Club Minutes: Horticultural Society, 1991

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July 2, 1991, Pi Acres, page 1

The Sandy Spring Horticultural Society met at the Fletcher's for their first hosting of the group. If that distinction had anything to do with the lovely and much needed downpour that immediately preceded the meeting, we can thank the Fletchers for having a parade for the clouds to open up on. Despite a lightning damaged transformer in Sandy Spring that routed many of us to take a circuitous path we arrived and the rain tapered off so that we could admire the many endeavors of an imaginative and talented family. The Secretary can vouch that at any time of the day or year the Fletcher's enclave is always presentable, productive, and resplendent as the Society viewed it that evening.

Unfortunately missing were the Canbys, Priscilla Allen, Nancy Preuss, Beth Bullard, and Elie Rogers. Guests included Sherry Fletcher's parents Twyla and Lyle Mader.

Unbelievably, there were only two dessert dishes fielded for the meal's end. Not so unbelievable, we dined extravagantly and began the meeting around 9:00 with Ted Fletcher wielding the gavel in Nancy Preuss' absence. The previous minutes were read, corrected and passed.

The assigned reader was Edwina Earp who brought an article from the Wall Street Journal about 92 year old Brother Adam who has spent the last 76 years raising honey bees. "Raising" is a pale, insufficient term for the exhaustivem painstaking, and vitally important task of selectively breeding bees to resist diseases, parasites, and environmental peculiarities. When he's not roaming Europe and the Mediterranean searching for resistant strains of honeybees he is in a remote part of Scotland where he carries out the nuts and bolts of breeding strengths and weaknesses in and out of honeybees.

There was no volunteer article and so we went on to the reading of the minutes from 100 years ago.

We continued on to the Forethought which began with the understatement that there were a great many things to do. We were advised to water lawns early in the morning. Pant - I mean plant for fall harvest. Spray when air is calm. Apply 10-10-10 to tomatoes. Prune flowers. Stake plants. Give roses their last feeding and stop pinching mums ! The black locust trees will be suffering from seasonal leaf miner damage but don't worry. Side dress corn if bottom leaves are yellow and other indications hint low nitrogen. Weed, harvest, plant, and pray for rain.

Speaking of rain the Meteorologist reported that the 1st two weeks of the month gave us less than a quarter inch. The total for the month was 2.9" which was not helpful but the same as last year. The high temperature was 95 and the low was 47. The winds were mild and generally the whole month bore a close resemblance to last year's June.

Exhibits

Among the offerings Rose Hill included phlox, yarrow, astilbe, zinnia, nicotiana, cornflower, perovskia, and an unidentified white flower.

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July 2, 1991, Pi Acres, page 2

From the Havilands came cherries, squash, cucumbers, and beets. From Riverton came daylilies, phlox, purple cornflower, blanketflower, and coreopsis.

From Riverside came zucchini, yellow squash, cumuber, hungarian wax peppers, daylilies, shasta daisies, zinnias, yarrow, bee balm, and tickseed.

We followed the Exhibits with the Bird Report and the Dead Bird Report. Mo Chance reports more hummingbirds than ever and what does one do about bees raiding the hummingbird feeder. Advised to fashion a screen around the feeder tude tip that the hummers can get thier beak through but keeps the bees away. Mistaking this as an opening for pointedly pointless questions, a crank asked when beaks become bills. I think it was our host so we ignored him and went on to the Dead Bird Report. John Hartge related how Sam Haviland and a friend shot a number of crows and distributed them to select gardeners and orchardists in the area. Proper use of the cadavers involve hanging one in a prominent spot where the crows will gather in a raucous convention and reach the consensus that such a place should be shunned. Somehow this led to Buzz Hussman telling how he took a groundhog in a havahart trap to the animal shelter. They killed it and a couple weeks later he got a letter saying that the animal did not have rabies. (This is the man who told the squealing pig story last month). According to Buzz the authorities will pick up suspected rabid animals but will not test them for rabies unless expressly requested. Nobody ventured any questions but Ted mentiond that the foxes were quiet mangy. One of the treatments involves ecouraging the afflicted animal to cross Route 108 during rush hour.

The only committee report regarded the microfilming effort. Filming the minutes extends through 1987 and remaining entries will be processed in October. $5.00 was due from each member at the August meeting payable to Mo Chance.

Questions

Lyle Mader has seen black squirrles nearby. How common. Getting more so. The black squirrels started around the National Cathedral some years ago and now the population extends beyond the beltway in many areas.

Iduna Hanel has tomatoes with brown and wilted leaves. Probably early blight. Treat appropriately.

Ellen Hartge annoucned that Riverside has a crop of kittens available to willing homes.

Mary Seiler went to Mt. Vernon and was suprised to see a large pecan tree there. How common are they in this zone? Not necessarily common but there are a number of older houses in the area with large, thriving trees. Newer northern strains being introduced offer larger nuts and better harvests.

Caroline Hussman asked whether a thin skinned pepper she had in her garden gets it characteristics from the hot, dry weather or its variety. Most probably variety.

