BUDS AND BLOSSOMS NOVEMBER 2020 

DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE Dear Gardeners of District II/III, What an honor and privilege to be serving as your District Director! Barbara Campbell has left formidable footprints in our garden path and I am grateful for her support, advice and guidance! And BRAVO to Tom Campbell for his ever ready presence! Thank you also to so many members who have volunteered to chair our various committees. Above all, thank you for the warm welcome I have received in all my encounters.

We enjoyed a “socially distanced’ picnic at Barbara and Tom’s home on September 24th. I was officially pinned by Barbara and the festivities began!! As inspiration I received the

National Garden Club scarf which lists all the States and their logos! It is a prized possession and will wear it with pride.

Picture Courtesy of Brenda Aubert

We are, indeed, a Cornucopia people! In my new role, I have discovered that our District is filled with the buds, blossoms and fruits of our passion for growing. The harvest is boundless. Just enjoying the President Reports is evidence enough of the unbounded treasure and talent! There is something for everyone: tips on gardening; programs that feature everything from bulbs to beekeeping to blight; advanced horticultural education; opportunities for design and competition; volunteering on civic projects; flower shows; horticultural therapy; crafting with natural materials…..the list goes on and on! Above all, it is the connections that we make and the friendships that we nurture which are the real harvest. Continue to flourish! Bloom where you are planted!!! The pandemic has disrupted our usual energic schedule of events. But, we know, as gardeners, that we must continue to find new ways to keep connected and grow. As I write, news of a vaccine is breaking. Hopefully, the new year will bring the promise of a Spring bursting with renewed energy for the beauty of our earth.

There are some events already planned and we encourage you to mark your calendar. The Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania’s Annual Convention will take place April 17, 18, and 19th. It is planned to be a Zoom Convention modeled after the highly successful Central Atlantic Region’s Zoom festival ( gathering this past October. Workshops were presented and major speakers scheduled). Several of our members participated and left with renewed enthusiasm and a basketful of tips and techniques.

The Philadelphia Flower Show is planning an outdoor gathering at FDR Park in June, 2021.

District I’s planning is underway for GCFP’s Convention in 2022! The theme is “Celebrating

Nature's Masterpieces”.

Are you in the midst of thinking about Christmas presents? Be sure to check out the National Garden Club’s website (www.gardenclub.org). The gifts for and from gardeners abound! I love to give The Saved Seed or The Frightened Frog to kids galore! As a suggestion Margaret Roach has partnered with the Federation offering a 30% discount on her book The Gardener’s Botanical. It is fascinating what gardeners gain from learning the Latin roots of the plants in their backyards. https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691200170/the-gardeners-botanical. Be sure to enter promo code RBAY30 at checkout, through 12/31/20.

We received an invitation to be involved in supporting the Federation through partnerships. Currently, GCFP partners with a number of organizations (Ames Tool Company, Longwood, etc.) to provide funding and support. Sandy Manthorpe (Smanthorpe@aol.com) and Pat Wolanski (pwolanski@verizon.net) are chairs asking us to “think out of the box” to help Pennsylvania companies get connected and help on the national level. If you have any contact and think they might be interested in a broader outreach, please email Sandy and Pat! I am always impressed by the investment the Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania places in the future. Their Scholarship Program is just one example. Congratulations to those clubs who have Scholarship Chairs! Some clubs report success contacting the local Guidance Counselors at the area high schools. Others place an article in their local newspaper and students contact them!! No matter how you do it.....get the word out! Link below:

https://nebula.wsimg.com/59cb129f465865118664630777790de9?AccessKeyId=B52863DF

757A6B203CBA&disposition=0&al loworigin=1

Humor helps....laughter is the best medicine! (Sung to 50 Ways to Meet Your Lover) Stay away from the pack, Jack Just use the Purell, Mel Don’t visit your gran, Stan Wipe down every toy, Roy Just stay virus free. Don’t hop on the bus, Gus Don’t listen to Don, Ron Don’t hoard the TP, Lee To keep the virus away. Sneeze into your sleeve, Steve

Stop touching your face, Grace Keep back six fee, Pete Heed the CDC. Keep wipes in your purse, nurse Take care of your stock, Doc You need PPE. This isn’t spring break, Jake Stay home if you’re sick, Dick Just follow the rules, fools Just stay virus free!

CLUB REPORTS  ALLENTOWN GARDEN CLUB Scenes from Rosie’s Garden

Bethlehem Garden Club Although we have had two successful ZOOM meetings for our members in September and October, with two wonderful speakers, the most important part of our club is sharing our love of horticulture, design and landscaping with members of our community, both inside and outside our garden club.

