Author: Karen Blackmore

Editor: Karen Blackmore 573 442 1873

January 2009

Columbia Underground

News of the Columbia Garden Club

CALENDAR
Jan 12, 1:00pm
“Growing Daylilies”
Marie Pasley
Feb. 9, 1:00pm
“Growing Beyond Tomatoes”
James Quinn
March 5-8
Home and Garden Show-America’s Center, St Louis
March 7-9
Art in Bloom
MU Art/Archeology Museum
Art in Bloom
St Louis Art Museum
March 9,1:00pm
“Going to New Zealand”
Barb Rothenberger,PhD
April 11
Clean Up Columbia Day
April 13, 1:00pm
“Going with Underused Evergreens in the Landscape”
Chris Starbuck, PhD
April 20-23
FGCM State Convention, Sedalia
April 25
CGC Plant, Basket and Bake sale and Garden Bazaar
April 24-28
NGC Convention, Memphis Tenn.

Garden Resolutions and Goals

When gardeners make New Year’s resolutions what do they think about?
Here are just a few resolutions and goals edited and combined from Erin Caudell in The Flint Journal and Robin Wedewer in The Gardening Examiner.
Start planning for spring before it arrives.
Introduce a child to gardening.
Create a recipe-based garden.
Clean off my garden tools the same day I use them.
Eat more spinach and less chocolate.
Plant something I have never grown before.
Plant an extra row for the Food Bank.
Stop and smell the roses, literally and figuratively.
Garden mindfully.
Ask for help.
What are your gardening resolutions or goals for 2009? I hope they involve keeping active in the Columbia Club and maybe trying one new activity! 2009 is going to be fine!!! Linda Lowenberg, President

Plant & Bake Sale with Garden Bazaar April 25, 2009
Now that the holidays are over it's time to plan for the 2009 garden year. Please keep the Columbia Garden Plant Sale in mind, when dividing or starting new plants remember we need all type of plant material; house plants, annuals, and perennials. Also when doing spring cleaning remember the bazaar could use those garden related items you no longer need. Everyone is thinking about a diet now, so we'll talk baked goods, for the bake sale, closer to time. This sale is our one, yearly fundraiser and in order to have funds to do our community projects, we need to have a successful sale, so we hope for every ones help. Happy 2009!
Mary Jane & Marie, chairs

Calendar continued:
April 30
Central District Spring Meeting-Eldon
May 11,1:00pm
“Going and Growing with Books & Websites for Garden Enthusiasts”
Linda Lowenberg
May 29-31
Flower Show School III
Kirkwood, Mo
June 1-7
National Garden Week
June 8, 8:30am
“Going and Growing, How They Do It”
Club Garden Tour
June 15
FGCM Spring Board Meeting, Jefferson City
July 12,1 to 4
“Celebrating Our 90th Birthday Gala”
Claudia Chopp, FGCM Floral Designer
August-no meeting
August 6-16
Missouri State Fair
August 12
Federation Day at the State Fair
September 14, noon
“Growing our Membership”
Carry in Luncheon
September 24
Central District Fall Meeting-Ashland
Oct 12,1:00pm
“Going with Ikebana Style”-Ruth LaHue
Oct. 16-18
Flower Show School IV-Kirkwood
TBA-Central Dist Bus Tour

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Nov. 9, 1:00pm
“Growing with Holiday Design”
Bonnie Culley and Carol VanVranken, NGC Accredited Master Flower Show Judges
Nov 9-10
FGCM Fall Board Meeting, Jefferson City
Dec.12
CGC Flower Show -Columbia Public Library
Dec 14, noon
Holiday Tea

Columbia Underground

Jr. Garden Club

The Jr. Garden Club was started in 2007 to teach gardening to youth. Since we meet next to Russell Blvd. Elementary it seemed logical to start a club at this facility. We meet after the CGC meeting, at Russell school from 3:45 to 5pm each month that school is in session. This year we are working with 15 enthusiastic, second graders. They are a great group and so interested in learning about nature and gardening. We usually provide a brief program followed by a related activity. This month Carolyn Doyle will present a talk on birds, then we will make pinecone birdfeeders. We are always thrilled to get more helpers, so come join us for a fun time. Linda & Marie, chairs

Recipe Corner

If you have not yet decided on committees for 2009, you are late but not too late! Please look at the year book . Committees are listed and you will see there are plenty of openings. Sign up at the January meeting. Ask ,if you have questions about what the committee plans to accomplish. Feel free to sign up for all that you want to do and have time for!

