News
Keep up-to-date with all the latest news from the Southeastern Horticultural Society
SHS Farm Crew Video
October 18, 2011
Thank you to Ramsey Yount for putting together this video that features SHS staff and Farm Crew working at the Coan Edible Schoolyard at Coan Middle School.
August 2011 Newsletter
August 16, 2011
Dear Members,
Once again, the Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS) presented successful summer intensive programs, educating a new generation of young adults in the field of horticulture. The Edgewood Farm continues to produce prolific crops of organic fruits and vegetables. You can visit the Farm Crew at the East Atlanta Village Farmers Market every Thursday through the end of November and purchase produce grown directly from the farm.
You won’t believe how much the East Lake Community Learning Garden has grown. Bring the whole family to enjoy the garden and participate in one of our weekday or weekend family workshops. Container Gardening on Wednesday August 31st, Worm Composting on Saturday, September 10th, Rainwater Harvesting on Saturday, September 24th, and Urban Farm Animals on Saturday, October 8th. You’ll discover new exciting growing ideas to bring home and try in your own garden.
The Southeastern Flower Show volunteers and SHS Board of Directors are deep into the preparations for the Southeastern Horticultural Society’s 25th Silver Anniversary Flower Show. The Show will be presented March 15-17, 2013 at the Cobb Galleria. A series of pre-show events are being planned to get everyone geared up for a fantastic Show. March of 2013 may seem far away, but it’s really just around the corner!
As the melodious days of summer draw to an end, SHS is winding up for a busy festive fall. We have an abundance of new and exciting programs to offer you throughout the upcoming season.
Enjoy the pleasures of fall,
Kate Chura
Executive Director
In each newsletter we try to feature a timely article about horticulture from various professionals and enthusiasts in the Southeast. If you would like to submit an article for consideration please send it to: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Fall Leaf Color by Clark Robertson
Leaf color in the Fall is affected by many variables; genetics, species and geographic location are among these; but one of the primary factors is weather/environmentally related.
From the first sign of leaves in Spring, until late Summer, plants are producing (among other chemicals) Chlorophyll, carotenoids, and anthocyanins. These pigments are responsible for leaf color and all are present when the leaf is growing, but it is the Chlorophyll that is dominant and give leaves their “green”, masking the other pigments. Chlorophyll also is responsible for that miraculous series of chemical processes called photosynthesis.
As the days grow shorter and temperatures cool, the leaves of deciduous plants essentially stop the flow of water and other nutrients from the stem and twig; beginning the progression toward dormancy. The results are the vivid colors of Fall as the visible Chlorophyll is depleted allowing the red hues of the anthocyanins and orange/yellows of the carotenoids to be seen.
Folklore has attributed this change in leaf color to visits by Jack Frost but a heavy early frost actually shortens the cycle and often mutes the color show.
The most recent research by both UGA and Clemson has rebuked the previous accepted thinking of color intensity and brilliance being directly related to a wet summer. In fact, the best color development takes place when a dry Summer is followed by crisp, cool (not cold) Autumn nights. So it seems the weather patterns in the Fall have the most influences in controlling the quality of the “Show”. These complexities in the environmental factors and their effects on leaf color make predicting the “peak” and intensity of the Fall Season difficult and despite what you may read or hear on television, no one knows for sure.
With all the guess-work related to our Fall color season, the one thing that can be counted on year after year are the traffic jams that occur in the North Georgia and Western Carolina mountains during October. Even though some years are better than others, the fall is the one time Nature provides us with a show that consistently includes a huge class of plants. Flowers come and go with the seasons, some in Spring and some in Summer, but the Fall is the only time where all deciduous plants are on the same schedule and synchronize the color show.
About Clark Robertson
Assistant Horticulturist, Georgia Institute of Technology. Head Horticulturist, The Atlanta Botanical Garden (1980-84). Adjunct Professor, Ornamental Horticulture, Dekalb College. Consultant, designer, entrepreneur, inventor. Senior Vice President, Ice Screen, Inc. http://www.facebook.com/IceScreen. Father of three sons and three step-daughters. Currently residing in Woodstock, Georgia.
EDGEWOOD FARM CREW
SHS’s Edgewood Farm Crew 8 week urban agriculture program ended with a graduation ceremony on July 22nd at the Edgewood Community Learning Garden. Ten proud Crew members accepted certificates of completion in front of friends and family. The Crew spent that morning preparing dishes fresh from the Coan Edible School Farm, including cucumber salad and delicious pizzas, to share for the celebration.
During this whirlwind 8 weeks, the Crew worked diligently at the Coan Farm, sold produce every week at the East Atlanta Village (EAV) Farmers Market, visited farms, restaurants and universities, from Riverview Farms near Ellijay to Fort Valley State University in Fort Valley, GA.
Though the summer program is over, Farm Crew continues to make a difference in their community. From helping neighbors maintain vegetable gardens to working in local coffee shops to continuing to run the EAV Market booth, you’ll see the Crew out and about throughout the year.
Check out updates and photos from the Crew on our Facebook page: here
Edgewood Community Learning Garden Upcoming Events
Do Something
Garden Workdays: 2nd and 4th Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Sept 24 - 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Trinity Presbyterian Church
Oct 8 - Neighborhood workday
Oct 22 - 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Crop Mob followed by APS Parents Farm to School Coalition event and National Food Day celebration http://www.cropmobgeorgia.com/category/crop-mob-atlanta/
http://foodday.org/
Learn Something
Fall garden workshops: 3rd Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Sept 17 - Food preservation techniques: canning, natural pickling, drying and more
Oct 13 - Seed saving
Eat Something
Please support these local restaurants that use organic produce grown from the East Lake and Edgewood Community Learning Gardens:
East Atlanta Village Farmers Market
http://www.farmeav.com
561 Flat Shoals Ave.
Atlanta GA 30316
Thursdays May - November 4:00 - 8:00 pm
Double your WIC and EBT dollars at this location!
Empire State South
http://empirestatesouth.com
999 Peachtree St NE
Atlanta, GA 30309
No. 246
www.no246.com
129 E Ponce de Leon Ave.
Decatur, GA 30030
East Atlanta Thai and Sushi
http://eavthai.com
467 Flat Shoals Ave.
Atlanta GA 30317
Speaking engagements For Kyla
Wednesday, August 17, 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.pm Edgewood Farm Crew: Urban Agriculture as a Tool for Job Skills Training
The Southeastern Horticultural Society’s Edgewood Farm Crew program gives teens and young adults an opportunity to develop job skills through maintaining a subacre urban farm. From planting, harvesting and cooking to running a farmer’s market booth, the Farm Crew gets a full urban agricultural experience in this 8 week summer program. The program manager Kyla Zaro-Moore and a 2nd year graduate, Desmond “Ike” Thompson, will present on how this little plot of land in Edgewood can transform peoples’ lives. This event is part of Charis Circle’s Urban Sustainability Project.
http://www.charisbooksandmore.com/event/edgewood-farm-crew-urban-agriculture-tool-job-skills-training
East Lake Community Learning Garden Update
Green Youth Summer Work Program
The ELCLG has completed five weeks of Garden Works programming with a total of 13 youth from the East Lake community. Working alongside residents from the Villages of East Lake (VOEL), the young men and women have been engaged in learning valuable skills in landscape management and improvement including:
• Invasive plant identification and removal, and control through mulching
• Vegetable plant identification, seed-starting, and transplanting
• Ornamental plant identification, installation, and maintenance
• Raised bed garden construction
• Composting and vermi-composting
The Learning Garden’s summer program has been an overwhelming success. With the help of over a dozen 13-19 year-olds from the East Lake community, the garden has been transformed into a daily oasis of experiential learning. It has become a place where a young woman living in the Villages of East Lake, a former CREW Teen on summer break from college, is working alongside a recent Drew Charter School graduate and rising high school freshman just entering the CREW Teen program. She is not only acting as a mentor to this young man but has actually become like extended family as they toil together in the blazing sun to clear kudzu and spread mulch.
Daily activities are centered around the garden’s immediate need to engage in constant battle with invasive plants encroaching on our hard fought boundaries, all while working to enhance the garden’s overall aesthetic appeal. The hard work, sweat, callused hands and aching muscles are part of a quiet cathartic process that will hopefully empower these youth with a knowledge literally grounded in the soil and the land that they’ve worked giving them confidence in their own self-reliance. Through clearing the paths and trails leading into and out of the garden, they are participating in the literal and figurative exercise of removing obstacles from the paths of their highest destiny. By removing the accumulated trash and debris from years of dumping in the area, they are purifying the ground and their own spirits, preparing the physical and mental landscapes of their lives to produce the fruits of their labor. In learning to identify the plants in the garden, vegetable and ornamental, they are reconnecting with nature and the food that provides the sustenance to fuel their daily movements.
One of our major goals and outcomes has been to develop a strong set of local “garden guardians and ambassadors” ideally from the immediate surrounding neighborhood. We hope that as continued numbers of East Lake and The VOEL residents establish plots at the ELCLG, getting the necessary training to transfer their skills to future gardens onsite at the Villages, they can connect with greater EL residents who live in closer proximity to the garden, thus increasing the chances that their hard-earned vegetable produce doesn’t become the victim of theft or vandalism and that mutual cooperation and exchange will have a fertile ground to grow and thrive .
East Lake Community Learning Garden Upcoming Events
Sept. 3 & Oct. 1 - 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Community Workdays
Sept. 10 - 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Vermicomposting Workshop
Sept. 24 - Rainwater Harvesting Workshop
Oct. 8 - 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Urban Livestock Workshop
For more info, please contact Khari Diop at (404) 351-1074 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Volunteer Spotlight
Desmond “Ike” Thompson
2nd year Farm Crew member
Edgewood Community Learning Garden
Q. How did you first learn about the garden?
A. I got a flyer in my mailbox 2 years ago saying they were going to start a garden here and I went to the meeting to learn more about it.
Q. How often are you in the garden?
A. I work here 6 day a week from 8:30 - 2:45. I just like to hang out here too.
Q. What do you like best about this garden?
A. I like that I’ve changed the community. This used to be a vacant corner lot and now it’s a garden that I helped build; I like that I’ve made a difference. I also like that I have gotten other people involved here too.
Q. What have you learned about yourself from this work experience?
A. I’ve learned that I really like to work hard and when I’m in the middle of working I don’t like to be distracted.
Q. What have you learned from being a Farm Crew member?
A. I’ve learned so many things. I’ve learned how to harvest vegetables and flowers. What nutrition is about and how to cook different things we harvest and how different they taste from the things we buy in the grocery store. I’ve learned about figuring out what bugs eat our crops and the best natural ways to get rid of them. I’ve learned the burning and swelling technique, water harvesting, selling, taxes, and the food pyramid. I’ve learned so many things it’s hard to talk about them all!
Q. What type of job do you want to have some day?
A. I want to be an Environmental Community Educator like Ms. Kyla.
Ms. Melba Potter
East Lake Garden Club President,
Mother, Grandmother, scout leader, mentor
Q. What does the East Lake Garden mean to you?
A. It’s a place that I go to everyday to seek peace and serenity. It is a social place, gathering place and learning place for me.
Q. How often do you volunteer at the garden?
A. I am there 7 days a week. Some days working and other days I bring my grandchildren to visit. We are having my grandchild’s birthday party here.
Q. What would you like to be added to the garden?
A. I would like a fish pond under the big tree, a greenhouse, chickens and goats.
Q. What motivates you?
A. Life! I love working with the kids and teaching them new things. There is so much to learn here, not just about gardening, but about science, math, business, teamwork, leadership, and work ethics.
Q. Do you think a garden is ever finished?
A. Well, I can’t wait until this garden is finished, but no, I guess a garden never is finished because things grow and change all the time.
Silver Anniversary of the Southeastern Flower Show
June 7, 2011
News Release:
Media Contact:
Kate Chura
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Two Years in the Making, the 25th Flower Show to be presented in 2013
ATLANTA—The Southeastern Flower Show Committee and the Southeastern Horticultural Society met and determined that additional time was needed to ensure a landmark Silver Anniversary Flower Show.
The presentation of the twenty-fifth Southeastern Flower Show will be delayed a year in order to prepare for the best possible Anniversary Show. Targeted dates will be the late February, early March 2013. This celebratory event will expand to display more gardens, artistic displays, speakers and workshops.
More About the Southeastern Horticultural Society
The Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS) is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to promoting the knowledge, art and enjoyment of horticulture throughout the Southeastern United States. The SHS provides year-round educational programs, events and access to plant resources.
Southeastern Flower Show is SHS’s crown jewel event and is the premier gardening and horticultural event in the Southeast, promoting conservation and awareness of the natural environment through education, horticultural excellence and artistic expression.
SHS’s Community Learning Gardens bring horticulture expertise to communities by working with schools, educational organizations, institutions and organizations to create science and horticulture curriculum and educational programs; designing and leading horticulture training programs; designing and implement youth mentoring programs to teach teens and young adults about environmental issues and expose them to “green” careers while creating and maintaining healthy green living environments.
SHS Educational forums, lectures and programs offer a series of educational activities that span the vast spectrum of plant and horticulture information and appeal to individuals and groups at all ages and levels or interest.
For more information about the Southeastern Horticultural Society visit http://www.sehort.org.
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June 2011 Newsletter
June 7, 2011
Executive Director’s Address
Dear Members,
We are having a delightful summer at the Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS). The gardens and the farm are bustling with flora and fauna. A friendly herd of sheep visited our East Lake Community Learning Garden for several weeks to lend a helping hand with invasive plant removal. Gardeners and growers are working daily tending seedlings, creating rich soils by composting, and harvesting nutritious organic produce. The Edgewood Community Learning Garden celebrates the second year of learning and growing this month. We will be hosting weekend events with refreshments and pizzas baked in the garden’s cob oven. Join us Friday, July 8 in the East Lake Community Learning Garden along with our friends from the Coca-Cola Company to experience the renewed beauty of nature.
Thank you to the Southeastern Flower Show volunteers and SHS board members who are committed to taking extra time and care to prepare for the 25th Silver Anniversary Flower Show that will be presented in late winter of 2013. We are planning a host of new and exciting events for the fall and winter of 2011 and all of 2012 beginning with Farm, Fork & Cork this September. The 25th Silver Anniversary Flower Show will celebrate a quarter of a century of showcasing the best horticulture practices and the talented artistic expressions throughout the region.
Our summer intensive programs are educating and inspiring a new generation of young adults. The Edgewood Farm Crew has been busy tending the urban farm and building raised beds, promoting local foods and helping people to grow their own organic fruits and vegetables. You can visit the Farm Crew at the East Atlanta Farmers Market every Thursday through the end of November. We hope to see you in the gardens, at the Farmers Market and at one of our many new upcoming programs and events.
Enjoy the pleasures of summer,
Kate Chura
Executive Director
In each newsletter we try to feature a timely article about horticulture from various professionals and enthusiasts in the Southeast. If you would like to submit an article for consideration please send it to: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Landscaping Tips by Kate Wright
There is no doubt about it; the weather in Atlanta right now is HOT! It has been the Hot topic of conversation since the beginning of June and from what I am hearing there is little reprieve in sight. This summer we are definitely earning the nickname HOTlanta! So what is a garden to do amid these brutal conditions? Many of us have little recourse than to watch our lovely landscapes struggle in the hot summer sun waiting for Mother Nature to deliver the water required to keep our plants healthy. Still others utilize the old fashion way of delivering water, the water hose. Even if you have an irrigation system, it is still a challenge to keep things looking great all summer. As a homeowner, you can take several more steps, beyond water management, to help get your landscape through this trying time.
The most basic way to protect your landscape actually should have started before your landscape was installed. Utilizing proper planting techniques, as well as, employing the old adage “Putting the right plants in the right places” can make all the difference in the world to ensure your landscape looks good no matter what the environmental stress may be. Ideally, most plants love morning sun and afternoon shade, but this only works if our homes were two dimensional. In reality we have four or more sides and need to select plants that will thrive in all the different environments our homes create. To help them thrive it is important to properly mulch with an organic material. Pine straw, bark or wood mulches, leaves, or grass clippings, can act as a sponge and help to keep the area around the root zone moist longer than if no mulch were present. Resist the urge to mulch with an inorganic material, such as rock or rubber as these materials can actually absorb and hold heat causing higher temperatures around the root zone. Mulch should be replaced at least once per year, but it is a good idea to add a thin layer during the summer to ensure a 3-4” base is maintained.
