Transplanting and Propagation Workshop

Club Members Transplant North Window Plants

On Wednesday evening, October 16, 2013, Cynthia Lewis, Pat Artis and Rebecca Dinsmore (North Window Steering Committee) held a propagating/transplanting workshop at Manet Community Center. (The Wollaston Garden Club has been accepted and will participate again in the Boston Flower Show in the Amateur Horticulture Structures (Small Bay Window) competition in March of 2014.)

Participating club members brought north window and other plants to the workshop that had summered in our gardens; they also brought appropriately sized terracotta pots and glass containers. Cynthia Lewis, horticulture chair provided soil, pebbles, and charcoal. We were excited at the nice variety we had of low light plants, and spent a good amount of time deciding which plant to put into which container. Rebecca kept a record of which north window plants members were growing.

Plants were pruned carefully and many of them divided to fit into terrariums. Rebecca provided us with moss she had collected; the steering committee decided to research local moss vendors and purchase more types of specimen moss for the North Window. Club members were reminded to spray plants that had been outdoors with an equal parts solution of water, rubbing alcohol, and dish detergent to prevent insect and disease infestation.

Cuttings from plants were shared and everyone left with a nice collection of beautifully potted plants.

Bonsai Workshop on Saturday, June 1, 2012 at Cynthia’s Garden

A group of us met on Saturday for a workshop led by Master Gardener, Cynthia L and Bonsai Society Member, Joan D. for a workshop on making an outdoor bonsai container with either young azalea or juniper shrubs. After studying NGC handouts on bonsai types we decided how we would style our bonsai. Then we pruned the roots, cutting off at least half of the root ball and washing out soil from the around the roots. With an even mix of sand, mulch, soil and rice stone, we planted them in shallow plastic containers, anchoring them to the bottom of the container with a heavy bonsai wire. We then pruned bottom and errant branches and leaves to create a desired shape; we wired branches that we wanted to grow in a certain direction. Participants were Kay B, Jo C, Pat A, Mary C, John R, Zooey A, Joan D, and Cynthia A. Each one of us created a bonsai container and we made five extra for the garden tour raffle. Thanks to Cynthia for allowing us to use her driveway and Joan for her bonsai expertise.

We had so much fun and decided to meet again next June at Joan’s Garden. This next time we would purchase our own containers and focus on the “art of wiring” for shape and form. More photos...

Planting Terrariums Workshop

In February

            On Wednesday evening, Feb 15, Cynthia Lewis, our Horticulture Chair and Master Gardener, led a workshop with seventeen of us in the planting of terrariums. Cynthia guided us in the proper leveling of stone, charcoal, sphagnum moss and potting soil to form the base for our terrariums. We were able to choose from a wide variety of small shade house plants with many different miniature ferns. We divided each plant and used a small clump in our planting. Depending on the container size, we planted in 3’s, 5’s or 7’s. and tried to achieve a good mix of color, shape and texture. Some of us brought natural materials for decoration and others included miniature decorative items. We will water sparingly (as needed) as most of our terrariums are sealed shut and we’ll keep our terrariums out of direct sun light. For more information about terrariums, Cynthia has provided us with a great terrarium link at http://extension.missouri.edu/p/g6520.

We decided to create some terrariums for the February monthly meeting raffle, for the Adams Shore Library horticulture display, and to perhaps enter individually a terrarium in the club’s Thomas Crane Library Red Twig Dogwood Challenge.

Pictures of the terrariums we created: