Fayette Garden Club meets at Court House Manor

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Fayette Garden Club met at Court House Manor Activity Room on Oct. 9.

President Pam Rhoads called the meeting to order by reading a poem entitled “I Thank Thee Lord” by Grace Easley.

Roll call was answered by members giving the color of mums blooming in their yard.

Secretary Susan Meriweather and treasurer Debbie Carr gave their reports and they were approved.

The flower of the month was the Gazania, which is in the family of Asters.

Birthdays for the month of October were Carole Anderson and Susan Meriweather.

Debbie Carr gave the horticulture tip on planting and growing sunflowers. Sunflower seeds are best sowed outdoors directly in the garden. It is recommended putting a screen over seeds to keep birds and other animals from eating them.

Sunflowers can be started in a seedbed and transferred when they are small. If planted indoors use a peat pot. Start one to two weeks before last frost date.

Giant sunflowers should be spaced three feet apart in rows three to four feet apart. Regular and intermediate sunflowers planted two feet apart in rows three feet apart. Miniature sunflowers planted one foot in rows three feet apart.

Plant sunflower seeds or seedlings in a sunny location. They will withstand some shade but do best in the sun.

Sunflowers always point their blooms or face the rising sun in the East. They mature 70 to 90 days depending on the variety. Sunflowers need to be planted in rich soils to withstand strong winds. If planted in sandy soil they are easily uprooted.

Sunflowers are an annual plant. They can withstand mild frost but cover in spring if a hard freeze is expected. You can harvest seeds after the flower begins to die back. Pull out a seed and open to see if it is full. Cut off head, hang stalk to dry in a well-vented area. Don’t stack as they will mold. When dried, extract seeds by rubbing two flower heads together.

Members greeted residents who came for the making of fall crafts. Beautiful fall colored plastic leaves were handed out and they were decorated.

Refreshments were served and members and residents enjoyed the fellowship of being together. Members present were: Carole Anderson, Chris Boylan and Sharon Boylan, Debbie Carr, Marjorie Clifford, Jodi Kirkpatrick, Connie and Susan Meriweather, Joanne Montgomery, Pam Rhoads, and Dorothy Self.

By Connie Meriweather

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