The accompanying photos and captions describe some of the treasures we have shared via our now monthly club newsletter, the Chit Chat, so expertly crafted by Cathy Bannon.

The Emmaus Garden Club board has been meeting monthly even though we have not had a general meeting since March. We are planning to have our December lunch at Lehigh Country Club. Sadly, our carol singing can't happen. We will be wearing masks unless we are at our table with only six people at each table. Needless to say, we are all missing being together so are really looking forward to seeing each other! Our member, Elaine Klase, has won the GCFP's Perennial Bloom award. We are very proud of her! A native dogwood tree has been planted at the Knauss Homestead in Emmaus in her honor. The Knauss Homestead is a restored historical home from 1777. There are many other trees on the property

including a catalpa tree that was planted soon after the house was built and is now hanging over the home protecting it all these years! Our program committee has scheduled wonderful speakers for our monthly meetings starting in March 2021. We are crossing our fingers that we will be able to meet monthly again. But, as you are all aware, we will have to wait and see what next year brings! Stay well and have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Becky Short Emmaus Garden Club President

Hazelton Area GC Dressed in our best mask attire, the Hazleton Area Garden Club has been fortunately holding monthly meetings along with undertaking community projects. Alex Van Hoekelen was the guest speaker for the September meeting. Van Hoekelen Greenhouses, Inc. (VHG) has been a family owned and operated business since 1988. Van Hoekelen Greenhouses service 90% of the supermarkets in the United States. They currently have 22 acres of greenhouses in Pennsylvania and Florida. Everyone in attendance received a beautiful fall mum, courtesy of VHG.

The October’s evening speaker was Joanne Walko Slavick of Walko’s Landscaping. Slavick has over 30 years in the landscaping/gardening industry. She brought along a variety of perennials and discussed their features, and how to properly care for them.

The Sofia Coxe House Historic Restoration project is approaching its last phase. Currently the house is undergoing an exterior painting. Upon completion the garden club will see to the removal of weeds and debris from the perimeter area near foundation walls. The plan is to place small landscape stone to add to the curb appeal and sustain the area going forward. The new perennials that were recently added to the cutting garden area have done well with the extended growing season. Blackberry lily, meadow daisy and Hibiscus all bloomed and added seasonal color to the sunny spot on the side of the house. A granite marker commemorating the project and its primary funding grant from the National Garden Clubs, Inc. had been installed in the front landscape bed. The marker was a donation to the project by Mark Bohenek of Pennsylvania Monument Company of Hazle Township.

HAGC in cooperation with the Hazle Township Supervisors held the dedication of the “Hazle Township Inspirational Park” located at 30 West 23rd St. Hazle Township, Saturday October 17, 2020. The park got its name because the word Hazel is associated with the words, wisdom and “inspiration”. Club members worked during the spring and summer months planting a variety of perennials and shrubs. Along with hazel bushes, a gazebo, pavers, benches and lighting were added to the garden. A tree was planted in memory of deceased club members. Left /Middle Photos ( Before and After of “Inspiration Park) Right: HAGC Blue Star Memorial

Milford Garden Club The club has kept up it’s beautification projects within historic Milford Borough during this pandemic and started some new activities, which may become regularly scheduled activities. In September, we gave out awards to the winners of our Virtual Garden Club Competition and in October we had a Zoom meeting, with Lyn Ciccarelli leading us through a powerpoint on Bulbs to plant for Spring. With the help of our high school Transition team, we put our Community Vegetable Garden to bed, after a season full of weekly donations of fresh produce and flowers to our local food pantry. The team helped clean up the parks, even making sure our Soldiers and Sailors Memorial looked good for Veteran’s Day. We teamed up with our local Master Gardener’s Group to donate a “cream of the crop” selection of books on horticultural and gardening to our library. We had a successful mum fundraiser, netting $1000 and planted mums in the Welcome points in town and at the Blue Star Memorial. We left our summer plantings in the urns since they still were looking gorgeous and went directly to decorating them for winter a bit earlier than usual to take advantage of the good weather days we had and to avoid dealing with frozen soil. We plan to do a bit more decorating of some of our park structures and take part in our local historical society’s Drive Thru Christmas Tree Extravaganza. We will take a long winter’s rest, but not one without projects, such as a very ambitious cookbook, which will be sold as a fundraiser in time for next Christmas. We plan to extend all paid 2020 membership through the end of 2021 and will look to plan out the 2021 Calendar in January and February, with hopes that by the time May comes along, we will be able to at least hold an outside meeting and finally celebrate the restoration and rededication of Ethel Barckley Park, a recent winner of PHS Garden of Distinction Award. Liz Steen, President Milford Garden Club

