Monday, May 14, 2018

May General Meeting

THOSE IN ATTENDANCE  INCLUDED: Beverly and Larry Allen, Bonnie Buhl, AJ Challagundla, Norma Chiaramonte, Joe and Wendy D’Virgilio, Sandra Gilbert, Debbie Haluch, Sandy Haumpton, Elizabeth Hearn, Ellen and Mark Jones, Ian and Nicole McWilliam, Mike Owens and Dale Smothers.  


Tokens of Appreciation were presented to Kyle Franklin from IMS Landscape and Captain David Padovan, Cy Fair VFD for helping make our Junior Gardening Event a big success.

The beautiful flowers provided by Kyle were hand selected by each person creating a lovely pot and ultimately putting a big smile on the faces of many children, parents and grand parents in our community.

Captain Padovan and his crew on the fire truck and emergency vehicle created a fun and educational experience for both the children and adults.








Our sincere thanks and appreciation to both of you.


PROGRAM:
Robert “Skip” Richter a  Master Gardner, horticulturist, garden educator, writer and photographer was our speaker. He provided a list of small, medium and large trees for Houston area Landscapes and presented slides on thirteen trees with a focus on research, selection, planting, pruning and fertilizing.

The presentation was very educational and provoked excellent questions and discussion. 



HOST:
Thanks to Mark for arranging for the speaker and door prize and to AJ for the delicious cookies and water.

The door prize was a gift card from Plants For All Seasons and the lucky winner was Larry Allen.

UPDATES and OLD BUSINESS:
Special thanks to Liz and Lyn for chairing such a successful event.
Discussion around our successes including improved communication  with signs and social media, record attendance, enhanced experiences - decorations, chalk board, treats, more hands on with planting and the fire truck.
Everyone was asked to think of suggestions for the 2019 event.



YARD OF THE MONTH:
Bev Allen advised the selection for May was Mr. and Mrs. Michael Villarreal 






BUTTERFLY GARDEN I
Larry said we could choose May 26 or June 16 for garden replanting. We chose May 26th and voted to do it ourselves.  We will meet at the garden at 8 AM on Saturday, May 26.

NEW BUSINESS:
APRIL MEETING MINUTES
Norma’s motion to dispense with reading of the minutes was seconded by Liz.

FINANCIAL REPORT:
Bonnie provided an overview of the month to date including starting balance, all transactions and closing balance.

2018-19 Planning meeting will be held at the Jones’ Monday August 13.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM

Monday, May 7, 2018

May General Meeting Blog


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Robert "Skip" Richter
County Extension Agent - Horticulture
Texas AgriLife Extension Service


Skip received his master’s degree in Horticulture from Texas A&M University, “the source of all earthly knowledge.”  He has been with the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service for 28 years in Montgomery, Travis and Harris County where he currently serves as a County Extension Agent in Horticulture.

Skip has gardened in the brush country of south Texas, the rocky hills of the Missouri Ozarks, the acid sands of the East Texas piney woods, the semi-arid climate and high pH soils of central Texas, and the humid, hot climate and black clays of southeast Texas.

He is an enthusiastic student and teacher of natural gardening techniques. He helped develop Extension's "Don't Bag It" yard waste recycling programs, the "Composting for Kids" educational web page, and the Grow Green environmental education program which educates Austin residents on landscaping practices that protect water quality.

He has written a bi-weekly internet column for the National Gardening Association, numerous newspaper and magazine articles on gardening. His “Gardening with Skip” YouTube channel features over 120 brief gardening videos. Skip has served as the National Gardening Association’s regional horticulturist for the southeastern U.S. and is a contributing editor to Texas Gardener magazine. He is the host of the Gardening Success radio show. His new book, Texas Month-by-Month Gardening provides guidance on planting and caring for your garden and landscape every month of the year.

Saturday, May 5, 2018

Jr Gardener Event

Kids enjoyed making Mother's Day pots

Selecting plants

Potting plants

Selecting hand made decorations

Signing flowered board


New arrivals signing in


Dad helping with pot painting

Mom admiring her little one's creation






Taking pictures



Eating popcorn





Touring fire truck




Meeting neighbors

Peggy with her original "pot sticker" creations 




Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Fighters signing up decorating






Amazed by all of the activity



Mother and daughter each decorate a pot





Finished product



Fantastic weather

Creating Mother's Day card



Family time