Now that we have addressed what is on the ground, let’s think about things we can do from above. It is said that the most effective way to shade your home for energy savings is to have trees planted within 60 feet of your west facing side and 40 feet from your south facing side. This is a ca se of what’s good for the house is good for the landscape. By preserving trees in these areas, you will effectively block the majority of the sun during the hottest part of the day, the noon to four time frame. If you are not fortunate enough to have existing trees located in these areas, during the fall and winter months you should consider making the investment and installing good quality trees. Remember that larger, established plants will require less effort to maintain and provide more shade than a younger plant.
The final way to reduce heat stress is by utilizing proper pruning and trimming techniques. During periods of high temperature, it is best to minimize the amount of pruning. The reason is two-fold, plants feed by absorbing sunlight through their leaves where it is converted into sugar and transported throughout the plant. By removing the foliage, you limit the amount of surface area the plant has to collect the sun’s rays and as a result create added stress to the plant that may already be under heat stress. Additionally, a plants natural response to pruning is to regenerate the lost foliage and new leaves are tender and can be harmed by the intense rays of the sun. It is also advisable to raise the mower blades during times of intense heat and sun. Longer grass blades encourage a deeper root system which will be able to handle longer periods without water.
In the end, it is good to remember that even if a plant shows signs of stress during the mid-day sun, it may be just their natural defenses against the heat and no corrective action may be needed. The clear indicator is if the plant does not bounce back after the sun sets, then it is time for concern.
About Kate Wright
Kate is a degreed Botanist and a certified pesticide applicator, certified arborist and holds a Level 1 certification in erosion control. She is an award winning landscape designer, with over 14 years experience and owns Bloom’n Gardens Landscape, a design/build/maintenance firm, based in Mableton, GA. Please visit www.bloomngardens.com for more information. If you have any questions or are seeking advice, please feel free to contact her at 404-314-1474 or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Edgewood Community Learning Garden Update Farm Crew 2011
SHS’s Edgewood Farm Crew started a strong second season on May 31, with five returning Crew and five new crew members. This year’s Farm Crew consists of five rising 9th graders, Marcus Newton, Audrina Hardy, Estella Santillan, and Jarquiz Mack, all Coan Middle School graduates. DeMarcus Brown and Rashid Davis, students from Maynard Jackson High School, are returning from last summer, and this year’s team leaders are Terrance Davis, Brian Beck and Desmond “Ike” Thompson. We also welcome Chef Geoff Paine, who leads a Crew team to cook lunch for all of us every day.
In the first two weeks, the Farm Crew has harvested loads of garlic, potatoes, kale, lettuce, onions, and herbs, and has planted corn, beans, squash, okra, tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers and watermelons. Visit us every Thursday from 4-8 pm at the East Atlanta Farmers Market, 561 Flat Shoals Ave, across from the Midway Pub.
Check out updates and photos from the Crew on our Facebook page: here
Upcoming Edgewood Events:
Saturday, June 25, 2011 - Edgewood Community Learning Garden 2nd Anniversary 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Every Thursday through November - East Atlanta Farmers Market sales by the Farm Crew 4:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
For more info, please contact KylaZaro-Moore at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
SHS Partner of the Month
Decimal.Place Farm
Decimal.Place Farm is a dairy goat farm on about 18 acres in Conley, Georgia, not far from Hartsfield International Airport and Atlanta, run by Mary Rigdon. Mary has supported the growth of the Coan Edible Schoolyard from day one with loads of rich composted manure that she donates on a regular basis to the project. Mary sells her cheese at the East Atlanta Farmers Market, among other places, and the Farm Crew enjoys visiting with her at market and asking how her goats are doing. Check out her website for more info. http://home.comcast.net/~edwardrigdon/”> http://home.comcast.net/~edwardrigdon/
Goat Facts
Smaller than Cattle Why dairy goats? Unlike cattle, dairy goats are a manageable size. The largest animals, adult males (“bucks”) may reach 200 pounds, but even mature females (“does”) are likely to be closer to 100 - 140 pounds.These animals won’t overwhelm their handlers or overburden the land.
Less Dear than Sheep
Dairy sheep are scarce and expensive in the US, while serviceable milking goats can be bought for $300 to $500. Prices are higher for “show goats,” which are bought for appearance qualities that score well in the show ring. Milkers can also command a premium price, depending on their bloodlines, while outstanding bucks can command very high prices, based on their potentially broad impact on herd quality and their resale value. Even so, dairy goats are far more reasonably priced than dairy sheep.
Browsers, not Grazers
Goats and sheep prefer to eat in slightly different ways. In particular, goats enjoy “browsing”—eating leaves from shrubs and trees—while sheep are strictly grazers—eating grasses and similar plants. Faced with a green lawn bordered by leafy rose bushes, sheep will enjoy the lawn, while goats will stroll right over to the bushes. However, milkers are most productive on a diet of grain and hay, our own herd being very partial to alfalfa. Goats are also rather fond of poison ivy, privet and kudzu (a smothering vine with large leaves which grows rapidly here in the South)—a small herd of goats will happily keep kudzu in check.
How Much Milk?
US dairy farmers measure milk production in pounds, rather than in volume measures like gallons or liters. A gallon of goat milk weighs about 8 pounds, but the weight of a fluid gallon will vary from animal to animal, and even from occasion to occasion, depending on the concentration of solids, like milk fat, in the milk. In our herd, we expect even our less productive does to approach 8 pounds—or about a gallon—per day, although a good deal of that may go into their “kids” (offspring). The “stars” of our herd will approach 16 pounds—or about 2 gallons—per day.
East Lake Community Learning Garden Update Growing the Garden Together
Things are going great in the ELCLG garden! We are into our second week of the summer programs, and have four young people from the neighborhood working Monday through Friday from 1:00 -5:00 p.m. They are in the garden clearing kudzu, watering plants, building beds, painting found artifacts, and whatever else needs to be done. Tony and Darius Craft, a 17 and 13 year-old Crew Teen and rising Crew Teen, have been working at the garden since May. Their mom contacted me originally looking for volunteer opportunities for the boys, and around the time school was ending inquired about summer employment. The third young man, Terrence, also 13, lives up the street from the garden. His stepmom heard about the Green Youth program from Doug Williams and got in contact with me. Our fourth program participant is Ashley Johnson, a Villages of East Lake Clubside resident and former Crew Teen on summer break of her freshman year at Darton College. Ashley heard about the program from her mentor and neighbor, Melba Potter (a virtual dynamo who has been at the garden just about every day since she found out about it a month ago) and as a result of her connection to the garden Ashley was recently hired as a part-time salesperson for The Pop Shop, a frozen treat vendor at the East Lake Farmers Market.
Ms. Potter has been instrumental in spreading the word about the ELCLG. She has taken a leadership role in garden maintenance, garden club leadership, and is responsible for recently organizing a resident led meeting of the newly self-titled club, the Harambee Gardeneers. Originally an attendee at the Green Thumb Garden Club Workshops, Ms. Potter really pushed for onsite gardening at the Villages and participated in the Global Youth Service Day activities and followed up several days later by bringing her grandson’s Cub Scout Troop to finish planting and spreading mulch as a requisite to receiving their community service badges. She was the only gardener to attend the ARC/Atlanta Urban Garden Leadership Program sponsored Senior Gardening Summit. Upon returning from the summit, Ms. Potter was raring to go and immediately began planting seeds on her back porch of corn, beans, and tomatoes that she received at the summit. The plants didn’t perform very well on her porch so she asked permission to move the remaining plants to her new found haven at the ELCLG.
Ms. Potter has been an integral part in garden development, recruiting members from the Villages, volunteering to “manage” their plots by helping to plant, water, weed, and even bring kids from the community to help maintain the beds. She has joined the summer program staff and is acting as a “senior leader and supervisor in my absence.
The Harambee Gardeners had their first meeting and it was well attended, 18 Villages Of East Lake (VOEL) residents attended. Seniors, young adults, and families with their children were all present. The meeting discussed garden business as well as the need for the formation of a community action group around the VOEL resident issues and concerns and needs for organization and representation.
Upcoming East Lake Events
Saturday, July 2, 2011 - Green Independence Day - 4th of July Weekend where we will be grilling healthy alternatives, “veggie dogs and burgers”, and have a treasure hunt for the youngsters. 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Friday, July 8, 2011 - Coke and a Smile: Corporate Volunteer Day. 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
For more info, please contact Khari Diop at (404) 351-1074 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
FOR THE GARDEN OF YOUR DAILY LIVING
PLANT THREE ROWS OF PEAS:
Peace of mind
Peace of heart
Peace of soul
PLANT FOUR ROWS OF SQUASH:
Squash gossip
Squash indifference
Squash grumbling
Squash selfishness
PLANT FOUR ROWS OF LETTUCE:
Lettuce be faithful
Lettuce be kind
Lettuce be patient
Lettuce really love one another
NO GARDEN IS WITHOUT TURNIPS:
Turnip for meetings
Turnip for service
Turnip to help one another
TO CONCLUDE OUR GARDEN WE MUST HAVE THYME:
Thyme for each other
Thyme for family
Thyme for friends
WATER FREELY WITH PATIENCE AND CULTIVATE WITH LOVE.
THERE IS MUCH FRUIT IN YOUR GARDEN BECAUSE YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW.
April 2011 Newsletter
April 5, 2011
Southeastern Horticultural Society April 2011
Executive Director’s Letter
Dear Members,
Spring is in motion here at the Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS)!
The 2011 Southeastern Flower Show was a great success thanks to our accomplished Flower Show Chairs, Dr. Felton and Mary Norwood and honorary Chair Coach Vince Dooley. A show of this magnitude could not have happened without all of our supportive members, dedicated volunteers, and generous sponsors.
The SHS Community Learning Gardens are full of activity. Students, parents, seniors, and community members are joining together to grow nutritious organic vegetables at the Edgewood Garden and Urban Farm. In the East Lake Community Learning Garden plans are underway for the Ground Breaking Ceremony on May 7th. Come join the festivities and visit a new herd of sheep that are helping to clear the land as they devour the invasive weeds.
Spring is the time of renewal and soon you will be receiving a membership renewal letter in the mail. It is your support that helps us create engaging educational programs, vibrant active learning environments and premiere horticultural events. Please take a few moments out of your busy day to renew your membership. We are growing and will continue to flourish with your support..
Best Regards,
Kate Chura
Executive Director
Welcome and Thank You! New and Renewed Members
Abra Lee, Alice H. Karling, Allen Haas, Andrea Reed, Anita Wallace, Ann Cabaniss, Ann Frierson, Ann Piper, Ann Walker, Anna Ford, Annamarie Jetha, Annie Keith, Anthony Donofrio, Ashley Tetterton, Barbara Kruszewski, Beth Sugarman, Beth Wielage, Beverly Howell, Brigitte Mebius, Cassina Garden Club, Carla Lewallyn, Carolina Foothills Garden Club, Carolyn Rader, Chris Adams, Constance Lewis, Dana McPherson, Danielle Rollins, Daria Jones, Jeri & David Joel, David Raines, David Smith, Deen Day Sanders, Donna & John Thompson, Doris Nevels Hall, Dorothy Dowell, Douglas Pyles, Elizabeth Kibler, Ellen Beard, Harriet & Edus Warren, Gail Hambrick, Ice Screen Inc., Georgia Native Plant Society, Geri Laufer, Gina Watson, Greer Tirrill, Hatton Designs, Ivy Garden Club, James Wiley, Jan Wood, Jane Lacer, Janet Turner, Jerry Bell, Joe Kimbra, Joy Hernandez, Judith Marie Kaczorowski, Junior Ladies Garden Club, Kathy & Dale Harman, Karen Vohman, Kate Dalba, Kennon Hampton, Lara Morgan, Lee Dunn, Linda Copeland, Lisa Fiscus, Liz Hermansen, Louise Adams, Louise Coleman, Lydia Dalton, Maidee Spencer, Mamie Landers, Marnite Calder, Martha Ellis, Martha Fisher Buckley, Mary Adams, Mary Anna Terrell, Mary Thurlow, Michele Morel, Mr. & Mrs. Bonneau Ansley, Jr., Nancy Wallace, Natalie Bravy, Pam Radke, Penny Miltiades, Ramon & Brenda Garcia, Rhoda Allen, Richard Lemerise, Rita McGregor, Robert Haulbrook, Robin Pollack, Roy Whittoff, Ryan Trusty, Sara G. Augustin, Sara Griffith, Sarah Hansen, Scenic Environments, Inc., Sharon Box, Sheila O’Brien, Shirley Morley, Shirley W. Smith, Sue Freese, Sue R. Tetterton, Susan White, The Tirrill Family, Thea Chastain, Thomas Oswald, Mary & Vic Mahoney, Vicki Morris, Vijay Perumbeti, Virginia Watson, Walt Harrison, William Mitchell, Zachary Reed
PLANTING SEEDS FOR THE FUTURE
Click here to see photos from the 2011 Southeastern Flower Show
Additional photos are available for viewing on the Southeastern Horticultural Society’s Facebook Page.
In each newsletter we try to feature a timely article about horticulture from various professionals and enthusiasts in the Southeast. If you would like to submit an article for consideration please send it to: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Sustainability and What It Means to the Green Industry and To You by Ed Castro
I wanted to share a small portion of the most exciting development in the Green Industry since the advent of equipment and machines: Sustainability. The term Sustainability is being introduced into so many conversations. The idea of a successful model that addresses Environmental, Economical, and Social responsibilities equally is not a new notion. It is simply a relevant trend for us. The concept of Green and being green is everywhere. Personally and professionally we are focused on the benefits of creating healthy environments in which to live and work.
The trend toward living well and being well is part of what we program into our projects. Often times clients such as property managers, developers and health care companies are requiring these trends to be integrated into their projects. For example, transportation and location of where we live and work has become a more important consideration in each phase of our lives. Fortunately professionals are listening and are shaping development toward these Sustainable Developments. Additionally, what materials we touch and breath will soon become a leading consideration of how we buy or what is specified in the design process.
The evolution of organic food and gardening are so closely aligned today that we have begun to question why we would grow something or buy something that might be harmful to our health. I think eating well has taken hold in our lives. The 60’s movement might have birthed the ‘earth child’ that defined the granola era, but today we use a science based approach to organic gardening. Research into organic approaches, not chemicals or synthetics, are providing guidance for gardeners. There exists more information today then ever before. We have so much collaboration between allied disciplines creating informed platforms from which to operate. The technical data is there and growing. Good things are now happening in the south. Much like great examples from Northwest and the Northeast.
However, all the real fun is in the dirt, or more accurately, it is in the soil. Our soils are alive and full of living organisms that are beneficial. So watch for nature’s helpers in the soil. These creatures, mostly microscopic, are critical for sustainable soils and healthy plants.
About Ed Castro Landscape
Ed Castro Landscape, Atlanta’s leading provider of full-service landscape architecture, design, construction, horticulture and maintenance services, was incorporated in 1992, with Ed Castro as President and principle designer. He remains a driving force behind all aspects of our design processes and his personal ideology is evident in the many award winning designs our firm has produced since its inception nineteen years ago. He can be reached at www.edcastro.com or (770) 998-844.
Edgewood Community Learning GardenUpdate
Spring 2011
Edgewood Farm Crew Hard At Work With School & Community Learning Garden
Summer 2010 marked the formation of the Edgewood Farm Crew, a group of dedicated 14-21 year old young men who worked hard to grow food for the community, teach younger children about gardening and nutrition, and prepare fresh, healthy foods with garden produce.
Some of the 2010 Crew members are busy with school now, but a few still help regularly with the gardens and have started building and installing raised bed vegetable gardens for other organizations.
Desmond “Ike” Thompson, Brian Beck, and Jonathan Tennie recently built and installed 6 raised beds for the Urban Dorcas Project, a youth gardening program in Atlanta’s West End. Ike’s favorite part about projects like this is that “they help bring people together-gardens bring people together to do something positive, like planting things in the neighborhood. It’s a positive way to bring people together.”
Brian enjoyed the satisfaction of a job well done. He describes that “putting in the first bed was the best part; filling them up with soil was the hardest, though.” Della Spearman, founder of the Urban Dorcas Project, thanked the Crew “for helping me and the Urban Dorcas Project to realize our dream of updating our youth demonstration garden.”
