M A R I O N C O U N T Y M A S T E R G A R D E N E R

A S S O C I A T I O N

O S U M A S T E R G A R D E N E R

T H E M A R I O N G A R D E N G A T EN E W S L E T T E R

M A R C H2 0 2 0

SAVE THE DATE04

I NT H I SI S S U E

06WRONG PLANT,

WRONG GARDEN

03 SHOOT THINNING

WORKSHOP

05 EDIBLE PERENNIALS

09 SOIL WORKSHOP

Penny Esplin

10 BOARD MEETING MINUTES

Cyndy Shorter

15 SPEAKERS FLYER

16 GARDENING

WORKSHOP

WRONG PLANT , WRONG GARDEN

Penn y E sp l i n

I decided to write about the gardening mistakes I have made and am stillpaying for. I’m talking about those invasive and aggressive “nemesisornamentals” I have come to know and HATE! Some I have had for years(and have been sorry about); and some I had been dutifully warned aboutplanting, but didn’t heed the warning enough. Woe to the sorry gardenerwho doesn’t heed the warning! I am that sorry gardener. Oops. Years ago, oh maybe about 30 years now, when I would go for a walk in afield or empty lot, I would think I was so lucky to come across someone’syard trimmings and find these wonderful plant clippings that rooted soeasily and grew so strong. “Hey! Now won’t these would look nice in ahanging basket!” Two of them painfully come to mind: “Creeping Jenny”(Lysimachia nummularia) and my long time enemy “Golden Dead Nettle”(Lamium galeobdolon). The lamium has long since escaped its bounds fromthe fanciful “hanging basket” idea. What a mess! Its roots have put astrangle hold on any available soil, compacting it and leaching as it takesover. It has been a monstrous job trying to gain control of this aggressiveplant. I haven’t ever used any “herbicides” like Round-Up, and I don’t everintend to do so. (I hate that stuff more than the darn weeds!) So, betweenmy husband and me, it’s been a process of digging and pulling again andagain. It also doesn’t help matters that I have most of my beds borderedwith rocks! Over the years, rocks tend to sink into the ground, so I just addmore to the sunken border. And, “Oh Boy! Isn’t this fun! First we get toun-earth 20 yards of rock before we can even start weeding out this darnplant!“

Over in the Shade Garden, I had planted Creeping Jenny along the farright edge. Oops. A few years prior, I had asked for some gardening andplanting advice from Carol Ann Armstrong. She called my attention to twomain plants that she knew to be aggressive and invasive; one was CreepingJenny, and the other was Bishops Weed (Aegopodium podagraria). Okay, Ithought, I’ll just move the creeping jenny over to the far side. Like I’vesaid, “Oops!” That plant just loves that cultivated ground, oh yes! WhoaNelly! Did it ever take off! And healthy, let me tell you, it went nuts!Terrie Fox (my mentee at the time) and I spent several hours digging itout, and we never did completely get it all out. The roots must go downalmost a foot, and you can’t just shake the soil out, each rootlet is acandidate for sprouting out more of the same. It’s a bummer, so much soiljust wasted. Wasted! So, we didn’t put any of this invasive plant and rootmatter into the compost pile, it all goes into the garbage can. So muchwasted soil, it’s disgusting. As far as the Bishop’s Weed, I thought I’d pretty much got the upper handon it, but no. Now I see it’s coming back, strong and healthy. The other“nemesis” is the Ornamental Knotweed, two kinds: Persicariamicrocephala “Red Dragon” and Persicaria virginiana “Brushstrokes”. Bothare pretty plants, of course. Pretty evil, too. I think all these plants I havenamed here do not require much in the way of care; they just don’t care!Poor drainage? They don’t care! Watering? They will just suck it away fromthe plants you really love. Left to their own devices, they would take overyour yard and your neighbor’s yard. But if you make the mistake ofactually planting them in your nicely tilled and cultivated ground, you havejust given them the extra umph that they and you just do not need!!

Golden DeadNettle

Creeping Jenny

Bishop's Weed OrnamentalKnotweed

I might as well mention some of the other sneaky plants that I’ve beensorry I planted. In the shade garden, it’s the “False Lily of the Valley”(Maianthemum dilatatum) Now this plant is a native, and a beautifulground cover, I’ve seen it out in the woods blanketing the forest floor,looking perfect in its place. But its place isn’t in the shade garden, whereit wants to send its rhizomes throughout the garden, striving to create thegroundcover that it’s meant to be! An acreage with a natural wooded areawould serve it well. But in the shade garden, it has become a nuisance, andis hard to dig out. Rhizomes everywhere!