Parkland Garden Club started the year as always with meetings and programs. Speakers presented programs on Cooking with herbs and Landscape Lighting Fundamentals. We had three bus trips: Lyndhurst Mansion/Kykuit tour near Tarrytown, New York in October, Christmas in Bryn Athyn in December which included a luncheon tea and the Philadelphia Flower Show in March. Horticultural Therapy provided canning jar lanterns activity for residents for the fall holiday season. Spring involved delivering plants to the home that residents planted with Luther Crest staff members. Our Burpee seeds distribution project had 19 participants with members sending in pictures of what they had grown. The Butterfly Garden at Wher’s Dam had members meeting all spring and summer doing clean up, mulching and weeding while keeping social distancing parameters in place while working. Members were awarded the Laurel Awards at the Christmas Dinner at Brookside Country Club. We had a presentation by Meals on Wheels which included donations from the club as well as members. Entertainment provided by the Gilbert Family. The club awarded a $2,000 scholarship to Carrie Spangles from the Allentown School District in August. She will attend Penn State this fall. With the governors shutdown the club sought out other ways to keep gardening alive asking for members to provide pictures from their gardens that could be shared on our Website and Facebook page. Members were sending pictures every week of what plant was in bloom in their yards. Zoom board meetings were held with the club eventually doing a regular meeting via zoom. A botanical arts floral project was videoed as the presentation. Tournament and horticultural entries were sent as pictures and placed into a powerpoint presentation to share with the entire club. Since we decided to cancel our Garden Tour this year we came up with a pandemic pop up garden tour. Twelve members’ gardens participated on the tour, with a tri-fold being emailed to all members announcing the visit time and date for each garden on the tour throughout the month of July. The tour offered flexibility to everyone's schedule. The pop-up idea was a great success in allowing us an opportunity to visit some great gardens as well as sharing ideas and plants with one another. Presented by Brenda Aubert, President POTTSTOWN AREA GARDEN CLUB Despite the challenges 2020 has presented, our club has forged ahead finding a silver lining in a number of accomplishments, we’d like to highlight the year to date. 1) Meetings: While our club has not been able to meet in person due to state-wide restrictions to contain the virus spread, we have been able to meet through Zoom for both our executive board and in general meetings. Through this wonderful technology we’ve been able to conduct our meetings since June. It was a bit of an education for our members, especially those who are not technologically savvy, but we have had 25-28 members join the Zoom on a regular basis. Special thanks to our long-standing member Audry Stengel for her knowledge and guidance to use Zoom! We will continue to meet via Zoom until the Covid-related restrictions have been lifted to ensure the safety of our club. 2) Programs: Our members have also been able to enjoy monthly programs through Zoom. Our new 2nd VP and head of programs, Karen Lee Coyle has been able to have presenter’s deliver their presentations via Zoom with a 45 minute presentation and a Q&A session. The members have found great value in joining Zoom to view the presentations. The presenters offered a variety of topics including: • Simply Roses (Mary McKnight) VP of the Philadelphia Rose Society • Flowering Shrubs (Tom Mrazik) Master Gardener Penn State • Preparing your garden for winter (Joan Kober) Master Gardener Penn State • Your Fall Garden (Tom Mrazik) Master Gardener Penn State • The Plight of Owls (Dan Mummert) PA Game Commission

3) Civic Development: The Civic Development Committee met four times this year to maintain Memorial Park in Pottstown, PA. Nancy Toothaker chaired the cleanup efforts, which included volunteers Jo Ann Waddell, Jane Berry, Paula Fennelly, Mary Belle Hartman, Carol Schreiber, Joan Wausnock and Sally Schwartz. All were grateful for the team’s efforts especially after the large cleanup that was needed after the park flooded in August! 4) Fundraiser: Sally Schwartz once again championed a Boscov’s fundraiser (Friends Helping Friends event), which ran, October 14 and 15 whereby 5% of the purchase value was designated back to our club. 5) Scholarship: Chair Linda Przybysz is chairing our Scholarship program and has reported that applications were mailed to ten high schools, three colleges, and the two previous scholarship recipients. 6) Communications: Trudy Purdy has agreed to redo our Facebook page. We are excited for her efforts to promote the club, especially this year when having an on-line presence is so important. 7) Membership: As you know our club president Sally Schwartz had to step down from her responsibilities due to health concerns. We were saddened by her decision as she had been an active member of the club since 2013. The club sent her a lovely flower planter in thanks for her contributions to the club over the years. We are actively accepting nominations for a replacement and will use our December meeting to elect a new president. 8) District Meeting (March 2021): we are looking forward to hosting the meeting this year despite a virtual event through Zoom. Karen Lee Coyle, 2nd Vice President, Program Chair PAGC

