Birdhouse Prep

Thanks to everyone who RSVP’d for the special Valentine’s Day program this coming Tuesday at Glenda’s house. Look for directions via email in the next few days.

We have 10 couples coming to assemble these lovely, cypress bird houses. It will be a fun program (bring a hammer!), and a great opportunity to catch up with everyone. Special thanks in advance to Keith McCraw (Keith’s Cabinets), who procured all the materials, designed the birdhouse, prepped the wood (and let me use the drill press!) for this special program.

From the Goodwood Museum website:

Saturday, February 27

8th Annual Winter Garden Symposium: Infusing the Garden with Your Personality

Carriage House Conference Center

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m

$45 per person, price includes lunch

Featuring Tovah Martin and Carleton Woods

Tovah Martin, a horticulturalist, author, freelance writer, photo stylist and lecturer, will talk about “Infusing the Garden with Your Personality.” She has written for Horticulture and Garden Design magazines, among others, and has also appeared on the PBS television gardening series “Cultivating Life,” where she served as editorial producer. Her passion for all things growing and encased in glass has led to her most recent book, The New Terrarium, where she presents the whimsical yet practical world of gardening under glass – a no-fuss way to bring snippets of nature indoors.

Carleton Wood, Executive Director of Hills & Dales Estate in LaGrange, Georgia home of the historic Ferrell Gardens, will speak on “Rediscovering Old Favorites: Historic Plants in Today’s Garden.” Wood directed the public opening of Hills & Dales Estate, a 35-acre property operated by the Fuller E. Callaway Foundation. In 1989, Wood was awarded the Garden Club of America Interchange Fellowship, which allowed him to study at the Royal Botanical Garden, Edinburgh and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. He has given many presentations in the Southeast, and has published many articles, including a “Garden of Remembrance” in the Garden Club of America National Bulletin.

Click here to register online.

Saturday, February 13

From the Goodwood Museums website:

(sales continue every Friday and Saturday morning thereafter until sold out)

Presented by the Goodwood Garden Volunteers

9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Virginia McKee Greenhouse at Goodwood

Each year, volunteers from Goodwood, root Old Garden Roses for use on the grounds and for sale to the public. The proceeds from the sale are used for the restoration and maintenance of the rose gardens at Goodwood.

This year we will have approximately 1,750 roses and about 120 varieties available. We will, as always, offer your favorite roses like Louis Philippe, Duchesse de Brabant and Pink Pet, but will also feature more recent additions such as Crepuscule, Hugh Dickson and Pink Grootendorst

From the Goodwood Museum website:

Goodwood Museum and Gardens

Jubilee Cottage

Friday, February 4, 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Free, No reservations required

By Fred Dietrich

Bluebirds were almost extinct in Tallahassee in the 1940ís when Fred Dietrichís family moved here for a teaching position at the newly co-ed Florida State University. But with recent conservation efforts by wildlife enthusiasts such as Dietrich, the species now thrives. Our speaker will talk about the past and future of this beautiful songbird and how to provide food and shelter in your yard, including how to construct a bluebird box, a simple design which he had perfected over 25 years of building birdhouses.

Dietrich will also talk about hummingbirds. It was once thought that there was only one species of hummingbird east of the Mississippi, the ruby-throated, but we now know that there are 14 different kinds. Dietrich will talk about whatís being done to support these animals and how we can create sanctuary for them in our gardens.

Workday at HOPE House, Saturday, February 6.

January 16th will bring the first festival of the new year – the annual Crawfordville Arbor Day celebration at Hudson Park.  Starting at 10am on Saturday, hundreds of free trees will be given away.  This year’s trees are even larger than in previous years.

Choices will include Florida sugar maple, fringe tree, redbud, southern magnolia, bald cypress, crabapple, rusty blackhaw, Walter viburnum, and Chickasaw plum. The Florida Division of Forestry will give away 1,000 bareroot pine seedlings – 500 longleaf pines and 500 slash pines.

If you want a free tree for your home or business but don’t know a maple from a magnolia, help will be available. Tree – giveaway volunteers are all experienced gardeners or Master Gardeners and will be able to answer questions and give advice.

