The 88th OAGC Convention was held June 25-27, 2018 using the theme, “Gardening Through the Seasons.” It was held at Deer Creek State Park Lodge and Conference Center. The full Convention write up can be found in the 2018 Oct-Nov-Dec issue of The Garden Path. Enjoy!
The following photos were taken by Vicki Ferguson.
OAGC is heading to The Wilds on September 29, 2018!Your OAGC Team is planning a WILD year, with new ideas and opportunities galore! To jumpstart the new term, we offer you a chance to go WILD in the beautiful rolling hills of Ohio at the world reknowned WILDlife center, the WILDS!! Located about 25 minutes south of I-70, on over 9000 acres of land reclaimed from stripmines and donated by AEP as a wildlife refuge, 26 species of exotic animals roam freely. We invite you to bring your friends, families, and kids of all ages to join us for WILDly wonderful adventures. The WILDS offers several levels of tours:
1. The WILDS Safari tour: over two hours of information from your guide, in an open-sided bus, as you see firsthand the WILDlife along the trail. $25 (no meal, but picnic lunches are permitted and concession stands are available). Maximum of 30 per bus. Tour at 11 am.
Note: The above rates are special discounted OAGC member/guest prices, with no markup, as a service to our members. Those without paid in advance OAGC reservations will pay the regular general public ticket prices if they visit the park. A Butterfly Center and Hellbender (what’s that?!?) Center are open FREE of charge until 6 pm. Send ticket order with
Name, Email Address, Region Number, Phone Number and which tour:
_______ Wilds Basic Safari Tour @ $25 each = $_______
_______ Wildside Premium Safari @ 100 each = $ _______
_______ Super Sunset Supper Tour @ $70 each = $ _______
Total = $_________
Send check payable to OAGC to: Suzy Parker, Box 802, Syracuse, OH 45779.
Questions? Email Suzy at suzyparker616@gmail.com or call 740-992-5555 or 740-508-2494. Registration deadline is September 11, 2018.
One of the best comprehensive educational opportunities offered to OAGC growers, designers, exhibitors and judges alike is the biannual 2-day Exhibitors’ and Judges’ School. The School also offers attendees a great assortment of vendors. Daily registration is $40 and includes lunch. Read more about OAGC Exhibitors’ and Judges’ Schools HERE.
The September 2017 School #2 topics included Oriental Designs with Myrna Cordray, Color Theory with Mary Lee Minor, Growing, Showig and Judging Roses, Growing, Showing and Judging Dahlias, African Violets and Gesneriads with Vicki Ferguson and Small Gardens with Charlene Thornhill. Plant Identification is also covered. Enjoy the photos provide by Naomi Ormes and Vicki Ferguson.
Oriental Designs Program by Myrna Cordray
African Violets and Gesneriads by Vicki Ferguson
Small Gardens by Charlene Thornhill
Color Theory by Mary Lee Minor
When the Ohio Bluebird Society (OBS) hosts its conference Saturday, March 4, at the Ashland University Convocation Center (638 Jefferson St, Ashland, OH 44805), it promises to bring together history, hope and joy for “30 Years of Bluebird Happiness – 1987-2017.”
The celebration atmosphere will feature charter members, highlights of the roots of the organization, recognition of faithful supporters and a lunch hour with four breakout sessions. Habitat conservation speakers are scheduled. In closing moments OBS grant recipients are sharing success stories.
Conference planners invite everyone who has an interest in the conservation of eastern bluebirds to attend.. Breakout sessions are to be led by experienced bluebirders who plan support for beginning birders, ideas for improving nest box results, encouragement for youth and a general share session for questions and answers. Non-profit exhibits will surround the meeting room. A silent auction table will offer numerous items related to birding, a few gift baskets and certificates from area organizations and businesses. A variety of nest boxes will be available for purchase.
Registration is $25 for OBS members and $30 for non-members (includes morning coffee and donuts, a box lunch, birthday cake, favors and door prizes.) Registration forms are available on the OBS website (www.ohiobluebirdsociety.org). Deadline is February 18.
How would you like to make a mini-basket design or learn how to make a beautiful bow? Ohio Association of Garden Clubs recently accepted an invitation by L.L. Bean to stage a ‘Make-and-Take’ workshop recently at the Easton Town Center L.L. Bean store in Columbus. The free workshop was well received by holiday shoppers.
OAGC Past President Mary Lee Minor brought a large assortment of colorful ribbon, miniature baskets and varied textures of fragrant fresh greens. Second Vice President Jean Jankowski brought tiny hemlock cones and bright dried flowers. Soon OAGC member Shirley Chapman was teaching kids and adults how to make gorgeous bows for use on wreaths or gifts. We even served three generations, Jack and Clair with mom, grandma and grandpa.
OAGC Foundation Treasurer June Gebhardt and First Vice President Suzy Parker also assisted visitors in making tiny basket designs with their choice of lavender, yew, boxwood, arbor vitae, hemlock cones, dried flowers and baby’s breath. After adding bright ribbon, designers took the basket home to decorate a tree or table scene.
While working with our guests, the OAGC crew talked with visitors about their interests and the benefits offered by our organization. Informative bookmarks were given so guests will know how to contact us to find a club they can join and where to explore our website, Facebook, and Pinterest .