THE GARDEN CLUB OF READING Since our last report presented in June of 2020, The Garden Club of Reading continued activities through the balance of summer into the fall. Bi-weekly maintenance activities continued with our community gardens, The Garden of Remembrance and the Friendship Garden located at the Reading Public Museum, Reading. As we would prune, weed, trim, plant, nurture the gardens, our club members enjoyed all the accolades of the Museum patrons as they would stroll through the Museum grounds. We resumed our general club meetings in September and October and utilized the Stone Terrace event tent located at the Reading Public Museum. Since this is located on the grounds as is our project gardens, the tent offered a nice open venue, outdoor setting, and allowed social distancing protocol. We conducted a Little Show at both our September and October meetings. They were judged by Judy Vehse who is an accredited Flower Show Judge and our long-time member and past president. Judy is one of six individuals in Pennsylvania with 5-star certification for the “Master Status”.

At our September meeting, we acknowledged our 2020 awards recipients: ● “Horticulture Award”: Janet Levan ● “Trash To Treasure” Contest 2020: Diane Yarger ● “Garden Tour Individual”: Madeline Maize and Karen Keiser ● “Publication Award”: Tracy McKay ● “Special Recognition State Award”: The Garden Club of Reading

The September meeting program included a stroll through our community gardens to share with the full membership the progress and pride we have for our gardens and concluded with a nice dessert surprise “A Cherry on Top” upscaled ice cream vendor truck where members ordered their made to order Sundaes. At the October meeting, Rexine Krause, Owner of CountrySide Farm and Greenhouse, Fleetwood PA presented “The Plants of Shakespeare”. She also delighted us by providing various herb plants to our members. For the November Board Meeting, we gathered and conducted the meeting at Good-Life Companies, 2395 Lancaster Pike, Shillington. They are a great community partner and allow nonprofits to share their nice venue free of charge.

Looking forward, we discussed how we would meet during the upcoming winter months. Our final meeting of the year will be conducted on December 1, 2020. We plan to combine the General meeting and Board meeting and conduct this at Countryside Farm and Greenhouse, Fleetwood PA. It will be a festive meeting with a tour of the greenhouses and a Christmas gift for the members, a poinsettia plant. Stay Safe and Stay Well! Maria DiCecco, President of Garden Club of Reading

South Schuylkill Garden Club is ending the year as it began - with cancelled meetings. The last outdoor meeting with planting of succulents resulted in extras going to members who have not been able to attend outdoor meetings. This was a 150 mile drive done in two days. A pleasantly warm drive to visit far vistas of Schuylkill County. A cancelled October meeting activity resulted in making fall swags, extras tied to railings of confined members, this time with the help of fellow club members. It is important to include those who cannot join in gatherings at this time. Jane Kruse, President Upper Perkiomen Valley Garden Club Our Community Benefits Garden (CBG) continues to produce and has provided 1050 pounds to our local food pantry to date with still more to harvest. The fresh produce was more important than ever this year as The Open Link’s client base increased because of the pandemic. The Open Link also included our garden produce in the free lunches provided to kids during the summer. Recently, a few of the CBG volunteers got together for a painting party to do some maintenance on the raised bed bins.

In this third year of our butterfly garden at the Upper Perk Y we added N.Y. Ironweed New England Asters and Liatris, all native plants attractive to pollinators. The garden is along the walking paths at the Y which are heavily utilized by runners and walkers, especially this year when fewer people are entering the building, and more are taking advantage of the outdoor trails. With two butterfly-knowledgeable friends of the garden, we began an inventory of species sighted. Since mid-August, 32 species, plus the two common Clearwing Moths, were sighted. If anyone would like to see the list, email diana.rudloff@outlook.com. Next year we will add to the list since we will begin logging in the Spring. As with flowers, different butterflies “bloom” at different times. Each year the Club presents a Planting Challenge to members and other interested gardeners. We select something that most have probably not tried and provide the seeds. In 2019 we grew Luffa gourds, the gourds for natural Luffa sponges. This year we planted peanuts. Here is a photo of recently harvested peanuts by one of this year’s participants. Any suggestions for what we might grow in 2021? As we look forward to 2021, we are not planning any indoor speaker programs in the Spring. We do hope to have an Open House at the Community Benefits Garden the evening of June 21st to celebrate our fifth year for the garden. We have also applied to be a venue that same day for our local “Make Music” event held annually in the Upper Perk Valley on June 21st. Musicians, individual artists to large groups, perform at various indoor and outdoor venues that include small businesses, churches and the Y. And, for those who ask, “Where is the Upper Perk Valley?”, we are at the very northern part of Montgomery County a few miles west of the Quakertown Exit of the turnpike. The area is defined, more or less, by the Upper Perk School District and includes the boroughs of East Greenville, Pennsburg, Red Hill and Green Lane plus the townships of Upper Hanover, Marlborough and Hereford though we have members and volunteers from outside the Valley. Submitted by Diana Rudloff

