March

P.O. Box 633
Clayton, CA 94517
2016
Volume 19 Issue 2
Judy Bates, Editor
“Life begins the day you start your
Garden Club Meeting
Diamond Terrace @ 7:00pm
Mission Statement
The Clayton Valley Garden Club
was formed to bring together
people in our area with a common
interest in gardening and to develop that interest.
Garden Club Officers 2016
Diane Selmer - President
Nadine Findley - Vice President
Barry & Marcia Hart
Membership
Linda Cruz - Programs
Robin Willis - Secretary
Michelle Ortiz - Treasurer
Meetings
Meets the 2nd Wed. of the month
(No meetings in Dec. & Jan.)
7pm to 9pm at Diamond Terrace
6401 Center St. Clayton, Ca 94517
Web Site:
www.claytonvalleygardenclub.org
CVGC
March 9, 2016
Rose Loveall will be our
guest speaker . She will
talk about “Herbs for the
Mediterranean Garden”.
She will be focusing on
more of the drought tolerant herb choices for culinary and medicinal use, as
well as, herbs for attracting beneficial insects into
the garden. She will bring handouts and plants for
sale. (See pages 12 & 13 for more info)
Hope to see everyone!
.
THANK YOU!
Our many THANKS
to Troy McGregor for
a wonderful presentation at our February
meeting. We enjoyed
having you.
MAR. 2016
A Message from Our Vice President
Nadine Findley
March 2016
Dear Clayton Valley Garden club Members,
Thanks to all who came to our February Club meeting. This was my first meeting as
the Vice President of the Clayton Valley Garden Club (CVGC). Thanks to everyone
being so supportive and helping me run the February Club meeting. Also as a reminder we are still looking for a volunteer for the Publicity Chair position.
At our February meeting, Linda Karp and her CVGC volunteers had been hard at
work preparing and delivering an unbelievable 1,230 festively decorated flowering
plants for our 5th successful Annual 'Blossoms for Barbara' Valentine's event to our
neighbors in Convalescent Care, Hospice, Veterans Centers, Battered Women's
Shelters, and the shut-ins receiving Meals on Wheels. The event received donations
from CBCA for $1,000 and a Thank You card with a $100 donation from Concord
Royale Assisted Living. Thank you Linda Karp and your crew of volunteers for your
work that is bringing so much joy to the elderly and sick.
The first Potting/Propagation party of the year was held at Linda Cruz's home on Friday, February 26 and those that attended had a great lunch made by Jesse (Linda's
husband). The Potting Parties are fun to attend and you will always learn something
new. If you missed this workshop there will be more to follow. The potting parties/
workshops may teach you about propagation, planting seeds and repotting plants.
Some of those plants are now housed at the Hoop House waiting for our Annual
Spring Plant Sale. The plants are sold at our Annual Spring Plant Sale in May. The
Annual Spring Plant Sale event raises funds to operate our club's business
such as helping to finance the different projects at schools, the Hoop House, Community Events, our speaker's fees, the club's insurance, and the Clayton Valley Garden
Club's annual BBQ.
On a different subject, at the end of 2014 Robb built a
barn owl nest box in our garden (Bumblebee Farm & Garden). Last year the barn owls used the nest box for their
offspring. Our barn owls are back again this year in the
nest box. We hope to have more baby owls. The owls are
absolutely beautiful and a great addition to our garden.
Besides Robb and I, one of our neighbors adores listening
to the baby owlets at night.
Per Wikipedia - Weight for weight, barn owls consume
more rodents than possibly any other creature. Having a
Barn Owl in your garden may help you with rodent problems such as rats, voles, mice & gophers.
Photo - By Peter Trimming from Croydon, England
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MAR. 2016
Vice President’s Message cont’…
Please remember our membership renewals are due. The Clayton Valley Garden Club
meetings are held on the second Wednesday of the month (February - November)
from 7:00 – 9:00 PM at Diamond Terrace, 6401 Center Street, Clayton, CA. Our meetings are open to the public so please bring a friend or neighbor. Our next speaker on
Wednesday, March 9, is Rose Loveall from Morningsun Herb Farm; her topic will be
about herbs. Please note herbs are great for your garden. Herbs attract beneficial insects, bees and butterflies to your garden besides adding beauty and versatility to the
garden. Herbs can be used in cooking, medicinal, and for fragrance.