The Farm Crew looks forward to helping many other organizations and individuals realize their dreams of growing fresh produce through building and installing raised bed gardens. Our next job will take us to several sites in East Atlanta through the DeKalb County Department of Community Health Putting Prevention to Work Grant.
Upcoming Edgewood Events
Edgewood Community Learning Garden/Coan Edible Schoolyard
Garden Classes with Coan Middle School Students - August 2011 - May 2012
Coan Middle School offers elective Service-Learning focused garden classes through a Communities in Schools Learn and Serve Grant. SHS’s Edgewood Community Environmental Educator works with the classes in the Coan Edible Schoolyard about once a week during the school year, doing everything from planting seeds to harvesting vegetables.
If you are interested in leading small groups (3-4) students in gardening tasks during these class periods, please join us! Classes are 10:45-11:45 (7th grade), 1:05-2:05 (8th grade) and 2:45-3:45 (6th grade) on the following dates: Thursday, April 21, Thursday, May 5, Wednesday, May 11 and Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Afterschool Opportunities
Whitefoord Elementary Afterschool Garden Club - Tuesdays 3:30-5:00
Pre-K, kindergarten and 1st grade get a chance to get their hands dirty in their own school garden every Tuesday, as well as learn about botany and nutrition, through hands-on activities.
Coan Middle School Green Team, Coan Edible Schoolyard - Wednesdays 4:00-5:00
Join this middle school after school club if you want to help with their school-wide recycling efforts followed by working in the Edible Schoolyard.
For more info, please contact KylaZaro-Moore at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
East Lake Community Learning Garden Update
Spring 2011
East Lake Community Learning Garden Ground Breaking Ceremony, Saturday, May 7
The East Lake Community learning Garden is prepping for its Spring Groundbreaking Celebration on Saturday May 7th. As such, construction of our garden beds, pathways, and community gathering spaces is our main focus. On Saturday, March 19, over 20 volunteers, including our own SHS Board member Bill Harrison and his 2 sons, Drew Charter School students, staff, and local residents came out to lend a hand in beginning the excavation for our recycled concrete plaza patio.
Outreach continues to build excitement with our partners, with particular emphasis on engaging kids and seniors. We are growing the next set of budding garden enthusiasts with weekly programming at Drew Charter School and the establishment of the new ‘Green Thumb Garden Clubs’ hosting monthly activities and workshops at the East Lake Tower highrise and the Villages of East Lake apartment community. Our efforts have yielded tremendous growth in the schools, with interactions expanding beyond the once a week after-school gardening class for kindergarten, 1st, and 2nd graders to nearly daily interactions with the entire 4th grade science class, over 111 students participating in an aquaponics production pilot program. We recently led students in planting herbs and mixed greens and added a tilapia to our aquarium. The youngsters in the afterschool program are learning the value of edible landscaping and permaculture principles with sustainable agri- and horticultural activities like intercropping annual flowers with vegetables and incorporating perennial fruit bearing blueberry bushes. They have also taken responsibility for the care of the school’s atrium indoor plantscape, repotting, watering, and pruning the ornamentals adding an aesthetic and functional improvement to their everyday environment.
We have developed strategic beneficial partnerships with several local businesses who along with the school’s cafeteria now donate all of their compostable material to the garden saving hundreds of pounds of green waste from ending up in landfills while educating and benefiting the local community. All in all, we give thanks for the organic growth of the Community Learning Gardens work embodied in the original goal and concepts of creating a sustainable center of positive benefit for the entire East Lake community.
Upcoming East Lake Events:
Comcast Cares Community Service Day
Saturday, April 30, 2011 - 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
East Lake Community Learning Garden Groundbreaking Ceremony
Saturday, May 7, 2011 - 10:00 a.m. -12:00 a.m.
For more info, please contact Khari Diop at (404) 351-1074 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Congratulations to Our 2011 Southeastern Flower Show Award Winners!
Upcoming Events
• Johns Creek Art In Bloom presented by Johns Creek Arts Center and C0-Sponsored by the Southeastern Horticultural Society at the Johns Creek Art Center | April 29-May 2, 2011 | For more information visit www.JohnsCreekArts.org
• Sandy Springs Society, Garden Tour | April 30 & May 1 | $20 advanced tickets | For more information please visit: www.sandyspringssociety.org
• East Lake Community Learning Garden Groundbreaking Ceremony at the East Lake Community Learning Garden (56 2nd Avenue, SE, Atlanta, GA 30317) from 10 a.m. to noon | For general information, email Khari Diop at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
• Penny McHenry Hydrangea Festival | June 4-5, 2011 | at the Douglasville Courthouse (8700 Hospital Drive, Douglasville, GA 30134) | Free festival admission | Other ticketing information may be found on the website: www.pennymchenryhydrangeafestival.com or call for more information 770-949-4090.
Robert Balentine’s Southern Highlands Reserve
March 31, 2011
Click here to go straight to the article on Garden & Gun Magazine’s website.
Click here to enjoy the beautiful photos of Robert Balentine’s Southern Highlands Reserve.
Appalachian Spring
Featured In: Garden & Gun Magazine
By T. Edward Nickens | April/May 2011 |
Appalachian Spring
Robert Balentine’s lush mountain oasis aims to preserve the beauty of the Blue Ridge for future generations
“I’ve traveled all over the world, and there is no place to compare to the southern Appalachians,” muses Robert Balentine. And certainly no place quite like Balentine’s Southern Highlands Reserve. Assembled over the last nine years, the Reserve’s 120 acres make up a remarkable private retreat and nature preserve, native plant arboretum, and research center, a place lauded by land conservationists and studied by botanists, biologists, and horticulturists.
Cloaking the top of Toxaway Mountain outside of Cashiers, North Carolina, the retreat protects a suite of rare habitats found at an elevation of 4,500 feet. High-elevation granitic domes are home to red and chestnut oaks. Cliffs are clad with sundews, club mosses, and Appalachian shoestring fern. And the Reserve protects one of the largest known natural stands of rare pinkshell azaleas, hundreds of hybrid azaleas, and scores of native wildflowers.
Born and raised in Atlanta, Balentine, fifty-three, is the co-founder of Balentine & Company, which had grown to be the largest independently owned investment counseling firm in the Southeast when Balentine sold the firm to the Wilmington Trust in 2002. Shortly before, Balentine, and his wife, Betty, started buying property on Toxaway Mountain. “Our three children were little,” Balentine says, “and we realized they rarely saw a salamander or a turtle or had the opportunity to experience a truly wild place. We were determined to change that.”
It certainly wasn’t the upbringing Balentine had. Gardening is woven into his DNA. Both parents were award-winning horticulturists—his father a rosarian, his mother a well-known dried-flower arranger—and they put him to work in the backyard gardens. “Growing up, my summers consisted mostly of digging holes,” he says, laughing. “On one side of the yard was a rose garden, and on the other a vegetable garden. By the time I left home, I’d dug so many holes they just about met in the middle.”
Now, after two decades of a business life that left little time for gardening, Balentine is back to digging in the dirt. The Balentines spend three weekends a month at the Reserve and employ a staff of naturalists, horticulturists, and artists to nurture twenty-two acres of formal gardens and a surrounding natural woodland. But it’s not all about natural beauty. Researchers have raised red spruce seedlings at the Reserve, a tree critical for the future of the endangered Carolina northern flying squirrel, and studied ways of staving off the exotic diseases that are decimating hemlock populations across the country. And twelve months a year, the Balentines are nurturing horticultural interests across the South. Robert is founding president of the board of the Southeastern Horticultural Society, while Betty is president of the Peachtree Garden Club, the oldest garden club in Atlanta.
That kind of dedication to conservation makes it impossible to walk more than a few steps at the Southern Highlands Reserve without feeling a sense of Balentine’s intimate relationship with his land. “Gardening is the slowest of the performing arts,” he says. “I’m interested in evoking an emotional response in the here and now, yes. But these elements will also inspire in three years, ten years, thirty years.”
He stops for a moment, then laughs. “And what’s really funny is this: I hated gardening as a kid.”
An Orchestra of Blogs Highlight the 2011 Southeastern Flower Show
March 11, 2011
The 2011 Southeastern Flower Show was a great success. We have been receiving compliments from everyone who attended and participated in the Show.
Below is a link to all the blogs that highlighted the Flower Show.
Blogs about the 2011 Southeastern Flower Show
To select a specific blog to review choose from the following options:
Southeastern Flower Show « {Welcome Home}
Southeastern Flower Show | Lisa Thompson & Associates
2011 Southeastern Flower Show - Cobb Galleria | Smyrna Vinings
Atlanta Street Fashion: At The Southeastern Flower Show
Everyday Finesse: Southeastern Flower Show
Southeastern Flower Show returns | Atlanta INtown Paper
Ideas for Edible Gardens abound at Southeastern Flower - Fayette Woman
Southeastern Flower Show February 25-26
StayAtHomeKat: Gallery | 24th Annual Southeastern Flower Show
Southeastern Flower Show – Atlanta GA February 25-26, 2011
Atlanta Flower Show Always So inspiring | Dragonfly Design Studios
24th Annual Southeastern Flower Show – “In Tune with Blooms”
Atlanta on the Cheap » Coupon for Free Child Admission to the 2011
2011 Southeastern Flower Show Atlanta, Georgia - Gardening Tidbits
Music and flowers together at Atlanta Flower Show
Beauty in Bloom | FENUXE Magazine
Southeastern Flower Show Celebrates it’s 24th Year
Southeastern Flower Show Opens with A Full Chorus
Garden club members take field trip to Southeastern Flower Show
Photo of the Week: Southeastern Flower Show
Southeastern Flower Show Sings
Witch Hazel, 2011 Southeastern Flower Show, Atlanta, GA
Indie Bookseller Named Official Bookstore for 2011 Southeastern Flower Show
At the Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta
We won GOLD at the Southeastern Flower Show!
Grow Your Green Thumb at the Southeastern Flower Show
2011 Annual Southeastern Flower Show
Grow Your Green Thumb at the Southeastern Flower Show :: Octofinder
Southeastern Flower Show: Walter Reeves
Entries in the Southeastern Flower Show
February 2011 Newsletter
February 3, 2011
Southeastern Horticultural Society February 2011 Newsletter
Executive Director’s Letter
Dear Members,
We are beginning to “Bloom” at the Southeastern Horticultural Society! The 2011 Southeastern Flower Show begins Friday, February 25 and runs through Sunday, February 27 at the Cobb Galleria. A big THANK YOU to our wonderful Flower Show Chairs, Dr. Felton and Mary Norwood and honorary Chair Coach Vince Dooley for their incredible leadership in creating a fantastic event. A show of this magnitude could not happen without all of our supportive members, dedicated volunteers, and generous sponsors; they are all the lifeblood of this organization. Thank you also to the Helen C. Frick Foundation for sponsoring future generations of environmentalists and naturalists by supporting the show’s Youth Division.
There are several new exhibits this year that are all a must see; a dozen of the southeast’s premier event designers have created their take on the show theme, “In Tune with Blooms.” Be sure to visit the Bonsai exhibit that traveled from California, and don’t forget to visit the bookstore, marketplace, and raffle tables. Be sure to check the speakers schedules and catch your favorite chef and garden expert on stage, experience the vibrato of music woven into a garden theme in our professionally designed landscaped gardens. Also, for the avid photographer, Showcase Photography & Video will be hosting a “nature walk” with your camera on close-up photography, see the tour schedule below.
Outside of the Galleria walls our Community Learning Gardens are bustling with educational and interactive events for kids and parents! Learn how to build a fire, prepare food on a fire and hone your foraging skills at the Edgewood Community Learning Garden Workshop. Come out and enjoy the East Lake Community Learning Garden our ground breaking build day celebration on Saturday, May 7.
We are growing and we want you to be a part of it all! Looking forward to seeing you at the show and in the gardens.
Best Regards,
Kate Chura
Music Is in the Air
24th Annual Southeastern Flower Show
February 25-27, 2011
Experience a musical springtime at the 24th annual Southeastern Flower Show at the Cobb Galleria Centre. The theme, In Tune with Blooms, selected by Show Chairs Mary and Felton Norwood and Honorary Chair Coach Vince Dooley, emphasizes the delight of music in the garden with live performances throughout each day.
There will be activities and exhibits for everyone to enjoy! Experience professionally-designed Landscaped Gardens, juried Artistic Floral Design, Horticulture, Discovery and Photography Divisions, and a Tiny Trees Bonsai Exhibition within the Show, plus garden shopping in the Marketplace, Bookstore and Raffle. Celebrity garden speakers and chefs and live musical performances will be held throughout each day and family and children’s discovery workshops add to the experience.
The Designers Showcase will present the Southeast’s foremost Event Designers, Barbara Roos and Chris Macksey, from Event Design Group will bring the theme to life with their inspired design for the Flower Show décor. Roos’ and Macksey’s vision for a dramatic entrance décor captures the essence of the theme by artistically combining musical instruments with colorful flowers and garden tools to create an innovative and creative design. Additionally, the talented duo have created a visual buzz for next year’s 2012 Twenty-fifth Anniversary Flower Show that Show Attendees will see as they enter the Cobb Galleria Centre.
Cobb Galleria Centre is located at Two Galleria Parkway Atlanta, Georgia 30339 and accessible from I-75 and I-285. The show is open Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25-26 from 10 a.m.- 8 p.m. and Sunday Feb. 27 from 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. General Admission is $18 with Adult Advance Tickets $15. Nearby hotel packages are available at favorable rates. To purchase Flower Show tickets please go to www.sehort.org
For additional information about the Flower Show and the Southeastern Horticultural Society or to join the SHS, visit http://www.sehort.org or phone 404-351-1074 during business hours.
2011 Flower Show Speakers Schedule
Friday, February 25
10:30 Demo Stage: Joe Coleman presents “Basics of Rhododendrons in the Deep South”
11:00 Home Depot Stage: Vince Dooley, The Brumley Memorial and Franklinia Society Speaker presents “Vince Dooley’s Garden: A Horticultural Journey of a Football Coach”
Book signing at Eagle Eye 1:30 p.m.
11:30 Demo Stage: Geri Laufer presents “Growing and Using Herbs”
12:30 Home Depot Stage: Chef Rebecca Lang presents “Quick-Fix Southern”
Book signing at Eagle Eye !:30 p.m.
12:30 Demo Stage: David Gregory presents “Coyotes and Other Critters that Share Our Gardens”
1:30 Demo Stage: Brian Killingsworth presents “The Dirt on Dahlias”
2:00 Home Depot Stage: Walter Reeves, Radio personality and writer
Book signing at Eagle Eye 3:00 p.m.
2:30 Demo Stage: Mike Francis presents “The Secret to Japanese Maples”
3:00 Home Depot Stage: P. Allen Smith, TV host, writer and professional gardener presents “Small Space Gardening for Herbs and Vegetables” Book signing Eagle Eye 4:00 p.m.
3:30 Demo Stage: Daniel Eginton, President of Scenic Environments presents “The Do’s and Don’ts of Landscape Design”
4:00 Home Depot Stage: Josh Kardos, Ph.D presents “Color, Color, Color (and a Few Green Meatballs): Improved Plants for the Southeast”
Saturday, February 26
10:30 Demo Stage: Abra Lee presents “Shade Plants for Southern Gardens”
11:00 Home Depot Stage: John Grady Burns, Floral Designer, Book signing at Eagle Eye 12:00 p.m.
11:30 Demo Stage: Mary Woehrel presents “Introduction to Wild Mushrooms”
12:30 Demo Stage: Atlanta Rose Society
12:30 Home Depot Stage: Ann Byrn, author, presents “The Cake Mix Doctor - Gluten free and non-gluten cooking” Book signing at Eagle Eye 1:30 p.m.
1:30 Demo Stage: Eleanor Craig presents “Wonderful World of Ferns”
2:00 Home Depot Stage: Ashton Ritchie, gardening & lawn care expert presents “How To Have A Great Looking Lawn” Book signing at Eagle Eye 3:00 p.m.
