Club Minutes: Horticultural Society, 1990

H/9/1990-1-

September 4, 1990, Quailhill, page 1

The Society assembled at Quaihill for their September meeting. The Secretary was inside carving the ham - previously known to the Society as Lord Jim, Elizabeth Thornton's Christmas present and unsuccessful solution to the garden's bindweed problem. The Secretary assumes that the dark underbelly of Quailhill's horticultural anarchy was not overtly noticeable. It was ironic that missing en mass were the proprietors of the Society's most magnificent gardens namely the Rogers, the Hanels, the Earps, the Chances, and Beth Bullard. Guest includedGordy and Christie Allen-Wardell, Dr. Thea Kappahn, Dana Dameron, and Dana Tietje.

The minutes from the previous meeting were corrected and passed.

There was no unfinished business.

Ellen Hartge read an article from the May 1990 issue of Horticulture entitled "Making Sense of Scent" by Roy Genders, an English plant specialist. The article summarizied the authors research in analyzing and categorizing the scents that plants generate. The author also connected the various scents ranging from the sweet to the stomach-turning to how these different smells help the plant survive.

Susan Canby alerted us to an up-coming National Geographic article that studied the decline of certain migratory birds and how it relates to global warming.

Elizabeth Thornton read the minutes from September 30, 1990.

Ellen Hartge delivered the Forethought. We were advised to plant spinach, lettuce, radishes and other late season crops. Beware of freak frosts toward the end of the month. Move houseplants indoors when night temperatures are below 60 degrees. Plant daffaodil bulbs. Water but don't fertilize trees and shrubs. Start Fall cleanup. If you have powdery mildew on lilacs, prune or space at a later date to encourage passage of air. Plant new grass seed. In conclusion, do everything now rather than waiting until spring.

Meteorologist Report John Hartge allowed that it had been a wet month. Riverside logged 8.1 inches of rain - National Airport measured 6.75 and reported it to be 2.35 inches over the norm. August didn't see many days between rainfalls. It is reported that we are 2.89 inches ahead for the year. We had a high temperature of 92 on August 1st, 2nd, 14th, and the 22nd. The low was 54 also on the 2nd. Average high was 84 and the average low was 63.

Bird Report Elizabeth Thornton related an incident that happened on the grounds of the Oak Grove Designs workshop and residence of the Handlers. A macaw had landed high up in one of their trees and the macaw authorities had been alerted. As the day edged toward evening the effort became feverish and two pronged - other macaws had been brought in from the surrounding area

H/9/1990-2-

September 4, 1990, Quailhill, page 2

and were stationed at ground level with their owners to entice the elevated bird to join them. That being largely unsuccessful a young fireman and macaw enthusiast climbed up to the stray bird and when the beast bit the offered finger, the man grabbed the bird's beak, tucked the feathered fiend under his arm and climbed to the ground one-handed.

There were no new committees.

The Redundancy Committee reported that 2 1/2 megabytes of Redundancy Committee data had with no explanation or permission vanished. Fortunately it had all been backed up on floppy discs so nothing was lost except explicit faith in the security of hard drive memories.

New Business

Jim Bullard mentioned that this community dates back 300 years and there will be a celebration sanctioned by the Sandy Spring Museum on October 4th at Norbeck Country Club. It will be an occasion to picnic and gather and all are encouraged to attend.

Exhibits

Lydia Haviland brought a magnificient sunflower referred to as only a volunteer, in addition to some exquisite little yellow and red tomatoes. Riverton offered flocks, corriopsis, ironweed, cardinal flowers, algeratum, and moonbeam corriopsis. There were other samples of the season's abundance but the Secretary misplaced the list and didn't have the courage to conjure up a false representation.

Questions

Dana Tietje has August-September blooming clematis that looks poorly. It was said that if the Chances were here they'd know what the problem was.

Tim Eller wants to know if crepe myrtles do well in this area. Yes but sustained below zero temps will kill the plant back to its roots.

Thea Kappahn has an indoore Eucalypsus plant that is doing poorly. It was said that if the Hanels were here, they'd know what the problem was.

Ari Preuss was on the Shenandoah where 4 bald headed eagles were spotted. 4 are nesting in the Blackwater Refuge and it would appear that their numbers are slowly coming back.

Nancy Preuss recommended a book entitled "Beautiful Food Garden".

Gordy Allen-Wardell commended the society for its bee hives. He said that last year Maryland lost 50% of its domesticated colonies to trachial mites, veroa mites, and bad climate. He said that the importance of bees to agriculture cannot be underemphasized and the bees need all the help they can get to keep their overall numbers up.

H/9/1990-3-

September 4, 1990, Quailhill, page 3

Elizabeth Thornton asked where scraping corn was available. Todd Greenstone and the Stablers were two possible sources. She also bemoaned a large harvest of Georgia Jet sweet potatoes that were big and tasteless.

Susan Canby has powdery mildew on lilacs - should she prune them now? No, the mildew won't kill - it just weakens. Prune later.

Sally Eller inquired about japanese lotus. It was said that if the Earps were here they'd know.

John Hartge asked what favorite scents the group could come up with. Honey suckle, bridal veil, lilac, Viburnum, basil, lemon balm, wild artemesia, and mint were among those offered.

