I’m a freelance writer, gardening consultant and designer, and have been a Master Gardener since 2003. I was the Guild Coordinator for the Mounts nursery for five years, and still continue to propagate plants and introduce new ones to sell in the nursery. I also took care of the Mounts butterfly garden for six years, and am still involved with the Connoisseurs Tour on a limited basis. I’ve written for the Sun Sentinel, Birds & Blooms, Flea Market Gardens, Farmer’s Almanac, the Mounts Leaflet and many other publications over the past twenty years. I wrote for Harris Publications in New York for over ten years, and have written for Florida Gardening magazine since 1997. I currently take care of a private estate in Palm Beach.
I will be talking about making potpourri from herbs and flowers in your own garden. Some of the dried herbs I’ll be bringing come from the Mounts nursery and the Garden of Well Being at Mounts.
The meeting of EHS on May 29th, took care of all the herb plants that were left over from the April Plant Sale. The Raffle tables were filled with pots of plants that had doubled in size under the care of Mary Wickensheimer, Meg Vandereedt and Ingrid Menz. Some big scented geraniums and Tom Hewitt’s donation of Starry Rosinweed, which was featured as the plant of the month in our Newsletter, these plants were especially appealing to the members that bought tickets. So, lots of tickets sold, lots of members and guests took home lots of plants. And our thanks again to Mary for chairing the sale at the Mounts. It is no small feat.
May’s program delved into everything known about hops much of which we hadn’t known, more so, hops became much more than just that herb that’s used in making beer. Leslie Rigg, Meg Vandereedt and Marci Green added their own research to the information available from the International Herb Association’s 2018 book of the year. Mary added to our knowledge with her newsletter Herb of the Month article.
We had a “tasty” Tasting Table, and a good crowd of members to taste Marci’s hops lemonade that had a bit of a bite to it, just like (maybe?) beer does? Also the Sauerkraut and hot dogs cooked in beer were the highlight of the tasting table.
This month, June 26th, features Tom Hewitt’s presentation on using plants and transforming them into potpourri, a wonderful room scent sensation that one can mix up to one’s own taste. The EHS takes a summer break and comes back on September 25th with horticulturist Jeannie Farnsworth, co-founder of the wonderful Delray Beach’s Children’s Garden. Jeannie and the Garden are featured in the June issue of “The Coastal Star,” a monthly newsletter that I always look forward to. It’s delivered to homes east of the Intercoastal, is often found in stacks in restaurants like John G’s and you can get a subscription for town news, along Palm Beach County’s cost line (great calendar events too!)
It’s to be hoped that we all have a delicious summer, not too much of anything (especially hurricanes!) and a lot of us will revel in the forthcoming royal Poinciana bloom which is so spectacular, especially in the older sections of West Palm Beach, and, of course, Miami and the Keys.
So, enjoy whatever you do this summer and be sure not to miss our September meeting.
Donnie Brown, President
May’s EHS Member Speakers are:
Our Speakers for May will cover four aspects of this plant: Leslie - History and Folklore; Marci - Food and Beverage; Meg - Medicinal and Growing - by the Board.
Our meeting on April 24th featured some long-time friends, Geoff and Debbie Coolidge, owners of Cool Roses Nursery, prominent members of Palm Beach County’s Rose Society and vendors at Mounts Plant Sales, speaking on “Roses: The Most Beautiful Herb.” Roses have been used herbally for thousands of years, as medicine, cosmetics, and food, as well as, being the star of ancient and modern gardens. Taking turns speaking, something many of their listeners complimented, Geoff and Debbie covered all aspects of growing roses here in a part of the country that one doesn’t usually think of as ideal rose territory.
The glorious rose bushes they brought, first for ‘show and tell’ and then for sale, belied the belief that roses can’t thrive in the subtropics. In full bloom, and in full fragrance, because Cool Roses believes in roses being fragrant, the rose bushes stood as excellent models for how we, too, can grow the most beautiful herb and have flowers to eat, turn into healing potions, and
Geoff and Debbie are the owners of Cool Roses. They design and maintain about 65 gardens in Palm Beach County. They also have a large nursery where they offer various types of roses. The modern roses are grafted onto fortuniana rootstock which makes them hardier and more disease resistant for the south. The eco friendly roses and antique roses are grown on their own roots. Cool Roses also has developed a once a year fertilizer which contains organics and other goodies that can be applied once through out the season.
They will talk about the different types of roses that do well in our area and how to care for them. You can visit the website www.coolroses.com if you would like to pre order roses and fertilizers. The roses are 20.00 and 25.00 each Please call 561-313-0077 for more information. (Ask for Debbie)
The Delray Beach Children's Garden is the only Community Children’s Garden in Palm Beach County. It is designed and built by children. As adults we serve as guides and lead our little off-spring down the garden path to knowledge and interaction with the natural and garden world.
Our plan has been approved by the city, which means we are now in the planting and building stage. We would love to have the assistance of
A delightful, enthusiastic member of both Evening Herb Society and a Board Member of the Begonia Society, Petra Russell, lost her dear husband suddenly and unexpectedly, just as he was moving everything from their New York place down to Florida. At the same time, their daughter
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