2:30 Demo Stage: Judy Kaczorowski presents “DIY Tabletop Designs with the WOW Factor in Tune with the Budget Factor”
3:00 Home Depot Stage: Buddy Lee, originator of Encore Azalea
3:30 Demo Stage: Speaker for the Youth Division to be announced
4:00 Home Depot Stage: Ray French presents “New plants you will be seeing at Retail in 2011”
Sunday, February 27
12:30 Demo Stage: Kim Bailey presents “Creating Habitats and Gardens for Hummingbirds”
12:30 Home Depot Stage:Chef Marc Cicerone of M.E. AMORE
1:30 Demo Stage: Anna Hauser presents “The Pruning of Small Trees and Shrubs: A Demonstration”
2:00 Home Depot Stage: Dave Konseur presents “Container Gardening with Proven Winners”
2:30 Demo Stage: Merrily McLaughlin presents “Daylilies, Plant a Star in Your Garden”
3:00 Home Depot Stage: Dr. Allan Armitage presents “Tales from the Garden: Stories of Plants, People and History in our Gardens” Book signing at Eagle Eye 4:00 p.m.
3:30 Demo Stage: Speaker for the Youth Division
4:00 Home Depot Stage: Erica Glasener, horticulturist and author, presents “Plant This with That - Get the Most Out of Your Garden with Combinations for Year Round Interest”
Book signing at Eagle Eye 3:00 p.m.
2011 Flower Show Ticket Prices
Southeastern Horticultural Society Members (with card) FREE
Adult Advance Tickets (sold thru Feb. 24, 2011) $15
General Admission $18
Senior Citizens at the door only (65+ with I.D.) $15
Twilight Tickets (4:00 p.m. Fri-Sun., no coupons) $14
Students (grades 1 - Graduate School with I.D. $7
Children Kindergarten and younger FREE
Group Tickets (15 or more sold thru Feb. 24) $14
All-Access Tickets (unlimited daily access) $35
(Sales Tax included)
ATTENTION MEMBERS!
Please pick up your Flower Show Ticket at the Flower Show Membership Desk
Please bring a picture I.D.
To purchase advance tickets visit:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/137816
Dates and Hours:
February 25-27, 2011
Friday and Saturday: 10:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, 10:00 a.m. -6:00 p.m.
Youth Activities at the Southeastern Flower Show
This year’s Flower Show promises to be fun for the whole family. Children can participate in ongoing activities in the Youth Area, ranging from making pinecone birdfeeders to arranging a fairy garden. The Youth Area will also be the place to learn about animals for the urban homestead, including worms, bees, chickens and goats. The Metro Atlanta Beekeepers Association will demonstrate beekeeping equipment and activities from noon to five each day. Mary and Hannah Rigdon of Decimal Place Farms (http://home.comcast.net/~edwardrigdon/index.html ) will bring baby goats to the Show on Sunday morning from 10:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m., and 12 year old Nicholas Allen will be on hand throughout the show to answer all questions concerning chickens. Farmer D Organics (www.farmerd.com) will have a worm bin, veggie gardens and other educational activities to share, and Libba Shortridge of Skyland Trail will lead a workshop on Fairy Gardens.
For a complete list of Youth Activities, please go to:
http://www.sehort.org/flower_show/kids/
Calling All Photography Buffs!
Photography Nature Walk at the Southeastern Flower Show
Join David Akoubian for a one hour “Nature Walk” through the Southeastern Flower Show with your camera!
This is a great time to “tune up” your photography skills before the spring season starts. David will instruct on the fine points of close-up photography of nature using macro lenses and the other tools for fine images. Tamron will provide lenses for use in both Nikon and Canon mounts. Don’t miss this unique experience. Suitable for all skill levels.
Friday, Feb. 25th
11:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 26th
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 27th
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Register at: www.showcaseinc.com
Sponsored by Showcase Photo & Video and Tamron
The Southeastern Flower Show THANKS OUR CORPORATE SPONSORS!
Diamond
The Home Depot
A1 Mini Storage
WSB Family2Family
Emerald
Brown & Co. Jewelers & The Maier Family
Event Design Group, Barbara Roos & Chris Macksey
Gold
The Coca-Cola Company
flower Magazine
Garden & Gun
Silver
Bush Enos Photography
Cut Flowers Wholesale
Fidelity Bank
Geraldine Laufer, PR
Helen C. Frick Foundation
Showcase Photo & Video
Ruby
AirTran
Antica Posta
The Atlanta Opera
Atlantic Trust
Cherokee Garden Library
Dixie Home Crafters
Paper Affair
PSDI: Encore Azaleas and the Southern Living Plant Collection
Publix Supermarkets Charities
The Southeastern Flower Show Proudly acknowledges our LANDSCAPE GARDEN PROFESSIONALS!
Bloom’n Gardens
Ed Castro Landscape
Hamilton Land Services, Inc.
Galyas Gardens
Proudland Landscape Group
Scenic Environments, Inc.
Edgewood Community Learning Garden Update
Fall 2010
IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LITTLE LIKE SPRING!
After a week of snow and ice and freezing temperatures, the Edgewood Community Learning Garden and Coan Middle School Edible Schoolyard are beginning to show signs of spring. Overwintered garlic, kale and spinach is starting to pick up growth and students are getting back in the garden during after school programs and weekly elective classes at Coan.
The first round of greens have been planted, and the Whitefoord Elementary after school students have started a batch of greens in mini-greenhouses (recycled plastic food containers), and are already excited to eat their future salads.
Smyrna Girl Scout Troop helps plant a fruit orchard at Coan Middle School Edible Schoolyard. A variety of fruit trees were donated by the Atlanta Local Foods Initiative, including plum, pear, pomegranate, and fig, as well as kiwi and muscadine vines, raspberries and blueberries.
Upcoming Events
Saturdays - February 11, March 5, April 2 - 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. - This spring’s workshop series focuses on ‘Primitive Skills,’ like building a fire, preparing food on a fire, and foraging for wild edibles. Join us at the Edgewood Community Learning Garden on Saturdays February 11, March 5 and April 2 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. to learn more! See http://www.sehort.org for more details.
For a complete list of Youth Activities, please go to:
http://www.sehort.org/flower_show/kids/
For more info, please contact Kyla Zaro-Moore at (404) 351-1074 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
East Lake Community Learning Garden Update
Come Grow with Us!
Ground Breaking Ceremony at ELCLG
The Community Learning Garden in East Lake just keeps growing by leaps and bounds. Having completed an intensive outreach and garden design process in the community, we are now transitioning into the construction phase of our endeavor. In preparation for the official ground breaking ceremony happening May 1, the garden will have a Big Community Build Day on March 19th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.. We need volunteers to bring their energy and vision as we pull the garden together, mulching pathways with woodchips and building raised beds out of reclaimed concrete stone.
The Horticultural Society’s work in the field includes not only producing amazing spaces throughout the creation of the Community Learning Gardens, but also produces amazing educational opportunities that will nurture the next crop of environmental stewards and leaders. In that vein, we are proud to announce that thanks to the SHS’s work with its learning partner in East Lake’s Drew Charter School, 111 fourth-grade students are now participating in the first Aquaponics pilot program in a metro Atlanta school, learning to produce edible plants in a soil-less system using recycled wastewater from fish (goldfish in the testing phase, with plans for raising tilapia in the near future). We will be working in tandem with their teacher, Ms. Consuela Taylor to develop original aquaponics classroom curriculum and activities.
SHS’s work with East Lake’s residents at the grassroots level grows on with the establishment of two new garden clubs linking senior’s living in the East Lake Towers and the Villages of East Lake apartments in an effort to support the community’s Healthy Eating Active Living initiatives. As we transition into what promises to be a spring season full of growth and abundance, remember to keep your eye on the Community Learning Garden in East Lake.
Upcoming Events:
East Lake Neighbors & Friends Community Garden Workdays
Saturday, March 5, 2011 - 11:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m.
Saturday, April 2, 2011 - 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Spring Fling Big Build Day
Saturday, March 19, 2011 - 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Comcast Cares Community Service Day
Saturday, April 30, 2011 - 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
East Lake Community Learning Garden Groundbreaking Ceremony
Saturday, May 7, 2011 - 10:00 a.m. -12:00 a.m.
For more info, please contact Khari Diop at (404) 351-1074 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Organic Land Care Symposium
March 24, 2011
8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Atlanta Botanical Garden
Atlanta, Ga
Atlanta BeltLine, Inc., invites you to the First Annual Organic Land Care Symposium to be held Thursday, March 24, 2011 at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
• Hear local and national experts describe the benefits and realities of utilizing an organic approach to the management of public and private open spaces.
• Discover the basics of creating a vibrant, self-sustaining soil biology that will substantially reduce the costs of maintaining both large and small properties.
• Hear from people that utilize these practices every day and learn how you can get started down the path of sustainability.
Keynote Speaker:
K. Rashid Nuri, Truly Living Well Natural Urban Farms
Other speakers include:
Chip Osborne, Osborne Organics/NOFA
Emily Russell, Atlanta Botanical Garden
Clint Walsh, UGA Turf
Michael Nadeau, Plantscapes Organics/NOFA
Donald Bishop, Gardens Are/NOFA
Eric T. Fleisher, Battery Park City Conservancy
Duane Marcus, Urban Gardner
Michael Smith, Longwood Plantation/Georgia Organics
Allan Streiff, Authentic Grower Services
2011 Southeastern Flower Show
December 15, 2010
2011 Southeastern Flower Show
presented by the Southeastern Horticultural Society
In Tune With Blooms
February 25-27, 2011 at the Cobb Galleria Centre, Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, GA—Experience a musical springtime at the 24th Annual Southeastern Flower Show, February 25-27, 2011 at Cobb Galleria Centre in suburban NW Atlanta. The popular Southeastern Flower Show has been the major floral and gardening event for metropolitan Atlanta and the Southeast for a generation. The Flower Show promotes conservation and awareness of the natural environment through education, horticultural excellence and artistic expression. The Flower Show is both fun and enjoyable, with something for everyone from children to seniors.
This year’s theme, In Tune with Blooms, emphasizes the delight of music in the garden. Throughout the day, live performances by instrumental and vocal musicians will add an extra dimension of pleasure to the professionally-designed Landscaped Gardens and the other five judged divisions of the Show: Artistic Floral Design, Garden Design, Discovery, Horticulture and Photography. The public is welcomed and encouraged to pre-enter any of the divisions (for more information see http://sehort.org/flower_show/juried_competition/).
2011 Show Chairs Dr. Felton and Mary Norwood, leading 2,000 volunteers, are teaming up with Honorary Chair/Legendary UGA Coach Vince Dooley to stage an outstanding Flower Show. The Southeastern Horticultural Society (http://sehort.org) presents the Show annually, and SHS Executive Director Kate Chura noted that some of the proceeds from the Flower Show support the Southeastern Horticultural Society’s ongoing educational programs, community outreach and environmental awareness efforts.
As always, the popular and greatly anticipated shopping area known as the Marketplace, along with the Bookstore and the Raffle Tables, are brimming with home, art and garden-related treasures. Enjoy informal flower arranging, gardening and cooking demonstrations, children’s workshops and stimulating speakers throughout each day.
This year’s Southeastern Flower Show provides an entire world of décor, floral design and gardening education in three days. Twenty-nine inspiring talks, forums and programs by renowned horticulturists, designers and landscaping experts are scheduled during the Show (find the complete schedule at http://www.sehort.org/flower_show/speakers/). Headliners include Coach Vince Dooley, Dr. Allan Armitage, P. Allen Smith, Walter Reeves, John Grady Burnes and Erica Glasner, along with dozens more speaking on favorite audience topics.
In addition to the exemplary plants vying for blue ribbons in the Horticulture Division, the Bonsai Exhibit by the Students of Kenji Miyata, the only Certified Master Bonsai Artist in the U.S., will display outstanding examples of their living art at the Show. And children are invited to explore the Discovery Division, enjoy a performance of Puppatoons or participate in one of the youth workshops.
New This Year
For the first time, nine well-known Southeastern Event Designers will present beautiful display Vignettes showcasing their individual styles. This provides an exciting comparison for Show attendees who may be planning a wedding or celebration in the future, as well as design inspiration from top creative minds.
Also new this year, a partnership with the nearby Atlanta Opera emphasizes the Flower Show’s musical theme, In Tune with Blooms. On Thursday, February 24th the formal Southeastern Flower Show Opening Night Party will be enhanced by strolling virtuosi from the Atlanta Opera (contact http://www.sehort.org to purchase tickets). On Saturday, February 26 after the Flower Show closes for that evening, the Atlanta Opera will stage their Opening Night of Gershwin’s American folk opera Porgy and Bess at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre (purchase Atlanta Opera tickets at http://www.atlantaopera.org ).
Groups are Welcomed
Groups are welcomed and encouraged to attend the Southeastern Flower Show with Group Ticket discounts and nearby Hotel and Restaurant packages. Easy access and free parking plus free van and bus parking facilitate group outings to the Show.
Outreach After the 2011 Show: Legacy Garden
As an outreach project of the Southeastern Horticultural Society, each year an organization is designated to be the beneficiary of plants used in the Southeastern Flower Show and afterward donated by nurseries, landscapers and exhibitors. Resulting plants are used to provide a meaningful donation to a Legacy Garden beneficiary. Named the 2011 Legacy Garden recipient is the Frazer Center on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Northeast Atlanta, Ga., whose mission is to maximize the potential of individuals with disabilities by providing quality comprehensive family and community based services, research and training, all on a sound financial basis. In addition to the beautiful, historic Cator Woolford Gardens, the Frazer Center Garden Committee’s strategic plan calls for a Community Learning Garden on the grounds of the 39-acre estate. Adults and children in the inclusive program will participate in planting the community garden and then eating the produce in a “green-to-table” approach. The Southeastern Horticultural Society will partner with the Garden Committee to accomplish these objectives.
Hours of Operation
The 24th Annual Southeastern Flower Show opens Friday, February 25, 2011 and closes Sunday, February 27th. Show hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. The Show is held at the Cobb Galleria Centre, located at Two Galleria Parkway in the Northwest Atlanta area, located off Cobb Parkway/US 41 and accessible from I-75 and I-285.
Ticket Prices
(6% sales tax included) Advance Tickets (before Feb. 24, 2011): $15; General Admission Tickets: $18; Student & Youth Tickets (school ID required): $7 (Children in Kindergarten and under admitted free); Senior Citizen Tickets at Door (65 or older with ID): $15; Twilight Tickets (Admission after 4 p.m. Friday-Saturday - no coupons apply): $14; Group Tickets (15 or more sold in advance): $14; All Access Tickets (entry any/every day): $35; Southeastern Horticultural Society Members: FREE (based upon membership level). Purchase tickets at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/137816 Your ticket purchase is good for Friday, Saturday or Sunday. We do not ask you to choose a day when you will attend, but instead leave it open for you to decide which date works best for your schedule. No refunds will be issued for Show tickets.
Show Leadership
Mary and Dr. Felton Norwood, 2011 Southeastern Flower Show Chairs
Coach Vince Dooley, 2011 Southeastern Flower Show Honorary Chair
Marsha Webb, SHS Vice President Southeastern Flower Show, Chair of SFS Administrative Committee Southeastern Horticultural Society
Kate Chura Executive Director, Southeastern Horticultural Society
Robert Balentine, President of the Board of Directors, Southeastern Horticultural Society
About the Southeastern Horticultural Society
The Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS) is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to promoting the knowledge, art and enjoyment of horticulture throughout the Southeastern United States (including Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee) through community outreach, education, events, resource sharing and the annual presentation of the Southeastern Flower Show.
For additional information about the Flower Show and the Southeastern Horticultural Society or to join the SHS, visit http://www.sehort.org or phone 404-351-1074 during business hours.
To purchase tickets for the 2011 Southeastern Flower Show Opening Night Party please click here.
Farm, Fork & Cork
September 16, 2010
Empire State South
999 Peachtree Street
Atlanta, GA 30309
The Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS) hosted “Farm, Fork and Cork” a farm to table lecture and dinner with James Beard Nominated Chef, Hugh Acheson. The reception and dinner took place Thursday, September 16, 2010 at Chef Acheson’s new Atlanta restaurant, Empire State South. The event featured a cocktail reception and lecture on edible gardening and the importance of local foods and a farm to table dinner.
Fresh produce grown and harvested from the SHS Community Learning Garden and Urban Farm in Edgewood, an eastside neighborhood in Atlanta, was used for the menu. Some of the produce used was grown by the “Edgewood Farm Crew”, a group of young adults that participated in the Southeastern Horticultural Society’s leadership and training program this summer.