WYOMISSING AREA GARDEN CLUB Hoorah for Fall!! We held September’s meeting outdoors wearing masks and social distancing. After a brief meeting mostly focused on 2021, we socialized over our brown bag lunches. The Berks Nature Center, south of Reading on Route 10, was gracious to us and provided a tour of their new facility. The Center is a clean energy building and the grounds are environmentally planted and tended. Their educational programs are for young and old and everyone in between. October was our last program/meeting for 2020. Our own club member, Nancy Kuntzleman, presented a craft workshop to create “Forest Critters. Each critter was constructed entirely of dried plant pods, seeds, soybeans nut shells, and much more. All club activities are cancelled until 2021. Have a great holiday season! BEVERLY BOWMAN, PRESIDENT

COMMITTEE REPORTS   District Director Report for October 12, 2020 State Board ZOOM Meeting Our district consists of 13 clubs. I was able to visit many clubs prior to COVID to do their installation ceremonies of their new officers. I installed Bethlehem GC, Emmaus GC, Hazelton GC, Milford Garden Club, Monroe GC, Parkland GC, Garden Club of Reading, and South Schuylkill Garden Club (via ZOOM) I also traveled to attend their Christmas banquets, Spring banquets, milestone banquets, and regular meetings. In total I was able to visit 11 of the 13 clubs.

Much of our world is topsy turvy because of COVID 19. Most of our clubs were unable to meet, but that did not stop our clubs from coming up with innovative ways to continue sponsoring their activities and encouraging their membership to stay involved.

Allentown let their members forego their dues and Bethlehem Garden Club enticed their members in a 50% dues reduction for 2020-2021.

Many clubs tried to keep in touch with their members by using ZOOM, emails, sending out newsletters, and telephoning members. Emmaus did a virtual tour of members’ gardens, one using a Drone to video tape her knot garden. Hazelton did something called “What’s Happening in Your Garden?” One hundred pictures were sent in, and a member did designs that will be used in their Flower Show next August.

Milford GC had to cancel their Flower Show whose theme was around the Hundredth Anniversary of the 19th Amendment, so they hosted an outdoor display of large scale designs throughout Milford about the 19th Amendment.

Monroe GC is very community oriented and a member made 100 masks for the community and the club collected several boxes of household items for the women’s shelter.

Parkland Garden Club’s annual garden tour was cancelled, but they did a Pandemic Garden Tour with Pop-Up Gardens for their members only. It was very well received by the members. There was a lot of sharing of ideas and plants.

Most of our clubs have community gardens they are responsible for maintaining. Montrose, Pottstown, Parkland, and the Garden Club of Reading all continued maintaining their public gardens practicing social distancing and wearing masks. Some clubs participated in the Burpee Seeds experiment.

South Schuylkill Garden Club turned their cancelled plant sale into 40 Salsa Brochette Pots for the Intensive Care Unit of a local hospital.

Wyomissing Garden Club continued their community projects.

Upper Perkiomen Valley Garden Club received the Ames Tool Award to further their commitment to grow produce for the local food bank. They created a video of the Community Benefits Garden which was on YouTube.

Our District received 26 awards. We tied for second place with District VII. Five clubs received seed money. They were Emmaus GC, Hazleton Area GC, Milford GC, Parkland GC, and Upper Perkiomen Valley GC. Kimberly Ferrana sponsored by the Hazleton Area GC received the GCFP $1000 scholarship and NGC Lois Dupre Shuster scholarship for $4000.

Emmaus , Montrose, and South Schuylkill Garden Clubs were recipients of the Legacy Award.

Arelen E. Deskus, Monroe Club, was selected as our 2019 Forget-Me-Not winner.

Garden Club of Reading received first place in the Trash to Treasure contest.

Elaine Klase, Emmaus Garden Club, was recognized as the Perennial Bloom recipient, and Rebecca Short, Emmaus Garden Club received the Horticulturist Award.