Purchase raffle tickets for a chance to win even larger trees donated by Purple Martin Nurseries.  A decorated rain barrel and a fresh vegetable basket will be raffled off as well.  If you have empty, black – plastic plant pots (6-inch diameter or larger), bring those, too.  You can trade them for chances to win a beautiful, large tree from Just Fruits & Exotics Nursery.

Trillium Gardens will again sell hard-to-find native shrubs and wildflowers.  The Magnolia Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society will raffle off a beautiful native azalea.  Wakulla County 4-H Junior Master Gardeners will sell rain barrels and birdseed treats.

The Wakulla County Extension Office will demonstrate micro-irrigation for home landscapes and gardens. They will also demonstrate ways home gardeners can extend the growing season by using high tunnel and row cover – and display a small greenhouse with instructions for how to build your own.

Artisans, craftsmen, and other vendors will be on hand selling their wares.  Pottery, wind chimes, and scented candles are among the items you’re likely to find  Bird lovers will be delighted by the handcrafted bird houses, bird feeders, and birdbaths available this year.

Seasonal produce grown by local farmers will be for sale.  The Iris Garden Club will sell baked goods to raise scholarship funds.  Bring a canvas bag to hold everything you will acquire.

Families will find delightful children’s activities, music, and food.  Smoky the Bear and free goodies for children at the Forestry booth are always a big hit.  Face painting, art activities, and old-fashioned tire swings also put smiles on children’s faces.

Arbor Day is a nationally celebrated observance that encourages tree planting and care.  “Trees provide welcome shade in hot weather and reduce electricity bills,” said Wakulla County Commissioner Lynn Artz.  “Trees also provide food and shelter for wildlife and beautify our county,” added Jeannie Brodhead, President of the Iris Garden Club.

The Iris Garden Club of Wakulla organizes this annual festival.  The festival will be held rain or shine.  For more information, please contact Lynn Artz  (926-8756; lynn_artz@hotmail.com).

Don’t forget to get your orders in for caladiums. You can visit the TGC website for all the details and an order form.

We went to this last year. It was super fun and very informative.

From New Leaf Market Website

Location: Ladybird Organic Farm
1211 Waukeenah Hwy., Monticello, FL

Saturday, February 20
2:00-4:00 pm
$10 owners, $12 non-owners

Join Cynthia Connolly, PhD., owner of Ladybird Organics™, as she explains and demonstrates everything you need to know to turn your kitchen scraps into valuable soil amendment, or worm compost. Worms, worm castings, plants, organic muscadine wine and grapes will be for sale. In the event of inclement weather, the seminar will be held the following day, Sunday, February 21.

Ms. Connolly received her doctorate from Iowa State University in Agricultural Education and Agricultural Engineering. She is also a Certified Crop Advisor (CCA) and a Florida Certified Nursery Professional (FCNP). Let’s start today to help our earth and ourselves.

First Friday Brown Bag Lunch Lecture Series: “The Flowering of Australia”
Goodwood Museum and Gardens
Jubilee Cottage
Friday, January 8, 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
By: Dr. John Tobe
Free of Charge, No Reservations Required
Attendees may bring their lunch if desired

Botanist and natural historian Dr. John David Tobe will be giving a lecture on the rich floral diversity of the southwest Australia ecoregion. There are approximately 6,759 species and almost half of these are endemics to this area of the world. The unique combination of ancient landscape, nutrient deficient soils, and primarily Mediterranean type climate and ecology has resulted in over 250 million years of plant evolution and created a landscape dominated by eucalyptus, tea trees, bottlebrush, banksias, grevilleas, wattles and other uniquely Australia genera. This lecture will highlight some of the most characteristic species as well as floral gems of the area.

We will have a HOPE Workday Saturday, Dec. 19th at 9-12 noon.  Plans are for planting a few things for winter color, some fall clean up  and winter preparations in the garden. Sweet Bay will be working in the winter vegetable garden also.  If anyone has extra Southern Woods fern, please bring some to plant under oaks.  Bring some clippers to shape up the crape myrtle trees also.

Have a wonderful and safe holiday season with family and friends.

Kathy Carmichael