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Native Plants with Joanne Hutton - Meeting on October 19, 2021


­­­­­­Members present:

Connie Anderson, Louise Beale, Cherry Bourque, Carol Cramer, Jane DeCell,

Doris Dixon, Cathy Farrell, Fossy Fenwick, Betsy Forester, Helen Garrett, Nancy Gorman, Winkie Crigler, Jeannette Harper, Theresa Hart, Betty Langhammer, Diana Luke-Hopson, Muffin Lynham,

Claire Marshall, Sally Marshall, Colet Mitchell, Pam Selden, Jane Simchak, Anne Snodgrass, Ellen Thrasher, Susan Vanderver, and Xenia Wilkinson


ALERT ALERT!!!!!     Breaking News!!!

Evergreen Garden Club’s new website is up and running – thanks to Cathy’s and Jane’s hard work.

Here is the link

Password for the membership page is Forevergreen

The Business Meeting:


The minutes of the September meeting were approved.


Membership Report:  Xenia Wilkinson said that there were no new nominations for membership this fall.  She is asking for new nominations.  Those names are due by February 1, 2022.  Names of those people will be announced at the March 2022 meeting and voted on in April2 022.  There are 4 vacancies in the membership. 


Programs:  Jane DeCell announced the following about November programs:


Tuesday, November 9, 2021 – 10:30 AM  (Rain date Thursday, November 11 10:30 AM).

Volunteer Workday at Tregaron Conservancy for the Fall Cleanup


Tuesday November 16, 2021. Fall Dried Flower Arranging Workshop

 Jeanne Ha of Park Florist will conduct a Zoom Workshop.


Treasurer’s Report:

Winkie Crigler Treasurer’s Report is as follows:


 Treasurer’s Report for October 2021 Evergreen Garden Club meeting:


We started the year with $5,556.58 on hand. I have deposited the dues checks received in September plus guest fees for the Bishop’s Garden tour and we have had 2 meetings with speakers through today. We now have a balance in our account of $8,436.58.


Things worth noting in the attached budget:

  1. I have estimated $750 as an estimate for the website. That could change and might increase if we decide to hire someone to help and train. (Or it might be less.)

  2. I have estimated $1,600 for the speakers at our meetings. That may end up being a bit lower (I don’t yet have all of the proposed speakers’ fees.)

  3. Based on the numbers in the budget, as of now we have $4,500 budgeted for grants/projects. I try to come out about even each year in terms of income and expenses, and spending $4,500 means that our expenses would exceed our income by $435 this year. We have a pretty substantial reserve (over $5,000), and we may decide that we want to dip further into it and do $5,000 in grants/projects in the spring. To be discussed at a future meeting.


In terms of dues, I have received checks from 27 of our 41 Active members, and 2 of our 6 Associate members. Dues payments are due by the end of October, and there is a $25 penalty for dues not received by December 1. I will send a reminder in early November to those people who haven’t paid yet. 


Respectfully submitted,

Winkie Crigler, Treasurer



The Program:  Gardening – It’s for the Birds. 


Cathy Farrell introduced our speaker, Joanne Hutton.  She is a Virginia Master Naturalist and is the Co-Chair for the Plant Nova Natives campaign which helps support the habitat for birds, butterflies and pollinators and healthy water.  Joanne gave a very interesting presentation on how interconnected plants and birds are and how one does not thrive without the other.  She emphasized how important it is to plant native plants in our own gardens to support bird life. 

Joanne suggested there are two very good books on this subject by author Douglas Tallamy. 

They are:  Bringing Nature Home and Nature’s Best Hope.


See below a very nice note from Joanne with links to important information from her presentation and also of her all her power point slides.  


Colet thanked Joanne for her excellent presentation. 


Dear Colet,


Your group was mighty patient, as were you, as we worked around our many technical complications yesterday morning.  I'm happy to report that the Genius Bar was able to resuscitate my MacBook yesterday afternoon, which was an enormous relief. 


Thank you for the opportunity to be with all of you.  I was not able to spend much time on resources your members might use, but there is a section in this power point version that addresses that.  I'm attaching it as both a pdf, for simplicity, and a google doc, which offers a few speakers' notes that could be useful.  I'm also sorry not to have had time to answer more questions.  Your members are welcome to contact me directly with any.



The best resource for gardeners I can recommend is our Plant NOVA Natives Guide, Native Plants for Northern Virginia, available online or for order here:

https://www.plantnovanatives.org/.  There's a mobile app that goes with it that addresses deer resistance, and a wealth of information including sources of native plants in the area.  


Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia have put together a lot of excellent materials, which include their "Tried and True" plant descriptions (https://mgnv.org/plants/), and a virtual classroom series on natives (https://mgnv.org/sustainable-landscaping/).


Additionally, your members might enjoy a cache of recorded webinars (with two more lives ones coming up) sponsored by the Plant Virginia Natives campaign (of which Plant NOVA Natives is part and parcel):  https://www.plantvirginianatives.org/webinars-landscaping-with-virginia-natives.  The fee is $10 for full access to twelve presentations by a range of statewide authorities, to include Doug Tallamy.


Finally, the one point I failed to make is that conservation works!  This is a place and a way for all of us to make a difference, and when we plant the right things, the critters will come!  


Enjoy your year of exploration, learning and sharing together!


Yours,

Joanne Hutton

703 282-4964


Note from Fossy Fenwick: 


Hello All,

I thought today's meeting was excellent.

A great source for native plants, trees and shrubs is Chesapeake Natives, Inc., 9640 Rosaryville Rd, Upper Marlboro, MD 20772. It's a non-profit run mostly by volunteers at the old historic Mt. Airy farm which was bought by the state years ago. They are using the old greenhouse and even the pool for aquatic plants. It's about a 40 minute drive from Chevy Chase.  You can look up the group up at chesapeakenatives.org which has a list of all the plants they sell. I've been multiple times and have their plants happily growing in my garden.

Cheers, Fossy


Respectively submitted,

Pam Selden, Recording Secretary

Below find the link that will take you to the Native Plants presentation by Joanne Hutton, October 19, 2021.

Catherine Farrell

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