Two clubs in our District have been federated for 90 years. Montrose is the oldest club in the state being founded in 1905, and Monroe was founded in 1927. Both were federated in 1930.

I am so proud of my clubs and how they were able to adapt to the pandemic and do very thoughtful and productive projects for their communities. Barbara Campbell

CAR-SGC BLOOMING-ZOOM FESTIVAL CAR-SGC stands for Central Atlantic Region of State Garden Clubs. This region is made of Seven States: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, and Washington Capital Area. The annual convention was to be held in Delaware, but due to COVID-19 it was cancelled. In place of the convention, a fun filled event was held on October 19-21 via ZOOM called Blooming Zoom Festival. It was designed to include workshops to educate us from the comfort of our homes. I attended all seven of the ZOOM workshops. The presenters were top quality. We started the week off with Neal Sanders whose program was entitled “Gardening is Murder”. He was very humorous. He has written fourteen mystery novels centered around strong independent women.

Other speakers were Bonnie Satterthwaite, representative of Espoma, who spoke on organic gardening. Espoma which is completely 100 % solar powered is located in Southern New Jersey. They are partnered with NGC and Plant America. They give twenty $250 grants for community service projects each year. Go to their website: www.espoma.com/gardenclubs for more information.

Have you ever wondered what makes one picture win while another one doesn’t? Lynn O’Shaugnessy presented her workshop on Photography Tips and Tricks. I couldn’t wait to grab my phone and start snapping pictures of my plants in my backyard and practice her suggestions for making your pictures more interesting.

One of the new divisions in a flower show is Botanical Arts. Marion Romeo, who has entered the Philadelphia Flower Show and Newport Flower Show and won first place in the botanical arts division with her jewelry creations, shared what you need to know about botanical designs.

Gregg Tepper, former director of horticultural at Mt. Cuba in Delaware, did a slide presentation on the Sensory Appeal of Native Plants. His photos were outstanding. If you never have visited Mt. Cuba, which has all native plants, the best time is April when the spring plants start blooming.

The Philadelphia Flower Show was cancelled for March 2021, but the most exciting news is it will be held later in 2021 at a new location at FDR Park. The venue will be outdoors. The date for the Philadelphia Flower Show was not announced, but the two representatives who spoke to us about the show said the park will be divided into three districts. Each district will include visual impact, educational engagement, entertainment, shopping, food and beverage. The theme will be Habitat. This will be exciting to bring a new dimension to the show.

The last workshop was presented by Melane Hoffman, who did designs using dried materials. This is a great time to gather materials from your garden and roadside. Some materials she suggested were Echinacea (coneflower heads), rebudekia heads, astilbe, gooseleaf, sedium, sea oats, hydrangea, and many more.

Kudos to the committee and Gail Corle Manna, Director of CAR-SGC. Gail is a past GCFP President. Thirty percent of the representatives attending the Blooming Zoom Festival were from PA.

Barbara Campbell

Here is a link to more information about the presenters: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UHsbZcCryi1pbj4a67nsT7u5BLlzaNBlZDuERE4nstw/edit?usp=sharing

CONSERVATION REPORT Birds – Conservation of Birds Create Habitat: There are countless ways to create habitat in your backyard. Perhaps the easiest is to let things “go wild” in one part of your property, naturally created by nature. The native natural plants and shrubs will provide natural sources of food, nesting and shelter for birds. Consider providing birds with the four things they need: food, water, shelter, and a place to nest. Dead trees (as long as safe from fall hazard) and deciduous woodlands with open understory for nesting and foraging are also beneficial. Winter and fall cleanup of debris and potential food for birds can be retained and placed in those “natural areas” to benefit the bird habitat over the winter months.

Avoid Insecticides and Herbicides: These products can be harmful to birds. Many of these chemicals target the pests that are a food source for birds, so any birds eating treated insects or seeds are also ingesting toxic chemicals. The quest for the perfect lawn often results in a bug-free, bird-free habitat.

Reduce Window Strikes: We have probably all experienced bird strikes at our house windows in which birds are injured or killed. This is the result of light conditions and windows reflecting the surroundings where birds are fooled by these illusions. Consider placing mylar strips, crop netting, branches, screens, hawk silhouettes or other distractions outside, in front of the problem panes to deter or break up the windows’ reflection of the surrounding habitat.

Cat and Birds: Provide social distancing. If your cat goes outdoors, monitor nesting bird activities in your yard and evaluate the risk of cat access to the nest and separate or restrict the cat access to the nesting area until the fledglings depart the area.

