Rainwater Harvesting in the Pacific Northwest: February 5

Cottage Grove Garden Club is excited to start 2019! We have a number of great presentations lined up for the year, at least one field trip, and several social events.

Photo ©jrweymouth Flickr cc

We start on Tuesday, February 5 with Abel Kloster speaking on Rainwater Harvesting in the Pacific Northwest. Abel's presentation will focus on making the best use of rainwater as it runs off of our roofs and flows through the landscape. Special emphasis will be placed on:

• Mitigating runoff impacts to waterways and treatment systems through bio-swales and other urban filtration systems. 
• Disconnecting rainwater downspouts and designing rain gardens. 
• Designing rainwater catchment systems for drinking water and irrigation purposes. 
• Ponds for urban and rural properties. 

Our speaker, Abel Kloster, is the co-director of Resilience Permaculture Design; a design and implementation company focusing on restoration, water harvesting, and agroforestry for farm, forest, and urban environments.

Please join us. Our informal business meeting begins at 6 PM and Abel's talk on Rain Harvesting will run start at 7 PM. All guests and visitors welcome. Light refreshments provided. We meet at the First Presbyterian Church, 216 South 3rd Street (the corner of 3rd and Adams), Cottage Grove, Oregon, enter off the garden on Adams Street.

Also, mark your calendars for these upcoming programs:
March 5, 2019: Let's Talk Hummingbirds with Barbara Linnett
April 2, 2019: Indoor Succulents & Cacti with Marcia Peeters of Pierce Street Gardens
May 7, 2019: Firewise Gardening with Keep Oregon Green
June 4, 2019: Keeping your Garden Healthy with Christina Bixel
July 2, 2019: Summer Social/ Garden Hop

January 8 Organizational Meeting

The New Year is here! Gardeners everywhere are checking their mailboxes for garden catalogs, curling up with garden books, dreaming, and planning next year's garden. The same is true for Cottage Grove Garden Club.

On Tuesday January 8, the Garden Club will be gathering for an organizational meeting. We'll be electing officers, forming committees, and talking about programs and field trips.

Like our gardens, there are already some exciting things in place... we have some programs lined up, and field trips we've been dreaming about. Join your gardening friends to lend a hand and share your ideas.

Please note the change of dates, we are meeting Tuesday, JANUARY 8, from 6-8pm at the First Presbyterian Church, 216 South 3rd Street (the corner of 3rd and Adams).

Please bring your ideas, your enthusiasm, and your dues for 2019.

Gardening Forum: November 6

We all have questions about gardening, whether we are new to gardening or have been gardening for decades we all have questions. We all, also, have answers and experiences to share.

By popular demand, on Tuesday November 6, Cottage Grove Garden Club will be hosting a Gardening Forum. Bring your questions and bring your answers and experiences, because at this round-table discussion we will be answering each-others gardening questions.

This gardening forum is perfect for people new to gardening or new to the Cottage Grove area. It is also perfect for seasoned gardeners who have more specific questions.

Please join us. Our informal business meeting begins at 6 PM and the Gardening Forum runs from 7 to 8 PM. All guests and visitors welcome. Light refreshments provided. We meet at the First Presbyterian Church, 216 South 3rd Street (the corner of 3rd and Adams), Cottage Grove, Oregon, enter off the garden on Adams Street.

Our Native Bees: October Presentation

Pollination is necessary for most plants to reproduce, and pollinators—including bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, wasps, flies, and others—are happy to do the job.

When talking about pollinators, people often think about honey bees, however honey bees are not native to Oregon and their populations are in decline. Oregon is home, though, to over 500 native bees some of which are better pollinators than the European honey bee. As gardeners, we can support our native bees and encourage them to pollinate our plants by adjusting our gardening habits.

On Tuesday, October 2, Cottage Grove Garden Club welcomes Jimmie Rundall to learn about Oregon's native bees.

Jimmie's presentation will include general descriptions of the 560 species of pollinator bees in Oregon as identified by Oregon State University. Jimmie will also talk about the differences between bees and wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets.

Image from the Oregon Dept. of Agriculture
https://flic.kr/p/XbQ22p

Included in the presentation will be a short video to show what actually happens when a flower is being pollinated. And we'll learn the characteristics of honey bees, mason bees, and bumble bees which make them especially suited to pollinate different flowers.

Finally, Jimmie's presentation will close with suggestions on how gardeners can help save our native pollinators.

Our presenter, Jimmie Rundall grew up on a 40 acre fruit farm in eastern Oregon near La Grande, and graduated from OSU with a degree in structural engineering. After retiring in 1998, Jimmie took the Master Gardeners class and now teaches pruning and grafting, and supervises a fruit orchard with 115 fruit trees at the Grassroots Garden in Eugene.

Garden Club meets at the First Presbyterian Church (on the corner of 3rd and Adams). Our business meeting begins at 6pm, Jimmie's presentation begins at 7pm. All guests and visitors invited! Refreshments provided.

What's Your Sign? Garden Art Project

Free Weeds! Pull Your Own!

Gardeners know all the dirt

never enough thyme

bless my bloomers

Trespassers Will Be Composted!

time began in a garden

Come Gather in Our Garden

I don't remember planting this!

This is my happy place.

Whether it is funny, insightful, serious, or tongue-in-cheek, come join Cottage Grove Garden Club on Tuesday September 4 as we express ourselves creating signs for our gardens!

First, at 6:00 pm we'll be getting back into the grove of our regular monthly meetings, then at 7:00 pm resident-artist Peggy Severns will help us create garden signs to proudly display in our own gardens.

Are you more of a gardener than artist? Do not fear! Peggy will come equipped with all the supplies we'll need, including wood for painting on, stencils, paints and paintbrushes. You only need to bring your creativity and imagination.

A few things to note: although Peggy says the acrylic paint we'll be using dries quickly, be prepared to take home a sign that is still slightly wet. Also, due to time constraints, we will not be able to apply top-coats to our signs, so if you are wanting to expose yours to the elements, plan on applying a varnish later.

Please join us.

A couple of the signs hanging from the eves of Peggy's porch.

Garden Club meets at the First Presbyterian Church (on the corner of 3rd and Adams). Our business meeting begins at 6pm and our sign creation begins at 7pm. All guests and visitors invited! Refreshments provided.