Garden Club springs into summer at Regional Meeting
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Over 120 gardeners from six local garden clubs attended the day-long Spring Regional meeting of the Region 16 Ohio Association of Garden Clubs held in Wilmington on May 12, including eight members of the Hillsboro Garden Club. Region 16 includes garden clubs from Clinton, Fayette, Greene, Madison, Warren and Highland County.
The event featured two excellent, down-to-earth, educational programs.
Local birding expert Beth Mitchell spoke at the morning session on "Birds and the Garden," with discussion on planting food sources for bird visitation and the effects of pesticides on birds. Her helpful tips included recipes for homemade suet, the four commonly-used pesticides known to be lethal to be birds and seasonal feeding recommendations.
Full color booklets on Ohio warblers and native birds and samples of an organic plant food were distributed to all attendees.
The afternoon program featured Dr. Monte Anderson, professor of agriculture at Wilmington College who spoke about edible landscaping and the college's successful program, which contributed over 1,000 pounds of food from the program to local food pantries last year. According to Dr. Anderson, fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers can be combined effectively for decorative, useful purposes. Edible landscaping can involve using herbs as garden borders, accenting flower gardens with the color and glossy leaves of pepper plants, or using the large foliage of rhubarb to conceal an unattractive wall. A typical garden planted with a plan for the dining table might include fruit, like pawpaws, blueberries or strawberries combined with edible flowers like pansies or nasturtiums, plus asparagus and Swiss chard. Herbs like sage, basil or chives might be added as accents, for color, texture and flavor. Every participant went home with a pepper or basil plant to encourage edible planting.
Lunch was served by Hillsboro caterers, Shoelaces, and the menu included tomato basil bisque, pork tenderloin with apricot-cranberry chutney, Chicken Monterrey, tortellini pasta salad and a green salad plus a fresh fruit cup and cherry cheesecake for desert. Each garden club offered a wide selection of perennials, flowering baskets, plant markers and a wide variety of garden items for sale through the day to raise funds for their individual clubs.
The Hillsboro Garden Club members attending the event were Nancy Baldwin, Dena Benner, Andrea Schneider, Cindy Johnson, Pat Lawrence, Sharon Mills, Nancy Sonner and Ruth Anna Duff. The Hillsboro Garden Club is preparing to host the OAGC Spring Regional meeting in 2012 at the Ponderosa Banquet Center.[[In-content Ad]]
The event featured two excellent, down-to-earth, educational programs.
Local birding expert Beth Mitchell spoke at the morning session on "Birds and the Garden," with discussion on planting food sources for bird visitation and the effects of pesticides on birds. Her helpful tips included recipes for homemade suet, the four commonly-used pesticides known to be lethal to be birds and seasonal feeding recommendations.
Full color booklets on Ohio warblers and native birds and samples of an organic plant food were distributed to all attendees.
The afternoon program featured Dr. Monte Anderson, professor of agriculture at Wilmington College who spoke about edible landscaping and the college's successful program, which contributed over 1,000 pounds of food from the program to local food pantries last year. According to Dr. Anderson, fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers can be combined effectively for decorative, useful purposes. Edible landscaping can involve using herbs as garden borders, accenting flower gardens with the color and glossy leaves of pepper plants, or using the large foliage of rhubarb to conceal an unattractive wall. A typical garden planted with a plan for the dining table might include fruit, like pawpaws, blueberries or strawberries combined with edible flowers like pansies or nasturtiums, plus asparagus and Swiss chard. Herbs like sage, basil or chives might be added as accents, for color, texture and flavor. Every participant went home with a pepper or basil plant to encourage edible planting.
Lunch was served by Hillsboro caterers, Shoelaces, and the menu included tomato basil bisque, pork tenderloin with apricot-cranberry chutney, Chicken Monterrey, tortellini pasta salad and a green salad plus a fresh fruit cup and cherry cheesecake for desert. Each garden club offered a wide selection of perennials, flowering baskets, plant markers and a wide variety of garden items for sale through the day to raise funds for their individual clubs.
The Hillsboro Garden Club members attending the event were Nancy Baldwin, Dena Benner, Andrea Schneider, Cindy Johnson, Pat Lawrence, Sharon Mills, Nancy Sonner and Ruth Anna Duff. The Hillsboro Garden Club is preparing to host the OAGC Spring Regional meeting in 2012 at the Ponderosa Banquet Center.[[In-content Ad]]