The Garden Club of Indiana

Monthly Program Ideas
(selected from Program Books)

Compiled by Bonnie Carrell
Programs, Speakers and Yearbook Chairman

"Please check your library, your extension agent, members of your club and surrounding clubs, and the internet for info on any of these subjects. There's lots to be had, put together, and shared. Club members can do a look-up for info on a subject and do a presentation as well as anyone else. Just ask."

Contact local garden center for – 2009 new releases

How to put together nice hanging baskets

Painted rocks or pavers to sell at the plant sale or garden tour

Our native plants

Start saving blooms in spring in a large container (whole club activity) for potpourri to share in Oct. and Nov. and to sell at plant sale or garden tour

Basic flower designs

Tour the Medicinal Plant Demo Garden in Indianapolis

Table size water fountains – how to make

Hosta gardening – miniature – medium – gigantic!

Holiday wreath making – bring scissors, materials, etc.

Unusual and underused garden plants – Chris Wilhoite – Soule’s gardens – Greenwood, In.

Honeybees – garden friends – contact local Bee society

Maple syrup time

Bird migration

Putting your garden flowers to rest

Mysteries of the soil - - all you need to know about soil and the effects different varieties have on plants – extension officer

Container gardening – winter displays

Lasagna gardening – no-til, no-dig gardening

Attracting hummingbirds

Making it easy – things you can do to make gardening easier, mulching, potting, and much more

‘not all insects are bad’ Todd Hutson – Purdue Univ., Porter Co. Agent

Monarch Larva Monitoring project –
trainers Ann & Robert Richardson

Dried flower art on soap

What’s new in recycling?

History of Sunflowers – Joyce Bulington – Grant County

Biblical flowers

Companion planting

Moon planting – by the light of a silvery moon

Lilies & hostas – Cynthia Miller Wilhoite – Soules Nursery – Greenwood, In.

Hyper-tufa planters

Leaf casting

Pot party – local nursery will often let your group in after hours to have a container planting party. They will often supply the soil and 10 – 20% off the price of the plants you buy. You can also buy the containers there or bring your own. You get the expertise of the employees on what goes well together. Nursery will also sometimes supply refreshments. Lasts about 2 hours.

Fall arrangements with pumpkins and gourds

Feeding your winter friends – best types of food for no waste, food recipes

Who knew, plants at the Zoo. Person from the zoo tells about the plants used in each display and how they’re good for the animals and why they don’t plant certain ones because of the animals.

Old Native Indian gardening

A journey through time and nature – extension office

Hydrangea mania - Everything you ever wanted to know about hydrangeas

nightscaping – garden rooms – lighting – playing cards – entertaining

Shrubs beyond yew

Victorian parlor plants

Heirloom plants and seeds

Wildflower walks

Seed starting – different styles – hydroponics – under lights – under plastic etc.

Lawn treatments – when and how – from feeding to mowing height at different times of the year to dethatching to plugging

Ticket sale to the public for 4 hours of clean-up work for your garden provided by garden club members. No heavy stuff!

Creating a wildlife vacationland – wildlife federation

How to garden when you are handicapped – tools and techniques

Rain gardening and creating a rain barrel

Aquatic gardening

Carnivorous gardening – contact carnivorous plant society

Bonsai – expanding the plant lover’s horizon – contact local bonsai society

Topiary gardening – contact topiary society

Easiest way to start a new garden – newspapers

Square foot gardening

Dwarf orchards – how many trees do you want?

Terrestrial Invasives – problematics and management – extension office

Wholesale! – set up with company beforehand – whole club go at same time and buy plants at wholesale or near wholesale prices

Thorns and jell – cacti and other succulents

Ornamental & garden pest management

Great gardens of the world – their history, design, traditional plantings, for example – India, Thailand, Japan, China, Austria, The Netherlands to name a few.

Heirloom vegetables

The tomato – old and new

From garden to vase – cutting gardens – harvesting & condition – perennials, shrubs, annuals, foliage

Rock gardens – what, where, how – rock garden society

National Agricultural Library – what’s there?

Intimacy in your garden!! Intimate spaces, texture, color, & the right plant for the right space

Nutrient management – managing applications for strong growth, while minimizing escaping run-offs. Extension agent

Get your taste buds activated!! You mean I’m supposed to eat that?? Cooking with herbs.