“The Edgewood Farm Crew grew a bounty of fresh organic vegetables this summer”, said Kate Chura, Executive Director of SHS. “Much of the harvest was used by local chefs and sold at the East Atlanta Village Farmers Market. The Farm Crew also installed and maintained edible gardens for families in need”, explained Ms. Chura.
Following the lecture was a five-course farm to table dinner with wine pairings.
All proceeds benefited the Southeastern Horticultural Society’s community learning gardens program. Learning gardens are highly effective outdoor classrooms utilized to teach children about nutrition, sustainable gardening, and lifelong trade skills. One in every three children will suffer from childhood obesity and poor nutrition before they become a teenager. Our Community Learning Gardens invite children to explore and celebrate nature, empower themselves to grow and eat fresh foods, and establish relationships within their community.
To see photos from the event, please click here.
September 2010 Newsletter
September 10, 2010
Letter From The Executive Director:
Dear Members,
We have had a busy summer at the Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS), working and teaching in the Community Learning Gardens and Urban Farm. SHS is growing and I am thrilled to announce a partnership with the East Lake Foundation to bring a learning garden to their community. We have a new staff member of SHS, Khari Diop, Community Environmental Educator, who will be sharing his knowledge, talents by leading educational programs at the East Lake Garden. In October, Khari is clearing ¾ of an acre for the garden by having goats graze on the kudzu and other invasive weeds that need removal. He is also hosting community design charrettes throughout the fall and winter.
Mary and Felton Norwood, 2011 Southeastern Flower Show Co-Chairs, and thousands of volunteers are making great progress as they prepare for the Show. We have a wonderful line up of speakers including Atlanta’s own, Walter Reeves, Michael Dirr and of course our Honorary Chairman, Coach Vince Dooley. Other topics of interest include everything in the garden from coyotes and other critters, floral arranging, hummingbirds and how to grow mushrooms! Mark your calendars for February 25 - 27, 2011 at the Cobb Galleria Centre; we’ll see you at the Show.
We continue to take the pulse of the Southeastern community and respond by presenting new programs, building successful partnerships, increasing our membership and expanding to reach a broader audience.
Some of our upcoming programs include:
Farm Fork and Cork
Planting and Planning a Fall Vegetable Garden
Creating Pizzas in the Garden
Goats in the Garden
Organic Gardening 101
Bennett Thrasher Volunteer Day at the Community Learning Garden
As a non-profit, our work is only possible because of the generous donations of our supporters, and we thank you all. For more information about our programs or if you would like to support these efforts please visit our website at www.sehort.org.
Best wishes for a healthy environment,
Kate Chura
Executive Director
2011 Southeastern Flower Show
“In Tune With Blooms”
Friday, February 25 through Sunday, February 27
Cobb Galleria Centre
CHAIRS
Mary & Felton Norwood
HONORARY CHAIR
Coach Vince Dooley
HOURS
Friday & Saturday: 10 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Sunday: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Farm, Fork, and Cork
Thursday, Sept. 16
Lecture and Dinner
Featuring James Beard Nominated Chef
Hugh Acheson
Empire State South
999 Peachtree Street
Midtown Atlanta
“The Importance of Local Foods”
Lecture, Cocktails, and Garden Fresh Tastings by Chef Acheson
5:30 p.m. Lecture/Reception
Tickets are $25 for SHS members; $35 for non-members
followed by:
5 Course Farm to Table Dinner with Wine Pairings at 7:00 p.m.
Dinner Tickets are $200
Ticket price includes one lecture ticket
1 year membership to SHS
1 ticket to the 2011 Flower Show
Seating is limited, be sure to reserve your space early!
Tickets can be purchased online at:http://www.sehort.org/events/farm-fork-cork-lecture-dinner
All proceeds will benefit the Southeastern Horticultural Society’s community learning gardens program. Learning gardens are highly effective outdoor classrooms utilized to teach our children about nutrition, sustainable gardening, and lifelong trade skills.
About Chef Acheson
Hugh Acheson is the chef/partner of Five & Ten, the National, Gosford Wine and Empire State South. Born and raised in Ottawa, Canada he started cooking at a young age and decided to make it his career. Acheson’s fresh approach to Southern food has earned him a great deal of recognition including Food & Wine’s Best New Chef (2002), the AJC Restaurant of the Year (2007), a four time James Beard nominee for Best Chef Southeast (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010) and a 2007 Rising Star from StarChefs.com. Chef Mario Batali chose Hugh as one of the 100 contemporary chefs in Phaidon Press’ Coco: 10 World Leading Master Choose 100 Contemporary Chefs.
Edgewood Update
Summer 2010
GOODBYE EDGEWOOD FARM CREW!
This summer the Southeastern Horticultural Society offered a job skills training program in urban agriculture to 12 dedicated young men, ages 14-21 (plus a 10 year old). Known as the Edgewood Farm Crew, they spent 8 weeks using the Edgewood Community Learning Garden and the Coan Edible Schoolyard to learn the basics of organic vegetable production.
As they learned, they passed on their knowledge to younger children who visited the gardens with their summer camps three days a week. The Farm Crew also spent time in the kitchen cooking up the veggies they grew, and sold the veggies at the East Atlanta Farmers Market every Thursday as well as to local restaurants (thank you Pura Vida, Farmburger and Homegrown).
The Farm Crew also built raised bed vegetable gardens for community members, and some had the opportunity to spend a day working at Farmer D Organics garden store.
To round out this immersion in local food systems, the Crew visited a local farm, other community gardens, a cooperative grocery store and a community credit union. They read Michael Pollan’s “Farmer in Chief,” article and watched Food, Inc. They wrote in their blog, www.edgewoodgarden.org, and shared their experience in weekly group meetings.
Almost all Crew members showed up every day for work during the hottest summer in recent history to participate in this program, and they are looking forward already to doing it again next summer!
Check out photos of this summer at our blog and at www.flickr.com/sehort
GH&I Volunteers Help SHS Edgewood Community Learning Garden
A tremendous “thank you” goes to the accounting firm of Gifford, Hillegass and Ingwersen LLP (GH&I) for dedicating a day of service to the Community Learning Garden in Edgewood. This day of service is proof that horticulture is a passion that has no boundaries. Accountants, auditors, financial advisors and administrative professionals all spent the day volunteering at the Edgewood Community Learning Garden August 20th for the firm’s yearly community service project.
More than 50 GH&I accountants and staff worked in teams on a variety of jobs: assembling picnic tables, preparing farm beds for plantings, designing and constructing a cob oven roof, leveling wood piles and mulching, shelling peas and beans. Kate Chura, Executive Director of SHS said, “GH&I fulfilled a real need in preparing existing gardens and breaking ground for new crops. Their community service goal aligned well with the goals of SHS; teaching children about nature and healthy foods.”
Edgewood Update
Summer 2010
GOODBYE EDGEWOOD FARM CREW!
This summer the Southeastern Horticultural Society offered a job skills training program in urban agriculture to 12 dedicated young men, ages 14-21 (plus a 10 year old). Known as the Edgewood Farm Crew, they spent 8 weeks using the Edgewood Community Learning Garden and the Coan Edible Schoolyard to learn the basics of organic vegetable production.
As they learned, they passed on their knowledge to younger children who visited the gardens with their summer camps three days a week. The Farm Crew also spent time in the kitchen cooking up the veggies they grew, and sold the veggies at the East Atlanta Farmers Market every Thursday as well as to local restaurants (thank you Pura Vida, Farmburger and Homegrown).
The Farm Crew also built raised bed vegetable gardens for community members, and some had the opportunity to spend a day working at Farmer D Organics garden store.
To round out this immersion in local food systems, the Crew visited a local farm, other community gardens, a cooperative grocery store and a community credit union. They read Michael Pollan’s “Farmer in Chief,” article and watched Food, Inc. They wrote in their blog, http://www.edgewoodgarden.org, and shared their experience in weekly group meetings.
Almost all Crew members showed up every day for work during the hottest summer in recent history to participate in this program, and they are looking forward already to doing it again next summer!
Check out photos of this summer at our blog and at http://www.flickr.com/sehort
GH&I Volunteers Help SHS
Edgewood Community Learning Garden
A tremendous “thank you” goes to the accounting firm of Gifford, Hillegass and Ingwersen LLP (GH&I) for dedicating a day of service to the Community Learning Garden in Edgewood. This day of service is proof that horticulture is a passion that has no boundaries. Accountants, auditors, financial advisors and administrative professionals all spent the day volunteering at the Edgewood Community Learning Garden August 20th for the firm’s yearly community service project.
More than 50 GH&I accountants and staff worked in teams on a variety of jobs: assembling picnic tables, preparing farm beds for plantings, designing and constructing a cob oven roof, leveling wood piles and mulching, shelling peas and beans. Kate Chura, Executive Director of SHS said, “GH&I fulfilled a real need in preparing existing gardens and breaking ground for new crops. Their community service goal aligned well with the goals of SHS; teaching children about nature and healthy foods.”
Fall Workshops at the
Edgewood Community Learning Garden
COMPOSTING AND WORM COMPOSTING
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9 - 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Learn all about different kinds of composting methods for the urban household, and find ways to reduce waste and make great soil at the same time.
ORGANIC GARDENING 101:
MANAGING A SUCCESSFUL CHEMICAL-FREE GARDEN
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Ever wonder how to handle pests and diseases without resorting to chemicals in your garden? This workshop will get you on your way to becoming a confident organic gardener.
Cost: $15 donation per class recommended
For more information or to register:kyla@sehort.org (404) 351-1074
Classes limited to 15 participants. Pre-registration required.
Events at the Edgewood Community Garden
Saturday, September 25 - Pizza Day! Join us as we fire up the cob pizza oven
Friday, October 8 - Zeist Foundation workday
Saturday, October 16 - Pizza Day! Join us from 11-1 as we fire up the cob pizza oven
Thursday, October 28 - Bennett Thrasher work day
East Lake Update
PLOWING FORWARD AT THE
EAST LAKE COMMUNITY LEARNING GARDEN
The East Lake Community Learning Garden (ELCLG) is shaping up nicely. As you may know, we are still in the planning process and working hard to ensure that the community is engaged and its voices are heard. We have made strong alliances with Drew Charter School, the Villages of East Lake, East Lake Elementary, and several prominent community organizations, including the East Lake Farmer’s Market, Hosea Feed the Hungry, and the East Lake Gardening Club. On August 25th, we held our first ELCLG Roundtable Meet & Greet, which was well attended and had representatives from all our major stakeholders and community partners. Everyone was excited, energized, full of great ideas, and ready to move forward into our next phase of planning, the Community Learning Garden Design Charrettes, scheduled for late September.
Following the charrettes, we’ll keep the momentum going in early October with the introduction of our latest cutting edge eco-attraction, our biological invasive-plant removal initiative, also known as the “Goats in the Garden!” Kicking off with a fun-filled event for the whole family, our herd of furry, kudzu-chomping champions will be visiting and working in our garden for about two weeks before they move on to “greener pastures.” We will host another Garden Design Charrette in late October and then again in mid-November. Throughout the end of this year, we will have opportunities for folks to come visit and volunteer as we build on making this dream of a beautiful garden full of ‘peace and plenty’ a reality in East Lake.
Events at the East Lake Community Garden
Saturday, September 25 - Garden Design Charette
Saturday, October 2 - Goats in the garden
Saturday, October 16 from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. - “Goats In The Garden” Fall Festival
Looking For Local Farmers Markets?
If you’re in need of some fresh fruits and vegetables to brighten up your meals, check out the updated website to find a local farmers market in your state.
http://www.sehort.org
Prepping For a Fall Garden
Though it may seem a long way off, the cooler seasons will soon begin to make a breeze through the South lands. Many cool season vegetables such as carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower mature and grow their best in cooler temperatures. So clear out the remains of your spring garden and any weeds that sprouted and make way for your fall crops.
With the remains of your spring garden you can begin to create a compost pile somewhere in the backyard that you can use as fertilizer once spring roles around again.
Decomposing micro-organisms need four vital elements to prosper: nitrogen (such as clover, fresh grass clippings), carbon (dried leaves and twigs), moisture (just needs to be damp not drowned), and oxygen (turning or mixing the pile).
Many other materials can be added to your compost site like, fruit scraps, coffee grounds, and sawdust. Composting can turn your waste into riches and can be as easy as you want to make it.
Cold Composting is low maintenance and can be built over time. Just add some yard clippings and wait for about 6 months to 2 years for earthworms and other dirt creatures to break down the material, while this is going on, you can continue to throw more leaves, vegetables and fruit scraps on top of the pile. Don’t add weeds or diseased plants to the mix.
Hot Composting requires more effort but can be ready to use in a few weeks. Hot composting requires frequent turning and maintenance. You will need an area lined with bricks, wood or cardboard. The waste must be both nitrogen rich and carbon rich and watered frequently. It can reach 110 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, so weeds and plant disease die.
Once the remains of your spring plants are disposed of you can fertilize the area, if needed.
If the spring crops were heavily fertilized then you may not need to make an initial pre-plant fertilization.
The moisture levels and surface temperature is higher in the fall, so seeds should be planted deeper into the soil.
You can protect your crops from frost by covering rows with burlap or a floating row cover.
Individual crops can be covered by milk jugs or paper cups.
SHS Staff Update
INTRODUCING KHARI DIOP
Khari Diop (pronounced Car-ee), joins the staff of the Southeastern Horticultural Society as the Community Environmental Educator to work in partnership with the East Lake Foundation. Khari will work with the Foundation and neighbors of the garden in the planning and development of the Community Learning Garden in East Lake. Mr. Diop brings twelve years of progressive employment, leadership, and training in the fields of environmental education, organic agriculture, green technologies, and sustainable development.
A life-long Atlanta resident, Khari has worked with a wide-range of communities and organizations including the Fulton County Cooperative Extension Agency’s Atlanta Urban Gardening Program, Atlanta Community Food Bank’s Community Gardening Initiative-Atlanta Garden for Youth, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation & Park Pride funded Sustainable Seeds after school Program at the Dunbar Elementary School & Community Center’s Habesha Garden. Khari lives in Atlanta with his wife and two children. Contact Khari at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
GOOD LUCK JILL AND FELICITY
Also a special thanks to our two interns, Jill Giornelli and Felicity Lloyd-Jones, both summer interns that helped out in the garden as well as the office. Jill will be entering her freshmen year at Williams College in Massachusetts this fall. Felicity will begin her sophomore year at the University of St Andrews in Scotland.
Best of luck girls and we already miss you!
East Lake Foundation Partners with SHS
May 25, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mary Dugenske
404-974-4507
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
EAST LAKE FOUNDATION PARTNERS WITH SOUTHEASTERN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
TO CREATE EAST LAKE COMMUNITY LEARNING GARDEN
Innovative garden will build knowledge, connections and community
ATLANTA (May 26, 2010) - Atlanta’s East Lake Foundation, a nationally recognized leader in community revitalization, is pleased to announce a partnership with the Southeastern Horticultural Society, a vital horticulture and environmental educational resource for southeastern states, to create the East Lake Community Learning Garden.
The new Learning Garden, to be located near the corner of 2nd Avenue and Hosea L. Williams Drive in Atlanta’s East Lake neighborhood, will provide a safe, supportive environment where neighborhood residents will grow organic produce in a small urban farm and participate in interactive workshops while learning from each other and gardening experts. An active educational environment, the Learning Garden will serve as an outdoor classroom for East Lake children, especially students from East Lake’s Charles R. Drew Charter School.
“The health of a community is inextricably linked with the health of its residents, and we are delighted to support the East Lake Community Learning Garden,” said Madelyn R. Adams, East Lake Foundation Executive Director. “With the Southeastern Horticultural Society, we look forward to engaging our neighbors in planning a Learning Garden that brings residents together and builds a stronger East Lake community.”
“We are excited about the many opportunities this innovative Learning Garden presents,” said Kate Chura, Executive Director of the Southeastern Horticultural Society. “This summer, we will work with the East Lake Foundation to engage community stakeholders in a careful, collaborative planning process. Together, we will grow a garden that’s responsive to neighborhood needs while cultivating long-term sustainability.”
