Green Fingers Garden Club: Getting down to business for 2019
The next meeting is on Thursday, February 21 at 10 Beefwood Road, Pennington.
We were welcomed at the activities room in the Scottburgh library for our first meeting of the year and AGM by our chairman Liz Thompson.
Liz who has been chairman for nine years has done a wonderful job and been so enthusiastic all the time. She is now stepping down and we thank her so much for being there.
Our new chairman is longtime member Caroline van Hilten who we wish the best of luck. Our new tea lady Des Cuffe takes over from Chris Makepeace while the remainder of the committee stays the same.
Liz thanked all and gave special thanks to Elmerie and Dion for stepping in when she was away. A big thank you to Touka from Woodpark Nursery who has kept us supplied with vouchers throughout the year despite ill health.
Liz gave us some tips: Look out for snakes with all the long grass around also mulch as much as possible to keep the damp in. Water early
or late to prevent fungus developing and water roses deeply and watch out for black fly. Divide perennials and re-pot pot plants if necessary.
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A summary of the years’ activities was presented by the chairman. In January and February, we visited a lovely garden in Pennington and had two speakers who spoke on heirloom seeds and worm farms.
March was a lovely meeting hosted by Builders Express with four speakers and gifts. We supplied three hanging baskets to the Alexander Old Age Home.
In April members went to Park Rynie where we were given a talk about the building of that site and offered strawberry plants. In May it was off to a garden with an amazing steep slope. A talk was given on how they achieved this along with a talk on recycling.
In June our club celebrated its 55th birthday and we spent it in the lovely park of Slayley Woods with a walkabout and talk on aloes.
July was off to Bazley with Elsa Pooley telling us about the aloe garden she laid out there. August saw us back in Pennington where we were told about a lovely four-year-old garden and saw the Potters studio.
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September was a quiz on all the herbs grown in the steep garden we had visited in May and in October we were once again invited back to Builders Express for a talk on their products and orchids.
November was our Christmas meeting and the last one of the year at Liz’s place with another quiz and lovely food. A donation was made to the Alexander Old Age Home. The chairman ended her summary of the year’s events by welcoming all the new members and thanking everyone for their help.
The financial report was presented by Annetjie Lottering and we were pleased to hear we are financially sound and able to give donations. Thank you, Annetjie.
The winners for the year in the various competitions are:
Rose Bowl: 1 Elmerie Brown, 2 Annetjie Lottering, 3 Rina Mason.
Indigenous results: 1 Elmerie Brown, 2 Dion Pienaar, 3 Annetjie Lottering.
Fruit results: 1 Elmerie Brown, 2 Rona Jones, 3 Wendy van den Hever.
Vegetable results: 1 Elmerie Brown, 2 Annetjie Lottering, 3 Steph Howell.
Herb results: 1 Elmerie Brown, 2 Steph Howell, 3 Annetjie Lottering.
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January competition results:
Best bloom: 1 Rona Jones, Rina Mason and Annetjie Lottering.
Foliage: Dion Pienaar.
One-stem agapanthus: 1 Dion Pienaar, 2 Elmerie Brown, 3 Chris Makepeace.
Best fruit: Elmerie Brown.
Best veg: 1 Rona Jones, 2 Dion Pienaar and Wendy van den Hever, 3 Elmerie Brown.
Best herb: 1 Dion Pienaar and Elmerie Brown, 2 Annetjie Lottering.
The next meeting is on Thursday, February 21 at 10 Beefwood Road, Pennington. We hope to see you all there complete with chairs, crockery and hats.
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