THE ISLAND GARDENER
May ~ 2022
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Welcome, fellow gardeners!
This month's name allegedly comes from the Roman goddess "Maia," overseer of the growth of plants. She may be sleeping late this year, as the cooler and wetter weather hasn't encouraged our plants to spring up out of the ground quite as vigorously as we'd wish for, but hope springs eternal!!! I keep checking the garden beds to see which ones are brave enough to poke their heads up.
May also marks the birth in 1707 of Carl Linnaeus, who made his mark by introducing a system of classifying and naming organisms by genus and species. When you see the Latin name for the plants under your care, Linnaeus is the man you have to thank for that.
Our Garden Club season is quickly winding up for the year with our last program on May 18th with Linda Gilkeson talking about preparing now for winter harvest. The grand finale will be this year's Garden Tour -- LET'S GROW TOGETHER -- on June 25 and 26. Tickets are available now so make your plans and prepare to enjoy another fantastic tour. We still need more volunteers to help at the gardens during the Tour -- read more about that down below -- so please consider joining the fun.
June’s newsletter will be solely dedicated to exciting information about the upcoming tour and what to expect, and then we'll take a summer break from newsletters and programs, but we'll be back with more garden goodness in September.
If all goes well, we're hoping to begin hybrid meetings in September with options to attend in-person or view the program live online. Whenever possible, we'll record those programs for later viewing for anyone who couldn't attend the program.
I would like to thank the members of the Garden Club Board who have worked with dedication all year to keep the Garden Club vibrant and thriving in these challenging times, providing interesting programs for us to learn from, filling the monthly newsletter with richness, and planning for our upcoming celebration of gardens on the Garden Tour.
Celebrate with us as you read through this month's newsletter.
We'll see you in the gardens!
Nita Couchman
OIGC President
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~ May 18 Program with Linda Gilkeson
~ Upcoming Events
~ May Raffle Winners
~ Garden Tour 2022
~ GARDENING FOR ALL AGES
- For Your Reading Pleasure
- Ideas to engage Younger Gardeners
- Creating Fun & Beauty in the Garden
- Free Sunflower Seeds at the Library
~ Growing & Blooming: Farmers Market is Back
~ Farming & Gardening Vendors
~ A Poem
~ Getting to Know You: Flower Moon Floral
~ Can I Plant Over a Septic Drainage Field?
~ Orcas Island Seed Library
~ Go Ahead and Smile
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MAY 18 (Weds.) @ 10:30 am via ZOOM | |
The Orcas Island and
Lopez Island Garden Clubs
present . . . .
LINDA GILKESON
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Next Winter's Harvest
Starts Now !!!
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Next Winter's Harvest Starts Now!
(via ZOOM)
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GARDEN TOUR 2022 -- Let's Grow Together
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AND THE
WINNER IS . . .
BARBARA MEHLMAN
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EUPHORBIA
"Glacier Blue"
from
Lorna's Driftwood Nursery
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AND THE
WINNER IS . . .
KAREN
JOHNSTON
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3-D Bird
Playing Cards
&
Decomposition
Notebook & Pen
from
Darvill's Bookstore
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LET'S GROW TOGETHER
GARDEN TOUR 2022 ~ JUNE 25 and JUNE 26
by Sally Hodson & Laura Walker
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The tour theme this year highlights our community spirit of sharing plants and gardening knowledge with all ages. Look for garden tour posters up around town. We’re excited to announce that garden tour tickets are now available online as well as available to purchase at both Driftwood Nursery and Darvill’s Bookstore! Tickets are $20 and also will be available at each garden during tour days. Supervised children age 12 and younger are free.
Volunteers Still Needed!
Our volunteers work with garden owners to welcome guests, share information about plants and help guests enjoy their visit. Volunteers sign up for a half day on either Saturday or Sunday at one garden. Not only do volunteers receive a free ticket so they can enjoy visiting the other gardens, it also provides a chance to make connection with other Garden Club members, especially newer-to-Orcas members!
Since this year’s garden tour offers six gardens that are open both Saturday and Sunday, we need more volunteers than last year. The garden tour is a major source of funding for our club, allowing us to offer all of the activities that support our community all year long. So please, if at all possible, consider volunteering. With your help, we can make this year’s garden tour another successful event.
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If you can volunteer for a shift
on our 2022 Garden Tour, please contact:
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FOR YOUR READING PLEASURE
Reviewed by Perri Gibbons
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Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots: a book as delightful as its title!
Lovejoy shares a wondrous variety of garden activities guaranteed to inspire. I’m pleased that the title doesn’t specifically mention children. Even though the book makes a natural springboard for intergenerational activities, the appeal is so much broader. Contents include instructions for a pizza patch garden, a secret hideaway, a flowery maze, Mother Nature’s medicine chest. . . It reaches down deep to rekindle the child in all of us.
