Safety Harbor Garden Club

Hi everyone!

Here is your September newsletter with photos and information to keep you up to date with Safety Harbor Garden Club (SHGC) activities. Also, dropping a few names of some of our outstanding members volunteering their time to our club!

COVID and club meetings

Our October club meeting is cancelled.

Many of us are more than ready to get back into our monthly meetings at Moccasin Lake.
Due to COVID restrictions there remains a maximum limit of 20 people allowed in the meeting room. Current pandemic conditions are still too risky for a full group meeting indoors.

But hang in there!

The SHGC Board is keeping a close eye on conditions and will schedule a group meeting as soon as possible. As cooler weather approaches outdoor meetings will become a possibility.

Folly Update

*** Bluebirds have recently been seen at Folly! ***

Folly Farm Nature Preserve is the new home of the Safety Harbor Garden Club. What a great place for us to expand our knowledge of gardening and gather! Come on out for a visit! Garden Club members get together on Monday and Tuesday mornings to beautify our gardens at Folly Farm.

Leslie Zambito is our VP and Folly Gardens manager and is always ready to assist with plant knowledge and advice. She is so awesome! Remember, she’s not nagging, she is offering friendly reminders. 😉

We try to have a plant ID session each morning as well as a “walk about” through the gardens (and some propagation going on). The Folly crew also meets on Friday night for a casual dinner (BYO) at around 5pm. It is called Friday Follies and we set up at the picnic tables.

This Saturday, 10/9 there will be a Garden Club Plant Sale at the Folly nursery. Volunteers should plan to arrive no later than 9:30am. Sale times 10-Noon.

Also this Saturday, there is a Air Potato vine round-up at Marshall Street Park. Gisela has been once again distributing Air Potato Beetles throughout the parks of Safety Harbor with great control results but there are still potatoes to round up! 8:30am-11:30am.

New water feature and sculpture

Plans are underway to add a water feature and sculpture to the garden previously known as the “Egg Garden”. Carol Zieres has been maintaining the garden and came up with the water concept and Helen Renshaw, (Logan’s Love Foundation) is working on a fundraiser to generate funds for the fountain and a new sculpture. The date of the fundraiser is Saturday December 4. Put it on your calendar. It’s going to be really cool! We will keep you in the loop!

New Sculpture donated

Dandelion in the Breeze, a stainless-steel sculpture created by Safety Harbor artist Hank Brooks is headed to Folly Farm! It was donated by the lucky winner of a Library fundraising raffle. And yes, it is heading for the "wind garden"!

Gardening updates

Our gardening crew is focusing on pruning and clearing some of the summer growth and spread in the gardens. Some members have laid claim to different garden areas and taken them on as personal gardens (with help from fellow Folly Farmers). Nancy McClelland has really done a great job working in the Meadow Garden and Wind Garden. She is a lovely, treasure trove of gardening knowledge and advice.

The Vidovic clan (Jarod, Kalina, Ruby, and Rowan), has been eliminating weeds in the playground and adding mulch around the community orchard trees to keep them healthy and safe. No Herbicides! Really doing a great job, thanks!

Our SHGC nursery is growing! One of our newest members, Anna Marchand, is working her magic and transforming the nursery and propagation areas. She has also found time to work on the Gnome village!

Tip of the garden hat to:

Barbara Nelson is our social conscience and resident “Devil’s Advocate”. When she isn’t keeping us on our toes, she is busy beautifying her personal garden area.

Is he an architect? An artist? A gardener? We are lucky to have Chris Dotson, our Jack of all trades! And he manages Chris’s Garden across from the Meadow Garden.

Judy Zaccaria is leading us into to the future with upgrades on our social media pages. Check out our new look on Facebook Safety Harbor Facebook Page and our new look website SHGC Website. Also involved with obtaining our club phone and new delivery address.

Thanks to Becky DeCroteau and Michele Abruzzi for their gardening (and food!) and the twins, Sharen Kuckkahn and Karen Bredow (They are doing great work at Mullet Park as well). When people walk the gardens, they are looking at the beautification efforts of many of our members, Janet DeLiso, Harriet and John Fuller (also logging hours as our online volunteer coordinators), Sue Rose, Line Kerstein, Shari Borawski, Barbara “Babs” Berman, Gloria Crutchfield and Theresa Rzymek.

Carol Zieres has taken on the “Egg” garden and it’s transformation is underway with plans for a water feature and Fairy sculpture. Carol also has an article featuring Folly Farm and our gardening efforts published in “The Dirt”, a monthly Master Gardener feature. We’ll post a link as soon as it comes out!

Teresa Cline is watching over her milkweed garden with several species on display.

Julie Geyer is our “Jill of all Gardens”, she does plant ID too!

Heather Richardson is our SHAMC connection and a talented and resourceful gardener. The Butterfly Labyrinth and entryway butterfly are just a couple results of her influences. (Thank you, Beth Womack! Butterfly painting designer.)

Sandy Huff is always keeping us up to date on the latest happening in the Gardening world.

Robert Moser, Chad, Shannon Shaffer, Andrea Norwood, and Autumn Reich are our City of Safety Harbor teammates.

There are usually 10 or so volunteers Monday and Tuesday mornings starting around 7:30am. When you visit you may see many new smiling faces as we have added new members almost every month.

Our Folly Farm project is entered in the Master Gardener excellence awards. This is a statewide awards program, and we are entered in three categories: Beautification and Enhancement, Demonstration Garden, and a Master Gardener team award. The Awards will be announced on Tuesday, October 19.

Mullet Creek

We continue to beautify the already wonderful Mullet Creek Park.

Thank you, Gisela Bennie, for keeping Mullet on our radar!

Joe Caisse has been a volunteer at Mullet for how many years? More than we can count! Just about every Saturday you can find Joe there gardening.

Already a fan of Mullet Creek Park and want to join in? Come by Folly and get more info.

SHGC Volunteers

Currently, we send a weekly volunteer log-in reminder to 40 active SHGC members! (We have an online volunteer hour recording file, thanks John!)

This includes members who are contributing their time to help the Club in ways other than gardening at our Folly Farm, Mullet Creek and Library Garden sites. Hours have also been logged for planning, sign making, baking, labeling, banking, and other associated club functions.

If you have volunteer hours related to club activity, please click on the Volunteer hours link and add your hours. Check with Gary or Leslie if you have questions.

Year to date, the SHGC has logged over 2,500 volunteer hours! Most of which are in our Folly Farm gardens but also Mullet Creek and The Safety Harbor Library.

Finance

Current balance $4,380.23

Membership 60+ dues paying members

Thank you all for your support.

If you want to join in but not with a shovel:) contact Gary or Leslie.

30 years and still growing!

Safety Harbor garden Club

Gary Sawtelle

Leslie Zambito

Here's a look at September

hope to see you soon!

September Activity Photos