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Our July 6th business meeting was held in the Nature Center due to the extreme heat. After the business meeting we all visited Connie Maley’s garden for an informal tour. It was a lovely summer night and Connie’s garden was beautiful.

Our August meeting will start at 6:30 in the Pavillion at Silver Lake Nature Center unless the heat continues. Stay tuned for a confirmation of whether we will be inside or outside for our business meeting. Then we will tour a member’s garden. Ellen will be in Florida due to a Family matter so I will let you know whose garden we will tour as soon as I know. If anyone wants to volunteer please let me know!

Questions please e-mail me at joanncos@comcast.net

Here we are at the start of another gardening year. Grace has been working hard and here is a list of our upcoming programs.
Feb 2 – Steve Johnson – Perennials
Mar 2 – Carol Ann Moyer – Sharpening and Caring for your Garden Tools
April 6 – Norm Leister – The Science of Gardening
May – 4th Sue Schneck – Gardening for Butterflies

We need 2 people to volunteer to bring our snacks for each of the meetings so e-mail me at  joanncos@comcast.net if you can help out.

As always our meetings are held at the Silver Lake Nature Center at 7PM

Keep warm and I’ll see you all in February!

Pam Herschfeld did a wonderful presentation on Renovating a Tired Landscape. We welcomed several new members and guests and had a lively business meeting. On Oct 6th Bob Krayer will give his talk on “The Secrets of the Hive” and we will have an opportunity to buy honey harvested from his local bees.

On Sept 12 we participated in Silver Lake’s Green fest with a table featuring a hands on demo on Lasagna Gardening given by Cathy and a Winter Sowing demo given by Joann. Members donated a lot of wonderful seeds which we gave out at the table.

Our Butterfly/Hummingbird Garden is looking splendid and will be judged by Bucks Beautiful on Sept 18th. We bought a beautiful Pineapple sage plant at the Russell’s garden table and it is just coming into bloom. Lois planted it and it should be in full bloom for the judging. Then at the end of the day the Russell’s table had a lot of perennials left over so they donated about 24 plants to our garden.

For questions about our club or the web page e-mail joanncos@comcast.net or give me a call at 215-946-2935

We met at Silver Lake Nature Center and in July toured Pat’s lovely shade garden. After August’s meeting we visited Connie’s beautiful garden. It’s always fun to see how everyone puts their personal touches on their gardens.

Our September meeting will be September 1st at 7PM at Silver Lake Nature Center. Pam Herschfeld will discuss “Renovating a Tired Landscape”. Any questions please e-mail joanncos@comcast.net or call me at 215-946-2935

We heard a great presentation from Bob Mercer on the effects of Global Warming on our bird populations. Next month our June 2nd meeting will be about Honeybees and how to help support them. Bob Krayer will be our speaker.

Our Garden Tour is June 21st from 10 till 3PM. Tickets are $10.00 and available from members or fron the Silver Lake Nature Center. Map pickup will be at the Nature center. Call Eileen if you have any questions about the tour at 215-943-2277

Our hostesses for next month are Cathy Raupp and Dawn Gifford

We will be installing our new officers for the coming year at our June Meeting.

Pres-Joann Cosgrove

V.P. -Eileen Donahue

Secretary -Connie Taylor

Treasurer- Cathy Raupp

Program Co-Chairs- Grace Byrne and Jean McKusker

Butterfly Garden Co-ordinator – Lois Glasscock

Flea Market is June 20th at Silver Lake. Remember to bring all your fleas!!!! Pat Ditzler is coordinator. Set up starts at 6:30 Am. Sale starts at 8Am. and lasts until 1Pm. We will be selling garden supplies and plants besides other items.

July Meeting will be under the Pavillion for hoagies and potluck and tour Pat Mcgonigle’s garden

August Meeting will be under the Pavillionfor hoagies and potluck and tour Connie Maley’s garden

Our meeting begin at 7Pm in the Silver Lake Nature Center. Any questions call Joann at 215-946-2935 or send me an e-mail joanncos@comcast.net

Our Guest speaker this month was Gary Steinberg of Fairless Hills Garden Center. He answered all our garden questions on soil, containers, sun exposure, soils and mulch! We enjoyed his presentation very much and he also shared some of his favorite flowers…one of the best for easy maintenance and beautiful flowers all summer long are Portulacas! He also shared the secrets of the “Spring and Winter” Pansies.