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The book is a visual delight with Lovejoy’s whimsical watercolors on parchment-like colored paper.
Her writing is equally appealing: "Snuggle up inside your moonflower tent and wait for the night. Close your eyes, listen to the insects tune up for their evening concert, and inhale the aromas of the opening flowers" and "Nibble tiny corn ears and alpine strawberries small enough for fairies to eat."
Although some of her ideas do require space, there are plenty of smaller projects such as window boxes, water gardens in a barrel, and container gardens using, yes, buckets and boots. Crafts, like making your own seed tape, and recipes are included, along with guidelines and other useful information.
Check it out and see if this book doesn’t bring you both love and joy.
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IDEAS TO ENGAGE YOUNGER GARDENERS
by Laura Walker
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A garden is a natural way to spark a child’s interest in nature. It can show kids how and where we get our food while connecting them to nature and the environment. Even the littlest ones love to learn about dirt, plants, and bugs.
Here are some fun ways to get them started:
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Give them their very own garden patch and let them pick what to grow but suggest plants that grow easily and quickly to keep up their interest | |
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Plant a garden with specific plants that attract butterflies
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Liven up their senses by growing crops that range in textures from fuzzy, rubbery, prickly, and smooth. The variety of sensory experiences can be very fun for children to experiment with.
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Teach them to start seeds by prepping soil, sowing seeds and watching seedlings sprout
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Buy them their own child-sized garden tools and show them how to care for them
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Turn the garden into a big adventure by creating a path to a secret hideaway or a teepee covered in vines
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Build bat and bird houses, hang them up and wait for the critters to arrive
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CREATING FUN & BEAUTY IN THE GARDEN
by Helen Huber
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Let your imaginations go wild and create gardens with your little ones that tap into their joy and delight. Nurture not only the plants, but the desire of young folks to learn about the world of gardening. Here are a few ideas to get you started. | |
A rainbow garden can be planted in rows, in an arch, or in individual pots arranged in a way that is pleasing to the eye. Your rainbow garden may have one flower of each type, but mass plantings will look most rainbow-like. The flowers below are suggestions. Feel free to substitute other flowers in the same color palette considering texture, shape, fragrance, when the flower blooms, and of course color. Many varieties of flowers come in a variety of colors, so choose the flower that best fits your rainbow. The chosen flowers should be placed or planted in an area that gets at least six hours of full sun. Since children of all ages are enchanted by a rainbow garden, teach them not to eat blooms without checking with an adult first. Rainbows gardens are a delightful way to spark gardening interest in even very young children. READ MORE . . .
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Pizza gardens can be grown in any round container that you can divide into pie-shaped sections. Devote each section to an item you can use to make pizzas -- oregano, basil, tomatoes, parsley, onions, ??? READ MORE . . .
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Tea gardens can be planted in a garden bed, a handful of pots, or any space you have available that gets at least six hours of sun. The leaves can be harvested and dried. Generally, use 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs or 1 teaspoon of dried herbs with 1 cup of boiling water. Pour the boiling water over the harvested leaves or flowers, depending on the variety, steep until sufficiently fragrant, strain and sip. READ MORE . . .
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FREE SUNFLOWER SEEDS !
CITIZEN SCIENCE PROJECT AT THE LIBRARY
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You are invited to take part in a summer project for citizen science collecting data about pollinators.
Step One: Stop by the Orcas Island Library anytime in May to sign up and pick up your free packet of Lemon Queen sunflower seeds. Lemon Queen is well known for its attractiveness to beneficial pollinators. Check out this list for more sunflower choices. Plant them in your garden and watch them grow!
Step Two: When sunflowers are in bloom, borrow one of the library’s Observing Pollinators kits and record your data on how many bees visit your sunflower blossoms. Ask Holly at the front counter for more information, or call 360-376-4985.
Seeds donated by Orcas Island Garden Club and Friends of the Library.
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GROWING & BLOOMING:
THE FARMERS MARKET IS BACK!
by Perri Gibbons
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Saturdays ~ 10:00 am-2:00 pm ~ on the Village Green
After so many dreary, drizzly weeks, the sun peeked out for the inaugural Farmers Market season, and what a day it was. Nancy Reas and I had a ball chatting with vendors and running into friends, including GC members we hadn’t seen in ages.
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Brand new Farmers Market Manager, Claire Cawley, has hit the ground running and brings youthful enthusiasm to a well-respected and loved Orcas institution. Look for her contact info below.
