March 2001 EGC Newsletter


House Tour 2001: More sign-ups for members to work on the EGC "Celebrate Christmas" house tour will take place at the March general meeting. Four houses will be decorated for this winter project, each unique and lovely. The chairmen of the houses are: Nancy Ruggles: 246 Sheridan Street Denise Batchis and Gloria Freitas: 14 Old Stable Lane Robin Kallfelz and Darya Cotter: 33 Hillington Drive Rosemary Sinesi, Leslie Mullen and Marilyn Falzone: 16 Riverside Terrace The general chairmen of the tour are Nancy Cohenno and Vivian Bissett. We are counting on 100% participation of our active members. There are jobs for all levels of experience. If you are a new member and don't know the chairmen, we will have pictures of the houses at the meeting, so you can sign-up to work on one you like. The committees will meet throughout the next nine months to design and create decorations from natural materials for the homes. This is a wonderful way to meet other members and learn from many creative people. If you can't make the meeting, please call one of the chairmen to sign-up. Window Boxes: There are still a few window boxes available to decorate if you would like to participate in the Main Street Window Box Contest. Each business will be decorated differently at the club's expense. There will be an informal judging, and the winners will receive a small prize. Call Darya Cotter for details. South Shore District Meeting: There will be a group of EGC members attending the South Shore District's annual meeting this year at the Barker Tavern in Scituate on Wednesday, March 28th. The meeting is a luncheon and demonstration. Members interested in attending please send a check for $23 payable to "South Shore District" to Joyce Holster no later than March 15th. Please mark on your check your preference of fish or chicken for lunch. New Member Tea: The New Member Tea this year will be held on Sunday, March 18th at 3:00 p.m. at the Home of Kay Fulcher. This is a chance for the board members to welcome new members and fill them in on all of our activities. All new members from the past year will receive an invitation. Please contact Membership Chairman, Mary Beth Meyer if you do not receive an invitation in the mail, and please remember your RSVP. Garden Walks: It's that time of year…time to start thinking about our gardens and, of course, showing off our gardens. Garden Walks Chairman, Joyce Holster, is asking once again for volunteers to have a small group of garden club members tour their garden. The Summer Garden Walks program is an informal tour of several members' gardens on the first day of June, July, August and September. If you have a garden either small or large, new or mature or perhaps would just like some advice on your garden, please give Joyce a call to sign up. Discount Reminder: The Plant Depot of Easton generously gives Garden Club members a 15% discount on purchases of plant materials. Just remember to bring along your current EGC book as proof of membership.



New England Spring Flower Show March 17-25, 2001 Bayside Expo and Conference Center, Boston "The Inspired Garden" For ticket information contact: www.masshort.org. Yankee District Winter Convention - Roses March 23rd, 2001, through the 25th Hyannis, Cape Cod, MA Get ready for spring in this workshop. Contact: David Berg, American Rose Society Phone: 318-938-5402 Fax: 318-938-5405 Untaming the Land March 31st, 2001 New England Wildflower Society, Natick, MA Four outstanding practitioners speak on conservation, ecological gardening, propagation, and natural history. New England Wildflower Society Phone: 508-877-7630 X 3303 Fax: 508-877-3658


When planning to start potting up plants for the Spring, you can never know what kind of disease may still be in a pot. So it's always a good rule of thumb -- any time you're going to re-use any pot, to sterilize it first. What you need to do is get a bucket, fill it up with water and bleach. The ratio is 1 part bleach, to 9 parts water. Take the pot and just dunk it into the water. You'll need a scrub brush to get rid of all the soiled areas, and in some cases, you may want to try a wire brush. Make sure you clean the inside as well as the outside. Now this pot is clean. You can rinse this under clear, clean water and let it sit for a couple of days. That way, if there's any chlorine left in the pot, it will evaporate in that time. If you find out you have some stubborn stains, like salt build-up, and the chlorine solution doesn't get rid of it, take some distilled vinegar, scrub that on the side. It should remove the salt with no problem at all. When you're ready to plant, don't use any of the soil you used last year. Throw that in the compost heap. Instead, start off with new soil that's been sterilized. You can pick it up at the garden center. Hopefully, these tips will keep your plants from biting the dust. Garden Gimmick courtesy of rebeccasgarden.com.

www.eastongardenclub.org

March 2001	Editor: Robin Kallfelz email: robin@eastongardenclub.org

	March 14 (Wednesday) 7:30pm Oakes Ames Memorial Hall "Plant Projects"………………….C. L. Fornari
	Exhibits: "Ode to the Spring Solstice" Novice and Intermediate Classes Horticulture: "Any Early Bloom" Topic: "Looking for signs of Spring" Hostesses: Jan Paulson, Chair Ann Marie Burke, Jan Fowler, Ann Trettis Table Arrangement: Pat Jacobsen