Upcoming Meetings

Ice sculptures in the Garden add color and feed the birds

We always accept empty plant pots, red solo cups, and *plastic* venetian mini-blinds to cut up for plant tags for use in our plant sale.  Please drop either anytime in the driveway at 970 Woodland Circle.  Thanks for helping us to reduce and reuse!

RESCHEDULED FOR Tuesday, January 27th, 7pm:  Winter Seed Sowing Workshop:  Members and guests, please bring translucent plastic containers, the club will provide soil and seeds to make mini-greenhouses that you place outside all winter long.  Seeds will germinate in late winter in their snug little homes.

Tuesday, February 3rd, 7pm:  Dr. Kathryn Hodges will be our guest speaker, on gardening in ways that avoid muscle and back pain.  Dr. Hodges’ topic will be:  “Gardening is a true heart-feeding treasure…unless you are plagued with back pain.”  Come learn ways to keep your body safe while enjoying the joyful work that we do while gardening.

Tuesday, March 3rd, 7pm:  Anniversary Dinner celebrating our 40th year since our founding.  Join founding members Doris Clair and Kitty Donovan for a grand potluck celebration!

Tuesday, March 24th, 7-8:45pm, at the Broadneck Library: Dr. Francis Gouin will be speaking to the Goshen Farm Sharing Garden and the public on Maximizing Crop Production in Limited Space.  Topics include: vegetables for the Chesapeake area, companion and succession plantings, diseases and insect control, and water conservation.   

Dr. Gouin, Professor emeritus of Horticulture, founder of the Master Gardener program in Maryland, gardening wisdom column writer for the Bay Weekly and the Annapolis Horticultural Society, and author of Enough Said! A Guide to Gardening through the Seasons, will answer all gardening questions from attendees.

All are welcome.  Light refreshments provided.  For more information, call 410-757-2436.

Tuesday, April 7th, 7pm:  Preparations for the annual Plant Sale, members preview auction.

Tuesday, May 5th, 7pm:  Preparations for the annual Plant Sale and Secret Gardens Tour, members preview auction.

Saturday, May 16th, 8am-2pm:  ANNUAL PLANT SALE at Cape St Claire Rd and Broadview.  (Google map location: 1111 Broadview, 21409.)  Come enjoy a mouth-watering selection of sturdy Cape-grown perennials, colorful annuals, a wide selection of tomatoes, herbs, and vegetables, and a collection of exciting native perennials hand-picked by our members, all bursting out of their pots and at bargain prices.  Truly a gem of a plant sale. All meetings are held in the Clubhouse meeting room unless otherwise noted.  Questions?  Phone Laura at 410-349-3390 or email flokell@verizon.net.  New faces always welcome!  

June 2014: Secret Garden Tours

We had such lovely weather for our Secret Garden Tours, when we visited four beautiful gardens in the Cape.  Perhaps you’ve already noticed and admired this hillside garden — what a transformation from a challenging blank slate into a attention-catching beauty.  Many thanks to Laura Kellman, who arranged these lovely tours, and to our hosts, who graciously opened their gardens to our footfalls.  We are so grateful to you all for the wonderful day together, surrounded by such luscious colors and textures of your flowers, fruits, and foliage.

Our club members on our Secret Garden Tours

Spiky blue flowers: Erygium

Colorful flowers, gorgeous texture

See how gorgeous a hillside can become!

Here we are in a truly secret magical oasis,
full of hidden treasures

 

2014 Plant Sale Preview

Start drooling, folks, because we have some serious beauties lined up this year for you to take home to your garden.   Hardy perennials for sun or shade, herbs, tomatoes, and vegetables, and colorful annuals await you!

SATURDAY, MAY 17, 8am-2pm in the field at Cape St Claire Road and Broadview, next to the Cape Clubhouse at 1223 River Bay Road.  Just follow the signs along Cape St Claire Road to guide you in.  Rain date Sunday May 18th.  NO EARLY BIRDS PLEASE!

We’ll have lots of experienced gardeners on hand to answer all your questions.  We’ll also be giving away bags of compost for your planting holes and mosquito dunks for your rain barrels.  Come beautify your garden, learn about plants and soil, and help raise funds for our club, all in the same day — thanks for your support year after year, neighbors!

Salvia ‘Hot Lips’

 

Salvia ‘East Friesland’

 

Gaillardia ‘Mesa Peach’

 

Monarda ‘Raspberry Wine’ NATIVE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liatris spicana NATIVE

 

Butterfly weed NATIVE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coreopsis ‘Cosmic Eye’

 

Spigeilia marilandica NATIVE

 

Sedum ‘Autumn Charm’

 

Butterbur (the plant, not the baby!)

 

 

Celandine

December 2013 Wreath-making

All the members work together to make little mixed bundles of evergreens

Amidst singing and happy chatter, the members of the Garden Club teamed up to create 5 evergreen wreaths, made from cuttings from our gardens.  Afterward, we snacked from the abundant buffet and had a white elephant gift exchange, with much laughter as gifts changed hands many times.  We all left filled with the holiday spirit!

The bundles are pinned to straw wreaths and garnished with a bow. Two will be hung in downtown Annapolis, and the remaining three at the clubhouse.

Happy holidays from the Cape St Claire Garden Club!

November 2013 Floral Centerpieces Workshop

 

What a fun time we all had, marveling at the gorgeous mums and asters from everyone’s gardens.  In addition to flowers, members brought foliage, berries, and seed heads from their gardens.   We each took a wet block if the floral foam, provided by the club, and went to work.  Thank you to all the members who shared cuttings from their gardens!

Members use flowers, foliage, berries, and seed heads to create floral centerpieces

Nosy Gardener Tours, 2013

Learning about growing eating and wine grapes, right here in Cape!

Club members admire the asparagus, tomatoes, baby pecan trees, and a beautiful view

A beautiful hydrangea catches our eyes

Cape living at its best: gorgeous gardens and water access all around!

This Yard of the Month winner’s yard: BEFORE…

… and AFTER 20 years of loving attention — so inspiring!

How fortunate we were to be invited to visit these 3 beautiful gardens.  Thriving, healthy edibles, rain gardens full of native plants, and luscious curved beds inspired us!  Afterward we shared a delicious potluck lunch poolside.  Thank you to all our host gardens for a lovely and informative tour!

Cooling off at last.

2013 Plant Sale Preview

Eringium ‘Big Blue’

See and buy these beauties on Saturday, May 18th, 8am-2pm in the grassy area across from Graul’s.  Eat your eyes out here all you want, but NO EARLY BIRDS!

FOR SUN…

Coreopsis ‘Jethro Tull’ (Native)

Phlox ‘Katherine’ for a sunny garden (Native)

Sedum Lime Zinger, tiny but gorgeous!

Helenium ‘Canary’ (Native) sports bright yellow daisies

Alstroemeria ‘Tangerine Tango’ is hardy!

Chelone ‘Hot Lips’ (Native) loves a moist spot

Dracocephalum ‘Blue Dragon’

And FOR SHADE…

Actaea pachypoda (Native), common name bugbane, has fantastical white berries after it flowers

The mighty Royal Fern Osmunda regalia (Native) grows 4-6′ high in time!

Delphinium exaltum (Native) is 4′ of bold blue for your shade garden

Tiarella ‘Elizabeth Oliver’ (Native) has pale pink blooms in spring

2013 Rain Barrel Fundraiser to benefit Goshen Farm Preservation Trust