The Garden Club met on Monday, March 17. Our thanks to Carmen Murphy, Chris Daley, JoAnn Webb and other volunteers for the beautiful food spread. Being St Patrick’s Day, many were decked out in green.
We saw a beautiful movie on humming birds. Why humming birds at the Garden Club, you ask? Because, humming birds are responsible for the pollination of 8000 species of flowers.
These birds, all 350 species, are native to the Americas. They pollinate 1000 flowers a day!
They travel twice a year from Mexico in the winter to as far north as Alaska, across the Gulf of Mexico.
They are the smallest birds in the avian family and the only ones that can hover, fly backwards and turn on a dime! To make your garden humming bird friendly plant a nectar garden.
This will attract these birds as well as the Monarch butterfly. Some of the flowers to consider are lavender, the Gloriosa daisy, sun flowers, butterfly weed, asters, cone flower and the butterfly bush. First set out the plants in full sun. When roots are established, most take moderate water. The sun flower, however, needs regular water.
Another reminder about the field trip to the Huntington Gardens on April 16: The bus and admission is $40. We will depart from the parking lot of the ClubHouse at 10:30 a.m. There is an additional $11 charge for those who want a docent guided tour. There is a tea room where a buffet lunch will cost $30. There are also two additional cafeterias where lunch can be bought.
The Garden Club also has a meeting on April 21 for the 2014 election of officers.
And finally: Why do melons have fancy weddings? Because they cantaloupe!
—Lakshman Sehgal
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