Volume 8 Issue 1
Volume 8, Issue 2
September 2020
Photo courtesy of Inspiredbycharm.com. Check out their website for tips on planting and growing dahlias
“September is dressing herself in show of dahlias…”
Oliver Wendell Holmes

The queen of the autumn garden is the Dahlia, which we have cultivated from tender tubers in the early spring and will enjoy until the first frost. While the Dahlia’s message to us is one of resilience, this flower also encourages us to seek new adventures in life and keep moving through challenges instead of letting them hold us back. This has been a time of challenges, but we are a hardy bunch of ladies that aren’t held back by much! We have embraced our September meeting outside in DBG’s Annuals Garden and Pavilion! In October, we will gather at DBG’s Chatfield, dining al fresco and listening to Brian Vogt and Larry Vickerman give us an update on the exciting plans for the Denver Botanic Gardens at Chatfield. Our Committees are meeting to plan workshops for you to attend safely, in person, and virtually. Our Flower Show Committee is up and running with plans to support the purpose of a Garden Club of America Flower Show, which is three-fold: “to set standards of artistic and horticultural excellence, to broaden knowledge of horticulture, flower arranging, conservation, and other related areas, and to share the beauty of a show with fellow club members and the public.” The Garden Club of Denver’s GCA Show, “The Language of Flowers”, will include all of the above as well as fabulous classes in Photography and Botanic Arts.

While we plan to have our meetings from November through April via Zoom, we will stay informed and flexible while making our Zoom meetings fun! We have marvelous programs with speakers arranged for you thanks to Caroline Rassenfoss and Tish Szurek. Amy Slothower and Megan Mahncke will have your new directories for you at the September meeting and please don’t forget that all the information in your directories is also on the website, which will be updated frequently so you will have the most current information throughout the year. Kathleen Woodberry, Elizabeth Weigand and I encourage you to familiarize yourself with our website, and please check to be sure your information is updated. Our website is a treasure and a true labor of love.

Fill a vase full of Dahlias and enjoy their positive energy, reminding us stay strong and graceful even in these most challenging times, or just because they are beautiful and are indeed a queen of autumn flowers.

Warmly,
Mark your calendar!

  • September 2, 2020 President's Council meeting
  • September 8, 2020 GCD Meeting, DBG Annuals Garden
  • September 15, 2020: Photography Committee Meeting (see details below)
  • September 22-23, 2020: Shirley Meneice Horticulture Conference
  • October 13, 2020: GCD Meeting, DBG @ Chatfield with Brian Vogt and Larry Vickerman
  • November 10, 2020: GCD Meeting, via Zoom
  • November 17-18, 2020: Conservation Study Conference
  • December 8, 2020: GCD Meeting, and Greens workshop, via Zoom
Photo courtesy of Chicago Botanic Garden
Don't forget to sign up to help at Lainie's Cutting Garden this summer! Click here to sign up.

2020 Shirley Meneice Horticulture Conference Announcement
In 2020, the Shirley Meneice Horticulture Conference will be held virtually for ALL GCA members on September 22-23, 2020. GCA sent all members an email with the schedule and information. You can visit the Horticulture landing page on the GCA website. Click here to sign up. The keynote and workshops will be packed with inspiring information, so hop on your computer and join the fun! Questions? Contact SMHC@gcamerica.org.
Photography Committee Invites you to its Planning Meeting: Tuesday, Sept. 15, 9:30 a.m.

Please join Deborah Foy and Suellen White, Co-Chairs Photography Committee for a planning meeting. We want your ideas, desires and wishes to guide this year’s workshops, skills development and field shootings. 

Planning meeting: Suellen White’s side yard: Tuesday, Sept. 15 at 9:30 a.m.
 
