THE COMPOSTDear Ladies of the Club, !I am delighted to have returned home from my summer in northern Michigan to find that it has been a busy summer in Cleveland. My lawn is lush, the late summer flowers are blooming profusely and Garden Club of Cleveland members have been active! !Thank you to Kathy O’ Neill for hosting a wonderful annual meeting at her home in June. The cool setting under the trees was lovely. Mary Reynolds and her team of hostesses provided a delicious lunch and fun center pieces. Claire Morgan led a group to visit the Kingwood Garden in July, enjoyed by all who went. Our provisional members have gathered and gotten to know one another. Dale Naylor and Margaret Wilson have been hard at work all summer organizing for next June’s Zone X meeting. All the committee chairs for the meeting have been identified and some have already begun their preparations. Lisa McConnell is chairing the Zone flower show; her job is well underway and many thanks to Lynn Shiverick for preparing the flower show schedule. !Last spring, Mary-Scott Cebul, Claudia Fulton, Marion Murfey, Lynn Shiverick, Penny Theis and myself worked with a graphic designer to develop a new club logo. I hope everyone noticed it on this year's Green Book and at the top of the Compost! I love that it reflects out our Cleveland heritage with a contemporary feel. Dale and Margaret have incorporated the logo into a beautiful image to brand our Zone meeting. !As we look forward to 2014-2015, we will begin with a September meeting that focuses on our mission as a club; in Cleveland, in Zone X and within the Garden Club of America, and end with hosting a Zone meeting for the eleven GCA clubs in our Zone. In between, it will be a fun year with many opportunities for learning, gardening and socializing. !I hope to see you at our upcoming meetings. Brooke !!!

Late Summer 2014

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Welcome Provisionals! At the 2014 Annual Meeting !

We were thrilled to welcome the Class of 2014 Provisionals at our Annual Meeting at the home of Kathy O’Neill. This group of six women is especially impressive and we are happy to report they have already made strides getting to know each other, reaching out to other members, and learning about our GCC history and upcoming activities! Thank you to Gail Resch for hosting our new provisionals’ orientation. And, big thanks to the Class of 2013 Provisional Chairs Linda Chittock and Stephanie Eisele for organizing activities and coordinating communications! !Class of 2014 Provisionals include: !

Sandy Humphrey Brinn Hilary Colvin Mikiko Fujita Peg Furnas Barbara Richter Amanda Zalud !

2014 Provisional Class: Peg Furnas, Mikiko Fujita, Barbara Richter, Amanda Zalud, Hilary Colvin, and Sandy Brinn

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… More Photos from 2014 Annual Meeting Sally Brown captured lovely photos of the lovely day !

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Zone Meeting Flash! !Summer has been a busy time for working on the Zone meeting we are hosting next June here in Cleveland. Cleveland is really in the national limelight now and we will be continuing that good vibe with our Zone meeting. The theme of the Zone X meeting is ‘Rooted in Cleveland’. We will carry that theme throughout the 2 days including field trips, a panel discussion at lunch on Tuesday and a Zone Flower Show. GCA national officers, Zone X representatives, club presidents and their delegates will be staying at The InterContinental Hotel. We are so excited about showcasing Cleveland to other GCA members and look forward to working with the entire GCC membership to make this a stellar event for our Zone!   !

~ Dale R. Naylor and Margaret B. Wilson, Co-Chairs

We Hope You “LIKE” Us!! !In order to keep you informed, involved, and EXCITED about our meeting we have set up a Facebook Group called "The Garden Club of Cleveland Zone X Meeting." !If you are on Facebook, look for the group and join it! If not on Facebook, maybe this is the time to start!  (Note: We created our page as a “closed group” - once you join, you will receive confirmation of your acceptance to the group within a few days.) !Click here to go directly to our FaceBook Page!

In June, 2015, The Garden Club of Cleveland will host the Zone X Meeting. The dates of the meeting are June 22 - 24, 2015 and its purpose is to learn about the objectives and activities of The Garden Club of America through education and the exchange of ideas.

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Congratulations to Zone X Chairman Lynn Shiverick! !

