On December 1st, many of us looked out our windows in Western PA to see the first snowfall of the season. What an amazing sight of the beauty and resilience of nature. In 2020, we have experienced nature's fury through storms, floods and forest fires. Then COVID19 arrived. One positive was more time spent in our gardens. We can now experience nature in her natural form, as we move through the dormant season and look forward to her reawakening in the spring.
It has been a strange and trying year for all of us. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused so much of life to be cancelled or put on hold. However, our Garden Club was blessed to be able to "Keep Calm & Garden On" having our 12th Annual Garden Tour take place. Gardeners are a close bunch, so for safety's sake we made a few adjustments asking everyone to wear masks & social distance. Many of our guests thanked us for not cancelling the event and offering something wonderful for them to look forward to.
As you are aware, we are in challenging times due to the out break of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Restrictions have not yet been lifted regarding our meeting location at the Seven Fields Community Center. Unfortunately, our May meeting is cancelled. We hope to see you at our next meeting and will update our website with any schedule changes.
Be well, keep yourself healthy and remember to keep calm & garden on!
The start of a new year always gives us an opportunity to look back and reflect. Our Clubs annual fundraiser... a Summer Garden Tour, was very successful in 2019 enabling us to give back to several projects in our community. The funds raised helped us, in collaboration with the Cranberry Township Community Chest, to install a Blue Star By-Way Marker in our Community Garden in Graham Park. This memorial marker is a National Garden Club, Inc. sponsored project to honor U.S. service members.
"Autumn is a second Spring when every leaf is a flower" -Albert Camus
Sometimes we get a bit sad as we start the process of putting our gardens to bed for the winter season. We need to look at this time as a well deserved rest for our plants and the soil after they have supplied us, the birds and other pollinators with beauty and nourishment.
Our Garden Club has had an exciting spring. Five of our members enjoyed a wonderful time at the 89th Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania (GCFP) Convention. We were thrilled to receive several awards that honor all of the great community work our Club members are involved with. For the second year in a row, we sponsored a young man in college studying horticulture. He was awarded a $1000 GCFP Scholarship. SBCGC was also very proud to nominate Mr. Lorin Meeder, Cranberry Twp. Environmental Coordinator and our Club's liaison with Cranberry Twp. for the Community Garden at Graham Park.
While we and our gardens take a rest from our labor of love, it's time to make a list of what grew well and produced either flowers or food for us last season. We need to make sure to note anything that did not do as well as hoped and research what's needed to optimize production in our gardens for the coming year.
When we hold our first meeting of the year on March 27th, spring will have officially arrived. Hopefully the weather has presented you with opportunities to start cleaning up your garden after the long winters rest. Please join us as we learn from Richard States "Tips for improving your garden photography". Richard is a Horticulturalist, retired Educator and published Author of an educational slide series for the Ohio State University. He has won numerous photography awards, including all three of the Judge's Choice Awards presented by the Men's Garden Club of America.
