Other than needing some rain, we have had fantastic weather this spring! Vegetables are here along with the myriads of shrubs, perennials and annuals that are profusely blooming everywhere! Yes, along with the veggies and flowers are the powdery mildew, mole crickets and wilt, but don't despair as these can be corrected and you can continue to enjoy the veggies and the flowers and grass.

The information about using the Castile soap is fantastic and hope that everyone will have it available in case you, too, have some powdery mildew on squash, crape myrtle, gardenias, roses or gerbera daisies---to name a few plants that suffer from this problem. We used Neem once on our squash and it helped for a while so it is good to have alternate methods of protection. The mole crickets are laying their eggs this month so when they hatch next month will be the time to use something from your protection arsenal. They are particularly bad in Bahia lawns, although they damage all turfs.

Don't wait too late to prune your spring flowering trees/shrubs or you'll cut off next year's blooms. Deadheading,though, can and probably should be continued all summer for certain blooms---salvias and geraniums being some that bloom better with deadheading. If your caladium blooms don't cut the bloom. It was once thought to strengthen the plant to do so, but the information now is to leave it.

Of course if you have a cut flower garden you'll enjoy cutting and enjoying your zinnias, cosmos, coreopsis, galliardias, cleome, marigolds, stock, etc. knowing that they'll bloom more after being cut for enjoyment.

Cutting coleus blooms off is thought to make the coleus more bushy rather than tall, but it depends on how you want yours to look as to how you treat it. Having a large pot with several varieties of coleus and/or several varieties of ipomeas(purple, green, variegated) can give a lot of color in a shady spot where it may be difficult for sunloving flowers to bloom. Utilizing grasses and foliage plants is often neglected, but check many of the plantings in large shopping centers where there is a lot of shade and you can see how their designers have utilized them. I saw my first brugmansia being used in a shopping center giant planter in California in the mid-ninties. People would come to the center not just to shop but to see what was being done with the planters. People often do the same with DisneyWorld displays. We may not be able to have the mass that Disney does, but it is important to realize that, quite often, the only way that you can even realize that certain plants are blooming beautifully in your yard is if you have MANY of them.

Some may be thinking that this has to be costly, (and it can get that way), but if you use seeds it doesn't have to add up to a lot. We did buy around twenty petunias for the berm in our front yard, but we spaced them so that when they spread (and thankfully they did!) they would cover the berm. However, we put alyssum seed in the ground surrounding the berm trying to find a ground cover that would help keep the weeds from taking over (as they did last year.) We've filled in some with blue-eyed grass, but the seeds have sprouted and IF they continue to spread we may have a carpet of alyssum for the summer. We'll see if we've been successful with the MASS plantings in the fall.Or if we get email messages this summer that someone has driven by and noticed that the weeds have taken over.

If you have had some success with Mass plantings or if you do so this summer, please email me or the Garden Club list so that we can share in your achievement. Right now I can think of several of our members who have used mass plantings to create their prize winning gardens, but, perhaps, some of our newer members may not be aware of what response comes from seeing plants in groups and may not have utilized the concept.

Don't forget to utilize your computer contacts during the summer when the club isn't having meetings! Solutionsforyourlife.ufl.edu ; Floridagardener.com; yardcare.com are some of the links that you can search for information if you don't want to go to the office of the Extension Center in Lecanto. They, of course, will have all sorts of information and workshops to help you with your gardening needs.

It isn't a fun topic, but it is an important one so we'll bring it up: Hurricane Preparation! Precautions can be taken for your trees/shrubs as well as your home and person. Some, of course, overlap which aids in the preparation. Check with your arborist to see if there are some limbs that might present a problem for your house during an intense wind storm or hurricane. Often trees are helped by having limbs trimmed and the tree's balance improved. Check to see if you have other tall shrubs such as yew or ligustrum/viburnum that scrape your roof in a strong wind. Trimming these shrubs may prevent damage to your house or to the plant. Of course, before any high wind it is a good idea to check to see if there are any potted plants that might become bullets propelled by the strong winds. Hanging baskets will be better placed in a protected area than on a hook where it looks gorgeous, but may be blown off the hook and tumbled around. Garden ornaments, if they are light (windchimes, etc.) can be taken down and replaced after the storm. Even lawn chairs can be thrown about and crash into houses by severe strong winds. Patio umbrellas have been stripped of their fabric in high winds with the ribs blown through the pool cage so that is an easy choice to fold and store until the storm is over.

There are several meetings and information gatherings being held in the area to display all sorts of information and products that might help us stay safe and comfortable during a time when nature is showing extreme power. Having the prepared suitcase/kit is such a good idea since, when scared, quite often people forget where their special photographs are and so delay their departure. Being prepared May be the thing that saves your life or just even your precious photographs or special items.

Last year we didn't experience any of the severe storms as we had in the previous several years, but storms are capricious so being prepared will be advantageous.

I was exploring the National Garden Club website and decided to look at some California clubs since one of our daughters lives out there. The Sunnyvale, CA, Garden Club has this conservation pledge which I thought I'd share with you.

Conservation Pledge

I give my pledge as an American to save and faithfully defend from waste the Natural Resources of my country---its soil and minerals, its forests, waters, and wildlife.

There are all sorts of things to be learned from exploring how other Garden Clubs do things. One thing may be that we are perfectly satisfied with what we're doing. Someone else may find a ways and means project that just fits the bill for our club's needs. Going to the District/State meetings gives information about what other clubs in our area and in our state are doing so that is one way to explore different ideas. Going online to some of the links that FCGClub's website has is another way of learning without spending lots of money for gasoline to visit different places. Our club is a place of sharing and learning, specifically focused on gardening and related topics. We solicit your ideas and participation.

Enjoy the Merry Merry Month of May and see you in September!

llb