Since July 1st Lynn Shiverick has been busy acting as GCA Zone X Chairman. This is a significant role within the GCA organization and Lynn’s appointment is a testament to her track record, talents, and dedication to GCA at the club, zone, and national levels. The fortunate timing of her two-year-term also brings real benefits for our club as we host the Zone Meeting in 2015. !A core element of the GCA mission statement is to “share the advantages

of association”. The Zone Chairman is pivotal in helping clubs connect and learn from each other. As she engages clubs across our zone, Lynn will share best practices, act as a resource for questions, challenge us with new ideas, and connect members. In addition, the Zone Chair directly supports club presidents and acts as a liaison between GCA at the national level and the clubs within her zone. !The Garden Club of America includes twelve administrative zones throughout the country. A zone chairman, who represents the presidents of the clubs in the zone, leads each zone. The Garden Club of Cleveland is in Zone X, which includes clubs in Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana.

The Purpose of The Garden Club of America

is to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening, to share the advantages of

association by means of educational meetings, conferences, correspondence and publications, and to restore, improve and protect the quality

of the environment through educational programs and action in the fields of

conservation and civic improvement.

Flower Arranging Workshops

Lorna Mierke will resume her flower arranging workshops at her home this fall. The focus of Lorna’s 2014-15 teaching schedule will be guidance in preparing entries for the Flower Show at our 2015 Zone Meeting. !

Wednesday, November 27th at 1:00pm !Classes will also be held the 4th Wednesday of January, February, March, and April at 1:00pm !

The fee for each workshop is $30, which includes materials. !Lorna Mierke

1940 Denton Drive, Cleveland Heights, OH 44106 Please email Pamela Jacobson {chezpamela@mac.com} to reserve your spot in each class!

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Calling All Photographers… We are Heading to the Lake! !

As we near the end of summer, we are planning trips to the Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve to snap some late summer photos for the exhibit at next year’s Annual Meeting. The exhibit is titled Nature Preserve through the Seasons and there is no judging! This will be our first photo trip to the preserve and we will schedule Fall, Winter and Spring trips to follow. Please join us on: !

Sunday, September 14th at 2:30pm or

Tuesday, September 16th at 9:30am.   !We will meet at the preserve, but carpooling is encouraged! !The preserve is located directly behind the Cleveland Metroparks Lakefront office at 8701 Lake Shore Blvd. You can visit the website for more information at www.portofcleveland.com. Linda Sternheimer, who oversees the preserve, will meet with us to answer any questions we may have.   Please let me know if you will be able to join!

~ Beth Furlong, Photography Chair C: 440.781.5867 or beth1bryan@roadrunner.com

From the Membership Committee… !It’s not too early to start thinking about new members for next year.  You all know someone who is interested in increasing her knowledge of horticulture, flower arranging, gardening or conservation and wants to be a part of an active, vibrant garden club. !Candidates for Provisional Membership may be proposed and seconded by an Active Member of at least one year or an Affiliate Member.  Each candidate must have two additional letters of support. Candidates must have resided in the Cleveland area for a minimum of one year. !The President and Vice President, members of the Membership Committee, Non-resident Members and members of the candidate’s family may not propose a candidate. !Thank you for your help, and I look forward to hearing from you! !

~ Laura Pinnick, Membership Committee Chair 216.789.1316 or fultonpinnick@gmail.com

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A Conservation Call-to-Action

Our Great Lakes… !!At our June annual meeting in June, our attention was drawn to water issues in the Great Lakes. The lakes face ongoing challenges and two of the most threatening are invasive Asian carp and HABs, harmful algae blooms. The shut down of Toledo’s water supply this summer should be a call to action for all of us! !Conservation is part of our mission as a club and as part of the Garden Club of America. Let’s educate ourselves about what is happening in northeast Ohio and the Great Lakes area to address this issues. !For political information, the GCA Current Legislative Status Report is a good place to start. Click NAL Conservation on the GCA website and then click on the highlighted Status Report. !The Ohio Natural Resources Conservation Service has received $2,000,000 from the USDA to fight farm runoff that contributes to algal blooms. Sen. Sherrod Brown has stated this is just the beginning to address this problem. !One of our members has passed along information about the Community Grants Coalition.

Check out the Coalition’s website! Started by a local community activist, this is an inspiring approach to many issues that plague our area. The Zebra Mussel Shell project is an intriguing story, check it out at grantscoalition.org. !Please let Melanie Biche, Conservation Chair or myself know other initiatives that would be of interest to our membership. Thank you!

~ Brooke Garratt !

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Come Walking with Your GCC Friends!   Last year we created wonderful outdoor memories at the park in West Woods, the Ohio & Erie Canal Reservation, Orchard Hills, Acacia Reservation, Chapin Park, Garfield Park Reservation and at Holden Arboretum. !It would be great to have you join us this fall as we will continue to explore parks by walking the trails. We stay together as we walk, observing each trail’s special features and are usually home before noon. !For the further afield hikes, we meet in the parking lot of the Marriott on Harvard Road at precisely 9am (to be good conservationists by car pooling!). !Please let me know if you plan to join us for the first hike on Monday, September 22nd, so that I can keep you updated should plans change. If you have been included in email notices in the past, you can count on hearing from me as our first hike approaches! If you prefer to be removed from this list or added to it, please contact me. !See you on the trail!