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July 2, 1991, Pi Acres, page 3

Jim Bullard reports overpopulated deer numbers in the Canaan Valley and also in parts of Pennsylvania and Michigan. On automobile deer whistles; 50% say they work, 50% say they don't.

Leslie Rogers asked how long the black swallowtail stays in its chrysalis. Monarchs stay in for 2 weeks if that's any help.

John Hartge inquired about egg salmonella and how viable is concern over it. Ellis Manning explained that restaurants are required to go to great measures to insure that egg inventories are as safe as possible. The effects of eating the eggs in question is said to be dangerous to the disabled or weak - of little concern to the healthy and strong. Are Ted Fletcher's chickens' eggs safe? Probably but to break open enough to make a proper meal would probably give a person carpal tunnel syndrome so better to go to a restaurant.

The hour was late and we closed the meeting with hearty thanks to the Fletchers for their hospitality. We agreed to next meet on August 6 at Riverton, home of the Ellers. Peter Austin would have been the reader if he wasn't going to be in Maine. Some people will go to great lengths to shirk their responsibility. So sue me

Humbly submitted sometimes,

Secretary/Treasurer

H/8/1991-1-

HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY

6 AUGUST 1991

The interior of Riverton was elegant, the grounds a delight when the Society convened on August 6 for its first meeting at the home of Sally and Tim Eller. The ample dinner was enhanced by the hospitality of the hosts and their guests, who insured that each table maintained a generous supply of edibles and potables.

After President Nancy Preuss called the meeting to order, the Ellers introduced their guests: son Mark, Kate Windsor, Pavita McIntyre, and Sally's brother Barry Van Riper and his wife Chrissie. Absent were the Fletchers, Rogers, Mary Seiler, and Elizabeth Thornton and Peter Austin.

Tom Canby, the reader, excerpted passages from an article in New Scientist magazine about the surprising affects of natural aspirin on plants. Scientists have found that salicylic acid, the active component of aspirin, provides a natural defense for plants, and can be produced by them with the proper stimulus. The voodoo lily, for example, secretes the acid to generate heat when its blossoms are fertile, generating an odor that attracts flies that polinate it. Tobacco plants that are infected with viruses unleash a surge of salicylic acid that manufactures proteins that vanquish the invaders.

Volunteer reader Jim Bullard drew on a chapter from The Birders' Handbook to describe the versatility of the bird's bill, or, if one prefers, its beak. Because the bird must use its forelimbs for flight, the bill/beak assumes the role of hands or paws, for purposes such as grasping objects, scratching the body, or making courting gestures. In the case of the skimmer bird, which passes its beak through the water, a twice-normal growth rate constantly replaces the worn appendage.

The subject of Puerto Rican sea turtles received a welcome addendum from Bill Hartge, who recently returned from the island with fresh lore. A female leatherback, he said, may lumber ashore to nest six or eight times in a season, planting as many as a thousand large eggs. Bill's research expanded to green turtles, and involved the tricky business of keeping the reptiles alive once they are captured.

Susan Fifer Canby read the August 1891 minutes of the meeting at Avalon. They brought forth the observation that fruit trees thrive especially near smokehouses, leading Iduna Hanel to speculate that the smoking may inhibit insects.

In his presentation on Forethought, Harold Earp urged the weekly watering of roses, the testing of soil before liming in order to discover its needs, and giving a try to tilling your soil at night to discourage weeds on the theory that absence of sunlight inhibits germination.

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Meteorologist John Hartge referred to the localness of the month's sparse rainfall--six inches here, none there. He recorded 2.1 inches for July--a figure "shamefully low."

Exhibits included a yard-long bean from a volunteer plant at the Chances', flowers and a basketball-size passport melon from the Earps, grand championquality tomatoes from Riverside, veggies and hibiscus from Roslyn, and flowers, herbs, and vegetables from Lea House.

Regarding the matter of the birds and the bees, Sally Eller displayed a finely woven gnatcatcher nest that had blown from a tree. Jim Bullard reported the extraction of honey without a sting, and Beth said that salad oil is reputed to discourage bees from imbibing at hummingbird feeders.

Reporting for the Microfilming Committee. Mo Chance said that collections were in from nine families-- not nearly enought to finance their vacation. Serious work will resume after the October meeting. Residual funds will go to Linda Hartge for making the record cover.

During the question session, Nancy Preuss asked if plants other than mums can be cropped to encourage less leggy plants, and Priscilla Allen added phlox to this category. To Tim Eller's question about heath, Nancy said it likes full sun. Regarding Priscilla's query about tomatoes, the consensus was that ripening does not require that the fruit be exposed to sunlight. Bette Hartge mentioned the opportunity to recycle virtually all clean, dry papers, including phone books, at the Clarksville firehouse Tuesdays between 2:30 and 6:30. Also did we know that a flea can jump 300,000 times without stopping? To Ellen Hartge's question about kitchen ants, Nancy Preuss recalled that cucumber skins can be a deterrent.

The secretary reminded the group that it would reconvene September 3 at Lakeview, with Jim Bullard as reader. The president concluded with appropriate remarks about the warmth and hospitality shown by our hosts, the Ellers.

Tom Canby, acting secretary