Meeting calendar, 2022–2023

As is our tradition, all members may share good or bad gardening experiences; recommend (or not recommend) plants, tools, or products; or show-and-tell a gadget, spade, or hoe (wrestled into and out of our car) without which we now cannot garden. Everybody has a chance to speak (or not speak, if that body, say, having spent the gardening season lolling about on the Italian Riviera, never once picked up so much as a trowel). A timekeeper will help us limit our speaking time to just a half minute, so everyone has a chance to share.

Bethesda Urban Partnership (BUP) was instituted in 1994 and has been at work for 28 of the Club’s 100 years.  BUP plants (and waters!) all the pretty street dividers on Wisconsin Avenue, along with the giant pots on the sidewalks, and the unexpected plots that we find in some of our streets. Jeff Burton, Executive Director, will share some of BUP’s history and many of the wonderful things the organization does to enhance our neighborhood.

When the Montgomery County Council passed the Tree Canopy Law in 2013, it authorized the county Department of Environment to fund Tree Montgomery. This wonderful program plants and helps maintain shade trees across the county. Tree Montgomery plants trees in residential yards, parking lots, on private property and in public spaces, all at no cost to the recipients.

Come at 9:45 (new time!) for one of our favorite garden club events! We will assemble our holiday greens arrangements and take them to charities that serve our community. Bring your treated greens, clippers and a sandwich for lunch.  More information in the November newsletter.

Two years ago, Drew Asbury, head gardener at Hillwood Museum and Gardens, discussed an ecological approach to the estate’s cutting garden. For this meeting, he will discuss how the pandemic affected the Hillwood gardens and gardening practices.

THIS MEETING WILL BE HELD VIA ZOOM. Patty McGrath, a Bethesda/Potomac resident, will tell us, via ZOOM, all about growing annuals, herbs, vegetables, and unexpected volunteers in straw bales, a practice she’s passionate about.  When you’ve heard about her successes, you’ll want to take up straw bale gardening yourself. Patty promises she’ll provide the name of her straw bale source!

Lesley-Anne Furlong, a Montgomery County Master Gardener, will discuss soil characteristics that affect plant growth, soil’s chemical and physical components, and compaction and composting. Her talk will review some information we already may have learned from our own gardens, and will encourage us to use best practices to maintain soil health. Lunch will be served after the meeting.

The last speaker for the last meeting of the first half of our  2023 centennial year is our very own Lizzie Glidden-Boyle, who is a master of floral arranging.  Lizzie will demonstrate principles of flower arranging and share expertise and tips, so that we know how to make that perfect arrangement we’re seeing in our mind’s eye.

Note

• If you would like to attend one of our meetings as a nonmember, please contact us through our contact form.