Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Garden August Events

1. A Tropical Workshop will be held at Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Garden on Saturday, August 2, 2008 from 9am to 5pm. Cost is $50 for non-Mercer Members and $40 for Mercer Members.

2. A program on Shad Gardening will be on Wednesday, August 13, 2008 from noon to 2pm. Bring your lunch.

3. Garden Entomology will be offered on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 from 10am to noon.

Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Garden is located at 22306 Aldine Westfield, just one mile north of FM 1960. Phone number is 281-443-8731.

Herb Gardeners July Potluck and Day Meeting

Carol, Barbara C., Beth, Janet, Lois, Kiki, Helen, Stephanie, Margaret, Elissa, and Rosa gathered around the table for a quick demonstration by Lois on making a boutonniere. Earlier, club members feasted on a delicious potluck lunch. Thank you Lois for hosting the lunch in your home.

August Day Program Location Change

Attention all herb club members: The August day program has been changed to meet at Rosa's home. It is still scheduled for the same date; Thursday, August 14th, at 10:30am. This is an important meeting for discussing and planning the Herbal Tea and Fair for February 28, 2009.

Garden Club of Houston - 66th Annual Bulb and Plant Mart

The Garden Club of Houston will be having their annual bulb and plant mart on October 9, 10 and 11, 2008 at the Westminister United Methodist Church (San Felipe at Bering). Pre-ordering is available, offering a fun and easy way to ensure you get special bulbs or plants for your garden before they sell out. Order deadline date is August 1, 2008. Bulbs ordered in quantities are best pre-ordered. Orders over $100 and received before August 1st will receive 10% off, and will be available for pick up on Thursday afternoon before the Mart opens. You may go to The Garden Club of Houston website to download the pre-order form or for further information.

Please note: perennials, vines and citrus are not currently available for pre-order. They are sold on a first come basis.

July Meeting

Herb Gardeners met for an informative meeting discussing the upcoming Herbal Tea and Fair, club business and enjoyed a fun filled program and contest featuring floral designs from club members. Members are needed to water the garden behind the community center. If you can commit to one day a month to water this garden, please contact Stephanie. The club is also exploring whether to purchase a power point projector. Kim volunteered to find out information on the cost of a projector. Rosa reported on the Herbal Tea and Fair and also passed around a beautiful brochure prototype she created for the event which will be held at the Community Center on Feb. 28, 2009. The herbal spotlight on bee balm was presented by Robbynn. Carol and Kim brought refreshments.

And The Winners Are...

1st place winner: Stephanie - the middle arrangement

2nd place winner: Margaret - the arrangement on the right

3rd place winner: Kim - the arrangement on the left

Club Members and Floral Designs

The evening was a lot of fun when it came time to view, judge and announce the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners of floral/herbal/veggie arranging. Club members who brought a design were: Kim, Stephanie, Barbara M., Margaret, Anne P., Rosa and Janet... and yes, that's Janet behind the glads! Sorry Janet!

Floral Arrangements

A large variety of floral arrangements were brought to the Herb Gardeners meeting. Thanks to all members for their participation in the contest.

Free Kibble to Animal Shelters

Every day you play Bow Wow Trivia, free kibble will be provided to Animal Shelters to help feed hungry dogs. Also, a link is provided to feed cats too.

All you do is answer a daily trivia question, select the correct answer and hungry animals win. Every day that you play, 20 pieces of kibble will go to animal shelters to feed their hungry dogs.

Play Bow Wow Trivia every day - the more you play, the more kibble for the dogs!
A new way to help pets.

Stephanie

July 21st Meeting - Program Information

The program for the July 21st Herb Club meeting will be: "What we learned from Kevin"? This will be a member participation program on flower arranging. Each member is asked to bring a flower/plant/organic/herb arrangement to share with the group. Between what we learned from Kevin and what we are taught from nature, all things can have interest and beauty, when presented in unique ways. I am hoping our members will share their gardening talents with us all. Please e-mail Stephanie if you plan to participate with an arrangement. Prizes will be awarded for the Top 3 arrangements. Camille is out of town this month, so all questions can be sent to Stephanie.

Stephanie, via e-mail distribution

Herb Gardeners of Montgomery County Member Newsletter June 2008

June Herbal Activities Recap:

For our June meeting, Mr. Orval Love presented "Love of Gingers". Mr. Love shared rooted gingers from his garden with the club as well as brought leaf cuttings and a slide show of some of his own ginger snapshots.

Lets keep these heat-loving plants in mind when planning to replace those that have succumbed to our Texas summer.

The June luncheon was held at Stephanie's home where Herbies discussed and played with tea-dyed paper. This is just one of the crafts that can be used to sell at the Herbal Tea and Fair in February. The meal was capped off with a dip in the pool... after following the one hour before swimming rule of course.

Kim
Editor, Herb Club newsletter

Herb Club Meeting Refreshments

We could use a few other food items for our July and August meetings. If you would like to bring something, please contact Carol B.

Maintenance of Library Garden and Community Center Gardens

Everyone, please give the Library garden plants and Community Center gardens (front garden and back garden) a drink if you are in the area. Notify Stephanie if you are able to water the plants.

