Horticultural Society

H/5/1964-2-

Douglas summed up April's weather form us and his report is attached. In case you have forgotten, it rained 4 1/1 inches on 14 dayts. The t temperature went down to 25 on the 5th and up to 84 on the 18th. The mean temperature was 52.

Grace was absent but by common contribution the [?] report was made. They included pansies from Great Ease and the Highlands; a variegated bouquet from Bea Hutton - magnolia, naroissus, azalea tulips. Pete and Rose bought oregon holly, silver bell. magnolia and double dogwood. The Cedars brought lettuce. parsley, rhubard, asparagus, pansies, and Helen Bentley masses of lilly of the valley and lilacs.

Birds - Wendy had seen what looked like a buzzardsm and also ablue heron on the Salesville pond pud. Helen Farquhar had seen herons on the pond across from the Cedars. Mary Redding reported that goldfinches are eating dandelions, which may put these golden knights in a perferred class. Jack reported that the Readers Digest carried an article on how to keep crows away but the Secretary failed to get this down. Moreover she doesnot remember it ad the Mannings stand in great need of this knowledge. They ate up all the corn Ellis planted. Acquire mockingbirds.

Other birds seen were a Baltimore oriole. wrens which came April 15, wood robins, grosbeaks.

Mr. Souder confirmed Jacks' story of his neurotice apple tree, which blooms and produces on one half the tree one year and on the other half the next year. Up to recently this had been a normal apple tree, flowering and producing on both sides.

It was decided to talk No action was taken on a proposal to change date of meeting leaving the date the first Tuesday

Questions: Betty M. M. Millerwanted to know how to get rid of chickweed. mr. Souder said mr/ youngmand said one can spray with silvex, but be careful to spray only the chickweed. Pete said it provided feed for quail. Lucy said it was listed as an herb in herb books, and it has merit in that it is easily pulled up. The problem of birds flying against windows was presented: aluminum streamers or curtains were suggested.

TELL JACK NEXT PLACE OF MEETING

Sept. Gracelyn Oct Claire and Bea Hutton.

NEXT READERS Sept. Elizabeth Ligon Oct. Chicken Kricker

H/6/1964-2-

Do this at once; one pound to every 10 feet. The President mentioned the loss of the early minutes which will prevent us from hearing the reading of some early meetings. He called for an volunteer article. Lucy volunteered with an article on chickweed, from Florence Ransome's "British herbs". regarding which a question was raised at the last meeting. Chickweed is one of world's earliest pot herbs. It is also good for chicken pheasants and birds. In her forethought Bea suggested we prune trees now and cover scars divide and fertilize mums; Iris may be dividedl spray for borers. Use DDT Fertilize and water roses; Plant marigolds in front of daffodils Spray dogwood. Plant corn and beans through the month. Bea added 2 interesting news items (1) the story of an avocado tree growing in Alexandria 216 Washington Street; (2) the story about a bench donated to the Arboretum by a garden club. Grace reported on exhibits; Great Ease brought 12 varieties of roses, 6 irises of one kind; 3 peonies, as well as strawberries and asparagus. Chicken brought iris an peopnies. Rose and Pete brought cinquefoil, irish broom, clove pinks. The Lawrences brought a beautiful spray of laurel, theMannings asparagus and strawbrries.; Bea Hutton brought pink and purple clematis, and peace and confidence roses; The Canbys lettuce, onions, beets, cabbage, peas, rhubarb. Our weather expert, Douglas Farquhar brought over

H/4/1966-24-5-1966 Page 2

Bea Wilson was so full and bubbling over with "Forethought" that your Secretary had a hard time keeping up with her. Among other things she reminded us to sow seeds for early plants in the house, to get rid of chickweed, repair your lawnmowers, prepare the compost pile, plant a highly resistant tomato the Enterprize available at Beltsville, fertilize peonies and other plants, remove mounds from your roses and make a final pruning of peach trees as the blossoms open. She suggested planting the "Madcap" Hollyhock seeds now to have early Fall blooms. Sycamores are being used in place of Elms as shade trees, there are new hybrid Pansies of more than three inches in diameter, the Chrysler Imperial Rose now has the best fragrance in five years and the Red Monarch Sweet William is now an annual.

Liz Canby, our Assistant for the evening, read the list of exhibits as follows: the Mannings brought Andromeda, Magnolia, Plum and Jonquils; The Wilsons had Nasturtiums and Hen & Chicks; Pansies and Parsley were brought by the Farquhars; the Ulric Huttons had Pieris Florinbunda, Pieris Japonica and Daffodils; the Canbys had Cabbage, Turnips and Kale, while the Thomases had some Kale; Claire and Bea Hutton brought 3 varieties of Jonquils, White Myrtle, Purple Myrtle Johnny-Jump-Ups and Hyacinth; and the Ligons had 10 varieties of Daffodils, as well as from their greenhouse 4 kinds of Begonias, 2 Geraniums, Calla Lily, 2 Stocks, 2 Orchids, Lantana and some Fuchsia.