As a reminder even though we have had some rainy weather, last year was one of our
worst droughts. We need to be conscious of our water use and conservation as we
can all make a difference. Look for upcoming Drought-Tolerant seminars, Grey-Water
workshops, Rainwater workshops and other interesting events in this newsletter’s
“Dates to Remember” section, and through our CVGC emails. In 2015 Biologist Greg
Asner stated that California's forest were in extreme trouble from the drought. He said
that there is no saying which trees will die, but by his estimation the count statewide
could be close to 120 million — as much as 20% of the state's forests. Please consider donating to our National Forest through Pine Pines' donations which will make a difference to our forest and future generations.
Please check out our newsletter and website for upcoming events and speakers!
Hope to see you at our next Clayton Valley Garden Club meeting. Let's make our
next meeting a great social event and have a great time with our friends at the garden
club. Please if you have time, bring some goodies / refreshments to share. Also if you
have unwanted items to give away for our Raffle or for the silent auction for Penny
Pines, please bring them. Please save your unwanted gentle used garden items for
our Plant Sale in May. Also a big Thank You to all our Officers, Program Chairs and
volunteers, you make a difference for our club and the community! Judy Bates thanks for the beautiful and informative newsletters and everyone else that contributes
pictures and articles. This will be an exciting year for our Club, with some new and ongoing projects currently under way, and interesting and fun Club events.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Nadine Findley
Vice President
The Owl nest box is
located near the back
of our garden.
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MAR. 2016
MARCH
9th (Wed): Meeting, CVGC at 7:00pm at Diamond Terrace.
12th (Sat): Trees: Drought to El Nino Workshop, 10:30am to 11:30am at Ruth Bancroft
Gardens.
APRIL
6th (Wed): Bouquets to Art Trip. See page 11 for details.
9th (Sat): Lawn to Garden Workshop, 10am to 2pm at Ruth Bancroft Gardens.
15th-17th (Fri-Sun): Spring Fling at Ruth Bancroft Gardens, see website for details.
18th (Mon): Tour of Ruth Bancroft Gardens at 10:30am.
21st (Thur): DFD Workshop, California and Non Profit Tax Filings, Details to follow.
Be sure to see page 15 for a look at who’s coming
to speak at our meetings this year!
REFRESHMENT SCHEDULE
MONTH
SNACKS
DRINKS
MARCH
No Info Given
No Info Given
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
JULY
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MAR. 2016
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MAR. 2016
BLOSSOMS FOR BARBARA 2016
Our first “Blossoms for Barbara” event started Valentines of 2012. Club members were
requested to bring in one flowering plant. I expected we would be delivering about 50
plants to patients at one hospice care facility for Valentines Day. I spread the word
about our quest, and plant and monetary donations poured in. For this our 5th year ,we
delivered 1,230 gifts of love and compassion for Valentine’s Day. All the festively decorated flowering plants were delivered and gifted to those under hospice care, shut-in patients in assisted living and convalescent locations, battered Woman’s Shelters, a Veterans Hospice, and the elderly and shut-in recipients of Meals on Wheels in the Contra
Costa area.
I created this event in loving memory of my mother Barbara Manss who passed away
in November 2011. We named this event 'Blossoms for Barbara' in her memory. I wanted to bring a little joy to those who were dying , and their families which were dealing
with the horrible grief of loosing someone they loved. Together with donations from
businesses, hospice agencies, organizations including our own Clayton Business And
Community Association, individuals and families - in these past five years we have been
able to touch the hearts of 3,080 recipients; not counting for the wonderful impact bestowed on their families, friends and care givers. When this venture started we were
hoping to put a smile on much deserving faces. We never anticipated the smiles, joy and
happiness it would bring the care givers, nurses, minsters, and counselors who were
helping to deliver the flowers.
Letters of appreciation have been received from the recipient organizations, the U.S.
