BONNIE Hansen introduced us to the Four O’Clock plants during our September General Meeting. This plants flowers don’t open until 4 o’clock. It is an Old fashioned plant, highly fragrant, and is pollinated by moths. The Four O’Clock Plant, or Marvel-of-peru, grows easily from seeds. They grow from a tuber and get quite large. The plant is dormant in winter.
BLUEBERRY FARMING – Scott West will be visiting from Tom West Blueberry Farm to speak to the Club about their operation. Many of us have visited their farm and picked blueberries there over the years. TWBF is a multi-generation family-owned business, established in 1954. They produce 4 to 6 million boxes of blueberries a year.
Friday, October 20, 2023 ~ 10:30 am ~ Orlando Garden Club, 710 E Rollins Street
September topic presented by Calvin Gardner, By Ann Hoff-fanaian
We had Orange County Urban Residential Horticulture Extension Agent Calvin Gardner visit and give us a presentation on Composting at our first General Meeting in September at The Orlando Garden Club.
To begin he emphasized it is great to practice composting in Florida because our soil is very sandy. Gardner says Florida soil is “super sandy, it’s full of sand, doesn’t really hold on to a lot of stuff like water or nutrients. As opposed to compost, which is really primarily broken down organic matter.”
Composting is recycling naturally. Compost is “primarily broken down organic matter.” One principle of composting is recycling yard waste. Now, “If you want to recycle your yard waste and you don’t want to compost, you can always just mow your grass without a bag on it,” Gardner said. This is a great way to reincorporate organic matter into your soil. By composting our yard waste we can reduce our solid waste by one-third (1/3). This waste can be put back into our soil and, as Gardner puts it, “We can grow happy plants.”
Our District VII general meeting on October 26th will now meet at the FFGC HQ in Winter Park. Deadline for all reservations is Thursday 10/19.
Your FFGC officers will be speaking about the 100th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS coming up next year, along with our local clubs reporting on their activities. Decorated hat contest and raffle baskets and 50/50 drawing will also be highlights.
Each year, our club members carry out fundraisers and activities to donate to FFGC Camp Wekiva. This past year total donations were $1,570.00. One circle, Tangerine, sponsored a camper, and money for the purchase of two tents. Other circles gave unrestricted donations to be used on the various Camp Wekiva needs. During our General Meeting in April, OGC collected $155.00 for the Camp as a designated charity for our Monthly Community Service.
Once donations were collected, we were able to sponsor two campers! They are Felicia, grade 3, and Cordelia, grade 5. They were so excited about being able to attend camp this year and we are so proud to have been able to help.
Camp Wekiva is a fabulous experience for everyone involved each summer, as a Camper, Volunteers from various Florida Garden Clubs, Staff and Admin! It takes a ” Village ” and large donations to keep the camp running, your consideration of a donation is needed and very much appreciated! To learn more about FFGC Camp Wekiva go to the Federation of Florida Garden Club website.
Newsweek magazine named Camp Wekiva as one of America’s best summer camps of 2023!!!