The Learning Garden will serve as a gathering place and community-building platform both for residents of The Villages of East Lake and the broader East Lake neighborhood. Adams commented, “The Learning Garden will foster healthier eating and living within our community, as well as build bridges among our neighbors.” Following community planning workshops this summer, the East Lake Foundation will host a groundbreaking ceremony this fall.
About the East Lake Foundation
Founded in 1995, the East Lake Foundation’s mission is to break the cycle of poverty in Atlanta’s East Lake community by providing tools that enable residents to build a better future through cradle-to-college education, affordable housing and connections with the broader community. The East Lake approach has been proven to boost employment, reduce crime and improve educational outcomes. East Lake has become a model for holistic community revitalization programs across the country.
About the Southeastern Horticultural Society
The Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS) is a non-profit membership organization that serves as a resource for horticultural and environmental education and works toward connecting people to nature and providing them with resources to improve their lives throughout the southeastern states. SHS provides year-round environmental education programs and hands-on workshops for children, teens and adults while working directly with community members to design, install and lead educational programs in active learning environments through the Community Learning Gardens program.
April 2010 Newsletter
April 5, 2010
Letter From The Executive Director
Dear Members,
I want to thank past Flower Show Chair Emily Johnson, the many volunteers, and everyone who helped make the 2010 Southeastern Flower Show a great success.
I am thrilled to announce that Mary and Felton Norwood will work together as Co-Chairs of the 2011 Southeastern Flower Show, presented by the Southeastern Horticultural Society on February 25 - 27, 2011 at the Cobb Galleria Centre.
The past year has seen a lot of exciting changes and growth at the Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS). We proudly started new programs including the SHS Community Learning Gardens and the Edible School Yard Urban Farm, which teaches school kids about nutrition the fun way; by having them grow and taste their own vegetables. Students learn about healthy choices in the classroom and then help to create those options in the community, making the connection between the environment and the food they eat.
We will continue to take the pulse of the southeastern community and respond by presenting new programs, build successful partnerships, increase the membership, and expand to reach a broader audience.
But as a non-profit, our work is only possible because of the generous donations of our supporters. If you want more information about our wonderful programs or would like to support these efforts please visit our website at www.sehort.org.
Best wishes for healthy environment,
Kate Chura
Executive Director
A BREATH OF SPRING IN FEBRUARY
THE 23rd SOUTHEASTERN FLOWER SHOW ENJOYED BY ALL
Although it was one of the coldest, dreariest and rainy weekends in Atlanta’s winter history, ‘Green’ was discovered as soon as you entered through the show doors at the Southeastern Horticultural Society’s 23rd annual Southeastern Flower Show held February 4-6 at the Cobb Galleria.
Visitors from as far away as upstate New York came to the Show, in their search for ideas and beauty, but definitely not warmer climates! The colors and smells of spring and summer could be seen all over the Show, along with the finest examples of plants, garden design and greening techniques. From the different varieties of camellias to the creatively designed landscaped garden ‘rooms’; sparked imaginations and peaked creative ideas for ones own personal garden ideas…just filed away to become realities as soon as the temperatures of spring allow us to sink a shovel into our own Southern gardens.
Ask 100 attendees what their favorite part of the show was and you will get 100 different answers. The Galleria provided a state of the art convention center for an array of feature demonstrations, culinary presentations, hardscape ideas, landscape gardens, and marketplace vendors. A shoppers paradise with vendors carrying everything from gardening tools to botanical jewelry.
Mrs. Mary and Dr. Felton Norwood to Chair 2011 Southeastern Flower Show February 25-27, 2011
The Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS) is very excited to announce that Dr. Felton and Mrs. Mary Norwood will be Flower Show co-chairs for the 24th Annual Southeastern Flower Show. Please mark your calendars for Friday through Sunday, February 25-27, 2011. Once again, the show will be held at the Cobb Galleria Centre.
When asked about co-chairing the Show, the Norwoods said that they share the same vision for the Show as the Southeastern Horticultural Society does, in that “The Southeastern Flower Show brings our community together sharing beauty, imagination, creativity, and knowledge. It is an important event for the entire Southeast and we plan on being a ‘traveling show’ this fall to reach out to communities across the region in order to increase interest, participation, and attendance at the Flower Show.” The Norwoods have been involved with the Southeastern Flower Show for years through their “husband and wife” artistic entries.
“We have enjoyed our history with the Show, and we enter every year because it’s so much fun!”
To request a visit from the Norwoods (including an optional flower demonstration), please contact the Southeastern Horticultural Society at 404 351-1074.
“Friends in the Field”
This month we are beginning a new featured article called “Friends In The Field”. Each month we will feature a timely article about horticulture from various professionals and enthusiasts in the Southeast. If you would like to submit an article for consideration please send it to:
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) and in the subject line please type: “Friends in the Field”
Fleur-de-lis
In French, the literal translation for Fleur-de-lis is “lily flower”. However the symbol is thought to have been stylized from an iris and not a lily. Some historians take it a bit further and have concluded that it is derived from one iris in particular, the Yellow Flag Iris (Iris pseudacorus).
Barnsley Gardens has a deep rooted connection to the Fleur-de-lis. This old estate was once owned by a Prince and Princess of Bavaria whose coat of arms has featured the Fleur-de-lis for centuries. This could explain why Barnsley Gardens has such a rich display of iris in the spring. It was during restoration of the gardens that Princess Alexandra suggested the iris bed that is named for her.
The first iris to make itself known is the reticulata iris, a tiny bulbous iris of around 6 inches tall that can bloom as early as February. It is a welcome sight to see a splash of color in the garden after a long, gray winter. Following these dainty treasures are the bearded iris. We have several old species of iris in this category. One of my favorites is the lavender flowered Dalmation Iris (Iris pallida). Blooming in April, it has a fragrance reminiscent of grape candy. There is a long walk in the lower gardens where they are planted among the native azaleas, and this combination of color and fragrance is striking. Around this time, the Japanese Roof Iris (Iris tectorum) also blooms. This is one of the few shade tolerant iris. It comes in only two colors, blue and white. Both colors are equally beautiful but I favor the white one because it brightens up a shade garden. This iris is also more apt to naturalize by seeding around than other species. In fact, you can have a blooming plant within one year from seed whereas most irises take three to four years to flower from a seedling.
Alexandra’s namesake extends the season with a nice collection of Louisiana Iris in a wide array of colors. These bog irises are complimenting the bald cypress that also prefers a moist site. Another bog iris that blooms around this time is the Yellow Flag Iris (Fleur-de-lis). The Yellow Flag is a real beacon in the garden with its golden yellow flowers sitting atop five foot stems. It also has a great deal of history behind it as well.
Barnsley Gardens has numerous species of iris growing throughout the gardens. Join our horticultural staff for a guided garden tour to learn more. Complimentary tours are offered on Saturday and Sunday at 11:00 a.m. with the purchase of admissions. We will also offer several varieties of iris at the spring time plant sale during the month of April.
This month’s “Friends in the Field” article is by Dottie Wheaton
Horticulturist from Barnsley Gardens Resort
Phone: (770) 773-7480 ext.1240
www.barnsleyresort.com
“Mice in the Garden”
Intel Computer Clubhouse at the Edgewood Community Learning Garden
The Amazing Garden
Why is the garden so amazing? There are a lot of things in the garden such as activities; we go to the office and color and do more activities. I’ve been planting flowers and some vegetables. One day we hope you come and visit the garden.
THE DAY I MADE A KUDZU BASKET!!!
One day on a cold day we made a kudzu basket.
Ms. Kyla brought her dog and her friend.
Her friend helped me and she helped Qasim. It
was a fun activity. I had made it because it was
almost Christmas and I wanted to get my mom something
hand made and I didn’t have any money. She could use
the Kudzu basket to decorate.
She could put some roses in the basket or teddy bears in the basket just for fun.
She could even use it for even laundry. I thought it would be the perfect gift. I thought
she was going to be so happy that she would start giving me some allowance.
Okay I was a little over reacting but I was 9 back then and I didn’t know what she would really do.
Activities In the SHS Edgewood Community Learning Garden and Around Town:
April 5-9 10: a.m. -5:00 p.m.: Cob oven camp at the garden, with celebration and pizza cook-off on the 9th.
Drop in during spring break to help build a community pizza and bread oven. This project involves building with sand, clay and straw, and is open to participation of kids and adults of all ages. Oven should be finished and ready for baking by the 9th. Children must be accompanied by adults. Come prepared to get dirty and have fun!
April 17th 4:00 p.m. until… Neighborhood potluck with children’s activities. Following a tire cleanup in Edgewood from 8:00 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Outreach
April 17th 9 a.m.-11:00 a.m. Worms, Glorious Worms! - Free Children’s Workshop
at Peachtree Road Farmers Market at The Cathedral of St. Philip
2744 Peachtree Road, NW, Atlanta, Ga 30305
April 20th 1:00 p.m. “Welch’s Harvest Grant” celebration with guest Alton Brown, Food Network’s “Good Eats” host, Mike Metallo, Executive Director of National Gardening Association
David Lukiewski, CEO of Welch’s.
Whitefoord Elementary School
35 Whitefoord Avenue, SE
The school is located on the corners of Whitefoord Ave SE and Hosea Williams Dr.
Directions: http://bit.ly/cH98fY
May 1st 9 a.m. -11:00 a.m. Here Chickie Chickie! - Free Children’s Workshop
at Peachtree Road Farmers Market at The Cathedral of St. Philip
2744 Peachtree Road, NW, Atlanta, Ga 30305
August 5-8th American Community Gardening Association (ACGA) at the Loudermilk Center
The ACGA Membership Conference brings together hundreds of individuals from across the United States, Canada, and abroad, who are engaged in all aspects of gardening and greening. The conference includes hands-on workshops, keynote speakers, a film festival, and visits to parks, school gardens, and community gardens. This year includes a pre-conference workshop on childhood obesity prevention through gardening.
http://www.communitygarden.org/learn/training/annual-conference/index.php
For more information please contact Kyla: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
January 2010 Newsletter
January 4, 2010
The 2010 Southeastern Flower Show is a “must see”!
Join us at the Flower Show and escape the cold gray days of winter by immersing yourself in the beauty of vibrant colorful plants and the Show’s engaging events at the Show.
It’s a Show everyone should enjoy! Hundreds of volunteers, environmental groups, educators and artists, all share their talents and commitments to the Show. Display gardens showcase high quality plants and well designed solutions to landscaping. Greening groups have joined in to share their knowledge and experience about horticulture, and creative designers will dazzle the eye with expressive arrangements. Children will delight in this year’s interactive and hands-on workshops. Special presentations from green businesses will offer innovative ecological solutions to daily living.
Proceeds from the Flower Show are used to carry on the Southeastern Horticultural Society’s educational programs: teaching children about plants; sharing information about regional natural resources; and supporting the best horticultural practices.
Best Regards,
Kate Chura
Executive Director
Join us at the 23rd Annual Southeastern Flower Show. You don’t have to wait until spring to “Discover The Beauty of Green.” Join us now and become inspired by beautiful landscapes, creative floral arrangements and the latest in eco-green products that are perfect for your home.
SHOW HOURS
February 4, 5, & 6, 2010
Thursday through Saturday
10:00 AM to 8:00 PM
TICKET PRICES
Advance Tickets through February 3, 2010 $15.00
General Admission $18.00
Student 9th grade—graduate school, with ID $8.00
Youth 1st - 8th grade $6.00
Senior Tickets at Door (65 or older) $15.00
Twilight (after 4:00 PM; no coupons) $14.00
Group Tickets (15 or more, sold by Feb. 3) $14.00
All Access Tickets (Entry any/everyday) $35.00
Southeastern Horticultural Society Members FREE
FREE parking & easy access
Located at the Cobb Galleria Centre
Two Galleria Parkway
Accessible from I-75 and I-285
The Exhibitor’s Guide contains all the information about each of the different divisions, along with the Entry Forms and the contact information for each division, so that you will know who to go to for the most updated information on a division.
The Exhibitor’s Guide is available for download from the website at:
http://www.sehort.org/flower_show/exhibitors_guide/
Important Dates for Exhibitors
January 24, 2010: Mailed entries for Horticulture must be postmarked no later than January 22, 2010.
If you miss the deadline on-site entries are limited to one entry per class.
February 2, 2010: Horticulture delivery installation from 3:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
February 2, 2010: Garden Design installation from 12:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m
February 3, 2010: Artistic installation from 7:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
February 3, 2010: Judging from 12:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. trophies and ribbons will be awarded in each class.
For more information call 404-351-1074
or visit us at http://www.sehort.org/flower_show
FLOWER SHOW TICKET INFORMATION FOR SHS MEMBERS:
In an effort to be more environmentally friendly and save trees, we are using more electronic forms of communication to reach out to our members.
Thus, we are not mailing out Flower Show tickets to SHS members this year. Instead, we will have an SHS Ticket Booth at the front entrance of the Show specifically for this purpose. All you need to bring with you is your picture ID.
ADVANCE FLOWER SHOW TICKET SALES INFORMATION:
If you have purchased a Flower Show ticket online, your name has been placed on a list. The day you arrive at the Flower Show, you will be directed to a station for advance ticket purchases. Simply bring a copy of your paypal receipt and your picture ID for entrance.
If you have not purchased your advance ticket you still have time. Wednesday, February 3rd is the last day to purchase advance tickets. Visit: http://www.sehort.org/flower_show/ticket_information/ to purchase your ticket today!
SPEAKERS FOR THE FLOWER SHOW
The Home Depot Stage Schedule
Thursday, February 4
11:00 Jean Stanback Brumley Memorial Lecture and Franklinia Society Speaker, Renny Reynolds, Manhattan Florist and Event Planner presents “Hortulus Farm: The Story of an American Garden”
12:30 Chef Carvel Grant Gould of Canoe presents “Cooking In the Garden”
2:00 Walter Reeves, radio personality and writer, presents “For the Green Scene, Maintenance Matters!”
3:00 Michael Dirr, Ph.D, University of Georgia, presents “Hydrangeas for Southern Gardens - The Best Heritage Cultivars and New Introductions” sponsored by The Home Depot
4:00 Kevin Moran of Flowerwood Nurseries presents “Encore Azaleas & the New 2010 Plants in the Southern Living Plant Collection”
Friday, February 5
11:00 Laura Iarocci and Victoria Denson of Faith Flowers presents ” Colorful Wonderful Weddings”
12:30 Jean Van Krevelen, garden author and garden coach, presents “Grocery Gardening - Planting, Preparing and Preserving Fresh Food”
2:00 P. Allen Smith, TV host, writer and professional gardener, presents “Abundance From Small Spaces, Gardening in Containers and Raised Beds with Style” Sponsored by The Home Depot.
3:00 Joe Washington, TV personality, presents “Gardening to Beat the Elements”
4:00 Erica Glasener, horticulturist and author, presents “Proven Plants for Southern Gardens”
Saturday, February 6
10:30 Ryan Gainey, presents “Plants, Places, People and Patterns,” a lecture and book signing in the Auditorium
11:00 Larry Hammack of Foxgloves & Ivy Floral Design Studio presents “You Don’t Have to Be From Ireland to Be Green!”
12:30 Chefs Todd Richards and Jerry Slater of One Flew South restaurant
2:00 Ashton Ritchie, gardening & lawn care expert, presents “Raised Bed Vegetable Gardening” Sponsored by The Home Depot.