Department Of Veterans Affairs, the recipients themselves and their families. This event
makes such a wonderful impact and is such a huge success. Every year many articles are
written about it in local publications, Meals on Wheels Hospice and convalescent newsletters. Last February I was honored by a request to do a television interview with San
Francisco's KPIX Channel 5 News Anchor Frank Millacoat for his Bay Sunday show
about our event.
Our 'Blossoms for Barbara' event continues to surpass any of our expectations . Last
year we were honored to received the California Garden Clubs Inc. first place award for
out standing community impact . We hope to continue to touch even more hearts and
gift even more flowering plants to those so much in need of a little love and kindness.
This touching event was so very appreciated by so many these past five years ... It’s hard
to believe how much love and joy one little flowering plant can bring.
Please consider donating towards our event so we can continue to deliver gifts of love
and compassion for Valentine’s Day.
Sincerely,
Linda Manss Karp
'Blossoms for Barbara' Chair
Clayton Valley Garden Club
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MAR. 2016
BLOSSOMS FOR BARBARA
PHOTOS 2016
Delivery to Meal on Wheels
for Contra Costa County.
Eleanor in an assisted living location
in Concord. She is 105 years old!
(LtoR) Laurie Herbert of
Gentiva Hospice Agency
along with Carla Thompson,
Betty Armes, Susan Balha,
Sandy Leonard, Carin Kaplan,
Bruce Balha, Marcia Hart,
Barry Hart, Robin Willis,
Lew Thompson, and Elaine
Billeter, kneeling is Linda
Manss Karp, Program Chair.
All pictures courtesy of
Micha Photography
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MAR. 2016
HOOP HOUSE PROJECT
What’s up at the Hoop House
Many Thank you’s go to Mike Harvey for installing the nice little greenhouse donated
by Ben Shikano; to Nancy Harvey for pulling up the weeds in the caged garden pathway; to Rory Richmond for cutting old donated fence boards for shelving (to store
pots, soil, plants, etc.) and digging up young Pomegranite and Empress trees; to Barry and Marcia Hart for helping with shelf installation, weeding, digging up Pomegranite Trees and potting them up in preparation for the Plant Sale; and to Gloria Utley for
donating the trees on her property for the Plant Sale.
The Empress Trees are native to China and when young have gigantic leaves. I
can’t wait to see the bloom as photos appear to be spectacular. I did read it is an
invasive tree and not shipped to Hawaii or California. We do have more young trees
to dig up at the Hoop House site and to prepare for the Plant Sale, but, we may need
to research before deciding to sell.
The Interesting Empress Tree
Here is some information I found on Wikipedia about the Empress Tree also known as
a Foxglove Tree: It grows 33–82 ft tall, with large heart-shaped to five-lobed leaves
6–16 in across, arranged in opposite pairs on the stem. On young growth, the leaves
may be in whorls of three and be much bigger than the leaves on more mature
growth. The very fragrant flowers are produced before the leaves in early spring,
long, with a tubular purple corolla resembling a foxglove flower. Paulownia tomentosa can survive wildfire because the roots can regenerate new, very fast-growing
stems. It is tolerant of pollution and it is not fussy about soil type. For this reason it
functions ecologically as a pioneer plant. Its nitrogen-rich leaves provide good fodder
and its roots prevent soil erosion.
In China, the tree is planted at the birth of a girl. The fast-growing tree matures
when she does. When she is eligible for marriage the tree is cut down and carved into
wooden articles for her dowry. Carving the wood of Paulownia is an art form in Japan
and China. In legend, it is said that the phoenix will only land on the Empress Tree
and only when a good ruler is in power. Several Asian string instruments are made
from P. tomentosa, including the Japanese koto and Korean gayageum zithers. The
soft, lightweight seeds were commonly used as a packing material by Chinese porcelain exporters in the 19th century, before the development of polystyrene packaging.
CVGC
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MAR. 2016
HOOP
HOUSE
PHOTOS
Rory, Marcia, Barry & Linda C trying
to dig up this little but “MIGHTY”
pomegranate. This group of 5 pomegranate seedlings were very tough to
dig out and even cracked a shovel.