Paula Coleman pwscoleman@gmail.com C: 216.401.4505 !!

2014 Hiking Dates: • Monday, September 22nd — Holden Arboretum Bole Woods and Meadows • Thursday, October 23rd — Bedford Reservation (meet to carpool) • Wednesday, November 5th — Mill Stream Run Reservation (meet to carpool) • Friday, November 21st — North Chagrin Reservation • Tuesday, December 2nd — LakeFront Nature Preserve - let’s capture winter photos

for our Annual Meeting!

Green Book Update! !Claudia Fulton has a new  home phone number: 216.291.7881. !

Hikers at Mill Creek Falls at Garfield Reservation Cynthia Hollister (with Angus), Margot Baldwin, Nancy Harvey

& Paula Coleman

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News From Holden !Upcoming events at the Holden Arboretum: !

¬ Goblins in the Garden: Saturday, October 4th – Sunday, October 5th, 10:00-4:00 daily. !

¬ Gifts from the Heart of Nature - Opening Preview Party:  Friday, November 14th, 3:00-8:00pm. Show & Sale continue until January 4, 2015. 

  ~ Marion Murfey 

“Leaders of Cleveland Botanical Garden and The Holden Arboretum are moving to combine their institutions into one entity with the shared mission

of improving the world through plants and trees. Such integration would enable these two treasured public gardens to have even greater impact through environmental education, applied botanical research and joint ef forts to promote trees, gardens and forests for the betterment of the

communities of Northeast Ohio and beyond.”

News From CBG !Upcoming events at the Cleveland Botanical Garden: !

¬ RIPE! Fest No. 5: September 20th - 21st !

¬ Youth Voices Conference - October 17th - 18th. Youth from across the country discuss issues of food justice, hosted by Botanical Garden and Green Corps. !

!Holden Arboretum and Cleveland Botanical Garden have

proactively engaged GCC, along with other affiliate garden clubs and supporters, with updates and information. As the unification

process continues, we are confident that this strong path of communication will continue. We will, in turn, convey updates

that effect our club to our membership via Compost, special emails, and meetings.

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!Hoo is for Hort? !!

This summer several of our GCC horticulture group have been busy trying their hand at propagation of stem cuttings. Gene Rucker and Mary Reynolds organized a wonderful mid-summer trip to Holden Arboretum to procure native tree and shrub specimens, with the hope that they will root and flourish in time for display in the propagation classes at next June’s Zone meeting here in Cleveland!

Expert propagator Charles Tubesing gave us the inside scoop on how to have success with propagating stem cuttings. Be sure to use a very sharp and clean knife so the stem is not crushed, dip the tip in rooting hormone, and pot in a very light potting medium which has been watered well to drain. Good follow up care completes the effort and will ensure the very best odds for success.

Did you know that a deep pot is preferable to a shallow, small one for propagation? It allows for better drainage and air circulation, both critical for happy roots to grow. Potted cuttings should also be kept under one layer of a dry cleaning bag….it breathes yet still provides the necessary humidity, so there are no worries about the cling of the plastic to the leaves. Check each week for decay on any stems or leaves and discard those. At 6 weeks we can try the gentle tug test, which will let us know if any roots have started forming.

If you have an interest, try your hand at native plant propagation so you can display your brand new baby plant at the Zone meeting next June. It’s not too late! Classes for tree and shrub propagation will have a minimum 6 month ownership. So there is still time to get cutting! If you would like copies of the prep and aftercare informational sheets from Charles, please contact me at fitzcom5@gmail.com

At the show next June there will also be two classes for propagation by seed for both greens and herbs. Ownership time will be dictated by seed maturity date and growing conditions. Start planning GCC members….we need to have a good showing next June!

!Enjoy your gardens this Fall!

~ Deb Fitzgerald

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!Sudie’s Garden

It’s late summer, and the bulb catalogs have been coming for months. I so don’t want to plant anything more; I still have a flat or two of well-rotted annuals that never even came close to getting in the ground, and now I’m supposed to get all in a happy flap over bulbs? !