Clean Feeding and Nesting Boxes: Proper hygiene of these items are important for reducing disease transmission. Clean out old nesting material several weeks after the nesting season is over. Use a solution of one part bleach to nine parts hot water to clean these items.

Prepare Nesting Boxes for Winter Season: Clean boxes and replace the old nesting material with a fresh handful of dried grasses to give the birds some insulation if they use the box for fall and winter roosting.

Feeding: Feeding through fall and winter is beneficial for birds to supplement their limited food resources. Seeds, corn, nuts, acorns, beechnuts, pecans, suet, fruits and berries can be offered via appropriate feeding systems to avoid food taken by unwanted visitors. Maria DiCecco

.

Photo left – One of my hand carved bird nesting houses that adds interest to our garden and is also constructed with a convenient concealed access panel that renders routine cleaning a convenient process: Photo Middle: I have preserved a substantial portion of our 1-acre property to be naturally wooded to achieve a nature friendly habitat. The understory material offers a friendly environment for the birds through winter into spring. Photo right: With our tall pine trees, the pine needles offer nesting materials for birds as evident when we perform our routing nesting box cleanings.

HORTICULTURE THERAPY REPORT

Here in Lehigh County, Thanksgiving in two senior residencies is

not going to be a festive event this year – communal luncheon

meetings have been off the daily events calendar since March –

replaced by individual lunch trays delivered to each resident’s

room. The big lunch room, which was the hall for Horticulture

Therapy sessions for decades and has glowed with the happy smiles of the seniors as they completed

their floral arrangements - now stays empty. Those remembered smiles where the idea of creating tiny

little bouquets for the lunch trays for Thanksgiving Day.

Tiny shot glasses (plastic, of course, 10 for $1 at the Dollar Store), weighed down with (white play) sand,

wetted down, filled initially with whatever is still in the garden, and then, topped off with a pretty flower

or two available on November 25th - before all of the little bouquets get delivered to the facility parking

lot where facility folk will take over.

The delivery of many of these little “vases” takes planning. They can all be secured on egg carton

bottoms so that they don’t fly around in the delivery vehicle. Neighbors will be more than happy to help

out – it’s a perfect recycle idea. They can then be arranged on any flat surface that will hold as many as

possible of these egg carton bottoms at a time. This will be making close to 400 seniors in Allentown

and Bethlehem smile and smell the flowers. Happy Thanksgiving and stay healthy. Sincerely presented

by District II/III newly appointed Chair of Horticulture Therapy, Angelika Cornelius

SONGBIRDS AND BIRDS OF PREY During the month of September, the Fall songbird and raptor migration was garden clubbers would say…., in full bloom. Hawk watch sites throughout the United States were busy entering their data including the numbers of migrating raptors and passerines, also known as songbirds, at hawkcount.org. This website is operated and sponsored by HMANA which is an acronym for the Hawk Migration Association of North America. HMANA posts its counts on a daily basis and some are in real-time. The most common migrating raptors in September are broad-winged hawks, bald eagles, ospreys and falcons with the broadwings being the most numerous. Oftentimes, several thousand can be seen migrating in a day. Broadwings are a chunky hawk with distinct black and white bands on the tail and about the size of a crow. They have rufous colored barring on the breast with somewhat pointed wings and dark borders. Broad-winged hawks are classified as Buteos which are characterized by broad wings that allow them to soar or spiral in wide circles. Unlike most of the other raptors that rely primarily on deflected air currents, the broad-winged hawks take advantage of the sun creating thermals or bubbles of warm air masses that rise, similar to steam when boiling water in a pot. The broadwings spiral in these thermals and form flocks also known as “kettles”. And some kettles may contain a thousand or more birds. When the broadwings gain altitude and reach the top of a thermal they arch their wings forward and glide off.

Mid-September is “prime time” for broad-winged hawk migration. During the month, hawk watch sites in Pennsylvania reported decent numbers of migrating broad-winged hawks, bald eagles and songbirds. A nice diversity of songbirds including 15 species of warblers and 5 species of vireos had been reported at the Hawk Mountain Sanctuary. And on Monday, September 15th slightly less than 5,000 broad-wings were observed at Allegheny Front, a hawk watch site near Somerset.

