May 2017 In This Issue President's Message A Message Program Great Plant Giveaway from the President Field Trips Spring Lunch April showers bring May flowers Membership Conservation The showers go on and the flowers are already here! How beautiful and Horticulture varied the gardens were on our Member's Tour! Plus, Mother Nature gave Gamble Garden us a beautiful day. Thank you to all who planned a most delightful day for Nominating us all! Mindy, Lindsay and committee and garden owners Katsy Swan, Karen McCaul, Nancy Wong, Bonnie Street and Mary Lou Johnson -- thank Project Funding you for all the hard work and stunning results. May Birthdays Program The glorious rain we've had this year means all our gardens are lush and Plant of the Month green. Any bare spots can be filled with great variety and economy at our May Great Plant Giveaway, right after our most exciting program. Besides recycling plants and "scoring " giveaways, we fill our gardens with On Your Calendar reminders of our friends. When I walk through my garden I see lamb's ears given to me by Adele, I see a miniature camellia from Denise, bergenia from Zellie, repeat blooming iris from Marion, roses from Joe, heritage grapes from Jim and Lucy -- a true friendship garden of the best kind: full of May 2 Meeting and Great Plant memories, sharing and friends. Giveaway May 10 Copy due for June Newsletter April brings showers, May brings flowers, so please share your I wish you each good pickings for great garden additions and friends at our gifts and talents Great Pant Giveaway, next month with us all. See you at Joan Sanders the share table. June Voorsanger, Chair of Share May Program Andrea Wulf Returns to Garden Club Don't miss Andrea Wulf, author of The Invention of Nature, Alexander von Humboldt's New World, at our May 2nd meeting. Wulf addressed the Garden Club in April of 2016, speaking to us about her research for Founding Gardeners and the horticultural passion of the men who shaped our country. Born in 1769 in Germany, Alexander von Humboldt seems to be a man ahead of his time. He precedes both Charles Darwin and John Muir, men we often look to for our ideas about nature. But, as Wulf tells us on page 8 of her book: "Humboldt gave us our concept of nature itself. The irony is that Humboldt's views have become so self-evident that we have largely forgotten the man behind them. But there exists a direct line of connection through his ideas, and through the many people whom he inspired. Like a rope, Humboldt's concept of nature connects us to him." Throughout his life, Humboldt went to great lengths to explore faraway places and investigate environments that were dangerous. These are brought to life in Wulf's book which provides an opportunity to learn about a man who was a vital part of science in general and environment issues in particular. Sue Krumbien, Chairwoman of the Day Great Plant Giveaway What? Our 6th Great Plant Giveaway! OK, can you believe it? Our sixth Great Plant Giveaway is just around the corner. This is getting to be a Garden Club tradition -- a loved and anticipated one at that! It's been a year since the last GPG (as it's now affectionately known), so in case you are rusty on the rules, here are some reminders: 1) When you come to the May 2 meeting, bring your extra plants, seedlings, cuttings, divisions, and seed packets in a box labelled with your name and the names of your plants. Don't forget your name -- we want to know who brought these green babies. 2) It really helps to label plants with their proper Latin name and cultivar, such as Sedum 'Angelina' or Pelargonium sidiodes. 3) You can also bring empty 4" pots and gallon cans. We'll have a table where you can leave them. 4) Don't forget a box or big bag to transport your new treasures. 5) Leave your donations on the tables in the church courtyard before the Member meeting. 6) The Giveaway begins 10 minutes after the meeting is adjourned. Please come and stand by your plants for awhile, as half the fun is in the sharing and shop-talk. 7) While you're browsing, you can visit the "Ask Me" table for help. There are helpers to talk to, books to consult, and plant labels if you need them. 8) At the end, please take away any of your plants that haven't been taken. Above all - Enjoy! Carol Malcolm and the Great Plant Giveaway Gang: Robin Allen, Connie Cavanaugh, Eleanor Laney, Vicki Sullivan, Katsy Swan and Gwen Whittier Field Trip Thursday, May 4th. Late morning, followed by lunch. A repeat visit to DERK HUNTER'S magnificent WOODSIDE GARDENS (last visit sold out quickly). Drive yourself or carpool. Cost: $15.00 (lunch by Douce France) Limit: 25 members. If you went on a previous visit and are interested in returning, we'll put you on wait list. We'd like to give priority to members who haven't gone before. Send your check made out to Garden Club of Palo Alto to: KAREN OLSON, 566 Washington Avenue, Palo Alto 94301 Iris Korol, Field Trips Spring Luncheon Membership Thank you to all who have already paid your due$ and have filled out the back of the Membership Renewal letter indicating any changes in personal information or status. Please also let us know your birth month, so we can honor you in our newsletter. It is important to all of us that you fill out the areas in which you will volunteer to be part of a committee, or even its chair, and list your special skills or knowledge. Although the board positions are filled for this year, the nominating committee will keep a list for next year. Mindy Kirkpatrick will give the list of members' choices to each committee chair who will set up the committees and contact you. It is always fun to work with your Garden Club friends. I will have extra Membership Renewal forms at the May meeting for those who wrote a check, but didn't fill out the form. Sue Beebe, Membership Chair Support our Local Birds Every patch of native greenery, however small, is a tangible contribution to healthy habitat for birds. Download the Audubon "Plants for Birds" website to identify and acquire the right plants for your location and the birds you love (such as this Song Sparrow). https://www.audubon.org/native-plants Conservation Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper In February 2017, the Xerces Society, collaborating with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, with funding from a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service State Wildlife Grant and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, launched the "Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper." Loss of milkweed is the most significant factor contributing to monarch declines in the eastern United States, yet little is known about the reasons for decline west of the Rockies. To help fill this information gap, the Xerces Society's Western Monarch Milkweed Mapper, a new citizen science program and data sharing platform, will gather milkweed and monarch observations across the butterfly's breeding and migratory range West of the Rocky mountains. Since our GCPA Monarch Migration Revival has already planted over 500 gardens with milkweed in our SF Peninsula, it is important we register our extensive project on the Xerces western milkweed map! Here's how you can help this happen: 1) Visit the WMMM website https://www.monarchmilkweedmapper.org to download the registration yourself and send in your milkweed photo OR (and much easier) 2) Let Eleanor do the work! Take a photo of your of your milkweed plant with its new spring leaves and email it to me ([email protected]) along with the address where it is planted. Please take two minutes to send me your milkweed photograph today! Many thanks, Eleanor Laney, Conservation Chairman Horticulture May in Your Garden Spring weather came early with lots of rain. My spring bulbs are long-gone! I take care of daffodil bulbs so they will multiply for next year. Cut off the fading flower, but the leaves should stay until they turn brown so the plant can put its energy into the bulb. This May it is important to put mulch around shrubs and trees to protect them from the wind and early summer heat. Put down compost, then a thick layer of mini-mulch. Leave an inch of space around the trunk. Garden experts agree that mulching is the most protective method for controlling seasonal heat and improving the soil. Mulching reduces the time spent weeding and cultivating, keeps plants cool, makes a bumpy surface that snails don't like, and encourages worms and other organisms that create healthy soil. Acid loving plants thrive in an acid environment such as pine needles, oak leaves, or peat moss as a mulch. I get a half yard of mini-mulch once a year delivered by Ciardella's. Summer Winds has 2 cu.ft. bags of mini-mulch. Avoid regular sized chips. They don't break down well. May is dahlia planting time. Find a sunny spot, dig a hole five inches deep, add a handful of bone meal covered by a small handful of soil. Lay the tuber on its side in the hole; put a stake at one end of the tuber; and close up the hole. Don't forget snail and earwig bait, or cover the first sprout with a quart-sized plastic pot with its bottom removed, shoving the empty container firmly into the soil.