R.S.V.P to either Suellen White (suellenwhite@mac.com) or Deborah Foy (foy.deborah@gmail.com)
Floral Design Inspiration
by Marianne Sulser

Stuck at home with little to do? Check out the Netflix reality competition The Big Flower Fight. Styled after the popular Great British Baking Show, ten pairs of florists, sculptors and garden designers face off in a friendly floral fight to see who can build the biggest, boldest garden sculptures. It's entertaining and you might get some tips for your own fabulous floral designs.
Photo courtesy of Netflix.com
gardening-things.jpg
Need a hand with your gardening chores?

We've heard several members asking for reliable help with their bigger gardening chores. Janet Manning recommends DU Lawn Care. She says, "They have helped me remove a dead shrub and planted several new ones. They have also helped me redo some of my iris beds. They are prompt and efficient and know a fair amount about gardening, but I know they can learn from us GCD members too. They also are able to help with junk removal and moving."

Contact information:
DULAWNCARE.COM
DULAWNCARECO@gmail.com
603-340-7275
Seed to bloom by Janet Manning, Suellen White and Holley Sanford
 The Sweet Look of Success – from seed to blooms
by Suellen White

In February, thirty GCD members attended a seed starting workshop organized and presented by the GCD Horticulture Committee. Armed with expert advice from Deborah Foy and Sarah Young, everyone left full of hope and enthusiasm, with Floret Farm seeds in hand. Varieties included Zinnia elegans ‘Oklahoma Pink’ and ‘Golden Hour', Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Apricot Lemonade’ and ‘Double Click Cranberries’, Ocimum basilicum ‘Basil Dark Opal’ and Nicandra physalodes, ‘Apple of Peru'. 

That was February. This is August. Their photographs above and below tell the story.
Success stories by Barb Hamman, Deborah Foy and Sarah Young
Seed to bloom by Courtney Marsters, Sheilagh Hudon, and Deborah Foy
SEED SHARE for SMHC 2020
POST YOUR SEEDS!
by Nancy Schotters

As many of you know, the seed share at Shirley Meneice can be a crazy, full-body contact experience for attendees, but well worth the effort. With no in-person conference this year, the GCA Horticulture Committee has requested that all members save seeds and post them on the GCA Seed Share website. Shirley herself was an avid seed collector and posted numerous varieties until her passing. To encourage GCD members to participate, Nancy and Leslie will host a socially-distanced seed collection and drop-off in mid-September (TBA) in Nancy’s garage. We have supplies if you want to pick them up or bring seeds to Nancy’s home. You can also follow the instructions posted on the GCA website and post them yourself. The Horticulture Committee is hoping clubs will jump on the bandwagon and make this both an educational experience and horticultural benefit for everyone.
Seed share at SMHC 2020 by Nancy Schotters
The State of Single-Use Plastic during the Pandemic
By Lise Woodard

During this pandemic, many of us may be discouraged that we have reverted to using more single-use plastics. Plastic producers are seeing double-digit sales increases in food packaging. The US Department of Homeland Security has declared that single-use plastics are an essential infrastructure.

But there are some exciting developments underway. The two largest producers of polystyrene are building de-polymerization plants. Their process breaks down the plastic into its original molecules, which are then used to produce high quality plastics once again.

In a NY Times article, titled “Tired of Plastic? These Businesses Have Ideas for You,” highlights some of the innovative alternatives to single-use plastics. The article notes that consumer momentum is not declining and businesses are seeing an acceleration in the adoption of fiber-based products. The company Footprint creates a cardboard-like product that has a shelf life similar to plastic. Another company, Notpla, uses seaweed and other plants for single-serving packets for condiments. Ecovative Design has developed a technology using mushroom tissue as a substitute to plastic foam packing. The mushroom packaging can be then used as fertilizer for your garden. Consider ways you can reduce your use of single-use plastics.
Save-the-Date: Hike or Bike the Waterton Canyon
Date: Tuesday, September 29th at 9:30 am
Please join the conservation committee on a fun hike or bike ride of the Waterton Canyon, a gorgeous wide trail along the South Platte River up to the Denver Water Strontia Springs Dam. Amy and Lise will give a 10 minute talk about the dam before we depart. The dam is 6.2 miles up an incline gentle enough that you can talk with a friend. The ride back is all downhill. Hikers can walk two miles up and two miles back. Gorgeous red rock formations and gurgling South Platte River. Details and sign up to follow.
Photo by Suellen White
Steppe into an Urban Garden
by Nancy Schotters

