Minutes
Officers & Committees

Sault Area Garden Club Minutes of January 21, 2008 Meeting

Nancy Fenlon opened the meeting at 7:05 PM. Karen Cook read the November meeting minutes; it was explained that there were no minutes taken at the December Christmas party meeting. Nancy added that at our last meeting, we approved payment of $200 to St. James Church. Other additions to the minutes, mentioned by Dorothy Dansdill, were that on Nov. 19, new members received their binder notebooks. Also, club-made Christmas decorations were given to the Htoo family who have recently arrived in town from Burma. Susan Harries moved to accept the minutes; Dorothy Dansdill seconded. Minutes were approved.

Kathy Packman told us a bit about the new Burmese family mentioned. They arrived in town in a blizzard and were thrilled with out snow. They were also impressed with their Christmas tree and dishwasher! Diane McDonald added some more information about the family and their attempts to deal with such a foreign culture as ours.

Selden Collins mentioned that an AARP article warns against mail order nurseries. There is a Garden Watchdog page at www.davesgarden.com for those who would like customer reactions to various nurseries.

Selden also discussed some results from the city compost pike which was sent to MSU for soil analysis. It was found to be quite acidic, which would certainly limit some plants but favor blueberries, rhododendrons, and other plants which thrive in acidic soil.

We took a break for tasty snacks provided by Connie Mattson and Linda Carrick.

Diane McDonald and Paula Jarosz were to be the featured speakers, but Paula was absent. Diane gave an interesting and well researched talk about lilacs. They had been to Mackinac Island last summer and talked with Jeff Young who had been hired to rejuvenate the island’s lilac bushes. He explained that while lilacs are thought to originate in France, they actually have a 16th century Turkish origin. They were brought to the New World in the 17th Century. The life span is about 25 years, but many on the island are older. Diane mentioned some valuable tips: Lilacs don’t like “wet feet” or commercially dyed wood chip mulch around their roots. They are also sensitive to nicks from mowers, weed wackers, etc. They thrive in zones 3-7. Pruning time is critical and right after flowering, and dead heading is a good idea. Diane passed out several lilac information sheets and then gave us a recipe for a spray mixture for phlox, roses, etc: 1 gal, warm water, 3T baking soda, and 1 T Murphy’s Oil Soap. Spraying can be done every 7-10 days.

Susan Harries conducted the raffle.

We adjourned to our cars and all hoped they would start in the very frigid temperatures.

Phyllis Bigelow, secretary