Don’t let the tiny size fool you!
Mike Harvey installing the greenhouse.
Rory & Barry making shelving.
The beautiful Empress Tree.
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MAR. 2016
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MAR. 2016
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MAR. 2016
A bit about Rose Loveall and Morningsun Herb Farm
by Rose Loveall
Morningsun Herb Farm started 21 years ago as a small specialty nursery in rural Vacaville,
California, growing about 75 varieties of culinary and medicinal herbs. Owner Rose LoveallSale, her father, her brother Lee Loveall and husband Dan Sale built the nursery from the
ground up, removing walnut trees from an old orchard and building a greenhouse, several cold
frames and a small sales area. Each year the nursery expanded and now includes 2 greenhouses, 8 cold frames, a class room, demonstration gardens and sales area. Offerings
from the nursery have expanded as well, to
over 600 varieties of annual and perennial
herbs, scented geraniums, ornamental
grasses and vegetables.
Rose grew up in a farming family, with
grandparents who grew prunes, peaches
and livestock just across the road from the
current location of the nursery. She went
to University of California, Berkeley and
received a Forestry degree, and to University of California, Davis for a Master’s
degree in Horticulture. She worked for 5
years for the US Forest Service growing tree seedlings but decided that growing many thousands of one tree species was not going to be enough to feed her passion for propagating and
growing plants. After finding the magazine ‘The Herb Companion’ in 1992, she decided to go
into the herb growing business. The family farm ended up the most obvious place to start an
herb nursery, close to both the Bay Area and Sacramento, with flat land, water and electricity
already on site and Rose’s father eager to help build the project. After a year of building and
propagating the nursery opened for business in the spring of 1995. Rose’s husband Dan originally helped out on weekends, keeping his ‘day job’ as an engineer for Hewlett-Packard, but in
2005 decided to take early retirement and expand Morningsun’s operations to include mail order.
New plants are always popping up at the nursery. Plants end up at Morningsun in many ways,
from other enthusiastic growers, seed suppliers, and from the ‘busmen holiday’ excursions to
other nurseries. Patented varieties come from other growers, but some of the more interesting
plants have come into the nursery as an unusual specimen plant. The demonstration gardens,
spread throughout the grounds under and around walnut trees, are wonderful for testing new
plants and to maintain larger hardy specimen plants for cuttings and seed collection.
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MAR. 2016
Rose Lovall Cont’...
Plants are grown on-site at Morningsun, so it is possible on a visit to the nursery to pop your
head into the greenhouses and see all stages of growth, from new cuttings and seed on. Also,
plants spend a minimum amount of time pampered in greenhouses, so when you transplant our
product into your own yard you can be assured not only of good quality plants, but plants that
have been hardened off and can take a bit harsher treatment.
Morningsun hosts several events during the season. The largest is the annual Open House, a
free event the weekend before Mother’s Day, and features many delicious herbal treats in a
large food tasting. Herbal vendors and educators are there, and free herb and gardening talks
are scheduled all day. A second event held in conjunction with Slow Food Solano in mid August is ‘Tomato Day’, Many of the varieties grown at the farm for sale in the spring can be
tasted as well as unusual heirloom varieties. In addition many classes in gardening, herbal
medicine and crafting are available throughout the year. Tours of the nursery can be arranged,
and often tour groups bring lunch to enjoy in the gardens under the walnut trees.
Morningsun Herb Farm, located at 6137 Pleasants Valley Rd, is open Tuesday through Sunday,
9 am to 5 pm from mid February through October; 11 am to 4 pm Thursday through Sunday
November until Dec 24th; and weekends 11 am – 4 pm from the last weekend in January
through mid February. Newsletters, current catalog, on-line ordering, recipes upcoming classes and other information are available at the website, www.morningsunherbfarm.com.
A FEW MORE PICS!
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MAR. 2016
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MAR. 2016
LOOK WHO’S COMING...
