Fayette Garden Club meets for August picnic

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Members of the Fayette Garden Club were greeted as they arrived at the cottage home of Mary Estle at Cedarhurst. Assisting hostess Pam Rhoads showed the members where to put their covered dishes for the picnic.

President Susan Meriweather thanked the hostesses for having the picnic at Cedarhurst. She offered a prayer for the bountiful meal and the hands who prepared the food.

President Meriweather opened the business meeting and stated the club lost a very dear friend, Mary Morgan. A bud case with pink roses, baby’s breath and ferns were sent from the club.

Roll call was answered by giving a name of a fall vegetable. Some named were kale, pumpkin, squash, cabbage and turnips.

Secretary Jodi Kirkpatrick and Treasurer Debbie Carr gave their reports and they were approved as read.

Birthday greetings were extended to Jodi Kirkpatrick and Mary Estle.

Vice President Pam Rhoads gave an update on the fall regional meeting to be held on Oct. 8, 2015.

Marge Clifford gave information on the programs for the upcoming year.

The Judy Chapel has been sprayed for weeds around the hosta beds and the plants continue to be watered.

The horticulture tip was given by Pam Rhoads on storage of green tomatoes. Wrap them in newspaper and place in a card board box. Some other tips were leaving the tomatoes on the vine and store the entire plant in a cool dry place, upside down or lay the green tomatoes in a box and place newspapers on top and continue until you have them all covered by each layer and store.

President Susan gave information on fall vegetables. Get a last blast from your veggie patch with quick crops that go from seed to table in 40 days or less. Sow in September quick growing plants such as arugula, mustard, spinach, turnips, and crispy red radishes – they will be ready to pick in little more than a month. Also try pretty Asian greens, such as tatsoi or mizua, which grow so fast that you will have baby plants to add to stir-fries and soups just three days after sowing.

Plant the following in late summer for fall harvest – beets, carrots, green onions, Chinese cabbage, broccoli and cabbage cousins, such as cauliflower and Kohlrabi.

The hardiest fall vegetables – spinach and kale – often grow well into early winter. Thin covered spinach to give it plenty of elbowroom and stop picking leaves when freezing weather arrives. When protected by a blanket of snow or a plastic tunnel, spinach can survive winter and produce a flush of sweet leaves first thing in spring.

The flower of the month was Hyssop. It is a herbaceous plant of the genus Hyssopus native to Southern Europe, the Middle East and the region surrounding the Caspian Sea. Due to its properties as an antiseptic, cough reliever, and expectorant, it is commonly used as an aromatic herb and medicinal plant.

Hysop is a brightly colored shrub about one to two feet in height. The stem is woody at the base and grows a number of straight branches. Its leaves are dark green in color. During the summer, the plant produces bunches of pink, blue or more rarely, white fragant flowers.

Hyssop also appears symbolically in the Bible. When the Israelites marked their doorposts with lamb’s blood in order for the angel of death to pass over them, God instructed them to use a branch of hyssop as a “paint brush”(Exodus 12:22). This was probably because hyssop was sturdy and could withstand the brushing, but it also likely signified that God was marking His people as “pure” and not targets of the judgment God was about to deal out to the Egyptians.

The program was presented by Mary Estle on Plants in the Bible. Mary said that we need to start where it all began in Genesis 1:29. Remember the story of Joseph and the coat of many colors that his father gave him and made his brothers so jealous that they sold him to a caravan. This was all in God’s plan. There was a great famine and his brothers had to eventually come to Joseph and buy grain.

For healing, they used the aloe plant and for embalming they used spices. Myrrh and aloes were used on Jesus’ body. Jesus said “if you have faith the size of a mustard seed you can say to the mountain be cast into the sea and it will be done.’’

Not many flowers are mentioned in the Bible. In the Song of Solomon, Jesus is referred to as the Rose of Sharon and also the Lily of the Valley. Neither of these are the plants we call by those names today. The Rose of Sharon was a tulip like flower with bright red blossoms and the word Sharon refers to a coastal plain in Palestine. The Lily of the Valley was a beautiful purple plant.

Trees mentioned are almond, apple, ash, cedar, chestnut, fig, fir, oak, pine, palm, sycamore and willow. Spices mentioned are cinnamon, cumin, garlic, mint and mustard. Fruits and vegetables are corn, cucumber, melon, olive, onion, dates, grapes and pomegranate. Grains mentioned are flax, wheat, barley and rye.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent enjoying the beautiful, serene setting of Mary’s cottage. You could sit on her screened in porches and listen to the many birds and sounds of summer.

Members attending were: Carole Anderson, Chris Boylan and her daughter Sharon, Vicki Cardenas, Debbie Carr, Marjorie Clifford, Mary Jane Esselbourne, Mary Estle, Jodie Kirkpatrick, Connie Meriweather, Susan Meriweather, Joanne Montgomery, Linda Morgan and Pam Rhoads.

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