Page 1 ………… President’s Message Page 2 ………… Horticulture, Programs Page 3 ………… Social, Membership, Requests Page 4 ………… Calendar Page 5 ………… From the Ground Up, Birthdays, Tours Page 6 ………… Our Sponsors

Inside This Issue:

February 2010 Newsletter of the Danville-Alamo Garden Club Volume XXXVI, Issue 2

President’s Message - Louise Wiggins

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"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant." ~Anne Bradstreet Yes, the shortest day has passed, and however unpleasant the weather may be at this time of year, at least we know that the days are gradually getting longer. It takes weeks before we become aware of the difference. Rather like ob-serving the growth of a child, the change is imperceptible as we watch it day by day. Then one afternoon we re-alize that we can stay out-side for another several minutes, time enough to survey another bed and pull a weed or two. Patience is still required before tack-ling most of what needs doing, but at least we will soon sense that spring is around the corner. In the meantime, there are cata-logs to pore through and plans to make. We gardeners are optimists. Who else would bury a tiny, unpromising object in the earth with the belief that months later it will emerge as something beautiful or edible – or both? Even when that doesn’t happen, we don’t give up. To a gardener there’s always the promise of spring. Every failure teaches us something, or so conventional wis-dom would have us believe. My repeated attempts to grow a Daphne have been slow learning experiences, and I’m afraid that the final lesson may just be that I should give up on the idea of having one. Actually, I once grew a beautiful specimen, whose fragrant flowers delighted me as I passed to and from my driveway, for a few (okay, very few) seasons. Then, overconfident, I made the fatal mistake of transplanting it from its container, where it apparently had been perfectly happy, to the nearby

ground, where it almost immediately showed its displeasure at having been disturbed. Over the next several months its leaves yellowed and dropped, and that was that. The branches remained bare, and I finally pulled it up by its withered roots. At the time, I swore off these plants for good; they’re obviously much too temperamental for my gardening skills. But I wonder if another promising Daphne

will beckon to me from some nursery’s bench this spring. Hmmm… maybe I’ll try my luck just one more time. Thank you to Katy Andino and her committee of Judy Dehont, Sandi Stamates, Terre Hepburn, and Marcia Steinhardt, who were re-sponsible for planning and imple-menting the beautiful Winter Luncheon we recently experienced at Diablo Country Club. The lovely centerpieces of white flow-ers and greenery that they ar-ranged in varied white containers were stunning on the jewel-toned table toppers. Members lucky

enough to take them home were delighted with these mas-terpieces. The Diablo staff did its usual excellent job with the meal. Credit also goes to Kristin Yanker-Hansen, who propagated and potted up all of those sedums, the perfect treasures for each guest to take home as a memory of a re-laxing, friend-filled afternoon. Of interest to those of you who mark your calendars early for the year ahead is the fact that there will be a change of dates for the 2010 holiday luncheon. It will be on Decem-ber 16th, the third Thursday of that month. Note that there will be no General Meeting on the second Thursday of De-cember this year; the Board will meet then. At the February meeting Bob Spotts will give a presentation on daffodils. What could be a better harbinger of spring?

Horticulture

It is raining! Not just a light shower, but heavy rain reminding us that in California’s rainy years when it rains it pours. We now have mud-slides, floods, and near hurricane winds. Although this brings with it calamities, it also is dumping snow on the Sierras which will hopefully mean that there will be enough summer water for everyone’s needs. It is in years like this that we should be planting our gardens fever-ishly. As I have said many times before we really only have two sea-sons in California spring and summer. It is currently our prolonged spring which we are experiencing. So for us this is the time to plant. Hopefully you have been mulching and composting your soils all this time, and even if you have clay soil there are so many organics in it and on it that you can plant freely. If you haven’t been mulching and composting what are you waiting for? The important thing to understand about organics is that they naturally sink. This means all you have to do is layer the organics on the top of the soil, and they will naturally sink into the ground. No roto-tilling is necessary. If you are lucky and already have worms they will do the roto-tilling for you, rising up and eating the decaying matter and bring-ing it down into the soil. If you get the compost or mulch now, the rain will help it work its way into the soil. However, you will not achieve perfect soil in one year. One professor told me that it takes 25 years of continuous composting to get to perfect soil, and three years of no composting to lose it. The lesson here is the composting and mulching should just be part of your gardening program. California Natives can be planted now, and you don’t even need to set up an irrigation system. This is also the time you should be consider-ing planting Camellias, if you have always dreamed of having them. If we have a few good years of rain, which is often the case, those camel-lias will establish and can survive with little or no water in three or four years. So, I know that this weather inspires you to hole up in your house, but during those sunny breaks get out and garden!

Kristin Yanker-Hansen

Programs Daffodils In spite of cold and chills That usher in the early spring We have the daffodils. ~ Japan, Haiku Daffodils are the Grand Marshals of the parade of flowers that bloom each spring. They are the easiest and hardiest of garden flowers that return each year. This month we welcome Bob Spotts, President of the Northern California Daffodil Society. Bob will speak on the care and planting of daffodils. He will also share his slides in a PowerPoint presentation. In keeping with tradition, members should wear red or pink in celebration of Valentine’s Day or white or yellow in honor of the noble daffodil! (I've heard that deer do not eat them!!!) Lunch out will be at Laurus, located in the Blackhawk Plaza. Please email me if you would like to attend! Happy Gardening!