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I didn’t know that ALL items sold at the market are grown or crafted on Orcas. The local farmers and artisans need and deserve our support after some lean years. Some of the vendors I spoke with used that down time to expand inventory/production and are excited to reconnect with the community. | |
New this year is the “Music in the Market” series from 11:00am to 1:00pm. Some of the upcoming artists are Grace McCune and Joel Gamble, JP and OK Rhythm Boys, Madison West, and Dave Zoeller and Friends with more to come. Bring a chair or blanket and make a picnic of it. What a great family activity! | |
The successful Orcas Kids Creative Co-Op returns. The Farmers Market sponsors a booth with tables provided for kids to learn and grow their businesses on a drop-in basis. Who could resist buying from young entrepreneurs like these?!
We sure hope some gardening kids take advantage of this opportunity. Contact information for Claire is below.
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The EBT/SNAP is an amazing program where enrolled families and individuals can use their dollars at the market, and can actually double their dollars with Market Match program. There’s a dedicated booth for more information and they are recruiting volunteers. | |
Claire Cawley
Orcas Island Farmers Market Manager
(440) 334-6399
Photo Credit to Nancy with my thanks for a fun outing!!
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FARMING & GARDENING VENDORS ~ at the Farmers Market
by Perri Gibbons
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Take a break from your garden, grab some kids or grandkids, and head over to Farmers Market. There you’ll find expert advice for culinary and herbal plants, garden related merchandise, and of course, beautiful plants. Here is a sample of booths we visited on opening day of the Farmers Market. | |
The Garden Club has been fortunate to have George Orser’s farm on our Garden Tour in the past. Here, Molly shows off vibrant culinary herbs and flowering perennials grown naturally and organically. | |  |
Jule has copious knowledge to share about the fresh and dried herbs she sells. | | |
West Beach boasts an all -women crew. They have a small CSA and farm stand. | | |
Check out these beautiful veggie starts. | | |
These gorgeous mushrooms are grown in a shipping container on Orcas! They also sell a deluxe mushroom grilled cheese sammy and I can tell you someone left with a very happy tummy. | |
Nate and family are aromatic producers crafting essential oils, soaking salts and candles. | |
Shout-out to his 9 year daughter who felted these darling creations: | |
Carol has previously been featured in our newsletter with her respectfully harvested herbs and flowers and natural body products. I loved some of their outrageous names: Snarky Bitch Balm, Sweet Cheeks Body Soak and Old Hag Night Cream. | | |
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This will be Alexis's second year at the Farmers Market, offering her custom-designed flower arrangements as well as prints and her original paintings.
Be sure to read the Flower Moon Floral spotlight later in this issue.
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A long time Farmers Market staple, Morning Star sells organic veggies and flowers. They offer a flower CSA and you can find their produce at the co-op. | |
More and varied vendors will be available different weekends.
We invite you to check out who’s there every Saturday!
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THE EARLY BIRD
~ by Ted Kooser
Still dark, and raining hard
on a cold May morning
and yet the early bird
is out there chirping,
chirping its sweet-sour
wooden-pulley notes,
pleased, it would seem,
to be given work,
hauling the heavy
bucket of dawn
up from the darkness,
note over note,
and letting us drink.
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GETTING TO KNOW YOU:
FLOWER MOON FLORAL
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Helen Huber, Communications Chair for the Orcas Island Garden Club, sat down with Alexis Bouchard, Orcas artist and owner of Flower Moon Floral, to talk about her flower business and her art work, and how she goes about creating her floral arrangements.
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What drew you to create a flower business?
I have painted floral still-lifes and Ikebana for many years. When COVID hit, I started to create a garden on our property in a desperate need to connect with nature and be outside. The business grew out of cultivating the things I love: gardening, flowers, and art.
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What does Flower Moon Floral offer?
I offer one-of-a-kind local and sustainably grown floral arrangements, paintings and ceramics. I love custom work and cater to small island weddings. This year marks my second year at the Farmers Market where I’ve added prints and my original paintings to the table. I’ll be at the Farmers Market every Saturday starting May 7th through the last weekend in September, 10-2 on the Village Green. Next year I plan on adding my hand-built and painted ceramics. In the future I’d like to offer a variety of workshops and gatherings focusing on Ikebana, flower arranging, ceramics and painting for both children and adults--all in the garden.
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What do you want people to know about your floral arrangements?
First and foremost, I am an artist. So everything is seen through that lens. I consider line, composition, emotion, symbolism and color. Each floral arrangement is unique in and marks the present moment much like a painting does. I use sustainable practices and local soils, compost, and mulches. I support local businesses for buying my reusable jars, papers and fine art prints.
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Can you offer any tips about making the most of a floral arrangement?