3:00 Pamela Crawford, garden designer and author, presents “Easy Container Combos: Vegetables and Flowers”
4:00 Ashton Ritchie, gardening & lawn care expert, presents “Secrets to a Great Looking Lawn” Sponsored by The Home Depot
5:00 Chef Jim Holycross of McCray’s West Village Tavern
Demo Stage Speakers
Thursday, February 4
10:30 Karin Guzy of Arranged for You presents “Flower Arranging Tools”
11:30 Graeme Teague, author, presents “Tropical & Garden Flower Identification”
12:30 Michelle Valigursky, author, “Creating Curb Appeal”
1:30 Kevin Moran of Flowerwood Nurseries presents “Proper Pruning Techniques: When, Where and How to Properly Prune Shrubs”
2:30 Jim Quick, University of Georgia, presents “Beekeeping Basics”
3:30 Lisa Bartlett of Gardens to Go presents “No Brainer Containers”
Friday, February 5
10:30 Mary-Kate Mackey, author, presents “Beauty in Bounds - Successful Container Gardening”
11:30 John Yow, author, presents “The Armchair Birder: Discovering the Secret Lives of Familiar birds”
12:30 Jim & Joyce Lavene, authors, present “What’s in That Soup? Poisonous Plants We Eat Every Day”
1:30 Mary-Kate Mackey, author, presents “Every Garden Tells a Story - ” What Garden Magazines Leave Out”
2:30 Laura Iarocci of Faith Flowers presents “Sweet Floral Treats”
3:30 Blake Watkins of Trees Atlanta presents “Non-native Invasive Plants”
Saturday, February 6
10:30 Kyla Zaro-Moore, Community Environmental Educator - Southeastern Horticultural Society, presents “Chickens in the Garden”
11:30 Daryl Pulis of Mrs. Greenthumb presents “Easy Organic Gardening”
12:30 Rick Smith of Pruning Guru presents “Pruning Shouldn’t Hurt”
1:30 Karen Garland of the Georgia Conservancy presents “Tickle Your Senses Both Day & Night- How to Create a 24-Hour Sensory Garden”
2:30 Larry Hammack of Foxgloves & Ivy Floral Design Studio presents “Green Tips in Floral Design”
3:30 Puppatoons presents “The Little Green King” puppet Show
2010 Southeastern Flower Show Landscapers
Bloom’n Gardens
Scenic Environments
Ed Castro Landscape
Miller Landscape
Unique Environment Landscapes
The Home Depot
2010 Southeastern Flower Show
Participating Market Place Vendors
Business/website Booth Number
New York Times 1
newyorktimes.com
Mary Booth Cabot - Watercolorist 2
mboothcabot.com
Trent Gibbs Pottery 3
trentgibbspottery.com
Carole Shaber Designs 4
caroleshiber.com
Invisible Fence by Peachtree 5
peachtree.invisiblefence.com
Back Support Images 6
backsupportimages.com
Home & Garden Design, Inc. 7
home-garden-design.com
Horizons LTD 8
horizonsltd.com
Start Naked 9
startnaked.com
Steel Art by Kathy 10
kathywaltonart.weebly.com
Lightscapes of Atlanta, Inc. 11
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Sky Drops, Inc. 12
skydropsinc.com
Spirit LaLa 13
spiritlala.com
Joseph’s Colours 14
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Indigo Bath & Body 15
indigobathandbody.com
Artful Mosaics for Home and Garden 16
mosaicmaus.com
Hudson River Inlay 17
hudsonriverinlay.com
Ultimate Creations 18
infinitealoe.com
Bird Feeder Direct 19
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
E F International 20
connect2nature.com
Rick Heard’s Garden Originals 21
615 653-8045 cell phone
How Cute! 22
614 267-0772
LaCigale 23
lacigale-usa.com
Ashe-Simpson Garden Center 24
770 458-3224
Brennan’s Orchids, LLC 25
brennansorchids.com
LG Concepts, Inc. 26
lgbagzit.com
Lee Valley Tools 27
leevalley.com
Courtney Design 28
courtneydesign.com
Nature’s Creations 29
leafpin.com
Sinbad Crafts and Plants - Fly - Trap Farm 30
flytrapfarm.com
Horticultural Institute of Southern California 31
shopdepalma.com
William C. Wood Collection 32
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Jazzy Artz 33
jazzyartz.com
Ann’s Art Glass 34
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
The Outdoor Lights, Inc. 35
theoutdoorlights.com
The Grateful Gourd 36
thegratefulgourd.com
Fleurstone 37
fleurstone.com
House About It 38
houseaboutit.com
Dargan Landscape Architects 39
dargan.com
Heather Lane Pottery 40
heatherlanepottery.com
Maplecrest Lilies 41
maplecrestlilies.com
The D. Landreth Seed Company 42
landrethseeds.com
Owens Orchids 43
owensorchids.com
Reid H. Leonard, PH. D 44
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
The Water Beads 45
thewaterbeads.com
McMahan’s Nursery, LLC 46
mcmahansnursery.com
Vigoa Cuisine 47
vigoacuisine.com
High Museum of Art 48
high.org
Casual Image 49
casualimage.com
Meet Our 2010 Southeastern Flower Show Chairman
Emily Johnson
The Southeastern Horticultural Society is gearing up for its 23rd annual Southeastern Flower Show. There are only 2 weeks to go until the Cobb Galleria Centre is turned into a paradise of beauty bursting with color, ideas and the latest green living lifestyles where we can “Discover the Beauty of Green.”
An event of this magnitude takes hundreds of volunteers and countless hours of preparation, dedication and organization. Our highly qualified leader in chairing this event in 2010 is Emily Johnson. Emily has been an integral part of the Flower Show for over ten years volunteering her time, knowledge and willingness to inspire others and spreading her love of horticulture to adults and children. All of this comes easily and natural to a person who has had a prominent career in education. Teaching has been the root of Emily’s professional career. A graduate of the University of Georgia, she received both a Bachelor of Science Degree and a Master’s in Education. She then went to Georgia State University and received an Education Specialist Degree. Emily has taught in elementary schools, been a reading consultant for the Atlanta Public Schools, was the Director of Instruction for the Westminster Elementary School, founder of the tutoring service for children, “All About Learning,” and has been an adjunct professor for both Georgia State University and Perimeter College. At the top of all of these accomplishments is her number one priority-her family. Emily is a wife, mother of two and grandmother of four. Believe it or not, she still finds spare time to do some of her favorite hobbies: cooking, gardening, floral design, and traveling to far off places.
The Southeastern Horticultural Society wants to thank Emily for being this year’s Show Chairman!
(Photo of Emily Johnson in the Southeastern Horticultural Society’s Community Learning Garden at Edgewood)
DUBELYOO, THE ARTIST BEHIND THE SCENES
The Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS) is proud to introduce the artistic genius of Dubelyoo, pronounced W.He is the man behind the creation of the graphic design for this year’s Flower Show. Dubelyoo is not new to the art scene. On the contrary, his portfolio includes corporate giants such as Nike, Pepsi, Coca-Cola and Heineken. His talents range from producing graphics for music videos, feature films, publications and web sites.
Dubelyoo isn’t just a brilliant designer; he is also a highly successful art curator. His first show at the High Museum of Art sold out in just two hours! He also is the producer of the largest touring urban art show in the U.S., “Arts, Beats & Lyrics.” We are sure you will agree that his playfulness with color, style and organics helped create the perfect visuals for the 2010 Southeastern Flower Show!
UPCOMING EVENTS
Opening Night Party
at the Cobb Galleria on the Show floor
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Tickets are $225 per person, 7 p.m.
23rd Annual Southeastern Flower Show
at the Cobb Galleria Centre
February 4-6, 2010
Flower Power
at the Cobb Galleria Centre on the Show floor
February 5, 2010, 8:00 p.m.
tickets are $75 and include a membership
October 2009 Newsletter
October 12, 2009
Letter from the Executive Director
Our neighbors have begun to put their gardens to bed for the winter as the cool crisp air of fall moves into the Southeast. Fall is also the time of year when our staff and volunteers are in full focus at the Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS) as we gear up to “Discover the Beauty of Green,” the 23rd annual Southeastern Flower Show, to be presented February 4-6, 2010 at the Cobb Galleria Centre. We are expecting our best show ever, with a renewed focus on horticulture education, environmental sustainability and the most creative and original floral and horticulture displays.
At our new Community Learning Garden, it’s all about going green! Preparations for the installation of our state of the art entrance pergola, made from re-purposed materials, and a rainwater harvesting cistern will soon be new additions to this already fabulous teaching community garden. The garden has also hosted several children’s workshops featuring the benefits of eating locally grown foods.
The SHS made new friends and visited with familiar faces during a tour of the Vince Dooley Garden, and it also hosted a beautiful English Garden party complete with champagne and toast points. I hope you will join us and become a member; we need your support to continue to create educational programs and bring together our communities through the beauty of horticulture.
Best Regards,
Kate Chura
Executive Director
The Exhibitor’s Guide is ready and available for download from the website at: http://www.sehort.org/flower_show/exhibitors_guide/
The Exhibitor’s Guide contains all the information about each of the different divisions, along with the Entry Forms and the contact information for each division, so that you will know who to go to for the most updated information on a division.
A quick overview on how to enter the Southeastern Flower Show competitions
1. How to use the Entry Form
Obtain forms from the Exhibitor’s Guide for the Artistic, Garden Design or Horticulture Divisions. To download a copy of the Guide, go to the FLOWER SHOW tab on the website at http://www.sehort.org.
Only Horiticultural Division entries can be made online. Under FLOWER SHOW at www.sehort.org, go to the Exhibitor Registration tab.
2. How to send forms
Entries may be mailed or faxed to the Division Entry chairs. See appropriate section of the Exhibitor’s Guide for Division Entry Contact information. Entries will be accepted and acknowledged in the order received.
Each exhibitor is required to list the correct botanical names. Please see the Exhibitor’s Guide to assist you with the proper entry names.
Important Dates for Exhibitors
• Fall 2009: Download Flower Show Exhibitor’s Guide for general rules and competitive classes in Artistic, Garden Design and Horticulture.
• October 1, 2009: Entries will be accepted for Artistic, Garden Design, and Horticulture Divisions.
• November 4, 2009: Deadline for Horticulture specimens to be in the possession of the exhibitor (90 days before the show is required). Orchids, Par, and Pro’s Corner require at least 6 months possession.
• January 20, 2010: All entries for Artistic and Garden Design must be received by the entry chairs.
• January 24, 2010 Mailed entries for Horticulture must be postmarked no later than January 22, 2010. If you miss the deadline on-site entries are limited to one entry per class.
• February 2, 2010 Horticulture delivery installation from 3:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.• February 2, 2010 Garden Design installation from 12:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m
• February 3, 2010 Artistic installation from 7:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
• February 3, 2010 Judging from 12:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m. trophies and ribbons will be awarded in each class.
UPDATE FROM SHS’ COMMUNITY LEARNING GARDEN AT EDGEWOOD
We’ve been growing minds as well as plants and vegetables at the Edgewood Community Learning Garden! The Edgewood Community Learning Garden survived the deluge, thanks to raised beds and plenty of mulch!
As the summer crops are slowing down, the fall crops are springing up. Eggplants, peppers, squash and tomatoes are giving way to turnips, radishes, carrots, spinach, beets, broccoli and more.
IMAGE (I Must Achieve the Goal to Excel) afterschool program visits the Garden on Mondays and Thursdays to work in their plots. They are becoming experts in squash beetle and aphid demolition and are saviors of ladybugs and worms. The jury’s still out on spiders and centipedes, but we’re learning to peacefully coexist. Program participants are excited to see how fast their seeds sprout and grow, and are looking forward to making pasta sauce with the abundant basil.
A neighboring cub scout troop from Greater Smith Chapel also claimed a plot, sowing out fall veggies and eliminating squash vine borers. Organic pest control is part of the fun of gardening with youth, as they enjoy sanctified bug-squishing sessions.
Though IMAGE participants have built a compost bin, it’s not filling up fast enough for creating new beds, so neighborhood volunteers have helped collect trucks full of county compost as well as mule manure from a local farm to make a rich planting mix.
Now that things are drying up, we’ll continue seeding and transplanting fall crops and learning how they grow and taste.
The Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS) is now providing outreach to the 6 K-2 classes at Whitefoord Elementary School, linking science curriculum to outdoor lessons. The classes have the opportunity to apply what they learn in their classrooms to what they find in their environment. From learning to use a weather station to planning a garden according to moon phases, the students are gaining hands-on experience linked to the Georgia Performance Standards. Lessons will culminate in field trips to the Edgewood Community Learning Garden as well as entries into the school’s upcoming science fair.
The Edgewood Community Learning Garden was excited to be on the Pedals to Produce bicycle tour on October 18th. Riders had the chance to bike to a variety of community gardens and other urban agriculture sites, with the option of touring farmers markets on October 17th. The tour showcased Atlanta’s burgeoning local food community and connected eaters and growers via bicycle.
Students from Whitefoord Elementary enjoyed participating as a public service announcement (PSA) was filmed at the garden to help promote the SHS and the 2010 Flower Show.
Right now, the Garden is installing a water catchment system so that it can meet most of its watering needs through rain water. The catchment system is being provided through a WaterWorks grant from Organic Gardening magazine and Aveeno. The system will utilize old Georgia Power telephone poles along with old Department of Transportation signs to create a spectacular entrance to the garden that doubles as the collection system for the rainwater. A large cistern will be used to hold the water on-site for the garden’s upkeep.
This will be a huge step toward sustainability for the Garden, and a creative example for other gardens interested in capturing rain water.
Come out to the garden on November 12 at 10 A.M. for the Rain Harvest Dedication to celebrate the new water catchment system.
Come out and join us in the garden whether it’s for the beautification day, the dedication or just to stop by and see what’s going on. We’d love to have all of you see how the garden is progressing.
The garden is located at the intersections of Hardee Street and Mayson Avenue in the Edgewood neighborhood in the city of Atlanta.
1503 Hardee Street
Atlanta, Ga 30307
A LOVELY DAY FOR A GARDEN TOUR
Barbara and Vince Dooley hosted “A Gardening Experience” to benefit the Southeastern Flower Show and its parent organization the Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS) on Sunday, September 13, 2009 in Athens, Georgia. Coach Dooley is not only a friend of the SHS but also a board member.
The Dooley’s moved into their home, built in a valley in the middle of a 2 1/2 acre lot, some 44 years ago. Over these years, many changes have been made. Hubert Owens designed the patio at the back of the house; a swimming pool was added, and several other major additions have been built. Most important to the Dooleys, however, is the landscape. Since 1995, when Vince Dooley developed a passion for horticulture, the 2.5 acres surrounding his house have been transformed into a virtual botanical garden, with many rare trees and shrubs. There are more than 100 varieties of camellias and Japanese maples, as well as numerous hydrangeas. Adjacent to the Dooley home, are the variety of blue hydrangea that Dr. Michael Dirr named ‘Dooley’. (Shouldn’t they bloom red and black?)
“This garden is a complete dazzler”, sited one of our SHS members who attended the tour. Along with incredible plant material, the garden also features statuary, a container garden, fountains, and a weeping garden that contains a prized bald cypress, ‘Cascade Falls’. The Dooley’s manage drought conditions, in part, by drawing from the lake fed stream that flows through the property. Rain barrels close to the house supply enough water for the container garden as well.
With over 120 people in attendance the event was a great success bringing in new members from across the state. Thank you so much Vince and Barbara for supporting our organization!
The Dooley garden is full of horticultural treasures and surprises. You might easily conclude that this garden will become, like its owner, a legend.
A TRADITIONAL ENGLISH GARDEN PARTY
It rained, and at times it poured, but that did not dampen the spirits at the September 17, English Garden Party hosted at Mickey Webb’s beautiful Tudor-style home.
Hats and flats were the suggested attire for the evening. The hats were magnificent and some were very creative.
The weather was typical English ... rain, rain and then more rain. But even the worst deluge couldn’t dampen the spirits of those guests and members that attended the English Garden Party sponsored by the Southeastern Horticultural Society. 75 members and guests showed up in hats and heels and enjoyed full English faire, from Pimm’s and crumpets to Shepherds pie.
A heartfelt thank you goes to Mickey Webb for opening up her beautiful Tudor style home in the heart of Buckhead. The atmosphere was filled with music provided by strolling English musicians and beautiful English décor that fills Mickey’s home. Only one thing was missing… a stroll through her exquisite English garden.
Enjoying the party are (from left to right) host, Mickey Webb, SHS Board member, Andrea Strickland and 2010 Flower Show Chairman, Emily Johnson.
NEW WEBSITE JUST IN TIME FOR THE FLOWER SHOW
Whether you go to http://www.sehort.org or http://www.flowershow.org you will find a new website that was recently unveiled just in time to provide information for the 2010 Flower Show.
Before October, whenever you would try to locate information about the Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS) or the Southeastern Flower Show (SFS) you had to decide which site to look at for the information you were in search of. Now we’ve made things a lot easier for you, our members and loyal supporters.
Starting this month whenever you go to either http://www.flowershow.org or http://www.sehort.org you are directed to the same website for everything you need to know about the SHS and the SFS.
The new site is easy to navigate and use. It also includes links to access all of our social networking sites, including Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.
Add us on the above social networking sites and keep track of all our upcoming events, fundraisers, updates from the Edgewood Community Learning Garden and more!