In the wake of Gordy Allen-Wardell's eloquent proponency of bee keeping, Bettes Hartge offered that a Bee Report might make a good addition to our meetings. There were nods of agreement but no movement was formally addressed.

Sherry Fletcher is looking for a stand of milkweed. Behind soccer field at SSFS suggested. She is interested in Monarch Butterfly eggs whose numbers have suffered considerably because of gypsy moth spraying. The Ellers have lots of milkweed but no monarch eggs. West Virginia Monarch count is way down.

Ted Fletcher has an adult Japanese Maple that is doing poorly. Brookside gardens has the same problem and if the missing members of the society were in attendance, they'd probably know what was wrong. Also what would be the advantage to being polluted at night? Less competition.

Ellis Manning watched a cicada killer in action. He made it sound like being next to a military proving ground crossed with roller derby and professional wrestling. Gordy Allen-Wardell related an instance when he was manning the Extension Service telephone when a concerned individual asked how he could keep his child from being attacked by a cicada killer. Gordy recommended never, never dress the child up as a cicada. Christie added that his tenure at the phones is not guaranteed.

We at some point appologized to our guests about the absence of our brain trust and agreed that in the future those members should not be given permission to slim our ranks so completely as they did that evening.

The hosts were grateful for those who did attend and congratulated themselves for passing themselves off as grownups. We concluded the meeting and agreed to next meet at Roslyn, home of the Hussmans when Harold Earp would be the assigned reader.

Humbly, Peter Austin sec/treas.

H/10/1990-1-

October 2, 1990, Roslyn, page 1

We held our last meeting of the year at Roslyn, home of the Hussmans. The warmth and familiarity of our surroundings was intimately appreciated and in direct contrast to the larger event of the moment which was the reunification of East and West Germany. Missing from the gathering included Jim Bullard, the Hanels, The Rogers, and the Ellers. Our guest for the evening was Jane Riggs.

After a meal the likes of which we would sorely miss for the next 5 months we began the meeting by reading the September minutes, dispensing with Unfinished Business and moving on to the Assigned Reader. Harold Earp had an article entitled "Talking Tidewater" by Robert Day. Mr. Day is a Kansas native who teaches at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. His wit, humor and landlocked heritage made for an amusing perspective on the ideocyncrasies of Eastern Shore lexicon.

Bettes Hartge followed with an article about foiling pests without poison. Beth Bullard contributed a treatment for black spot on roses, 1 tablespoon of baking soda per gallon should be sprayed on the plants weekly.

There were no old minutes so we went on to Forethought which gratefully included an implied respite during the cold months ahead. In these waning gardening weeks we were advised to check soil samples, start compost piles, plant green manure, and harvest the last crops of the season that could be damaged by cold weather. We were told it's a good time to plant bulbs and remember that the bigger the bulb the better the bloom. An aside included a query about which end of an anemone is up, the Solomons amongst us advised to plant those bulbs on their side. The final forethought suggestion dealt with cleaning up the garden to prepare for next year's effort as well as foiling pests from becoming entrenched in the wreckage of late gardening efforts.

The Meteorological Report mentioned September being a dry month with only 1/5 of the previous month's rainfall. Riverside reported 1.7 inches and National Airport logged .9 which was 2.6 inches below average. Our temperatures ran 77.3 for average high and 53.6 for an average low. On the 7th our high for the month was 89 degrees and the low of 36 happened on the 18th.

EXHIBITS A fine collection of late season harvests were admired. Unfortunately, the list of the offerings was misplaced. Following generations of SSHS members will have to suffer this void of information. It's the Secretary's fault - his name should live in infamy.

H/10/1990-2-

October 2, 1990, Roslyn, page 2

The Bird Report detailed a mob of starlings dominating the Chances birdbath, a great blue heron at one of Quailhill's ponds, and a confrontation and contest of skills and wills between blue jays and Orioles...armed with bats and chewing tobacco, I might add.

The Bee Report brought Ted Fletcher forward to describe how he treated his bees with menthol for trachial mites and it made them (the bees) mad...we hope the menthol made the mites bloomin' deceased.

Questions

John Hartge has a 5 year old peach tree with bacterial wilt. It is said that pundits recommend that the tree be cut down and replaced with a resistant variety. The prognosis is bad. A less extreme approach centers around experimentation and reporting back.

Lucy Hussman has a sour cherry tree that died but not without sending up shoots from the roots. Are these the same variety as the tree or are they from the rootstock? Advised to plant new tree.

Ellen Hartge put lilies of the valley on the north side of the house and they turned brown and died back. Is this normal? Yes.

Bettes Hartge asked if the Hussman's awful looking peonies are normal? Yes and no but what's important is to cut them down before or after the frost and remove them from the premises. Also she has a white poplar that's turning black. Attributed to aphids and not considered fatal. Advised to plant another tree.

Buzz Hussman recommends putting tree fertilizing holes around dripline of trees to increase their strength and resistance.

Mary Seiler has spotted tiny black worms that may have legs and seem to be nocturnal. Perhaps they are roly polies - a name they get from curling into a ball when they are touched.

Nancy Preuss has hoxta that seems damaged by shade-producing violets. Told that hoxtas are tough and will come back. Be happy don't worry.

Ellis Manning transplanted a japanese maple that did well but now the top branches are eaten away with no evidence of