I love to wander the garden and clip flowers and plants that catch my eye. I'm always searching for the unexpected: pods, evergreens, edibles, herbs and botanicals. I strive for high contrast in color, shape, texture, height, fragrance and meaning. My favorite arrangements are for birthdays, which literally mirror the flowers that grew on the day of someone’s birth. I find that so magical and a deep way to connect to nature.
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CAN I PLANT OVER A SEPTIC DRAINAGE FIELD ???
by Tony Suruda
SJC WSU Master Gardener Program
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The Master Gardeners occasionally get questions about planting over a septic drainage field. This came up as a "chat" query during Margaret Payne's recent Zoom presentation to the Lopez and Orcas garden clubs.
If a home is in a wooded area, the only sunny spot might be the leach field. A leach field could be in an area in front of a home that the owner wants to make attractive. There is a lot of new construction in San Juan County right now including installation of septic systems.
This is a complicated issue with a few pros and several cons. The short answer is that some plantings are OK. The reference from Clemson University Extension has a good discussion of the issues. It emphasizes examining the site map of the drainage field. The reference from WSU Extension has recommendations for our area regarding what can be planted and what should definitely not be planted.
According to the reference from Clemson University Extension there are three basic principles regarding planting over leach field.
- Don't do anything that might penetrate the fabric covering the drainage pipes in the leach field. No digging more than a few inches and no planting of anything that will grow deep roots.
- Don't do anything that could impede the diffusion of air into the soil. The air is needed to help decompose waste water. Do not put in covered walkways or raised beds.
- Don't grow produce for human consumption over a leach field.
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ORCAS ISLAND SEED LIBRARY
by Marisa Hendron, Seed Librarian
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As you get your garden started this spring, you’ve no doubt encountered the magic of seeds! The Orcas Island Seed Library was created to harness this magic and make it available to all interested gardeners. Have you gotten to know it?
The mission of the Seed Library is to empower Orcas Island to be a resilient seed stewardship community by making a collection of locally adapted seeds available freely to all islanders. In short, the Seed Library depends on local gardeners to share a portion of their saved seeds with the Seed Library.
Currently the library is home to 147 varieties of seeds, most of which are vegetables, flowers and herbs. Growers of all stripes can check out seeds with the intention of returning a portion of their yield, which hopefully makes gardening more accessible to everyone and weaves together the community in new and unexpected ways.
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Contribute Seeds:
- Leave a donation in the bottom drawer of the Seed Library, located in the lobby of the Orcas Public Library, with your name and any relevant information about the seed. The seed librarian will file it and add it to the online inventory.
- If you have packets of recent, commercially grown seed that you don’t plan to use, you can leave them in the box on top of the Seed Library cabinet.
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Check out Seeds:
- Browse the Seed Library in person or online and check out anything you’re interested in growing. Seeds have been germination tested within the past year, and should be viable.
To check out seeds:
- Grab an empty packet from the drawer labeled “Supplies”
- Label it with the seeds you plan to check out.
- Find the seed packet in the alphabetized drawers. Seeds are alphabetical by common name (ex: all the beans are in the “B” drawer regardless of variety). Use the spoon in the “supplies” drawer to measure seed if necessary.
- Log your check-out in the “Checkouts” binder that lives on top of the Seed Library. Write what you’re checking out, your name, and contact information.
- Enjoy! Have fun growing the seeds!
- The Seed Library requests that you grow your crop until its seed stage and return a portion of the seeds you grow. The Library thrives when people make contributions large and small.
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Spread the word:
- Let folks know about the Seed Library and how to use it!
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Volunteer:
- Contact the seed librarian, Marisa Hendron ( library@oiseeds.org), if you have ideas about how to make the Seed Library better or are interested in contributing in any way!
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How can you tell
spring flowers are friendly?
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. . . They always have new buds!!! | |
It’s easy to join or renew!
Click HERE to print a membership form. Fill in the form and mail it with your check to OIGC Membership, P. O. Box 452, Eastsound, WA 98245.
OR . . . you can go to our website and fill in the online form and pay your membership fees through PayPal.
As an added bonus, names of new and renewing members are automatically entered into our monthly raffle drawing.
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Individual : $25 / year
Couple : $35 / year
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Members as of April 16 —--------—- 160
Renewals (Apr 16 - May 12) ----------- 0
New Members (Apr 16 - May 12) ----- 3
TOTAL MEMBERS - May 12 -— 163
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PRESIDENT: Nita Couchman
PROGRAMS: Lene Symes
MEMBERSHIP: Perri Gibbons & Karen Hiller
GARDEN TOUR: Sally Hodson & Laura Walker
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SECRETARY: Margaret Payne
TREASURER: Tony Suruda
COMMUNICATIONS: Helen Huber
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Orcas Island Garden Club
P. O. Box 452
Eastsound, WA 98245
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