We discussed  the upcoming Sliver Lake Flea market which Pat Ditzler is chairing this year. Pat McGonigle brought along a large contribution of gardening and seed starting supplies which we will sell at our table along with all the other “White Elephant” items members can contribute. The Flea Market is Saturday June 20th.

Our Garden Tour this year is on June 21st and Eileen Donahue is the chair for that event. We need gardens to tour so please volunteer your garden or suggest to anyone you know with a nice garden that they should consider allowing us to include it on the tour.

Hostesses volunteered for the April, May and June meetings.

Our topic in April is TBA

Our speaker in May will be Bob Mercer of Silver Lake who will discuss Global Warming and it’s effects on Birds

Our speaker in June will be Bob Krayer who will explain all the mysteries of his honeybees and suggest ways we can support our pollinators in our gardens.

Our slate of officers for the upcoming year is forming up so far we have

President: Joann Cosgrove

Vice President: Eileen Donahue

Secretary: Connie Taylor

Treasurer: Cathy Raupp

Butterfly/Hummingbird co-ordinator: Lois Glasscock

Program Chair: Still unannouced..anyone who would like to volunteer please let me know

The New Officers will be installed at our June Meeting.

Our  first ever Harvest dinner and Gourd Fest was a great success. We feasted and then admired some really gorgeous gourds!! Our members are so creative!

The Gourd Fest winners are…drum roll please!!!…

Best Freshly Harvested Hard Shell Gourds – Mike O’Keefe

Freshly Harvested Ornamental Gourds – Cathy Raupp and Alex McVey

Most Gouracious – Sheila Kelly

Best Thanksgiving Theme – Gaye Almeida

Most Amazing – Connie Taylor

Most Festive – Natalina Mulholland

Fall Favorite – Lauren Hall

Our December meeting was focused on creating Christmas Centerpieces from fresh greens and flowers. Pat Porter from Levittown Flower Boutique and her helpers took us through every step and we made some lovely creations!

Our Hostesses for the future meetings are

Feb – Natalina and Connie, Lynn and Paulette

Mar – Eileen and Nanette

April – Alex and Matt

May – Connie

June – TBA

Garden Tour 2009 – Last years was a huge success and Eileen Donahue has volunteered to chair the committe this year. She will need some helpers so start thinking about what gardens would be good to include on the tour. Connie mentioned that there is a beautiful garden area behind the NBA Credit Union next to the Bristol Commerce Center Wal-Mart. Gaye told us that Gwen Shrift at the Courier Times wants to hear about the Garden Tour in April so she can plan to cover it in the newspaper.

Meeting with Bob Mercer – We signed our contract for the year and Bob asked if we wanted to expand our roll to include more garden area. I told him we would do as much as we could depending on the amount of volunteers we have available in the Spring. He complimented us on our hard work last year in keeping the gardens at the Nature Center beautiful.

June Flea Market – We discussed how it works and members are thinking about what we might sell at our table.

Flower Show – I mailed all the Barrier Aide requests to Betty greene at the Horticultural Society. Pat McGonigle has a meeting scheduled with them in mid December and will have more info for us after her meeting.

Our February topic is going to be a review of Winter Sowing!!! Save those gallon milk jugs for me!!!

Questions about the Club or web page please contact

joanncos@comcast.net

Our speaker tonight was David Marable. He did a presentation on growing hardy figs and spoke about the history of Levittown and it’s gardens. We also saw a video of an old film taken by William Levitt in the 1950′s of his development of Levittown. It was a fascinating look into the past. David showed slides of his Snowball Gate Garden and all the historic plants/shrubs he has collected through the years. He also shared his fig growing secrets! 

Take note that our November meeting will be held on Wednesday evening Nov 5th to allow members to vote in the Presidential election and watch the news coverage after the polls close. The meeting will start at 7PM at the Nature Center.

November’s meeting will be a Potluck Harvest dinner and Gourd/Pumpkin fest. Members should bring a dish to share and a gourd item to display. All gourds and pumpkins are welcome!!! Use your imagination to decorate them or use them in some Harvest theme. Freshly harvested gourds/pumpkins are also welcome. We will have an informal People’s choice vote on our favorites. 