GCD members were treated to private tours of SummerHome Garden, the brainchild of Wash Park resident Lisa Negri. Lisa, friend and neighbor to Liza Grant, purchased the lot next to her home on South Vine Street, thinking a garden for the neighborhood to enjoy would be preferable to yet another large new home on a smallish lot. Lisa volunteers at DBG with Kevin Williams, so engaged Kevin to help design the garden. His inspiration was based on colorful graffiti he saw in Slovenia. He created nine planting areas based on nine colors, although as you enter the garden you can’t help but notice the predominance of Lisa’s favorite color, red, in the 180 Salvia Windwalker ‘Royal Red’ plants.  

This spring, Lisa and Kevin with the help of many volunteers laid the garden out, amended only with expanded shale (24,000 lbs!) and planted 3,500 plants using a bareroot method of scraping soil from each plant so the roots would expand into the soil more quickly. Lisa and volunteers initially watered the garden twice a day, but plan that the garden will get infrequent supplemental water once established.

There are native bee hotels located around the garden, built by Lisa’s neighbor with wood collected at the Grant property in Estes Park. The sign at the front was designed by a twelve year old neighbor. On the back side of the garden is a cactus and succulent area with 25 tons of rock from the Lyons quarry and hardy cacti from Kelly Grummons’ extensive collection. The very large agave were quite tricky to plant without getting speared! They came crated, and after siting them, they were carefully dropped into the holes.

The garden will change with the cycle of blooming plants throughout the seasons, and the architecture and textures will change as plants mature. This fall, Sonya Anderson from DBG will come in with 4,000 bulbs in 15 varieties for Lisa and her legion of volunteers to plant for an even richer display next spring and summer. After that effort, Lisa will broadcast seed of native plants as under color within the current structure.

Lisa offered that we should come back in two or three years for major thinning out and plant adoptions as they spread and flourish, so mark your calendars! The garden is located at 651 South Vine Street and is currently open to the public on Tuesday through Friday until September 30.
GCD Board and Committees
2020-2021

Executive Committee
President: Meg Nichols
Vice President: Cindy Scott
Corresponding Secretary: Bar Chadwick
Recording Secretary: Alice Hughes
Treasurer: Maureen Barker
Director: Missy Eliot

Committee Chairmen

Admissions & Membership-elected:
Jane Davis & Margaret Garbe

Awards & Founders Fund:
Sally Obregon

Bulletin & Communications:
Sarah Young

Conservation National Affairs and Legislation:
Lisë Woodard & Amy Mower

Denver Botanic Gardens Committees:

Cutting Garden:
Genie Waters & Linda Zinn

Fete Liaisons:
Debbie Davis & Nan Procknow

Flower Arranging:
Debbie Davis

Holiday Décor:
Lisa Duke & Ann Ellis

Directory (Roster):
Amy Slothower & Megan Mahncke

Floral Design:
Nina Sisk & Cora Wheeler


Committee Chairmen (Continued)

2021 GCA Flower Show:
Missy Eliot & Nina Sisk

Fund Development:
Liza Grant

Garden History & Design:
Holley Sanford

Historian:
Muffie Dahlberg

Horticulture:
Leslie Liedtke & Nancy Schotters

Hospitality:
Nancy Jones & Martha Veldkamp

Judging:
Hope Connors

eNews:
Marianne Sulser & Mary Talbot

Nominating:
Missy Eliot

Photography:
Suellen White & Deborah Foy

Programs:
Caroline Rassenfoss & Tish Szurek

Scholarships: 
Ann Crammond

Visiting Gardens:
Lindsay Dodge

Website:
Kathleen Woodberry
& Elizabeth Weigand