L.L. Bean associate Bob Adams and store manager Kasie Clouser provided table space and signage for the activity, near a windowed entrance area, where our workshop was highly visible to curious shoppers. Observing how involved customers were in our activity, Clouser suggested we return in other seasons and expand to the Cincinnati store.
As our native Milkweed plant goes, it has a pretty unappealing taste to many insects. And yet, our beloved Monarch butterfly caterpillars regale it as the best lunch room in town. Thanks to the Milkweed’s bad tasting sap, it limits the dining room attendance to a few hardy leaf-munching/sucking souls. The Large Milkweed Bug is one of those such critters can be found in great abundance these days.
These insects undergo an incomplete metamorphosis which means they do not go through the egg-larvae-pupae stage as insects with a complete metamorphosis. This is why everyone in the family photo pretty much looks like one another albeit the younger ones lacking their distinctively colored wings. Newly laid eggs take about one week to hatch. After undergoing 5 moltings or instar stages, they become an adult at about one month of age. They pierce the Milkweed seed pod skin and feast on the seeds located inside. They might suck juices from other plants but generally do little damage.
Thanks to the aforementioned bad tasting milkweed sap that they ingest it goes without saying that they also taste bad. Their bright orange coloring is another warning sign nature built in to this creature. After trying a bite of a Milkweed bug, not many birds will try another orange snack be it a Milkweed bug or a Monarch butterfly.
You can submit entries for home-grown fruits, vegetables, flowers and gigantic produce in one of the many Horticulture and Floriculture competitions held in Nationwide Donahey Ag & Hort Building presented by the Ohio Farm Bureau during the Ohio State Fair’s run July 27 – August 7, 2016!
How to Enter:
You can easily enter online and be one step closer to proving that you have the greenest thumb in Ohio! Visit the Ohio State Fair website for step-by-step entry instructions and click here for more information about the Horticulture competitions.
The Callery Pear, Pyrus calleryana, was first thought to be imported in the early 1900s to help fight fire blight resistance in the common pear. Its rootstocks were used long before the 1950s when the ornamental and hardiness traits of several cultivars, including the Bradford pear, were recognized by the landscape trade.
Thinking botanically, while some genotypes are self-incompatible, meaning they require cross pollination from another genotype in order to set seed, others can pollinate themselves. Different genotypes growing near each other (e.g., within about 300 ft.) can cross-pollinate and produce fruit with viable seed. Also, cultivars are often grafted onto seed-grown rootstocks with varying genotypes; if the plant produces shoots from the rootstock (which it often does), then these shoots and the graft can pollinate one another. Thus, the Bradford pear cultivar is one of several cultivars (varieties) of Callery pear capable of spreading and being invasive. Here’s where it all goes south and sounds like the Amur honeysuckle situation.
Any plant resulting from a seed produced by Pyrus calleryana ‘Bradford’ is a different genotype of Pyrus calleryana and not a member of any cultivar (unless somebody propagates that seedling and names it as a new cultivar). The plants that spread in natural areas are not cultivars. They are sexually reproducing populations consisting of multiple genotypes that recombine every generation.
Once established Callery pear forms dense thickets that push out other plants including native species that can’t tolerate the deep shade or compete with pear for water, soil and space. A single tree can spread rapidly by seed and vegetative means forming a sizeable patch within several years. Its success as an invader results from its capacity to produce copious amounts of seed that is dispersed by birds and possibly small mammals, seedlings that germinate and grow rapidly in disturbed areas and a general lack of natural controls like insects and diseases, with the exception of fire blight.
The solution? Do not plant Callery pear or any cultivars including the well known Bradford pear no matter what assurances the garden centers tell you. Seedlings and shallow-rooted plants can be pulled when soil is moist. Medium to large trees should be cut down and stumps treated with a systemic glyphosate or triclopyr-based herbicide. Several native trees would make excellent substitutes for Callery pear, including common serviceberry (Amelanchier arborea), Allegheny serviceberry (Amelanchier laevis), cockspur hawthorne (Crataegus crus-galli), green hawthorne (C. viridis) and the native sweet crabapple (Malus coronaria).
Read more in this publication: ODNR Division of Forestry’s PDF Weed of the Month.
The Central Ohio Cactus and Succulent Society will be hosting the 2016 Spring Show and Sale on Saturday, March 26 at the Franklin Park Conservatory in classroom C/D on the lower level. Sales will begin at 10 am and will continue until 4 pm.
This year’s sale will also feature a gigantic selection of plants from the collection of member Vera Norman. Vera was the oldest member of the club and recently passed away at the age of 101. Her huge collection features hundreds of plants and all proceeds will go to Vera’s church, the Central Ohio Cactus and Succulent Society and The Franklin Park Conservatory.
Other items for sale may include cactus soil, pots and decorative rocks. Members of the society will be available to assist with sales and to provide tips on how to grow these plants. All plants are in limited supply, so arrive early for the best selection.
Featuring Ikebana designs (Myrna Cordray, instructor) and Color Theory (Mary Lee Minor, instructor)
Exhibitors’ and Judges’ School #2 – September 15-16, 2014
