Penn State University College of Agricultural Sciences
Naviagation barCounty InformationSoutheast RegionAbout UsPublications
Delaware County Cooperative Extension
Back to Homepage Homepage Master Gardener | Master Gardener Newsletterarrowyou are here

Delaware County Master Gardeners

Urban Gardening Master Gardener Newsletter Archive Useful Links Master Gardener Members Only To Become A Master Gardener Master Gardener Home Page - Delaware County Soil Test Kit Master Gardener Activities Events Calendar Gardening Tips Archive

(picture of the master gardener logo)

News for Delaware County Master Gardeners

Vol. 12 No. 2 February, 2007

In this newsletter:
(click on a topic to go directly to it)

From the Coordinator ... Linda Barry

Do I remember that we were talking about the unusually warm season just this time last month? I doubt that I’ll hear that anymore this year! But the seed packets are arriving - the Taylor Arboretum Committee had held their first seed-starting session, so spring isn’t that far away!

Congratulations to our new president, Kathy Hornberger and vice-president, Lorraine Altrichter. I’m looking forward to working with you for the next two years. Many thanks to our out-going president, Alyce Zellers for her leadership, inspiration and dedication to the Master Gardeners.

The new membership directory was included in this newsletter mailing. Please remember that this is confidential information and is not to be shared with non-members of the Master Gardeners. Thanks to Barbara Meahl for updating and printing the lists. We carefully checked all of your responses for contact information and committee selection. We gave the first collated copy to our new president, who announced she has a new email! Let me say that this list is updated, but expect revisions as we change homes, providers, and committee choices. If anyone else has changes or corrections, please let me know and we will publish them in the next newsletter.

The Home Gardeners’ School brochure is also in this mailing. Thanks to the committee’s efforts in creating such a great brochure, and special thanks to MaryAnne Crawford for the beautiful brochure paper and printing. Diana Breen has designed the program and arranged for the speakers, and Ken Paulsell arranges for the facilities and other activities that we have on that day. If you would like to join this group, but hadn’t made this one of your selections, you’re still welcome to join. Please register early if you wish to attend the Home Gardeners’ School. It’s a really great day!

I shall include with this newsletter and (hopefully) future issues, a brief synopsis of the Board Meetings. Our Master Gardener Board meets ten times each year. Our meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each month. If you have anything that you wish to present at these meetings, let us know and we will put it on the agenda.

In case you have not been receiving MG news flashes via email from Linda, please add Linda Barry's email address (lrb16@psu.edu) to your email address book to avoid having her emails sent to your spam folder.

horizontal line divider

Notes from the MG President:

A new year is here and with it is a changing of the guard. I want to thank Alyce Zellers for her dedication and hard work over the last two years as our president and for the leap forward she gave us with the introduction of the Fall Fest. Having recently completed its second successful year in operation, folks in the county and surrounding communities will be looking forward to this event for many years to come. Thank you, Alyce!

A new year is here and with it is a new set of responsibilities for me. I am resolved as your next president to serve to the best of my abilities and, with the help of all the many talented and dedicated people in this organization, to continue the high level of programming and gardening opportunities the people of Delaware County have come to expect.

A new year is here and with it is my hope that each one of you will give just a few extra hours to our organization this year: try a new committee, help out at a Second Saturday, pull some weeds in the Smedley gardens. No job is too small, every task is much appreciated. The more you do, the more people you will know, the more cohesive our organization will be.

A new year is here and with it is a resolution to make my home garden even better than last year. I am sure you have, as well. ‘Better’ might involve creating bigger spaces in which to grow more tree peonies, or installing that much dreamt about water garden, or finally using that homemade compost that has been developing over the last two years. Whatever ‘better’ is for you, as the saying goes, “Just do it!”

A new year is here and with it is my wish that each of you will enjoy a wonderful gardening season in 2007!
Kathy Hornberger

Return to the top.

horizontal line divider

Green Thumb Schedule

always at 6:45 pm

  • March 14th Shere-e-punjab Media ( New Indian Restaurant)
  • April 25th Walnut Hill Restaurant School in West Philadelphia

Return to the top.

horizontal line divider

Merry Place Schedule

9 a.m. - 12 Noon

  • March 31st Basic Gardening
    Talk for Girl Scouts working on a badge
  • May 12th Community Volunteer Day
  • June 2nd Compost Workshop

Janae Alberts

Return to the top.

horizontal line divider

Words for You to Weed Through

The Winter Gardener

While steeping my morning tea and preparing for my trip to work, I listened attentively to today’s weather forecast. It called for blustery winds, light snow, and icy conditions. I glanced at a calendar and found an almost southern comfort in its countdown to spring.

As I left my home my breathing became momentarily gasped as cold wind carried tiny pieces of debris that whipped and fluttered across my yard. Strangely, I found folly in a vision of myself sitting on my patio sipping lemonade while watching the Great Bumble sitting on a bloom sipping nectar. Very aware and appreciative of each other, we enjoyed the serenity of the garden. I secured my hat and my journey began.

My steps were careful and strategic as I walked along the icy curbs and sidewalks taking a shortcut thru a small park. I listened to areas of thin ice crack and crumble beneath my feet. Somehow I felt a secret solace in my vivid recollection of the scents I experienced on these used to be, soon to be, fragrant pathways. My smile was hidden beneath my scarf.

Throughout the day I watched flurries, like feathers, lightly fall one upon another creating an accumulation. I had flashbacks of moments when I saw dew drops rest on petals like diamonds laid upon black velvet. My awe was thawing.

One might ask: “How do you detect bouquet in the wind’s bitter bluster? When the birds, bees, and butterflies are gone and the trees are bare, how do you hear the earth’s symphonies in their hallow? When nights have extended at daylights expense how do you see beyond the darkness to the event of sunlight’s reemergence tapping sleeping flora on her shoulder commanding her to awaken, and the connection of their grasping hands forming a rainbow?” The answer is simple. That’s just the dormant spirit of the Winter Gardener.
Tracey L. Carson

“In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer”
Albert Camus

Return to the top.

horizontal line divider

SEND THOSE RECIPES NOW - please

I am in a desperate need of your favourite recipes for our cookbook, we need 150 recipes (all categories needed).

Please take a moment to send me, e-mail me (or give me one at our meetings) any recipe you have.

This is very important since this is an easy fund raiser and our deadline is April 1st.

Many thanks to you all, I know you'll come through for me.

Happy gardening,
Chantal

 

NEWSLETTER STAFF:
Editor: Barbara Smith
Layout Designer: Tina Coleman
Contributors: Linda Barry, Tracey Carson, Joe Daniels, Carolyn DiPaulo, Marianne Martin, Elsie Mueller, Marion Nelson, Cynthia Sabatini, Mary Sambor, Carl Pfeiffer & Arlene Pugh


Return to the top.

horizontal line divider

Delaware County Master Gardeners Home
Gardening Tips  |   Master Gardener Activities
Becoming a Master Gardener
Useful Links


Penn State | College of Agricultural Sciences | Cooperative Extension & Outreach

This page last updated Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Copyright Information
This publication is available in alternative media on request.
Penn State is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity University.
This site is a product of Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences.
Please e-mail us with your questions, comments or suggestions at DelawareExt@psu.edu.