Joyce Michalczyk

After you have planted your beautiful sedum (donated by Kristin Yanker-Hansen) please return the pots to her, along with any other pots you don’t use. Thank you.

Social Committee Spring Social Announcement Get your "garden hats" and "green thumbs" ready for our spring social activ-ity. We announce our Mint Julep Derby Garden So-cial. Come celebrate an American tradition, the Ken-tucky Derby, by tasting dif-ferent flavors of our own versions of mint juleps and then "betting" on which is our favorite. As a garden club we shall grow 4 varietals of mint: Chocolate, Spearmint, Pep-permint, and Pineapple. Please let me know if you can contribute by growing a varietal of your choice, since we will need a generous harvest for our tasting. In conjunction with this activity, we have planned a workshop for members, a Mint Container Workshop, to be held at Sloat Garden Cen-ter. Fellow member Rebecca Byrom will speak about the herbal qualities of mint. Put the following dates on your calendars: Mint Container Workshop: Thursday, March 4, 2010 Mint Julep Derby Garden Social: Thursday, April 29, 2010 Anyone interested in helping plan this social event, please con-tact me as a committee is being formed. Input is always wel-come. Ingrid Lara, Social VP Remember your iris on Valentine’s Day. Iris will thrive with a little fertilization. I use either EB Stones or Whitney Farms Organics Rose and Flower Fertilizer. Apply as a top dressing dusted around and in between plants on Valentine’s day each year and your iris will love it. Deb Cattaneo

Volunteers Needed The Crow Canyon Gardens, a city-owned park in San Ramon near the old Mudd's Restaurant building, has been providing educational garden programs for pre-school and elementary school children from various East Bay cities for a number of years. This spring, due to the economy and the lack of volunteer docents, the City of San Ramon will no longer provide these wonderful learning tours. Of-fered Tuesday through Friday mornings, these tours focused on the many trees, flowers, and vegetables in the various gardens, as well as providing information about composting and pond life. These hands-on tours have been very well received by the schools and are in need of your help in order to resume. We are asking for volunteers to be docents for a guided tour or fa-cilitators for a non-guided tour one morning a week during the two month spring or fall tour season. You needn't commit to a full schedule, and the more people who volunteer to help us, the greater the chance we have to convince the city to reinstate the pro-grams. With your garden expertise, you can make a difference for our kids. If you can help in any way, contact Sandy Marchor Anne Smith.

Winter Luncheon Committee

Judy Dehont, Marcia Steinhardt, Terre Hepburn, Katy Andino and Sandi Stamates.

Dates Times Events Place Details

Every Tuesday

9 am-12N

Plant Sale Markham Arboretum

Every Tuesday Plant Sales

Feb 6 10-11:30 am

Fruit Tree Pruning & Care

Regan Nursery The art of growing productive, beautiful fruit trees, Taught by Cathy Abrahamson & Kathleen Elliot

Feb 6 10am-1pm

Rules about Color in the Garden

Garden at Heather Farm

Mary TeSelle, owner of Quite Contrary Gardening, Talks about how to play w/ color in every aspect of The garden. $20 GHF members/$25 non-member To register call 925-947-1678

Feb 10 9:30 am DAGC Workshop Jan Glomstad’s Home

Cooking with herbs

Feb 11 9:30 am DAGC General Meeting

Alamo Women’s Club

Speaker: Bob Spotts on “Daffodils”

Feb 13 10am-1pm

Got Deer? Gardens at Heather Farm

Bob Tanem, KSFO radio host, garden writer and retired nurseryman, will discuss a variety of pests in the garden and answer your questions. $20 GHF members/$25 non-members. To register call 925-947-1678

Feb 14 9:30 am DAGC Workshop Jan Glomstad’s Home

Cooking with herbs

Feb 15 7 pm Cal Hort Meeting County Fair Building SF Botanical Gardens

David Newcomer will speak about “Japanese Gardens of Northern California” Guest Fee $5

Feb 17 9:30 am DAGC Workshop Jan Glomstad’s Home

Cooking with herbs

Feb 18 9:30 am DAGC Board Meeting

Ingrid Lara’s Home RSVP

Feb 20 9 am Orchids Armstrong Nursery Learn about different orchid varieties, how to care for them and tips for orchid re-blooming. Free

Feb 20 10 am Creating Perfumed Gardens

Sloat Garden Center Terri Hiatt shows how to include scents in your garden and how to enjoy them all season

Feb 20 11am-12N

Fruit Trees, Grapes & Berries

Alden Lane Hands-on demonstration, easy to understand lecture and informative hand outs. Cost $ Call 925-447-0280

Feb 25 8:30 am DAGC Tour Meet at Sycamore Park’n ride

Tour San Francisco Botanical Garden. Lunch in SF. See Tour article for more information

