Pine Island Garden Club

Since our last newsletter we’ve been busy with numerous and varied activities.

Our October 21^st meeting started with a quick business meeting and then off to Donna Cook’s home in Saint James City for a tour of her gardens.  The tour was fascinating with her explaining how her garden has developed over the years.  If you missed the tour, catch Donna at one of our meeting and ask for a tour.  It is really a worth while endeavor. 

November 8^th, 2010 we had a wonderful field trip and tour at Babcock Ranch.  A tremendous history lesson on the development of this part of Florida including Cracker Cattle plus a wide variety of wildlife not usually seen.  We had around 40 members enjoy the tour and finished with lunch at the restaurant. 

The November 18^th meeting had Jenny Evans, the Manager of the Native Plant Nursery, Sanibel Captive Conservation Foundation talk on “New Natives for Pine Island”.   It was a very interesting and informative presentation followed by a flurry of questions by the Club members. 

December 9th brought our annual Christmas luncheon held this year at Carrabba’s Italian Grill in Cape Coral. The gift exchange was a wild and crazy time with plenty of stealing and groans.  The food was excellent and the company delightful. 

January 20 was our first meeting in 2011 and a very interesting presentation on Gardening without pesticides by Jerry Meola.  For anyone interested in orchids, go to his web site www.orchidsamore.com.  It is filled with tremendous information plus wonderful orchid photos.  He also introduced some orchid products normally only available to commercial growers, however, he was able to get the manufactures permission to repackage in smaller containers and resale to the public. These products in the short time I’ve used them have made a big difference in my orchids.  With none of them looking like they were going to flower anytime soon, I suddenly have 19 spikes coming along nicely.  They all started spiking within a week of my applying the product.

Our February 17^th meeting had a presentation by the ever knowledgeable Maryanne Parsons on “Gardening tips for seasonal residents.” The presentation was very informative for all members and many of our seasonal members had a number of questions regarding plants in their particular yards. 

March 7^th we enjoyed our much anticipated tour of the Naples Zoo and Caribbean Gardens.  Our tour was conducted by the head Groundskeeper who gave us interesting and little known facts about many of the plants on the Zoo grounds.  It was a perfect day and after the tour we were free to explore the grounds and enjoy the animals at our leisure.  The new giraffe exhibit is very interesting with all 7 of the youngsters between 1 ½ to 3 years old.  I must say they are amongst the most beautiful I’ve seen in the world. They even had some new exhibits of animals I’ve never heard of nor seen before. Those of you that haven’t been to the Zoo in recent years should make the trip as the entire facility has changed greatly after being placed in the care of the Foundation.  It’s a great place to go as the entire facility is very family friendly with numerous playgrounds, stroller friendly paths, and interesting activities.  They even allow families to bring in food and beverages and have picnic areas set up. 

Our March 17^th meeting will start with a quick business meeting and then proceed to Master Gardner and member, Marty Kendall’s home on Franzone Road, in Saint James City.  Visitors will appreciate her unique approach to gardening and landscaping plus enjoy the bald eagles and chicks in their nest above her house. 

Come join us for our monthly meetings (September through May) the 3^rd Thursday of each month, 9 am, Fishers of Men Lutheran Church, 10360 Stringfellow Road (Island Center).

 Carlene Sharples, President