Washington Garden Club met at Four Seasons Nursing Facility in March. The club went to visit and have lunch with member, Elsie Prater. She is doing well and seven members enjoyed the visit.
President JoAnn Brady, after having dessert of carrot cake, started the business meeting. Attendance roll call was taken by naming members’ favorite perennial flowers, tulips and daffodils were the most “favorite.”
There was a report on Nancy Esper, who fell at home and hurt her shoulder and arm. Tom explained what happened to the membership.
The club business was taken care of by JoAnn with the program first. “Lighting away Winter Blues” was given by Tom Esper. Plants thrive in sunlight. Household light is in the middle lightwaves. So by installing cool white flourescent lighting, it tends to emit higher levels of “blue lights.” The bulbs can be purchased. Place plants on a table with lights installed overhead — six inches overhead. The light is used for 14 hours to mimic the daylight hours. Then repeat with some night hours.
The horticulture report was given on tropical ferns. Many kinds of Boston ferns first made a debut in 1894. The ferns have a 400 million history in the world. This makes it the oldest plant on Earth. There are 10,000 species of ferns growing in North America.
The club discussed the children’s garden club held with Carnegie Library on North Street in May. Look forward to seeing a banner with the date and time, and the garden spot.
At the end of the meeting, JoAnn Brady closed the business meeting. Two members, Linda Warfield and Linda Morgan, were leaving the next day on a O.A.G.C. bus tour. The members were taking a trip to the Philadelphia annual flower show, “Wonders of Water.” This show is sponsored by the Philadelphia Horticultural Society. A scheduled private tour for Thursday was a total of six hours to view the complete show. Exhibits included “coy” fish ponds and falling water throughout. There were also waterfalls and pots with water trickling from the top of the pots. Some members attended an afternoon English Tea. The butterfly display had a hands-on feeding the butterflies option with a Q-tip dipped in sugar water. There were multi-breeds of different butterflies.
The tour continued two more days. They viewed the Frank Lloyd Wright Falling water home sight. This is one of 12 landmarks. It sets on 5,000 acres of mountains with 20 miles of marked hiking trails.
The tour continued to Pittsburgh’s Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. There was a glass Victorian style building with 23 rooms depending on the horticulture specimens growing in each room.
The bus arrived in Cambridge, Ohio at the end of the trip. The members saw two beautiful bald eagles as they made their way to their vehicles.
The April meeting will be held at Giovanni’s Pizza on April 3 at noon. Those interested in joining the group should call Linda Warfield at 937-675-9029.