Thickest, Richest, Creamiest Turkey Corn Chowder
3 Cans (condensed) cream of potato soup
1 Can (condensed) cream of chicken soup
2 Cans cream style corn or 1 cream and 1 whole kernel
1 Cup heavy cream
1 1/2 to 2 Cups of whole milk
1 to 2 cups (or desired amount) cooked turkey meat (trimmed to suit)
Add all ingredients to a large pot (4 quart or more). Give a good stir to mix it all up. Heat on a medium 'burner' flame stirring frequently until well heated. Then reduce heat to low to lowest simmer and continue heating and stirring for additional 20 to 30 minutes.

Tree Pruning Tips
by Michael J. McGroarty You are welcome to use this article on your website or in your newsletter as long as you reprint it as is, including the contact information at the end. You must include an active link back to the author's website, as well as an active link back to
http://gardening-articles.com
There are two kinds of winter gardening. The first method usually starts in January as the gardening catalogs begin to arrive in the mail. This type of gardening is as easy as sitting in your favorite chair, browsing the catalogs, and either dreaming about what you're going to do this spring, or actually drawing designs for the gardens you intend to work on.
The second type of winter gardening is to actually get out in the yard and do a little work. Of course if it's bitter cold, you'd be better off waiting for a good day. Winter is a good time to do some pruning if the temperatures are around 30 degrees or so. I don't recommend pruning if it's considerably below freezing because the wood is brittle and will shatter when you make a cut.
One of the advantages of pruning during the winter is that you can see much better what needs to be cut out and what should stay. At least that's true with deciduous plants. The other advantage is that the plants are dormant, and won't mind you doing a little work on them.
Ornamental trees should be pruned to remove competing branches. Weeping Cherries, Flowering Dogwoods, Flowering Crabapples etc. have a tendency to send branches in many different directions. It is your job to decide how you want the plant to look, and then start pruning to achieve that look.
But first stick your head inside the tree and see what you can eliminate from there. This is like looking under the hood, and when you do you'll see a lot of small branches that have been starved of sunlight, that certainly don't add anything to the plant, they are just there, and should be cut out. Any branch that is growing toward the center of the tree where it will get little sunlight should be cut out. Where there are two branches that are crossing, one of them should be eliminated. Once you get the inside of the plant cleaned up, you can start shaping the outside.
Shaping the outside is actually quite easy. Just picture how you want the plant to look, and picture imaginary lines of the finished outline of the plant. Cut off anything that is outside of these imaginary lines. It is also important to cut the tips of branches that have not yet reached these imaginary lines in order to force the plant to fill out.
For the most part plants have two kinds of growth. Terminal branches and lateral branches. Each branch has one terminal bud at the very end, and many lateral branches along the sides. The terminal buds grow in an outward direction away from the plant. Left uncut they just keep growing in the same direction, and the plant grows tall and very thin. That's why the trees in the woods are so thin and not very attractive.
When you cut a branch on a plant, the plant sets new buds just below where you cut. When you remove the terminal bud, the plant will set multiple buds. This is how you make a plant nice and full. Don't be afraid to trim your plants, they will be much nicer because of it. The more you trim them, the fuller they become.

Lots of people have a real problem with this. They just can't bring themselves to prune. Especially when it comes to plants like Japanese Red Maples. It kills them to even think about pruning a plant like this. Just do it! You'll have a beautiful plant because of it.

Look at the plant objectively. If you see a branch that looks like it's growing too far in the wrong direction, cut it. If you make a mistake it will grow back. Not pruning is the only mistake you can make. I hope this helps and doesn't get you in trouble with your significant other. Many a family feud has started over pruning.

Michael J. McGroarty is the author of this article. Visit his most interesting website, http://www.freeplants.com and sign up for his excellent gardening newsletter. Article provided by http://gardening-articles.com. If you use this article the above two links must be active.

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