September 20, 2024 Meeting presentation at 10:30 AM
Please join us for the new 2024 – 2025 season filled with informative and exciting monthly presentations!
Discover what the Orlando Garden Club is all about and join today!!
Guest Speaker: Sam Baker
Presentation: Safe and Sustainable Fertilizer
Sam Baker, a recent graduate of UCF, is the founder of the environmental startup WriggleBrew. Sam’s company produces a fertilizer that is safe and sustainable, and his startup’s work has been funded by the NSF, the USDA, and the City of Orlando to make gardening greener, cleaner, and easier for everyone. Sam leads a team of researchers focused on developing new and more efficient fertilizers, methods of composting, and technologies related to sustainability. Sam will be talking about new breakthroughs in composting materials previously thought un-compostable, and will be sharing insights into tips and tricks for improving soil health.
Monthly Community Service Project is Second Harvest Food Bank
In February the Orlando Garden Club’s Lake Silver Shores Circle members learned about the art of Bonsai.Robert Kempinski is an internationally renowned Bonsai grower. He travels the world appreciating the art of Bonsai as perfected in different countries and cultures. He lives in the Melbourne area.
Suggested Species
Kempinski suggests a few plant species for growing Bonsai. He says it is best to use trees that grow well where you live. Plants that grow well here may not grow well in Melbourne where he lives, for example,
Salt Bush. This plant grows very slowly and is malleable. It may grow better in Melbourne than in Central Florida.
Cedar Elm -This is an example of a tree that grows well up north, it needs cold weather. If you grow a Bonsai with Cedar Elm you will have to have it indoors all the time. This tree won’t have leaves until March.
Sea Hibiscus. This plant has fast growing roots. By trimming, it gives smaller leaves.
Juniper Trees. Kempinski says these are great for bonsai. He has one growing since 1998. “There’s no such thing as an instant bonsai,” he said. They grow slowly.
Florida Elm – This tree has small leaves and grows well in a pot. He has one that is 20 years old.
A Few Important Points
You can copy designs and then try your own designs.
Bonsai started in China then emigrated to Japan during the Chinese cultural revolution.
Kempinski says, “Styles are a human affliction,” trees don’t care about style.
The secret to growing Bonsai is using granular soil, not potting soil.
Garden clubs across the state will plant more than 400 trees on January 19, 2024, to celebrate Florida Arbor Day and the 100th anniversary of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs (FFGC).
In addition to planting hundreds of trees throughout the state, garden clubs will give away hundreds of tree seedlings.
Our Club will commemorate this day with a ceremony on January 19, which is our General meeting and we are also sponsoring an NGC Standard Flower Show. Don’t miss out on the exciting activity at our Club!! See you there!!
The Orlando Garden Club members that participated in the latest “Art in Bloom” event at the Orlando Museum of Art made us all proud! Please enjoy photos of their entries.
As a follow-up to our posted Event of our November Program Presentation, Samuel Baker and Gabriel De Gaglia from “Wriggle Brew” company was fabulous! A fine group of young college grads have developed and are now distributing an organic amendment for the soil and roots of gardens and beds of any kind, “Wriggle Brew”!! The presentation was very informative and the attendees were able to purchase Wriggle Brew to see the fantastic results in our own gardens. I used Wriggle Brew in my normal watering of potted and bed plants and see amazing results already! The company website is: www.wrigglebrew.com, you can learn about the new fantastic product and the product is available for sale on-line.
Healey