Naperville Community Gardeners Rosemary Holdredge, Editor Mary Wright, Distribution Established 1980 Purpose:To nurture the gardening interests of its members and the community through educational programs and community service projects. B E S URE TO F IND: Page 2 Page 3 Next Meeting April 3, 2006, 7 p.m. John Greene Realty 1311 S. Highway 59, Naperville (Hwy 59 and Montgomery Rd/83 rd St) Speaker: Topic: Chris Carey Night Light, Inc. Landscape Lighting 2006 Officers President Mary Wright Vice President Linda Thompson Secretary JoAnn Monge Treasurer Tom Campbell Past President Eleanor Holt Upcoming Events Welcome From the President Spring is finally here, we can begin to get outside and do some cleaning up and preparing for our spring planting. Don't forget as you're outside to think about what you might be able to dig up and donate for our member plant sale. If you can't dig it up yourself and/or need help, let us know. We have some great volunteers to help you. I hope those of you who can come help out at the Riverwalk cleanup later this month. It's amazing to see what we get done in a short period of time. Last year, despite the weather, our club was the only group outdoors - the rest canceled. Please come out and help beautify our area of the Riverwalk. This month at our regular meeting we can learn about lighting our landscape it's something that I've thought about doing. Linda Thompson is doing a great job picking speakers who are of interest to many (myself included!). Hope to see you on April 3! Happy planning and planting until then! Mary T. Wright President Page 4 Announcements
NCG Newsletter 2 Upcoming Events April 3 April 8 April 8 and 9 April 18 and 25 April 29 May 1 May 1 May 13 July 15 August 26 NCG Meeting Landscape Lighting Riverwalk Cleanup Growing Place Spring Festival Both locations Garden Workshop Ron Ory Sportsman s Clubhouse Arbor Day Tree Sale City of Naperville Loomis St. and Fifth Ave. NCG Meeting Garden Ponds Riverwalk Cleanup Cantigny Park greenhouses open to the public (one day only) NCG Plant Sale NCG Picnic at Seager Park NCG Flower and Garden Show Hot coffee will be waiting on you at the annual cleanup of the Riverwalk on April 8. Meet at 8 a.m. at 608 S. Washington Street behind the Coldwell Banker building. No rain date is scheduled because our hardy members will work right through anything but tornadoes! Bring garden tools and friends and family to join in the fun. Digging for Dollars As the weather gets warmer, and you start spring cleanup in your own garden, don t forget to pot up your extra perennials for the club plant sale in May. Everything sells and it s pure profit for the club! Keep track of what you have so that labels can be made ahead of time, and notify Betty Ference at (betty.ference @uchospitals.edu) of what you will bring. If you need help digging, let her know that, too, and she will find someone to assist. Minutes for March 6, 2006 Mary Wright called the meeting to order and turned it over to Linda Thompson. She welcomed member and guests. Nancy Herron moved to approve the minutes from the October meeting. Pam Westfall seconded the motion. Barbara Jones moved that the February minutes be accepted. Judy Kanarek seconded the motion. Both motions carried. Treasurer Tom Campbell gave the treasurer s report for 2005. Barbara Jones moved that the report be approved as presented. Judy Kanarek seconded the motion. The motion carried. Tom Campbell read the February report. Barbara Jones moved that the report be approved as presented. Kris Siuciak seconded the motion. The motion carried. Linda Thompson reminded the group that members must pay their dues. Nick Papadolias and Tom Campbell will be the chairs for our Flower and Garden Show. The Riverwalk cleanup is scheduled for April 8 at 8:30 a. m. We will meet behind the Coldwell Banker Building at 608 South Washington. We need to bring the tools we wish to work with. Pam Westfall is leading the Plant Sale. Most people are doing the same job as last year. Ollie will get the tables from the church. Carolyn Finzer is handling publicity. Betty Ference is handling the member plant sale. She wants to know who is willing to donate plants. The Morton Arboretum is looking for people who would be willing to plant David