A Little Ginger Know-how

Description: Ginger is a reed like herb that is grown for its pungent, spicy underground stems or rhizomes. The edible portion is the rhizome which is rough and knotty in appearance.

Culture: Ginger is propagated by planting pieces of the underground stem or rhizome in the early spring. Ginger thrives best in the tropics and in the warmer regions of the temperate zone. Plants thrive in a loose, loamy soil that is high in organic matter. After planting, water sparingly until plants are well developed. In late summer, the plants will show signs of maturing such as yellowing foliage and slowness in growth. Harvest by digging up the entire root.

Selection: Ginger roots should be free of bruises and light brown to cream colored. Harvest ginger roots at any stage of maturity because root size is not important. Store fresh ginger in a sealed plastic bag in refrigeration where it will keep several weeks. It can also be frozen for long term storage. In southeastern Asia, the leafstalks are used as a food flavoring. The bright canary yellow leafstalks are tied in two to four 'hands' for marketing. The fresh roots are used in the manufacture of giner ale.

Web source for ginger information, go to: Texas A&M

Kim
Editor, Herb Club newsletter

Welcome New Members

We welcome Karen Parker and Carol Shough. Give our newest members a big "Welcome"!

Ask the Masters: Feeling the Heat

1. How do I attract more bees to my garden for pollinating?
Stephanie replied: I plant Mexican Heather in the garden, seems to attract lots of bees.

2. Will nets protect my tomatoes and pomegranates from raiders also prevent bee pollination?
Stephanie replied: I've used nets before but did not like them. Birds, snakes etc. got caught up in the netting and died. Now I just pick as soon as the fruit turns pink (tomatoes ripen from the inside out, so pink outside is ripe inside). That increases the fruit I get by 50%. Last year the squirrels took all the tomatoes one day, green or red, everyone!! My neighbor uses net and likes it.

3. The heat is taking its toll on our plants. What are some heat-loving plants that are still smiling in your garden?
Margaret replied: For info on plants, go to the service site: Texas AgriLife Extension Type 'heat tolerant plants' in the Search box, top right and you will get many, many files that contain plant lists with heat tolerant references...lists for specific areas, native plant lists, and on and on...

4. A word on watering - Also, sonething I learned at MG...
Don't sprinkle. Do not attempt duplicate the rains from Heaven. When watering, keep your hose as low to the ground as possible. The soil is filled with micro biological and in the soil they keep a balance... but when you water from above, you splash these microbes on the plant leaves and you get fungus, viruses and other nasties that do not have something to keep them in check. This is one of the BIG reasons for mulch as it disburses the rain when it hits the ground.

5. All of my lantanas are 'bleached' and have ceased to bloom. Even those in moderate shade. Is this to be expected? What should I do/ Prune back?
Lantana is one hardy plant. However, most plants cease to bloom when it gets as hot as it is with little rain. Prune it to keep it in shape, not over one-third of the plant and water it... and I don't think you will lose it.

6. Parsley and oregano are feeling the heat and blooming. Should I cut the blooms to save the parsley?
Your parsley is another story. Parsley is a cool weather plant and it will bolt, curl its toes and disappear in the heat. Any year with any type of hot weather. Oregano might weather the summer. Just prune it back, if you have a little extra mulch, throw it on the top and water...

Questions for our "Masters"?
Send any question or comment to be forwarded to our more experienced gardeners and Master Gardeners to Kim.

Kim
Editor, Herb Club newsletter

Wanted: Recipes for Herb Gardeners of Montgomery County Collection

We are collecting recipes for testing and printing for the Herbal Tea Fair in February 2009.

Tidbits and Web Bytes

For those of us that are amateurs, here are a few steps to begin your bouquet or botanical work of art. Be creative and add fruits, veggies and flowers to the creation.

Pick fresh herbs from your garden. Cut stems long so you have something to work with, as you can always cut it shorter to fit the container.

Design the arrangement using inspiration from nature or something you think is beautiful.

Pick an interesting container and add 3 (any odd number is good) different kinds of herbs. Think of these shapes; rounded, pointed and frilly. Mix these shapes together in one container.

Fit the arrangement to the setting. If it is a Thanksgiving feast, use lots of sage in your arrangement. If it is Italian night, use lots of oregano and basil.

For a seated gathering, keep your arrangement low. For standing occasions, you can raise the arrangement as far up to eye level as you want.

Kim
Editor, Herb Club newsletter

To Pull or Not to Pull

Please take a look at the herbs in the Library Herb Garden. One unknown plant may be Tansy. This herb is about 3' tall, with fern-like leaves and tight light-orange to yellow flowers in clusters. Tansy when brushed gives off a camphor-like smell. It has a sharp taste and was traditionally used in Easter pudding. Tansy also expels worms. Native Americans used Tansy poultices to encourage conception. Please contact our Garden Director, Ancha, if you have a positive identification of the plant in question.

Hot Tropics Plant Sale

Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Gardens and The Mercer Society present: Hot Tropics Plant Sale
on Saturday, June 28th from 9am - 4pm. Attend this sale to find the perfect plants for your garden including bamboo, natives (water-wise plants), gingers, trees and tropicals.
Address: 22306 Aldine Westfield Road in Humble