Welcome to The Garden Club of Montrose, Pennsylvania!

The Garden Club of Montrose was founded in 1905, and is a member of both the National Garden Clubs and The Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania. Our purpose in life is to stimulate an interest in gardening, a love of gardening, and to share that love with the public.

Our activities include planting and maintaining the landscape in front of the Courthouse on Public Avenue in Montrose; providing the hanging baskets each summer that beautify Public Avenue and Maple Street; arranging horticultural displays on a weekly basis for the library; providing wildflower arrangements for tables at the Blueberry Festival; and designing floral arrangements for the annual Montrose Restoration Commitee dinner. We also award a scholarship each year to a Susquehanna County student who plans on studying some aspect of horticulture.

Our meetings are held nine times a year, from April through December. Most of our meetings are held on the second Wednesday of each month at 1:00 in the afternoon. Some, but not all, meetings are open to the public and all include a garden-related program.

This year our slate of meetings and programs is as follows:

April 14: The Club met at Gibb's Garden Center in LeRaysville for a program on perennials by Sue Tabor, owner.
May 12: Landscaping Workshop
June 9: Container Gardening
July 14: Annual picnic
August 11: Gardening in the Sun and Shade
September 8: Rick Marsi, nature columnist for the Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin, will speak at Salt Springs State Park.
October 13: All About Herbs
November 10: Lunch & Learn: Meet at the Summerhouse Grill to learn how to make Thanksgiving centerpieces.
December 8: Christmas Luncheon with 'Bird Talk'

Membership is open to all regardless of gender, age, race, ethnicity or religious affiliation. We are a non-profit organization. Dues are $25.00 per year. For more information, please contact either Gladys Bennett at 278-3106 or Mary Ann Cunningham at 278-2887.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

JAPANESE BEETLES

They're back! Japanese beetles, at least to me, are the scourge of the earth! I first noticed them attempting to ravage my birch tree and my hibiscus bushes about a week ago. The good news is that they aren't as plentiful this year (yet, anyway); the bad news is that if control is not started now, they will be prolific next year.

Japanese beetles mate and lay their eggs the same day. The female lays from 40-60 eggs. The eggs pupate and burrow deep into the soil (about 12 inches) throughout the summer and fall. In the spring the grubs migrate toward the top of the soil, and in late June-early July, mature into adult beetles.

Some favorite plants of Japanese beetles are: river birch trees, roses, zinnias, hibiscus, bean and potato plants, bee balm, and petunias.

Control can be established in many ways: Chemical, through applications of grub control in the lawn in spring and fall; Mechanical, by shaking the beetles from the plants into a bucket of water with some dish detergent (best done in early morning or late evening when the beetles are less active); and by planting attractants away from areas that need to be protected, such as larkspur which poisons beetles. Bushes and trees can be protected by infusing insect controls (such as Bayer Tree and Shrub Insect Control) into the root systems in early spring. Invite crows and turkeys into your yard in the spring--they dine voraciously on beetle grubs. PLEASE AVOID USING JAPANESE BEETLE TRAPS! Research has shown that the beetles are attracted to the traps from as far as 5 miles away. The traps do not trap all of the beetles, so you now have attracted more beetles to your yard than you had to begin with. And, of course, the best control is to avoid planting the plants that they like best.

If anyone has other means of controlling these pests, please share!