The Ligons have songsparrows and the Weskes have purple finches, while other members mentioned seeing Gulls, Juncos, Larks, Blackbirds, Red Bellied Woodpeckers, Tohees, Cardinals, and many various types of Sparrows.

As required in our By-Laws, the Secretary read the By-Laws and Resolutions at this first meeting of the year. A discussion arose on the 5th Resolution which states: "That the day before each meeting every family shall report to the hostess how many from that house expect to attend". Betty Ligon closed the discussion with the resolution: "Members should notify the hostess if they cannot attend a meeting". The members present agreed on this proposal to be voted upon at the next meeting.

Questions: Mary Reading has a Nandina which is green and lovely on one side only, leaves on the other side were frost-bitten. Also, she notified us that Mrs Brewster is anxious to get a ManGardener to "live in" at Olney Inn.

Bob Miller announced the Olney Theatre Play "Come Blow Your Horn", to be shown later this month, is being partly sponsored by the Sandy Spring Lions Club and he has tickets for sale.

Pete Ligon noted that winer killed foliage is mostly above the snow but not below it. He needs a suitable container for Watermelon and Cantaloup seeds. One-half of milk carton is good to use but "Peat" Pots should work out best.

Betty Ligon: Should we spray roses with a regular spray now? Get a good fungicide first. She also has squirrels climbing up her pipes, but we couldn't do much about that!

H/7/1966-1-

July 5-1966 - In our 103rd Year At Rocky Ridge with Dale and Alan Thomas

To those of you who visited Rocky Ridge for the first time, we hope you liked what you saw, but we'd like to remind you that it was not always thus. During the very early years of this century, this Groomes' property was known as "Grape Valley Farm" and even as late as the Thirties and Forties, the productivity and beauty of the Groomes' fields and garden was the pride of Sunshine. However, the sun has a habit of setting once in awhile, so that during the Fifties while the property was owned by a "city" family, without the knowledge or proper care of "country" living, the place became dreary and forlorn. In fact, the front yard and beautiful gardens were fenced in and used for a barn yard for cattle, sheep and swine.

The place was so barren when we came here in 1960 that we began planting right away. Practically all the small trees, fruit trees, evergreens, bushes and flowers were planted by us, so that by the time you come around again, we hope we will have a much better showing. Maturally, we were very pleased to have you visit, and the food you brought for pot-luck was absolutely delicious and too much.

President Ulric Hutton managed to get us all together in one small room at 7:55 pm, and welcomed our guests, the two Mothers-in-Law, Mrs Sarah Mannakee and Mrs Ethel Thomas, and our daughter, Mrs Dale T. Trott from Baltimore. We were sorry that the President's little granddaughter had to leave too early to make everyone's acquaintance. The Farquhars are still away visiting the British Isles, but several cards have inquired about the Horticultural Society and they expect to return in time for the next meeting; also absent were the Hussman's, Claire Hutton and the Ligons.

The Secretary looked around in vain for a substitute to take minutes at his own meeting, but there seemed to be an emphatic negative response. The previous minutes were read and accepted.

The subject chosen for the evening by Bea Hutton was "Trees Do Grow Fast" and proved to be a very interesting account by Sam Hemming of the growth habits of various kinds of trees. The life span of most trees is about the same as man, 70 to 100 years, while going thru practically the same stages as Juvenile, Youthful, Maturity and Old Age. One of the exceptions would be our own Maryland Wye Oak, now estimated to be 450 years old. A wide variety of trees mature between 25 and 35 years old, maybe 3 to 4 feet in diameter and up to 75 feet high. Guessing the age of trees has proven very hard to do without an actual cut, as some are very erratic. The oaks seem to be the largest, the early chestnuts were good, but a Chinese Elm is very erratic and usually of very poor quality. A Carolina Popular can reach four feet thick in about 65 years, while the pines and the soft woods are generally the most rapid growers.

Bea Wilson's Forethought sounded like she meant for us to plant perennials, pick off all faded flowers, get rid of poisons but spray plenty of DDT around, trim and prune bushes and fruit, divide Oriental Poppies and Iris, enrich your soil with bonemeal and make your last planting of Glads.

There was no real weather report, except that everyone note that Summer has come in with a heat wave. It has been over 90° almost every day this summer. Many cities are having record highs.