By Program Chair, Linda Cruz
CVGC Programs Coming in 2016
FEBRUARY: For the fir st pr esentation of the year , we enjoyed Tr oy McGr egor , Gar den
Manager of Ruth Bancroft Garden. A tour of the RBG has been arranged for April 18th at
10:30 AM. Currently, 12 members have signed up. The signup sheet will be at the March
meeting if you would like to join us.
MARCH: On Mar ch 9th, Rose Loveall of Morningsun Herb Farm will be speaking to us
about herbs. http://www.morningsunherbfarm.com/ssp/home
APRIL: On Apr il 13th, Clayton resident, Kelly Marshall will speak to us about bringing back
native plants. https://kmgardendesign.wordpress.com/
MAY: On May 11th, our own always entertaining Garden Girl, Nicole Hackett, will give us a
presentation.
JUNE: On J une 8th, Corky Quirk from U.C. Davis will speak about Bats in our Gardens.
http://norcalbats.org/index.shtml
JULY: On J uly 13th, Sara Leon Guerrero from U.C. Berkeley will be speaking to us about
Native Bee in our Gardens. (Not Honey Bees) http://helpabee.com/
AUGUST: On August 10th, we will meet at the Clayton Pumpkin Farm instead of Diamond
Terrace where Karen and Anna Azkaria will demonstrate how to make a Hypertufa pot; and
then we will try to make our own Hypertufa pots. https://www.bing.com/images/search?
q=zakaria+hypertufa&qpvt=zakaria+hypertufa&qpvt=zakaria+hypertufa&FORM=IGRE
http://www.succulentsandmore.com/2014/04/visiting-anna-zakarias-whimsical.html
https://www.pinterest.com/dme52/hypertufa/
SEPTEMBER: On September 14th, Rory and his co-workers will talk about apples.
OCTOBER: On October 12th, Joan Morris, of Contra Costa Times, will speak to us about
Wildlife in our Gardens.
NOVEMBER: On November 9th, we will continue what former Program Chair, Al Malick,
began: a slide show of photos shared by CVGC members.
LOOKS LIKE A GREAT LINE UP!
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MAR. 2016
CLAYTON VALLEY GARDEN CLUB
GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
February 10, 2016
Meeting was called to order by Vice President, Nadine Findley @ 7:07 PM.
Minutes of November 2015 were approved as written.
INTRODUCTION OF 2016 CLUB OFFICERS
President – Diane Selmer
Vice President – Nadine Findley
Treasurer – Michelle Ortiz
Secretary – Robin Willis
Membership – Barry & Marcia Hart
Programs – Linda Cruz
Parliamentarian – Jan Rubiales
OFFICER’S REPORTS
Treasurer - Michelle Ortiz – provided an updated financial report. A hard copy was provided
to the secretary and the vice president for file and hard copies were made available at the back
table for membership to review. Members were reminded to please get their membership dues
in.
Membership – Barry & Marcia reported there were 42 regular members in attendance. Tonight’s guests were Patti Snyder, Cindy Pike and Barb Beranis. Three new members joined
tonight, Jaqui Schaefer, Judy Disbrow and Brenda Orcutt.
Program Chair – Linda Cruz – tonight’s speaker is Troy McGregor, Garden Manager from
Ruth Bancroft Garden. The following was announced as upcoming speakers throughout the
year.
*March - Rose Loveall from Morning Sun Herb Farm will speak about herbs.
*April - Kelly Marshall will speak about Native Plants.
*May - Garden Girl, Nicole Hackett.
*June - Corky Quirk, U.C. Davis, will speak about bats in the Garden and will bring live
bats.
*July - Sara Guerrero, U.C. Berkeley, will speak about Native Bees in the garden.
*August – members will meet at the Clayton Valley Pumpkin Farm where Karen and Anna
Azkaria will demonstrate how to make Hypertufa pots. Members will be able to make
their own pot.
*September- Rory Richmond will have his co-workers join us to speak on “All About
Apples”
*October - pending confirmation from Joan Morris to speak about “Wildlife in the
Garden”.
*November – during the last 2 years Al Malick has provided a member slide show.
Membership, by way of a show of hands, approved to continue this program.
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MAR. 2016
Meeting Minutes Cont’...
