"Sowing the Seeds of Harmony through Nature"
PGC members and guests met to celebrate the season with a Christmas banquet on December 12th in a beautifully decorated private meeting room at Madeline's Restaurant in Fogelsville. The evening buffet began with appetizers followed by 2 dinner entrees with chef's accompaniments and dessert. Live holiday musical entertainment was provided by the Allan Meyerson Jazz Trio. President Claire handed out Laurel Awards to recognize members for their contributions throughout the past year. The evening concluded with the club's popular raffle of holiday items and gift cards.
The hospitality team for the evening prepared a beautiful Thanksgiving themed table of refreshments that were enjoyed by members and guests. Thank you to Naser, Marsha, Nancy and Judy!
PGC member Kirk Brown was honored at the meeting with an award given by Brenda Aubert. Visit here for details on this award: Member News
The presenter for this program, Tina Ellor, is currently Mycologist/Technical Director at Phillips Mushroom Farms in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Tina spoke about the culinary, nutritional, and medicinal aspects of mushrooms, as well as the history of mushroom cultivation, and information about how everyone could be growing some mushrooms at home and in their gardens. PGC members & guests were excited to take home samples of the many different mushroom varieties that TIna brought to share.
PGC Members and guests took part in a hands-on demonstration and workshop during their regular monthly meeting in October. The session was arranged by Program Chair Nancy Smith and directed by past President and long-time member Sue Weber. Participants were supplied with teacups and brought flowers and greens along to arrange in the cups. It was a fun and enjoyable workshop!
The hospitality committee provided a Halloween-themed assortment of delicious treats for the group to enjoy. Thank you Deb, Donna, Patti, Marie and Tom!
Member Marjorie turned 95 on Sept. 16. She was was honored with a cake at the meeting and everyone sang Happy Birthday to her!
PGC members and guests enjoyed a presentation by Monica Yurconic-Groff and Keitha Pavolko from Ross Plants & Flowers. Their live terrarium demonstration included all the key parts needed to create this type of mini-ecosystem in a closed container.
Monica Yurconic-Groff, the owner of Ross Plants & Flowers, entered the flower and plant world with her husband 18 years ago. As a former school teacher, her true joy comes from sharing her love of flowers and plants with others.
Keitha Pavolko, the lead florist at Ross Plants & Flowers, has been in the floral industry for over 30 years. Her expertise and artistry is a gift to all that get to experience her work. Together Monica and Keitha have taught many members of the Lehigh Valley how to flower arrange, create planters, and construct various types of gardens. They truly find joy in touching the community one presentation at a time!
Irene, Chloe, Lisa (new member), and Judy brought the delicious refreshments for our members to enjoy.
Members visit the Ways and Means table at each meeting for raffle tickets and interesting items at bargain prices. Thank you to our Ways and Means Co-Chairs Donna (center) and Patti (right) for your efforts! On the left is PGC member Megan Stanley.
Wendy Jochems, the owner Hope Hill Lavender Farm in Pottsville, shared her vast knowledge about different lavender cultivars with PGC members & guests. She brought many of her farm-made and locally sourced lavender products which were eagerly purchased after her presentaton.
Wendy is the owner/worker at Hope Hill Lavender Farm. She and her husband started Hope Hill in 2010 by planting 1500 lavender plants in the spring of 2011. The number of lavender plants currently is at least double that. Wendy was a certified veterinary technician for over 25 years and still maintains her license but now drives a school bus and works the farm. She also harvests lavender, makes products, and sources unique MADE IN USA items for the farm store. She has taken the master gardener course and volunteers with Master Gardeners. There are also animals on her farm including horses, donkeys, chickens, housecats, and honeybees. Hope Hill Lavender Farm is a Certified Pollinator Friendly Garden. Visitors are encouraged!
At this meeting the PGC 2023 Shholarship Award was presented to winner Allison Emmanuel: Scholarships
The hospitality team set up a delicious table of treats for the evening as well as plants for our raffle. Thank you to Judy, Bonnie, Maria and Deb for the beautiful presentation!
The annual Parkland Garden Club Picnic/Plant Exchange was held this year at East Texas Park, in lieu of the July meeting. A wonderful variety of dishes were displayed for everyone to enjoy. Members brought plants to share or trade with their fellow gardeners. A brief rain shower did not stop the group from enjoying an evening of friendship and good food.
Demonstration presented by Donna Smith
Donna Smith spoke about her project “This That and the Other Thing” the goal of which is to retrieve treasures from the past such as old dishes, curiosities and some unique modern pieces and create a new function. She showed how these new pieces could be a bird feeder, bird bath or an art piece (that will certainly be a conversation piece with friends).
Donna and her sister, Joan started their visionary craft pieces about 8 years ago with the intent to find a project to build on to save beautiful glass/dishes from the landfill.
At this meeting PGC held our new member tea to welcome all who joined this year: Member News
The winners of the Youth Sculpture contest were also recognized at this meeting: Youth Garden Club
Program presented by Karen Campbell
Karen shared lots of amazing close-up images of flowers and nectaring insects. She showed what pollination is from the flowering plants' perspective, who their pollinators are, and why insects service our plants. She included tips for our members and guests on taking their own close-up images.
Karen Campbell is a naturalist and macro photographer whose subjects are native plants, wildlife, and their interactions in our yards and local natural ecosystems.
Thoughtful Gardener Heather Andrews was our featured speaker at the PGC April meeting. She presented us with a video journey of her pollinator waystation, Cat-a-pillar Haven, and discussed incorporating plant combinations to enable more food to be grown with less effort.
Heather is an author, photographer, traveler and speaker who works with homeowners and businesses to create sustainable native pollinator habitats. She grew up as one of 12 grandchildren in North Carolina, and often took walks in her Granddaddy Andrew’s garden, where she learned about pollinators and increasing yield. During the growing season you will find her in her monarch waystation, Cat-a-pillar Haven, video blogging on her new YouTube Channel, Garden Thoughtfully. She routinely creates actionable video backyards. Heather is a two time recipient of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society’s “Garden of Distinction” Award for her monarch waystation and for a pollinator garden she designed for the historic Craighead House in conjunction with the Master Gardeners of Central PA. Her award-winning photographs and articles have been featured in magazines and on the online publishing platform Medium.com.
Anita Nagle, wedding coordinator for the Phoebe Floral Shop, presented an entertaining and informative demonstration of the latest in trends in wedding bouquet arrangements. She highlighted ways that she assists wedding couples to get a "Pinterest" look for either a generous or limited budget along with ideas for DIY at home.
Anita has been in the wedding industry for 40 years. In addition to weddings, she does displays at the store, flower classes and presentations.
Master Gardener Lynn Dautrich conducted a presentation on the benefits of starting seeds at home, care of seeds, soilless potting mixes, flats, cells, and other containers for starting seeds, and proper conditions from planting seeds to planting in the garden
Lynn first worked in a garden center as a junior in high school, was on the grounds-keeping crew for the Montreal Expos, and worked on a landscaping crew for the Montreal Olympics. Lynn, along with his wife, was a former owner of a registered organic farm in Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada. He has been an organic gardener since 1977 and master gardener for past 15 years. He has volunteered at Rodale Farm and community gardens and primarily provides presentations for garden clubs, businesses, and private organizations.