Another is the pink and purple “Common Violet” (Viola odorata), I justcan’t get on top of them. They have nearly taken over like a ground cover,tightening up the soil with their root system and coming up everywhere! Of course there are worse culprits, like the accursed “Bindweed” we allknow and HATE! It’s the uninvited bane and perpetual resident of theMarion Garden anyway. I will be presenting this in more detail at the March 4th General GardenMeeting in the Fresh Start Meeting Room @ 9:00am.  -Penny Esplin

BOARD OF D IRECTOR ’S MEET ING

M INUTES FEBRUARY 20 , 2020

Cynd y Sho r t e r

AT T ENDEES

Attendees:  Dale Marande, Eric Suing,Stacy Moranville, Terry Sawyer, CyndyShorter, Jan Fiedler, Margrit Angeloni,Bonnie Greener, Amy WestbyeAbsent:  Kathy VerbleGuests/Observers:  Joyce Zook,Christine Welsch, Carol Sutkus Announcement:  Stacy Moranville is thenew Garden Representative asappointed by the Board of Directors andhas also volunteered to be one of thetwo Garden Coordinators. The otherGarden Coordinator position remainsvacant at this time.

F I NA L I Z I NG AGENDA

No changes to the agenda, but Dalementioned he is trying to scheduleKassie Roosth to come to a boardmeeting to provide a report about howshe used the scholarship money that shewas awarded by the board. He is alsoasking her to put together and provide aworkshop or two as that was part of theconditions of the award. More to follow.

M INUTE S OF PREV I OUS

MEE T I NG

Amy moved to accept, Eric seconded,the board approved.

TREASURER ’ S

REPORT / SUGGES T ED

S TAND I NG RU L E CHANGES

Dale moved to accept the Treasurer’sreports shared by email prior to themeeting, Jan seconded, the boardapproved.Margrit reported that Rich bought achipper for $1500 for the garden and hedonated $400 toward it. There was amotion to fund the remaining amount of$1100, it was seconded, the boardapproved.Also, Pete found a John Deeretractor/mower for $1000 to purchasefor the garden. Amy moved to fund thepurchase, Margrit seconded, the boardapproved.Elaine Smith is asking forreimbursement of a $48 fee that she haspaid that allows her to continueupdating/posting to our website.  Extramoney is available in the Sign-UpGenius budget so it will be paid fromthere.

IATS (our online renewal paymentsvendor) notified Margrit that someonedisputed their payment for a renewal.Maybe they didn’t recognize thepayment attached to their bankstatement?  It was suggested that weensure our communication about onlinerenewal payment include language: “itwill appear on your bank statement asPOS Transaction MCMGA MEMBERSHIP1320 CAPITOL ST SALEM ORUS.”We have a request for a monetarydonation from 4H Home Economics. Dueto it not being garden related, we willdeny unless they show that it is relatedto home horticulture.  Terry made amotion, Stacy seconded, board voted todeny.Margrit thanked Joyce Zook for writingthank you letters for the donations thatcame in with the renewals, andacknowledged Elaine Smith for addingthe approved OSU MG logo to theMCMGA Expense ReimbursementRequest Form.The board reviewed Margrit’s requestlast month to change two sections of theStanding Rules, Section D.3.6Capitalization Policy and D.3.2aPurchases of Equipment. Followingdiscussion, Jan moved to accept, Ericseconded, the board approved.Also reviewed the Should it Stay orShould it Go Records Retention Policyand the Depreciation Policy proposed byMargrit last month. After discussion,both were approved by the board ashousekeeping items.

Dale proposed adding to the jobdescriptions in the Standing Rules abullet that requires a “ContinuityHandbook/Folder” to pass on to thenext person taking a board position. Dale will write a proposed Standing Rulechange and bring it to next month’smeeting.

S TAND I NG RU L E S PROCES S

Cyndy was asked to develop a process ofkeeping track of changes to theStanding Rules.  She proposed adding apage at the end of the Standing Rulescalled History of Revisions, noting thedate, the section and a summary of thatchange. Terry proposed we also addunderlines to the changes within thedocument and when we do the annualreview, we remove the underlines, butkeep the History of Revisions attachedwith the dates. Cyndy moved to acceptthe process, Terry seconded, the boardapproved.

GOVERNANCE

P LANT SA L E

Christine Welsch gave an update onPlant Sale activities. She also made aproposal to purchase a thermal labelprinter to make plant tags now that wehave to propagate so much.  We needlegible printing, consistent informationand a more efficient method of makingtags. The printer costs $995 (softwareincluded), ribbons are $28 each, 1”x4”labels, shipping/handling costs, etc. Thetotal asked for is $1100 to cover all theinitial expenses. Suggested it come outof the Plant Sale budget. Terry moved toapprove the purchase, Jan seconded,the board approved.

P LANT PROPAGAT I ON

Christine reported that we lost the leadpropagators for pollinators.  We havelots of little plants, not sure they will bebig enough for the plant sale. Seventeenflats of beneficials/natives purchased. She and Bonnie will be buying 4” plantsor 6 packs of perennials. Eric reportedthat Benton County wants to make abulk purchase with Marion County plus4 others to save money.