But then I flash back to last autumn and remember my various online bulb orders to McClure & Zimmerman, Michigan Bulb, Brent & Becky’s. Planting them before the vile weather kicked in, I completely forgot about them until they magically popped up, in all their gratifying glory, after the longest, coldest winter I can remember (and this coming from a woman who spent four years at college in Minnesota). Never have I been so desperately grateful to see those colorful jewels in my bare garden, never have I patted myself on the shoulder so vigorously for my horticultural efforts of the previous season (note to self: no more back-patting while holding glass of wine). !Planting fall bulbs is a Nike thing – ‘just do it’! Personally, I think it’s the most worthwhile planting endeavor we can do for ourselves, and in the long run costs considerably less than Prozac. !A few bulb tips:

• Choose a variety of bulbs that have different bloom times. If planned well, you can have color from early March to early June. !

• Resist cutting back foliage after bulbs are done flowering! The longer the leaves have to die back on their own, the healthier & heavier-blooming the bulb will be next year. !

• Who’da thunk it? Gold Bond Medicated Powder works wonders at keeping bulb-stealing critters away! Pour a half cup or so in a large Ziploc baggie, throw in a handful of bulbs, and just like Shake-and-Bake, shake the bag so each bulb gets a dusting of Gold Bond. Plant as recommended. Note: since Gold Bond is toxic to cats & dogs I leave my pets indoors when planting bulbs. Never have had any problems, but best to be on the cautious side… !

• If using a deer deterrent spray, the most effective repel via smell, rather than taste. These are egg-based, mimicking the smell of rotting meat, which makes Bambi think that big, bad predators are afoot. Spray bulbs several times before blooming, especially on buds. You’ll only smell it for the first day or so. !

• Don’t plant bulbs until cool weather has arrived. Wait until at least until October when the ground has cooled a bit. !

~ Susan Bercheck

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!An Invitation…

From the Akron Garden Club !

The Akron Garden Club has kindly invited our members to attend two programs they offer this fall. !Monday, October 27th at 11:00 am at Stan Hywet Carriage House Speaker Kathleen Gagan, owner of "Peonies Envy" Luncheon to follow Cost $22.00 Your check is your reservation Mail to: Kyra Bosnik/2056 Ridgewood Rd/Akron, Ohio 44313 by Monday, Oct 20th! ! !Wednesday, December 10 At 10:AM at Stan Hywet Auditorium Continental Breakfast followed by  Speaker Cres Motzi, renowned floral designer Cost $15.00 Your check is your reservation Mail to Kyra Bosnik/2056 Ridgewood Rd/Akron, Ohio 44313 by Wednesday, December 3 !!

If you have questions, you are encouraged to email Kyra Bosnik at kkcdbosnik@aol.com.

2014 Bulb Sale Quantities are Limited - Order Soon! !

Fall means planning - and planting - for Spring bouquets! These are the highest quality bulbs for fall planting and amaryllis and paperwhite bulbs for forcing, for you or as the perfect holiday gift. We are offering unique varieties of heirloom narcissi, as well as a fragrant mix, also species tulips, crocus, hyacinths, iris and leucojum.

Please use the attached order form and return promptly to the address listed. We will not be able to accept orders after September 27, 2014. Special arrangements for pick up or delivery may be made through October, or they may be picked up at the GCC membership meeting on October 21st at the Union Club.

Proceeds from this year's bulb and plant sale support the replanting of the Marie Bruot Gate.

~ Susan Locke

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Mark Your Calendars!!!

Upcoming GCC Events !

Membership Meeting Cleveland Summer Selfies: Your Club, Your Zone, Your GCA

September 23rd at 9:30 a.m. Shaker Lakes Nature Center

2600 S. Park Blvd, Cleveland, OH 44120 !!

Joint Meeting with Shaker Lakes Garden Club Extraordinary Women: GCA and the Conservation of the American Landscape

Amy Frietag, JM Kaplan Fund, Executive Director October 21st at 11:30 am luncheon, followed by speaker

Union Club Ballroom 1211 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH 44115 !!

Civic Meeting Public Square Renovation

Joe Marinucci, Downtown Cleveland Alliance, President & CEO November 18th at 9:30am

Observation Deck, Terminal Tower 50 Public Square, Cleveland, OH 44113 !!

Greens Workshop December 9th at 9:00am - 2:00pm Gates Mills Community Center

1460 Chagrin River Road, Gates Mills, OH 44040 !!!!!!!  ! !

November 3rd, article submission deadline for Fall Compost

!For GCC events, RSVP to Mary Reynolds:

reynoldsmm@aol.com or 440.423.0204

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