.
If you are planning to exercise your creativity and prepare a box for the auction, please make sure your box is submitted to the wildlife center by August 15th. Raffle tickets for a free gardening consultation at your island home are on sale. A team of experts will visit your garden to answer your questions and address problem areas, as well as to provide simple design ideas and recommend plants guaranteed to thrive in your location.
Two winning tickets will be drawn on August 5th. Raffle tickets are available through any of the Garden Club’s Board members at a cost of $2.00 each or three for $5.00. They will also be sold at Garden Club events. Don’t miss out on your chance to have an award-winning garden!
Joan Booker and Mack McCann are chairing the Garden Club News fundraiser to Kelleys Island via the Jet Express this year. On Wednesday, July 16th, the Jet will leave Put-in-Bay docks at 12:15 for Kelleys. You can return from Kelleys on the 6:15 or 8:25 p.m. Jet to Put-in-Bay. The cost of the trip is $30.00. This includes the Jet Express trip, golf cart rental on Kelleys, and garden visits. The group will visit gardens at several island homes, a vegetable garden, a winery, and a sculpture garden and gallery.
You can purchase your tickets online at our website or at the Island Hardware Store. We look forward to seeing you and your guests at this great event! Please check the website for future program dates and locations. August meeting attendees will participate in and learn from the garden consultations at the gardens of our raffle winners. We will tour some of our island vineyards in September to learn about grape growing and harvesting. At our October meeting, we will learn about the Monarch butterfly and its remarkable annual migration.
Suggestions for next year’s Garden Club News programming and your comments are always welcome. Call Susan Hildebrandt at 419-285-3908 or Peggy Leopold at 419-285-0160, or write a note in the Comments area of the garden website. For July, remember to water, feed and enjoy your gardens! If you encounter any nasty pests or diseases on your plants, call the Master Gardener hotlines on our website. Describe your problem, and they will prescribe a solution! Amazing! Enjoy!
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