COMMUN I CA T I ONS

Margrit reported the Strategic Planningmeeting is scheduled at UUCS on March17, 2020. Christine has gotten thesurvey and registration out by email. We will limit attendance to 90 MGs andtrainees - 80 from Marion County, 10from Polk County. Dale will participatein a Q/A session with Gail Langellotto.In the morning, we will review theStrategic Plan and its goals. Goal #1 willbe removed as it no longer applies. Wewill take suggestions to replace it with anew goal.Amy reported that the Help Wantedsection of the website and Garden GateNewsletter should have a vettingprocess and that requests go throughher. Christine said that Propagation willbe making a Help Wanted request to hersoon. Dale reported that we also need aSpeaker Series Coordinator (formerlyknown as MCMGA Monthly/QuarterlyMeetings Coordinator), and a TreasurerElect.

EDUCAT I ON

Jan reported that a projector, laptop,software, etc. has been purchased foruse in workshops and for othereducational venues.  The other laptopfor Community Plant Clinics has beenfound. Jan is working on finalizing asecure storage and checkout process forthis equipment.  She welcomes anysuggestions for this. Bonnie suggestedthat maybe one of the office staff at theOSU Extension Office would be willingto manage this. Jan will check into it.

The education component in Feb wasdone by Tom Ellis on Spiral HerbGarden.  In March Penny will make apresentation on Invasive Ornamentals.Lastly is the planning for the arrival andutilization of trainees in the garden. This requires gathering the goals/needsof the garden and matching that to theinterests of the trainees.   Stacy willcoordinate this throughout the year. Aconcern was mentioned about howdecisions that affect the garden aremade.  Stacy requested that the GardenCommittee be involved in futuredecisions that impact the garden.

GARDEN COMM I T T E E

The five groups have set goals for 2020.Operations - fine tuningirrigation/timers, mowing withoutdamaging irrigation, and getting weedsunder control. Propagation –development of workshops. Ornamentals- eliminate tripping hazards. BackyardHabitat – recruitment, expandingsignage, and asking MGs that completedthe BHIP program if they would beinterested in developing an area of thegarden and do presentations. Edibles -coordinate with Marion County onspraying.Other goal is to standardize signage asthey are all different in the garden. Thiswill increase continuity and improve thelevel of professionalism. Stacy shared atemplate as an example. They areworking on the logistics of how they willbe created and posted.

MEMBERSH I P COMM I T T E E

Bonnie reported the status of 2020renewals.  There are still 51 unpaid, ofthose she expects to receive 10 morepayments.The 2020 class started with 50trainees, we lost 2, but gained 3 for atotal of 51.  Two trainees from prioryears are attempting to complete therequirements this year for a potentialtotal of 53 graduates.The 2020 paper Membership Directoryis moving along, but still need to finishworking through the renewals beforedetermining who actually goes in thedirectory. May be ready by March 6.Last year it was ready by March 8.

No additional progress has been madeon the online Membership Directory asthere has been no time while classes aregoing on.  However we do intend to getthat going again as soon as possible.Dale reported that Farouk took on thesummer picnic and field trips in thesummer while he was the MCMGAMonthly Meetings Coordinator. Jandoesn’t believe it belongs under theEducation Committee. Dale suggested itbelongs under Membership. It was alsosuggested that perhaps it could be anew and separate committeeestablished. Discussion took place.Membership is concerned that theydon’t have the capacity to take on anymore duties. Cyndy suggested that wenot make a decision today but that sheand Bonnie talk about this and bringback a proposal for who and how fieldtrips, picnics and “fun” stuff getsplanned and carried out.OMGA Representative – Terry reportedthe 1st Quarterly OMGA meeting is onMarch 8th in Grants Pass and he will beattending. He will be writing his firstMCMGA quarterly report for OMGA andwill run his draft by Cyndy beforesending off to OMGA.Meeting adjourned at 11:30 am.

Plan 4 meetings per year –2 in Spring and 2 in Fall,one being the required

annual meeting inNovember

Work with ChemeketaCommunity College to

arrange meeting room andA/V supplies

Contact speakers toarrange topic and specific

details for presentationAppoint volunteers to

assist as greeters and withrefreshment provisions

SPEAKER SERIESCOORDINATOR

1st Wednesday – Marion Garden General Meeting, 9-10 at the Fresh Start Meeting Room

(Starting in April, the Garden workdays will be backto Monday from 9 to 12 noon and the General Garden

Meeting will be on the first Monday of the monthfrom 12 to 1 p.m. at the Fresh Start Meeting Room)

3rd Wednesday – Bug group – Check with Penny

Esplin for location3rd Thursday – Board meeting, 9:30 – 11:30 –

All MGs are welcome to sit in4th Tuesday – MPFS Food Sort, 1:00 – 3:00

Every Wednesday – Garden work party, 9:00 – 12:00Every Thursday – KBZY radio, 8:45 – 9:00

Recurring events

HELPWANTED

Special Thank you andphoto credit:

Connor DePina