NCG Newsletter 3 Elm trees on the parkway. They wish to monitor the success of these trees. The Prairie View Montessori School (at Butterfield and Farnsworth) is looking for a volunteer for the second week of June. They want someone to help children ages 3 to 6 to plant a bed. The summer picnic will be July 15 at Seager Park. The garden walk in the morning will concentrate on fruit, vegetable, and herb gardens. Betty Earl is setting up a field trip for June 17 or 24. The trip will be to either Peoria or the North Shore. Tuesday, April 18 and 25 we will be helping the Park District with the Beginners Garden Class. It will be held at the Sportsman s Clubhouse just north of the garden plots. The mini show included forced tulips brought in by Freda Haller, pussy willow shown by Bill Mills, and an amaryllis photograph taken by Chuck Baumrucker. Betty Earl showed a pond article that she called the pond of her dreams. Tom Campbell brought in an article on nontoxic mole repellant. JoAnn Monge gave a short talk on two invasive pests, the Asian longhorn beetle and emerald ash borer. For new business we discussed the possibility of marching in the Memorial Day parade. A Victory Garden theme for the club was suggested. Linda Thompson will check into the feasibility of this. Carolyn asked about selling buddy poppies as a fundraiser for the VFW. Nothing was decided. Pam Westfall made a motion to adjourn and Barbara Jones seconded. The motion passed. Refreshments were taken care of by Freda Haller and Nick Papadolias. Linda Thompson introduced the speaker, Jeff Gibson, marketing manager from the Ball Seed Company. His topic, What s New for 2006 and Beyond covered 40 of their new introductions. He brought a handout with color pictures for reference. During the slide show he described the best growing conditions for each plant and highlighted some design possibilities. He concluded his program by giving away all of the plants he had brought. Every member went home with at least one gift. Respectfully submitted, JoAnn Monge, Secretary Let s give a warm welcome to the nine new members of the Naperville Community Gardeners! Meet them at the next meeting and ask about their special interests. Joining in January were Rod Beary, Jill Borlick, and Patti Thompson. Rod is an organic veggie gardener who sells his produce at the Naperville Farmer s Market. Jill is also interested in growing vegetables but has a special place in her heart for containers. Patti enjoys perennials and containers and has graciously volunteered to be the club photographer! Larry and Sima Petri joined in February. They are more interested in flowers but enjoy all types of gardening. Sharon Kragh, Bea McGovern, and John and Suzie Steinmetz found the club in March. Sharon enjoy flowers and garden design. She already has a pond in her yard! Bea loves hostas all you hosta collectors take note. John and Suzie specialize in raised bed vegetable gardening, and John has taught classes at COD.
NCG Newsletter 4 April, April, Laugh thy girlish laughter, But, the moment after, Weep thy golden tears! Sir William Watson (1858 1935) Growing Place Spring Festival The Growing Place is having its Spring Festival at both locations in Naperville and Aurora on April 8 and 9. There will be design classes and workshops every hour and activities for children. Hours on Saturday are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Sunday, from noon to 5 p.m. Arbor Day Tree Sale Hundreds of tree will be will be sold by the City of Naperville on Saturday, April 29, from 8 a.m. until noon at the Department of Public Works on Loomis Street at Fifth Avenue. Magnolias, lilacs, and crab apples will be available as well as shade and ornamental trees. Experienced club members advise that you get there very early if you want a tree. This sale is open only to Naperville residents and buyers are limited to three trees. A complete list of sale trees and prices is available on the city Web site, www.naperville.il.us. David Elms The Morton Arboretum is conducting research on a new variety of elm, the David elm, and they have made available about two dozen trees to Naperville. These trees need to be planted on parkways so they are easy for the Arboretum to inspect and monitor. If you are interested in one or more of the trees, contact Patti Sauntry at the City of Naperville, (630) 548-2982. Bus Tour Pull on your walking shoes and grab your camera for our June bus tour! Betty Earl promises that this tour will not be canceled no matter what. Tentative dates are June 17 and 24. Betty is finalizing arrangements for the trip either to Peoria or the North Shore. April is a promise that May is bound to keep. Hal Borland In Memoriam Earl Taylor, an early member of our club, died on March 17 after a long illness. He was very active in the club for many years. Earl was a psychologist with offices on Ogden Avenue, and the club often held its meetings at his offices during the early years. A memorial service will be held in the Century Memorial Chapel at Naper Settlement on Saturday, April 1, at 9:30 a.m.
NCG Newsletter 5 Post Office Box Don t forget to give out our post office box address when someone asks about the club! Other clubs like to send us their news, and it s easy for our snow birds to mail in their dues to the same address every year. Naperville Community Gardeners P.O. Box 9555 Naperville, IL 60567-9555