During October, sharp-shinned hawks, cooper's hawks, bald eagles, falcons and a few ospreys are the most common migrating raptors, with sharp-shinned hawks being the most numerous. Unlike the broad-winged hawks, migrating during September, these raptors rely primarily on deflected air currents for migration. This author spent the afternoon of October 15th at Bake Oven Knob, a hawk watch site near Palmerton and the fall raptor migration there did not disappoint! Upon arrival at Bake Oven Knob he observed a migrating bald eagle and a "First of the Season" golden eagle. There was a good push of sharp-shinned hawks, cooper's hawks and red-tailed hawks along with several peregrine falcons and more bald eagles throughout the afternoon. This author along with his wife Chris, Former GCFP State President, made a birding trip to the Cape May Hawk Watch at the Cape May Point State Park in New Jersey. Three days were spent there, and on Thursday, October 8th they hit the jackpot! On that day, with ideal wind direction (NW) and speed, the Cape May Hawk Watch recorded slightly over 3,800 migrating raptors which included about 50 peregrine falcons, 250 ospreys, 400 cooper's hawks, 1,200 American kestrels and 1,400 sharp-shinned hawks. It was a Red-Letter Day. One of the highlights of the trip was watching a bald eagle chase an osprey carrying a fish in its talons until the osprey finally dropped the fish; and the bald eagle caught it in mid-air. The observers enjoyed that and clapped for the eagle, but some felt bad for the fish and the osprey losing the fish after its hard work. During October there were many foggy, warm and windless days or the winds were out of the ESE. Those winds are not conducive for raptor migration from October through mid-December except for the Allegheny Front Hawk Watch site. But in the East these winds and weather conditions frustrate hawk watchers. And those raptors that do migrate, drift over the ridges into the valleys and are not viewable except with spotting scopes.

Songbird migration had also been good with sightings of warblers, vireos, flycatchers and thrushes, etc. observed at the hawk watches as well as throughout the region and the state. Some of the more northern species such as pine siskins, white-throated sparrows and red-breasted nuthatches had been reported. And evening grosbeaks, a rare visitor, had been sighted in the area. Evening grosbeaks were common during the winter in this area up until the mid-90s and now don't migrate that far south due most likely to climate change. Migration is ongoing through November into mid-December with the late season migrants including predominantly red-tailed hawks, red-shouldered hawks, and golden eagles, as well as bald eagles. Another fall migrant, the northern goshawk is a species in decline during the last several years which may also be due to climate change. Raptors at this time of year, prefer cool and cold winds out of the WNW which are associated with cold fronts and provide lift through deflected air currents along the Kittatinny Ridge. This author was at the Bake Oven Knob Hawk Watch on November 2nd which was a blustery, cold day with winds out of the WNW from 10 – 15 mph and gusting to 35 mph. The temperature just reached the low 40s and the end result was another Red-letter Day with a total of 155 migrating raptors including 2 peregrine falcons, 21 bald eagles, 21 golden eagles and 80 red-tailed hawks! The songbird migration continues as well, but winding down. Flocks of northern finches such as the purple finch, pine siskins, red-winged crossbills, white-winged crossbills, ruby-crowned kinglets, golden-crowned kinglets and common redpolls have been heard and observed flying over the hawk watch sites. In addition, evening grosbeaks, mentioned in October, had been observed in greater numbers at the hawk watch sites and locally. Also, large flocks of migrating red-winged blackbirds, common grackles and crows have been sighted. John Leskosky

Woodsy Owl Poster Contest

This is a big year for Woodsy Owl, America’s icon for the conservation of the environment. He will be celebrating his 50th birthday. He has been around since 1971. His motto is “Lend a Hand-Care for the Land and Give a Hoot-Don’t Pollute.” All posters must feature Woodsy Owl and have his motto on it. Since Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl are official icons protected by law, the colors of their clothing need to be accurate. Also, remember all posters must be 11”x17”. I think this is a good year to encourage teachers’ and students’ participation in this contest. Since many schools are doing hybrid and virtual teaching, this would be a good activity for the students to do independently. For the directions and rules of entering the contest, go to the pagardenclubs.org website or the National Garden Club website. On the bar select youth and scroll down to youth contest. Paula Mohler is the state chairman. All entries must be to her by January 22. If you mail them after Jan. 1st., you need to mail them to her Florida address: 271 Pine Loop, Frostproof, FL 3384. She will be in FL Jan. 1, so be sure she has them by Dec. 20 at her PA address. Her contact information is halcyon1@verizon .net and 814-643-0564.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me. Barbara Campbell

If you have read Buds and Blossoms to this point, congratulations and thank you!!! It is the primary way that members of  

District II/III keep connected and get inspired. Please send an email to bloomwhereurplanted@gmail.com  

and place the word “finished” in the subject line. A special prize awaits you. Your name will be placed in a flower pot and 

a winner drawn on Wednesday, January 4, 2021...just in time for the New Year! 

Thank you for your continued support!!