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Museum Garden – Steve Lane –work party took place this past Saturday (2/6/16) to spruce up
the museum garden. Appreciation was provided by JoAnn Casper about work performed
throughout the year by garden club volunteers.
Penny Pines – Steve Lane – nothing to report, more to come during future meetings.
Olympic High School – Lew and Carla Thompson – message was received from the school
about drought effects to the school garden. A request was made for mulch, rakes, shovels and
hoes. The school is looking for donations of any old tools.
Diablo View Middle School – Nicole Hackett – absent.
Mt Diablo Elementary School – Chris Callahan – absent. Nadine reported that the is project
moving forward. There will be a request for funds and volunteers in the future.
Blossoms for Barbara – Linda Karp – finished preparing and delivering approximately 1,230
plants this morning. Received a $1,000 donation check from CBCA. Received a thank you
card with a $100 donation from Concord Royale Assisted Living.
Plant Sale Committee – Debbie Eistetter, Nancy Harvey and Carin Kaplan –announced there
will be a potting party at Linda Cruz’ house Friday, Feb 26th at 10:00 AM (Jesse Cruz will provide lunch). Lessons on propagation will be offered and there was a request to bring previously
propagated plants for potting. Signup sheets are available for volunteers to support plant sale
(May 7th).
Hoop House – Linda Cruz –in the interest of time, future information will be posted newsletter. Questions can be answered by contacting Linda via email, phone or directly at the monthly
meetings.
Since the newsletter update, Nancy Harvey’s husband Mike installed the 6’x 8’ greenhouse donated by Ben Shikano. There is shelving that needs installation; however, the Hoop House
property is ready to receive plants. It was noted since this is private property, please call Linda
Cruz for access before going over; she will inform Gloria (the property owner) and meet you at
the property at a designated time.
CVGC Club Rep – Linda Cruz – reported there are three Diablo Foothills District General
Membership meetings each year. The next meeting will be held on Thursday, February 18th at
the Walnut Creek Elks Lodge (flyer is in the newsletter and a few were provided on the back
table). The speaker will be Don Vivatson who specializes in making your yard “pop” with curb
appeal using sustainable and native plantings. Lunch is $27. Reservations checks should be
given to Judy Bates, or Linda Cruz, by February 15th.
The District has noted that if there is enough interest from clubs they will plan a bus trip to the
San Francisco Flower & Garden Show, March 16 – 20 and/or Bouquets to Arts, April 5 – 10.
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MAR. 2016
Meeting Minutes Cont’...
OLD BUSINESS
Nadine Findley reported on Christmas Party at Toni’s house. Great time was had by all.
The “Clayton Valley Garden Club Procedures Manual” is a work in progress and should be
updated every year. Linda Cruz, Steve Lane and Jan Rubiales was thanked as having been instrumental in the development and continuous update of said manual.
NEW BUSINESS
Nadine Findley reported the CBCA will host BBQ on May 21st. Judges are needed.
Art & Wine, April 30 – May 1st. Signup sheet to be provided.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Historian – Linda Cruz is looking to replace herself in this role. If interested, contact her.
Publicity Chair – announcement was made that the Garden Club needs a new publicity chair.
Clayton Historical Society – Museum will be open with Civil War Exhibit on Friday, 5-7 PM
and for the Camellia Tea, 1-4 PM on Sunday.
Clayton Historical Society – Garden Tour – looking for volunteer gardens this year. It was
noted this is the museum's main fund raiser.
Ruth Bancroft Garden Tour - April 18th , cost $10.
Tip from Nadine – Organic Apple Cider vinegar ¼ cup to 1 gallon water will aid your acidic
trees/shrubs; will help perk up the plant and soil. Pour around root area then water.
BREAK
Guest Speaker – Program Chair, Linda Cruz, introduced Troy McGregor, Garden Manager at
Ruth Bancroft Gardens. Topic of presentation was “Bullet Proof Plants”.
Raffle was held.
Next meeting – scheduled for Wednesday, March 9th, 7:00 PM.
Meeting was adjourned by Nadine @ 9:09 PM.
Respectfully submitted by Robin Willis (Secretary)
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MAR. 2016