Members of the Driftwood Garden Club enjoyed a doubleheader at their April program. Past-Presidents Kathy Bradford and Joy Purdin presented first with “Nifty Garden Tools” that every gardener should know about, and the essential tools to carry in your garden bag. Then Lisa Biggio, our Civic Beautification Chair, talked with members about the importance of our upcoming Dig & Divide, demonstrating dividing and repotting a plant, as well as having members participate in a hands-on dig and divide activity.
Thank you to our Hostess Committee for a beautifully prepared table of treats for the socializing portion of our meeting. The centerpiece was a perfect reflection of the evening’s theme with four miniature pots planted with miniature daffodils and miniature blue muscari. As an added touch, there were miniature garden tools to complement the potted flowers!
Kathy and Joy organized the tools by categories of use and created a hand-out for people to follow as each tool was discussed. All of the tools were laid out on the table, and as they talked about each tool, they could pick it up for display. The categories were tools for: Pruning and Deadheading; Weeding; Digging and Planting; Clearing and Tidying; and Miscellaneous Items. Miscellaneous items included a choice of a garden bag, gloves (long and short), and a bar of soap to scrape your fingernails on before you put on your gloves to start working in the dirt. At the end, each presenter selected their three favorite tools. Both gardeners agreed that the Spearhead shovel was their top favorite. Joy chose dutch hoe (Japanese hoe) and the pruning saw to complete her three, while Kathy chose her trowel (both her new trowel and the trowel that had belonged to her mom) and her pruning clippers.
For the second part of our program, Lisa did a wonderful job talking to members about the importance of the upcoming Dig & Divide. She thanked our Plant Sale Committee for their incredible job of finding the thirteen “volunteer” gardens that we will use this year. The Plant Sale Committee coordinates the Captains for each garden, organizes the signups for members to work, and supplies all the needed materials for the Captains’ boxes. This is definitely a team endeavor, and the Plant Sale Committee does the groundwork to organize it all. The perennials that are dug from a garden during Dig & Divide are then divvied up among members of the team and brought home to be cared for until the Plant Sale. Lisa gave some suggestions such as putting all of the newly dug plants in a shady spot in your yard for the first few days, as the plants are in shock from the transplant. Perennials that require full sun can then be moved to a sunnier spot in a day or two.
Lisa then demonstrated how to “dig” and divide and repot a portion of a snake plant. As she worked, she chatted about the snake plant (also known as mother-in-law tongue because of the leaf shape). She said this was a great indoor plant because it was very low-maintenance, and it was also a plant that releases quite a bit of oxygen, even during the night, making it a great plant for the bedroom. She answered questions from the audience about the plant as well as questions about the Dig and Divide. Members then had an opportunity to practice the dig and divide technique on their own at work tables Lisa had set up around the room.
Our program was a good review for everyone, a wonderful team builder, and, at the end of the evening, our members were ready for their Dig & Divide. They also had a lovely plant to take home with them.
Driftwood Garden Club 