Feb 26 2 pm Rose Pruning Navlet’s Garden Center Pruning roses with Bert Bertolero. From floribundas, hy-brid teas and climbers to English and tree roses, he will teach you to prune like a pro

Request of Recipes There have been a lot of requests for recipes for some of the wonderful treats we have savored just prior to the General Meetings. The Board has suggested that we might compile some of our favorites, not in the form of a hard cover nor a fund raiser, but a small book-let that would probably comprise 3-4 recipes from each meeting and be about the size of your directory. If you brought a sweet or savory in 2009 that has been requested by other members, and/or your great recipe is requested in the future, would you please submit a copy of it for inclusion in our recipe booklet. Forms for the recipe collection will be available at the Plant Exchange Table. We hope to have this booklet completed for distribution at the 2011 June Luncheon. Jan Hamby

Happy February Birthdays!!! Nora Kvale

Evelyne Chiang Rebecca Byrom

Marian Bliss Connie Lieske Nairy Colello Carol Sayers Pat DeRensis

Katy Andino Sandy March

Mary Engstrom Deb Cattaneo Judith LeBris Rose Towery Sherry Bonn

From the Ground up February Gardeners' To Do List -Feed fall-planted annuals and perennials (that's assuming they haven't been victims of the freezing weather). Fertilize lawns late in the month. -Pick up camellia blossoms to control petal blight (avoid overhead watering). (Is anyone out there still watering?!) -Before new growth emerges, apply dormant spray to fruit trees. -Apply pre-emergent control for crabgrass in the lawn (try a shaker bag to apply this if your lawn is small). -Too much citrus? Donate to area food banks. The Food Bank Warehouse in Contra Costa County is located at 4010 Nelson Ave., Concord, 925-676-7543. Now is the time to complete winter pruning of deciduous trees, vines, fruit trees, and roses. Finish shopping for bare-root plants. By the end of March, bare-root plants in nurseries will be potted up and sold at higher prices. And send in catalog orders be-fore the merchandisers run out of stock in the springtime rush. I've seen gardener's pruning and shaping Saucer Magnolias. If you have one you might want to give it a shaping up. The coming of spring is evident in the buds forming on early bloom-ing deciduous shrubs. Bring some of the winter pruning indoors to force those buds into bloom. It usually takes between ten to four-teen days in a warm room for the buds to open. I love my flowering quince this time of year, by selecting branches with tight buds and putting them in a heavy vase on the mantle where they soon open. The branches create an architectural form. Now's the time to browse the nurseries for shrubs and trees that provide those flower-ing branches. Apple, cherry, forsythia, as well as quince can all be forced into early bloom indoors. Other early bloomers such as witch hazel, winter honeysuckle, pussy willow, and star magnolia are also good for forcing. Forsythias are so easy to force into bloom that they often grow roots while in the vase. Interestingly enough, Azaleas are in bloom and they are also dor-mant, which is the best time to plant them. They grow slowly, so look for pleasing form and leaves as well as for pretty blooms. Azaleas seem to like the acidic coffee grounds used as mulch which tends to extend the blooming season. I prefer Peet's over Starbuck's. Be sure and look for one of our most beautiful native shrubs, the Western azalea (Rhododendron occidentale), which produces fra-grant, showy flowers each spring and bronze leaves in fall. Lastly, clean and repair garden tools. Sharpen the blades of pruning tools and shovels. Service the lawnmower. Your Down To Earth Gardener, Diane Scofield

Flowers of the month: Violet, Iris

Birthstone Amethyst

Tours

February 25 Tour: San Francisco Botanical Garden and Lunch Time: 8:30 Sycamore Park & Ride Tour Cost: $6.00 BART: $10.00 & $1.50 for train Please pay Sandi Stamates the $6.00 tour fee at the Feb.

11th general meeting. March 25 Tour: Matanzas Creek Winery and Lavender Garden Sign up sheet in blue binder Tour Cost: $10.00 April 21 Tour: WEDNESDAY Bouquets of Art - San Francisco Sign up sheet in blue binder Tour Cost: $20.00 If you have any questions call Sandi Stamates

Newsletter of the Danville-Alamo Garden Club

Ofelia Barr ~ Editor Danville–Alamo Garden Club P.O. Box 920 Danville, CA 94526 obarr@sbcglobal.net

Our Sponsors Alamo Ace Hardware

3211 Danville Blvd., Alamo Armstrong Garden Centers 7360 San Ramon Road, Dublin

925-551-0231

Diablo Valley College Horticulture Department

Markham Arboretum 1202 La Vista Avenue, Concord

925-681-2968

Navlet’s 800 Camino Ramon, Danville

925-837-9144 Regan Nursery

4268 Decoto Road, Fremont 510-797-3222

Sloat Garden Center 828 Diablo Road, Danville

925-743-0288

Sunset Color Nursery 1435 San Ramon Valley Boulevard, Danville

925-831-3574

Remember, our commercial sponsors do-nate the door prizes, and they support us with speakers for our general meetings.

Please support them!

February 2010

www.dagc.us

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