Check out the new website today and connect with us through our networking sites. We look forward to hearing from you!
IT’S TIME TO START THINKING ABOUT FORCING BULBS FOR THE FLOWER SHOW!
Suggested Timing For Forcing Bulbs
Bulb Chill Weeks Required Begin Cool Treatment Remove From Cold Weeks to Bloom
Tulip 12 to 16 Sept. 21 to Oct. 19 Jan. 7 to Jan. 14 3 to 4
Narcissus 10 to 12 Oct. 21 to Nov. 4 Jan. 13 to Jan. 20 2 to 3
Hyacinth 9 to 13 Oct. 21 to Nov. 18 Jan. 13 to Jan. 20 2 to 3
Muscari 9 to 13 Oct. 21 to Nov. 18 Jan. 13 to Jan. 17 2 to 3
Crocus, Dwarf Iris 9 to 13 Oct. 28 to Nov. 25 Jan. 13 to Jan. 26 1 to 2
Amaryllis None Pot upon purchase 6 Weeks (Variable)
Paperwhite Narcissus None * **
*Keep at 45 to 50 degrees for 10 days for root development
**6 Weeks (Including time for root development)
UPCOMING EVENTS
Edgewood Community Learning Garden Water Cistern Ribbon Cutting
November 12 at 10 A.M.
1503 Hardee Street
Atlanta, Ga 30307
November 14-15 Enviro Expo USA
at the Georgia World Congress Center
This event is free and open to the public.
November 29, 2009
Serenbe Holiday Bazaar
1-4 P.M.
February 4-6, 2010 - The Southeastern Flower Show at the Cobb Galleria Centre
NEW SHS STAFF
Chris Whitlock
Chris Whitlock has joined the Southeastern Horticultural Society as a part-time membership coordinator and administrative assistant. Chris began with us as a volunteer 7 months ago. She is a University of Georgia graduate with a BA in journalism from the Grady School of Journalism. Chris comes to us with a decade of freelance writing and special event planning. She has also followed her passion and is about to receive a second degree in horticulture from Chattahoochee Tech, with an emphasis on sustainable horticulture. Chris has three beautiful daughters, Shelli 19, Avery 16 and Morgan 13. In her spare time she enjoys running and participating in triathlons.
August 2009 Newsletter
August 3, 2009
Summer is filled with exciting activities at the Southeastern Horticultural Society. Emily Johnson, Southeastern Flower Show Chairman, is building her team of volunteers and planning the 23rd annual Southeastern Flower Show that will take place February 4-6, 2010 at the Cobb Galleria Centre.
The Edgewood Community Learning Garden is bursting with excitement. Kids, families and community members from the neighborhood are getting involved and learning about growing organic vegetables and sharing gardening techniques. In the coming months we’ll be creating a water catchment system in partnership with the WaterWorks program. Be sure to pick up the current issue, August/October 2009 of Organic Gardening Magazine, page 15, to learn more about it.
Our calendar is filling up with events and workshops the entire family can enjoy. We hope you will join us.
Best Regards,
Kate Chura
Executive Director
2010 SOUTHEASTERN FLOWER SHOW
Discover The Beauty Of Green
The 23rd Annual Southeastern Flower Show
February 4 - February 6, 2010 at the Cobb GalleriaCentre
Escape the gray and cold of winter and enter a world of beautiful green environments! Back by popular demand, The Southeastern Horticultural Society will host its 23rd annual Southeastern Flower Show Thursday, February 4, 2010 through Sunday, February 6, 2010. The Flower Show will once again be held at the Cobb Galleria Centre.
“Discover new landscape and gardening techniques and experience floral splendor at the 2010 Flower Show,” enthuses Show Chairman Emily Johnson.
“This spectacular event will celebrate the beauty of our natural world and inspire innovative designs and solutions for everyone and every place. It will kick off another great year of educational programs and events presented by the Southeastern Horticultural Society” added Kate Chura, Executive Director.
The show will surprise and delight attendees as they meander through the new floor design filled with extraordinary exhibits of plants, environmentally green ideas and tips, interactive workshops for kids, entertaining and enlightening speakers, organic gardening and cooking demonstrations, and eco-friendly products for the home and garden. There will be something for everyone, from seniors to toddlers and from novice gardener to expert horticulturist.
Date: Thursday, February 4, 2010 - Sunday, February 6, 2010
Time: 10:00 a.m. through 8:00 p.m. Thursday through Saturday
Location: Cobb Galleria Centre - located at Two Galleria Parkway in the Northwest Atlanta area at I-75 and I-285
| Advance Tickets (sold through February 3, 2010) | $15 |
| General Admission Tickets | $18 |
| Student Tickets (9th Grade through graduate school - ID required) | $8 |
| Youth Tickets (1st through 8th Grades) (Children in Kindergarten and under admitted free) | $6 |
| Senior Citizen Tickets at Door (65 or older with ID) | $15 |
| Twilight Tickets (Admission after 4:00 p.m. Thursday-Saturday - no coupons apply) | $14 |
| Group Tickets (15 or more sold through February 3, 2010) | $14 |
| All Access Tickets (entry any/everyday) | $35 |
| Southeastern Horticultural Society Members | Free |
See you at the flower show!
VINCE DOOLEY GARDEN TOUR
Barbara and Vince Dooley Host “A Gardening Experience”
Enjoy a Once in a Lifetime Chance to see the Legend’s Garden!
Benefiting The Southeastern Flower Show and its parent organization, The Southeastern Horticultural Society
Sunday, September 13, 2009
5 to 8 in the evening
Athens, Georgia
Host Committee
Betty & Robert Balentine Luci & Mack Furlow
Ann & Harvey Cabaniss Margaret Howard
Lane & Richard Courts Candy & Greg Johnson
Mercer Davis Lili Ouzts
Barbara & Vince Dooley Hart Roberts
Diane & Ed Festa Marsh & Greg Webb
Lisa Fiscus Ellen & Buck Wiley
Ann & Joe Frierson
Since 1995, when Vince Dooley developed a passion for horticulture, the 2.5 acres surrounding his house have been transformed into a virtual botanical garden, with many rare trees and shrubs. There are more than 100 varieties of camellias and Japanese maples, as well as numerous hydrangeas. The Dooley garden is full of horticultural treasures and surprises. You might easily conclude this garden will become, like its owner, a legend.
Tickets
$50 each, available online or mail check to the Southeastern Horticultural Society, 1705 Commerce Drive, NW, Suite 400, Atlanta, Ga.30318. Each ticket will include a single SHS membership for one year, a $35 value. See details on our website.
Order tickets early to reserve a place!
Sponsored by: Savida Sangria
EDGEWOOD COMMUNITY LEARNING GARDEN
Volunteers came out in full force to team up with The Southeastern Horticultural Society, Fiskars and The Home Depot to help create a community learning garden.
The group of volunteers gathered early on a Saturday morning in June to beat the ninety degree heat and begin a neighborhood transformation at the corner of Hardee Street and Mayson Avenue in Atlanta.
Take a corner lot, add lots of volunteers from the local community and the Southeastern Horticultural Society, install plant material donated by The Home Depot, use state-of-the-art tools, donated by Fiskars, to work with and watch the transformation begin by a dedicated group of volunteers, executives and employees. Amazingly, the entire project was completed in just one day!
What stands there now is a beautiful garden filled with annuals and perennials, vegetables and herbs growing in raised beds, and large trees adding shade and greenery.
“There was a real need in this community to get kids interested in nature and help them understand where their food comes from as a part of teaching them about healthy eating,” explained Kate Chura, Executive Director of the Southeastern Horticultural Society.
Although the garden is beautiful to look at and is a wonderful place for neighbors to gather and socialize, three nearby schools are planning to utilize the garden to enhance their current curriculums. The garden will also host child and adult workshops and will be a meeting place for two local senior centers to enable their residents to continue their hobby of gardening.
Fiskars is the brainchild of the Project Orange Thumb Grant program. Through grants, Fiskars provides community garden groups with the tools and materials needed to reach their goals for neighborhood beautification and horticulture education. “We hope that this further celebrates the importance of gardening in providing beauty, sustainable food resources and a place of community,” said Paul Tonnesen, President of Fiskars.
The Edgewood community garden is the fifth in a series of national gardening projects for Fiskars. Past projects have included garden makeovers in the Scarborough Neighborhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one planned later this summer in the Baltimore area.
UPCOMING EVENTS
August 22 - *FREE* Children’s Workshop
9-11 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Philip
2744 Peachtree Road, NW, Atlanta, Ga 30305
Bring your children out to learn all about pollinators.
September 13 - Vince Dooley Garden Tour
5-8 p.m. Athens, Georgia
Tickets available through our website
October 10 - Plant Sale at Skyland Trail South
9 a.m.-noon
1709 Clairmont Road
Decatur, GA 30030
October 10 - *FREE* Children’s Workshop
9-11 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Philip
2744 Peachtree Road, NW, Atlanta, Ga 30305
Bring your children out to learn all about chickens.
October 14 - Edgewood Community Learning Garden Ribbon Cutting
4-6 p.m. at the corners of Mayson Avenue and Hardee Street
November 14-15 Enviro Expo USA
at the Georgia World Congress Center (this event is free and open to the public)
December 2 - Dan Hinkley lecture and book signing
at the Atlanta History Center’s McElreath Hall
130 West Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta, Ga 30305
February 4-6, 2010 - The Southeastern Flower Show at the Cobb Galleria Centre
NEW SHS STAFF
Kyla Zaro-Moore is joining the Southeastern Horticultural Society with ten years of practice in small-scale sustainable agriculture with an emphasis on urban gardening and community building through youth-led gardens. She spent the better part of the last four years as Youth Programs Manager for the Oakhurst Community Garden Project in Decatur, GA, where she developed and implemented garden-based, year-round programming for youth ages 2-21. She also developed teacher training workshops for using outdoor classrooms, and presented at peer workshops and conferences, including the Georgia Organics Conference and the Georgia Outdoor Classroom Symposium. Kyla has a Master’s of Horticulture in Agriculture from the University of Minnesota, and a BA in Environmental Studies from Macalester College in St. Paul, MN.
June 2009 Newsletter
June 8, 2009
Letter From The Executive Director
The Southeastern Horticultural Society has had exceptional events already this year, and our membership continues to grow. The 2009 Southeastern Flower Show welcomed an increased audience at the Cobb Galleria, and the 16th Legacy Garden is flourishing at Skyland Trail. On June 20th we will build a vibrant multi-use Community Learning Garden for Edgewood and surrounding neighborhoods.
Response to the 2009 Flower Show has been tremendous and we are gratified. However, admission is a small piece of the overall budget, and we have decided to produce a smaller show in 2010. Like many nonprofit institutions, the Southeastern Horticultural Society is faced with shortfalls of income received through sponsors and contributions. We have taken a number of steps to reduce expenses by redesigning the business model for the Flower Show and working in partnership with other organizations.
I would like to make a special appeal to you to make a donation to the organization and help us present the spectacular Southeastern Flower Show and continue to provide educational programming throughout the Southeast.
Kate Chura
Executive Director
Southeastern Horticultural Society
Become A Member Today!
Join the Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS) and become a part of our growing programs. To sign up today click here.
Edgewood Community Learning Garden
The Edgewood community is about to receive some much needed beauty and at the same time will build a sense of community thanks to a $100,000 investment from Fiskars, The Home Depot and the Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS).
Imagine if you can how much FUN a science class would be when it is taught outside in the garden.That is the exact thought behind the Edgewood Learning Garden.
Through the Project Orange Thumb garden makeover, children and teens of the Whitefoord Elementary School, Drew Charter School and Coan Middle School will learn about organic gardening, sustainability, nutrition, and how the future of the earth depends on plants.
The Community Learning Garden will become the “science classroom” where SHS’s educators will lead hands-on programming that follows national science standards. Future workshops will take place during regular school and afterschool hours and include Saturday family sessions. Along with learning about different plants, vegetables, fruits and herbs, the children will experiment with seeds, learn about the photosynthesis process and study the origins of plants.
Along with teaching science and agriculture, the garden will also introduce the children to the importance of green jobs and careers. By organizing and managing local green markets, young people will be introduced to basic business practices. They will learn techniques to increase the “crop” each year and also increase their knowledge of plants and successful growing practices.
Become part of something that matters by volunteering with the garden installation! Come make an impact on a local community. We are looking for volunteers to help with this installation. The project begins Saturday, June 20 at 8:00 a.m. and will be completed with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 4:45. Please contact us at 404-351-1074 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to get involved.
Date: Saturday, June 20, 2009
Time: 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Location:
1503 Hardee Street NE
Atlanta, GA 30307
Major Intersection: Hardee and Mayson
SHS 2009 Legacy Garden At Skyland Trail
Although the day was dreary and cool, the atmosphere at the newly installed Skyland Trail South Facility Legacy Garden could not have been brighter.
The Southeastern Horticultural Society’s Legacy Garden initiative began in 1994 in order to contribute valuable plants and resources to the community. The program has grown to become an ongoing partnership and passion of the organization. Countless volunteers, Flower Show exhibitors and area businesses, civic groups and garden clubs come together each year to create a lasting legacy for the community.
“The SHS Legacy Garden transformed an uninviting space into a vibrant active garden,” said Kate Chura, Executive Director of the Southeastern Horticultural Society. “We look forward to working in the garden with the Skyland Trail clients to share our passion for horticulture.”
Project Co-chairs Nan Henson, Board member of the Southeastern Horticulture Society, and Carole Weil, Skyland Trail volunteer, spent countless hours turning their vision into a beautiful creation. What was once an overgrown useless one-acre piece of land has now been transformed into a courtyard garden, a woodland garden with walking trails and a formal lawn area for meetings and lawn games.
Horticultural therapy is an integral aspect of Skyland Trail’s overall treatment philosophy. Through the horticulture program, clients nurture each of Skyland Trail’s gardens with hands-on care.
“The Legacy Garden provides our clients with a beautiful area to relax and enjoy being outside,” said Skyland Trail President Beth Finnerty. “The Southeastern Horticultural Society and all the volunteers who helped install the garden have been so gracious with their time and resources.” Through Horticulture Therapy, residents are encouraged to use skills that will build socialization, self-esteem and creativity.
SHS Recognizes Organization for Restoration and Conservation
Downtown Greenville’s treasured Falls Park at Reedy River is the first recipient of the Southeastern Horticultural Society’s Virginia Hand Callaway Award. The award was presented during the 2009 Southeastern Flower Show in Atlanta. The 26-acre urban park is the product of decades of planning and restoration, and features natural falls, public art and the spectacular Liberty Bridge, a 355-foot pedestrian walkway overlooking the historic waterfalls nestled in the heart of downtown.
“We were so honored to be the recipient of the first Virginia Hand Callaway Award. The vision of the Falls Park was that of 30 women in a garden club 40 years ago. Over time a great assemblage of individuals, institutions and government came together to create this final product,” enthuses Anna Kate Hipp, President of the Carolina Foothills Garden Club. Falls Park has now become the center piece of downtown Greenville, and, consequently, has been an incredible boon to the businesses in that area,” she adds.
Named for noted horticulturalist Virginia Callaway, who with her husband Cason Callaway co-founded Callaway Gardens, the Virginia Hand Callaway Award recognizes an individual or organization for outstanding achievement in reclamation, restoration or conservation of our natural resources. This award is presented by the Southeastern Horticultural Society.
About the Carolina Foothills Garden Club
The Carolina Foothills Garden Club of Greenville, South Carolina, a member of The Garden Club of America, is dedicated to restore, improve and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and action in the fields of conservation and civic improvement throughout the Upstate region.
Welcome New SHS Staff
Ashley Simpson joined the staff of the Southeastern Horticultural Society (SHS) on April 20, 2009. Serving as the organization’s Technology and Administrative Manager, Ashley brings twelve years of nonprofit experience with her. Before working with SHS, Ashley worked at Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) where she was the Clean Diesel Program Coordinator. While at SACE Ashley successfully won an appropriation with the 2008 Georgia Legislature to fund pollution control devices for school buses. She also served on the Environmental Protection Agencies’ (EPA) Southeastern Diesel Collaborative (SEDC) Strategic Planning Board, along with being an active member of the Georgia Air Coalition. Ashley received her BA degree in political science from Georgia State University.