Here is a list of dishes members are planning on bringing for the Harvest Potluck.

Main Dishes- Alex – Turkey breast, Gaye – Lasagna

Salad- Grace

Side dishes-Connie Pineapple dressing, Dawn – Garlic potatoes, Joann-Green bean casserole, also a broccoli casserole is listed

Bread & Butter- Shelia Kelly

Desserts Lois-Chocolate surprise,  Jean – cake, Natalina – pumpkin bread

Condiments – Connie – Olives

Tablecloths-Pat, Lois, Alex and Natalina

Beverages other than tea and coffee -

The PA Horticultural Society is looking for volunteers for the Phila Flower Show. It will be held March 1st -8th and if anyone wants to be a Barrior Aide or other volunteer let me know. The names need to be submitted by Nov 10th. The Flower Show theme this year is Bella Italia!

Our december meeting will feature Pat Porter from Levittown Flower Boutique. She will demonstrate how to make Holiday floral arrangements and other seasonal decorations. Materials will be provided by the Club.

Questions about the Garden Club or web page please e-mail Joann Joanncos@comcast.net

It’s been a wonderful summer and our thanks go to Jenny Boccardo and Sheila Kelly for sharing their gardens with us during our July and August meetings. Our September meeting was held on September 2nd and we had Max Burton doing a presentation on Tree Care. Lauren and Pat provided the refreshments. 

We learned lots of information about trees and how to keep them in good condition. Trees are shallow rooted and the root flare should be at ground level NOT buried under a “mulch volcano”!

Lauren presented Awards to the winners of the garden tour. Our next meeting is Oct 7th and we have Dave Marable speaking on Figs and Historical Levittown Gardens.

Questions or comments about the web site or Garden Club please contact joanncos@comcast.net

Our speaker for this meeting was Helena Dewees who  presented on “How to Photograph Flowers”. She is a member of the Focal Planes Club. She  gave us many helpful tips on using our cameras. Tips such as taking pictures in the early morning and late afternoon which are good times because the light is less intense and using a water bottle to spritz the flowers to mimic the dew in the morning. She also gave help with composition of the picture. She brought many beautiful photos to show us and showed how they can be made into notecards or framed for display.

We had the installation of the new officers for 2008-09

President Joann Cosgrove

Vice President Eileen Donahue

Secretary Nanette Wolf

Treasurer James White

Program chair/Trip Planner Gaye Almeida

Butterfly/Hummingbird/Pond Garden Coordinators Ed and Julie Fischer

Nanette gave a report of our participation in the “Flea Market in the Park” to be held June 21st at SIlver Lake Nature Center. Donations can be brought to the Nature Center or contact Nanette if you need her to pick up a large item. Jim will be buying plants at Russell’s gardens to resell at the Flea Market. Anyone wishing for any special plants please contact him or Nanette.

Pat gave a report on our Garden Tour planned for June 22nd. We will have 8 gardens open for touring. Tickets are $10.00 and available at the Nature Center from 10 till 12 Noon on the day of the tour. Maps will be provided when you pick up your tickets.

Our gardens have been weeded and planted with many new plants and are looking beautiful. Two new pond plants were added a pink flowering Pickeral weed and an Arrowleaf.

Gaye presented information about a trip to Herronswood planned for July 12. Several members will be going. Contact Gaye if you need more info at robalms@comcast.net or  215-802-0801

Joann reminded members to plant their gourds and Lauren volunteered to help Joann plan the Gourd Fest that we will have at our November meeting.

Gifts were presented to outgoing Officers and the club members thanked them all for their hard work.

Our next meeting will be held at the Pavillion at the Nature Center on July 1. Come at 6:30 for hoagies and bring along a treat to share. After the meeting members will tour Jenny Boccardo’s garden.

Our August Meeting will be held at Sheila Kelly’s garden. We will meet at her home at 6:30 for our hoagies and then tour her garden.

Questions about the club or web site please contact joanncos@comcast.net

Questions about the Web page or our Garden Tour please e-mail joanncos@comcast.net or call 215-946-2935

See you all there!