Upcoming Meetings

The Garden Club maintains the Cape Clubhouse beds, along with 3 others in the Cape, Stop by to see them bursting with the blooms of fragrant lilies & phlox alongside bright pink hardy hibiscus & dwarf crape myrtles, all set off by the brilliant golden foliage of the Gold Mop evergreens.  

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THANK YOU, CAPERS, for coming out in droves to support our annual Plant Sale fundraiser — We are so grateful for your support!!!   Perfect weather meant a fun day for all.  For those who missed it, we do have some leftovers… please email capegardenclub@gmail.com if you would like to purchase some plants.
THANK YOU for your generous and continuing support!

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 1121 River Bay Road.  Thanks for helping us to reduce and reuse!

July & August: No meetings but our Yard of the Month judges and Beautification Committees are hard at work all summer long, making our community beautiful!

Tuesday, Sept 3:  Sharing Garden Stories by the Members of the Garden Club

Tuesday, Oct 1:  Bulbs and Spring Ephemerals  Slideshow

All meetings are held in the Cape St. Claire Clubhouse meeting room (1223 River Bay Road, 21409) unless otherwise noted.  Questions?  Phone Catherine at 410-212-1944 or salca01@comcast.net, or reach us at capegardenclub@gmail.com.  New faces always welcome!

Read more about our year’s events and speakers.

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2019 Plant Sale is a wrap!

THANK YOU, Neighbors, for coming out in droves to support our annual Plant Sale!

After last year’s mud and rain, we were all thrilled to enjoy some sunshine with all our customers.  We were amazed at how many plants flew away in the first hour of our sale and we were so happy to see our plants go to new homes, including the 7 lush Camellias that flew away in the first 2 hours of our sale.  Thanks to those who had plant recommendations for next year, we’ve taken notes and will do our best to provide those in 2020.  Thank you again, neighbors, for your generous support of our sale!

And also many thanks to local businesses who donated food for our hard-working volunteers: Grauls, Blue Rooster, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Trader Joes.  We are so glad we also have the support of our local Cape businesses!

7:30am: Getting ready to go…

8am: Our loyal supporters arrive!

Dividing Perennials Workshop

Happy spring, everyone!

Our Members gathered at our April meeting to prepare for our plant sale by learning to divide and pot up perennials for our sale.  We shared an informative slideshow and discussion on the tools and methods of  Dividing Perennials, then jumped right in to get our hands dirty!  Thanks to all the Members who made this such a fun and productive evening, and especially those who stayed to wipe, sweep, and put everything away.  Many hands make such light work and we so appreciate your hard work!

2019 Plant Sale Preview

You’re invited to join us on Saturday, May 18th for our annual PLANT SALE — A Cape tradition!  Until then, please feast your eyes on these gorgeous plants that we will have available at the sale!

*** Click for our Plant Sale Event on Facebook   ****

 

 

Color in the Winter Garden

The winter garden can seem grey and dull, yet we learned it doesn’t have to be so!  At our February meeting, Members learned all about plants that provide color, structure, and even fragrant blooms – yes, in the dead of winter!

We learned how our eyes perceive color only in bright, even light, and Catherine presented beautiful photographs from the entire colorwheel: white, pink, red, purple, blue, yellow, orange.  We remembered the intrepid explorers who brought us seeds and cuttings of magnificent plants from Europe, Asia, and the Middle east, giving us garden jewels like Camellias, witch hazels, and all our spring blooming bulbs.  Thanks to Catherine for such an informative, colorful, and inspiring talk, giving Members many ideas for future plantings in their own gardens!

You can see the entire slideshow here: Color in the Winter Garden.  Enjoy!

Wreath-Making Workshop 2018

So many wreaths, so many hands — all done in one hour. Now it’s time for our gift exchange!

Every year, our Members bring evergreen cuttings from over own gardens to use in creating festive evergreen wreaths together.  Two have always been donated to decorate the Maryland Statehouse, along with wreaths from dozens of other Maryland garden clubs.  Three are made for the Cape Clubhouse doors, one for the Guard Shack, and new this year, one was donated to the Broadneck Library.  We are so grateful to our Members who contribute their greens and handiwork for this workshop, and for another productive and educational year of gardening fun and fellowship.

Clubhouse Doors

Witch hazel blooming amidst our evergreen cuttings

The youngest gardeners are great at shuttling supplies while we work

Making the wreaths: 2 on straw forms, 5 on wire

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And what a year 2018 was!  We added 10 new Members, had another record-breaking Plant Sale, began our Zero Waste Initiative, and made seven evergreen wreaths together,

No more landfill waste!

also a new record.  Thanks to all our hard-working Members who made all this possible — we so appreciate your contributions!

And finally, we said a fond farewell to our founder and former president Kitty Donovan.  Members shared stories from our times together, and we sent to her family our condolences and appreciation of all her years of service to the Garden Club.  

September 2018: Members Sharing Garden Stories Slideshow

Members gathered after our summer break to catch up and hear each others’ news.  In addition, we are proud to have the Garden Club go ZERO WASTE, thanks to the efforts of our hardworking Member Tracy, who volunteered to lead the effort!

 

Click to see our entire slideshow!
Sharing Garden Stories Sept 2018 + Zero Waste Plan

Nibbling Caterpillar Video from Audrey’s Science slide is viewable here + info on Swallowtails cocoons here

Bay-Wise Challenge is On!

This February, we had speakers from the Bay-Wise Program (A project of the Maryland Extension and Master Gardeners), who showed us simple steps we can all take while gardening at home, to protect our precious Chesapeake Bay.  All the steps serve the larger goal: to reduce pollutant flows into the Bay by soaking in and filtering rain water from our yards.

Some of those easy steps  that we learned are: Mowing our grass high with a mulching mower, picking up pet waste daily, keeping storm drains clear, directing downspouts into flower beds so the water soaks in, adding rain barrels or rain gardens, planting groundcovers to decrease erosion, watering at dawn or dusk to reduce evaporation, reducing pesticide use, using slow-release or organic fertilizers and compost.  You can read more at their website or see the entire checklist online.

Club Members enthusiastically took up a challenge to get more gardens certified Bay-Wise, and to help spread the word to our neighbors about gardening Bay-Wise.  Our Clubhouse Committee even got the beds at our neighborhood Clubhouse certified.  We are so excited about contributing to the CSCIA efforts to manage stormwater run off in our community, and to help spread the word to residents that they too can contribute right in their own gardens.

Our waterways contribute such joy and quality of life to all of us here in Maryland, so please join us in protecting our waterways!  Visit the Bay-Wise website or see the entire checklist online.  Thanks for reading!

Clubhouse Committee gets Bay-Wise certified!  

 

 

 

 

Larry & Margarette get certified

Kari gets Bay-Wise certified

Larry & Margarette, and Kari get Bay-Wise Certified, and Carol and Kathy as well!

 

Kathy gets Bay-Wise certified

Carol gets certified Bay-Wise

 

Jeanne M gets certified!

Barb W gets certified!

 

Jeanne M, Barb W, Jeanne K, and Audrey & helpers get Bay-Wise Certified!

Jeanne gets Bay-Wise Certified!

Audrey & helpers get Bay-Wise certified.