Down To Earth Garden Club

You are right. That combination is very impressive. I must say that pot is gorgeous. Is that the one from Arizona?

I had someone call this evening to say that all of his ripe tomatoes were splitting. Is anyone else having this problem?
The reason is the recent rain. After a fairly dry summer the change in available water is causing the tomatoes to swell faster than the skin can grow. This causes the splitting.
I've had two cabbages split as well in the past week. The reason is the same. The roots are taking up water and the inner leaves are swelling to the point that the pressure bursts the cabbage.
I've read that the problems with splitting cabbage can be helped by root pruning the plant. Plunge a shovel into the soil near the plant and cut off some of the horizontal roots. This will slow the absorption of water.
I don't know if it would work on tomatoes as well but as my caller said his tomatoes are done producing fruit anyway and anything is worth a try to ripen the remaining tomatoes with out having them split.

The agenda includes a decision on a fall picnic, a possible fall sale and the fate of some very special daylilies. Also a work party for the Reitz Theater to clean up the weeds. E-mail Michele with any other topics that you might have.

There will be a general weeding and clean up of the embankment beside Penn State, Saturday August 18 starting at 8 a.m. and ending at 10 a.m. Please turn up with gloves and equipment if you are able.

Toad lily 'Blue Horizon' at Lowe's for $8 something. The daisy 'Broadway Lights' is on the dollar rack. This is the one that starts out yellow and goes white.

Lowe's had the $12 cannas for $1 yesterday. They also have a nice selection of mums for the same price if you are willing to wait for the new buds to form.

If we have a speaker we generally, as a courtesy, let him do his presentation first. Our last speaker was a CPA who discussed tax liability for small non-profits. Most of our speakers are a little more plant related but this was a special need speaker.
We then go through the usual procedure with minutes and treasurer's report. The rest of the meeting is devoted to business.
 We do bed reports where anyone who wishes to discuss the progress or lack thereof with his particular community bed may do so. A lot of gardening and plant lore is traded during this part of the meeting. There are rarely committee reports but if a sale, picnic or excursion is being planned a report will be given. The budget committee may present the budget for a vote or the publicity committee may let us know what is going on in that area.
We proceed to new and old business where we do planning, take suggestions for projects, set up schedules, arrange work parties etc.
We end with snacks or sometimes do them during the working session if things appear to be getting lengthy. In January we have a soup and bread meeting where those who choose to do so bring homemade soup or bread. In November we do the end of season feast where everyone brings something. The rest of the time we have two or three volunteers prepare snacks. There are currently three cookbooks of member's recipes available. We have some great cooks and much of the food comes from someone's garden.
During the refreshments we talk about (guess what?) gardening. This is another place where novice or even experienced gardeners can learn from other's experience.
Our meetings are open to the public and we would welcome new members.

Monster coleus

I'm not sure about the echinacea. I have some up at the edge of they yard where they get some shade and they never do bloom. They are a sun lover. I think the brown eyed Susan's might be a bit more tolerant. The ones in the embankment garden next to Penn State bloom with some shade from the tree that is in there.

There is an article from our newsletter on the new coral bells that have come on the market recently. It is entitled "Something for your Garden". They do well in dappled shade and the leaf colors on the Dolce series are beautiful. Lowe's has them. They also had a purple one that was almost good enough to eat.
Right now they have Siberian bugloss which has a pretty silvery leaf. I'm hoping it goes on sale soon. I kind of got carried away on the coral bells.

I don't know about fuchsia. There seem to be different varieties that are more sun tolerant than others. I think that a little shade never hurts a potted plant. They are growing in unnatural conditions and really can't be expected to take bright sun.

The hostas are in bloom now. The white one that I got from "muddy paws" has the most gorgeous white flower. It looks like a small Easter lily.

Hi, thanks for your response.  A few years ago we cut some of the lower-hanging branches off so we do have some light under there.  My wish was to put purple echinachea or brown eyed susans in there, maybe I will try those.  They will have the best impact for late summer, I think.  I'd like to stagger the plantings for maximum monthly show effect.

I planted a calendula from seedling this year and I LOVE it, it would be the perfect splash of color but I think they need fuller sun.

I was also thinking, to get a few hanging basket stakes and hang some fuschia in there.  I bought a HUUUUGE one in the spring and hung it in full sun on my deck and now it has dwindled.  Still has color but you can see that it suffered from the direct sun.  Ya live and learn!