March Newsletter 2017
Thanks to our Members, Our Meetings are Events!
Tom Colturi
Thanks to everyone who contributed to the wonderful food at the February meeting. As stated by Ann Hooper, a second drawing for the food book will be done at the March meeting.
Jim Crowder’s contribution this month:
Double Take Peach™ Quince Chaenomeles speciose
Won by Tom Colturi
Rare Plant Auction
March 7th marks our first ever “Rare Plant Auction.” We will have a great variety of plants and other items that you will be given the opportunity to bid on, and don’t forget the book by Linda Beutler.
Our hosts for the evening will be Robert Hollingsworth and Melissa Taylor and the festivities begin promptly at 6 pm. The first table bidding ends at 6:40, the second table bidding ends at 7, the third table bidding ends at 7:15 and the last table bidding ends at 7:30.
We will have appetizers and a cash bar. Members are free and guests are $5.00. Come join the fun and bring a guest. Remember, we will start at 6 pm.
Be sure to bring cash, check or credit card and be prepared to have great time.
Upcoming Events
March meeting: Tuesday, March 7th in the Goldsmith Room at the Memphis Botanic Garden, 6:00 pm
Please bring a friend and a dish and to share with members and friends!
April: Barbara Keathley
May: Hanna Underhill
June: Picnic & Movie
July: Dr. John Byrd
President’s Letter
by Martha Garner
February’s speaker, Linda Beutler, gave a great presentation on Ranunculaceae. MHS was fortunate to be able to collaborate with The Dixon to bring Ms. Beutler to Memphis from Oregon. Our February attendance of 85 was a great turn out and the food was good as always.
You won’t want to miss the March member meeting as it will be our first annual Rare Plant Silent Auction. You will have an opportunity to obtain one-of-a-kind plants. Please bring your cash, check book, or credit card to purchase plants. Special thanks to Robert Hollingsworth and Melissa Taylor who have volunteered to be our chairpersons for the Rare Plant Silent Auction. I look forward to seeing all our members at this event. Also Linda Beutler donated a signed copy of her book The Plant Lover’s Guide to Clematis for our auction.
March is a wonderful time for gardeners. Daylight saving time will start on March 12th and the extra daylight time for working in our yard, garden and flower beds will be appreciated. March is the time to start thinking about our plantings for spring. A time to fertilize, prune, and mulch as needed.
A Memphis Horticultural Society business announcement: the members will vote on an amendment to our bylaws at the April 2017 business meeting. The Board has recommended a new position of Second Vice President. This person would be a leader-in-training for President and assist the Vice President.
Horticultural Notebook Page
Check out our Horticulture Notebook Page posted to the website each month. It will be a menu item. If you are interested in writing one, please contact Madison May our Webmaster. This is reviving an old tradition for MHS and we will try to go back and post some of the old ones occasionally. So, be sure to check it out!
Noteworthy News
Coming soon: One Stop Garden Spot Calendar on the Memphis Horticulture Society website. Our new member, Kim Halyak, is going to be the chairman in charge of compiling information to be placed on our website so all members can find any garden activity that they may want to check out, so, stay tuned…
Blast from the Past
From the Memphis Horticultural Society’s Horticultural Newsletter, 1994 March issue (Author not listed), Ice Damaged Opportunity
Occasionally , Ma Nature gives the gardener a pretty good slap. Our trees bear witness to our most recent one. Once the trauma of the loss begins to fade, try to think of this as an opportunity.
Perhaps there is now an opportunity to try some of those plants which need more sun than you have had in the past. Or maybe there is now a place to try that variety of tree for which you had no room before. That sudden gap in your garden’s composition , while annoying and unplanned for, might be opportunity calling. That growl of power saws could be the call of creativity.
Scrape’s Trivia
- Among the hundreds of monthly, weekly, and daily designations in March are: Adopt a rescued guinea pig week, Termite awareness week, Act happy week, Pig Day, What if cats and dogs had opposable thumbs day, Sock monkey day, and Save a Spider day.
- Muckanaghederdauhaulia, Co. Galway, is the longest town name in Ireland.
- The city of Cork, Ireland, get its name from the marshes that are all around. Cork means marshes.
- These is one pub for every 350 people in Ireland.
- The Russians celebrate the October Revolution in November.
- King George VI’s first name was Albert.
Quotes Worth Quoting
” Indoors or out, no one relaxes in March, that month of wind and taxes, the wind will presently disappear, the taxes last us all year.”
—Ogden NashNo winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.
—Hal Borland“Ahh, the wide almond groves in full white flower Stunning in the morning sun, Old naked Winter in his garb of grays and browns has run, Forsythia blooms come and go in the blink of a yellow Eye, Then, suddenly and mysteriously, Green erupts; and we sigh.”
—Michael P. Garofalo, "Cuttings"“A light exists in Spring Not present in the year at any other period. When March is scarcely here.”
—Emily Dickinson