Impact gardening – small space gardening

Host a chili cook-off and craft fair

What’s buzzing in your garden? Different bees, their benefits, & why they love your garden – promoting pollinators. Extension agent or bee society

Doing battle with gypsy moths – extension agent

Wings of fancy – butterfly types & their host plants

That darn squirrel ate all my tulip bulbs again! Using plastic cups, yogurt tubs etc.

Viburnums and their use in your landscape

Woody ornamentals – extension agent

Conifer gardens – green – green – and more green

Out of the heat and into the cool – shade gardening

Moss gardening

Zinnia or sunflower contest or flower show

Your heady garden – fragrance

Pie contest and sale

Garden structures – accessorizing your garden

Wow! No weeds! – miniature gardens

Monthly Program Ideas 2

Stalking the wild mushrooms – extension agent

Shelf preservation – preserving and displaying your flowers

Waxing flowers

Decorating with Autumn’s Bounty

We’ve got talent – members show off that special thing they do – hobbies

Color, shape, & texture for the garden

Dancing daffodils flower show

Drought tolerant plants – Xeriscaping

Wildcrafting – harvesting wild plants for decorating

Birdies for charity – coordinate with John Deere – hand out pledge cards, can pledge from 1 cent to ?? whatever per birdie or just make a flat out donation. You don’t collect the money, john deere does and then writes your club a check for the amount. Guess how many birdies will be made at the john deere classic. Forms and info from http://birdiesforcharity.com

Trash to treasures for your garden – what can you come up with to reuse a different way in your garden?

Taco dinner fund raiser – tacos, beans, rice, chips, salsa and drink - $5.50 for adults and $5.00 for seniors and children. Have a bake sale at the same time.

Hamburger cookout and bake sale.

Growing and using lemongrass

Pruning – when, why, how

Grafting – different types – extension agent

Owls in your area – rescue house

Convincing deer and other critters that your garden is not their hotel and restaurant

Winter seed sowing

Worm composting

climate control in your yard – hot spots – cool spots – dry spots – wet spots - first frost spots etc.

planning a new garden – from seed catalog – to paper – to reality – get your scissors and glue out – or how not to leave all of your money at the plant store!

Knot gardens – when it’s knot right for you.

History of the cottage garden – are you a blue-blood?

Trellises, tuteurs, arbors, and pergolas. What’s what?

Holiday plants and their mysterious habits

Follow the yellow brick road – garden paths – what style suites your taste?

Plant Systematics: Nomenclature & how plants are related – extension agent

Gardens, Symbols, & Secrets: History, clues to flowers, landscapes, gardeners & archeology

Blankets for weeds: different mulches, cocoa bean hulls, pine needles, lava rock, etc.

The Edifice Complex: landscaping for the large house on a small lot

Design Symposium: small spaces, great little gardens

Armchair Tours Series – Gardens of England, Scotland, Italy, France, rented videos

South African Succulents

Columbine – airy, woodland flowers for light shade

Herbaceous & Tree Peonies

Vertical Gardening – beautiful vines and how to care for them

Classy, Sassy Grasses

All about Lavender – recipes, traditional use, & history

Pressing Hobby – pressing flowers

The Japanese Garden – paradise on earth

Beginning Orchid Growing – American Orchid Society

Good Bug, Bad Bug, who’s who, what they do, and how to manage them organically

Making newspaper or toilet roll pots for seed starting

May baskets for community leaders

Bluebirds – attracting, housing, & feeding

Everything you ever wanted to know about bulbs, rhizomes, and corms

Know your poisonous plants

Landscape for fall foliage

Colonial Gardens of Williamsburg, Va. – video

Rhodies – rhododendrons – video

Photography in the garden

Epimidiums

Spores Galore – ferns

Dragonflies & Damselflies

Honey, I shrunk the lawn!

Rooting Dividends – transplanting & dividing

Espalier – Major growth control!

How plants got their names

Seedless plants – Liverworts, Horsetails, Groundpines, and Ferns

Fungal Foray – mushroom hunting and identifying

Roseaholics – Call Jackson & Perkins to find out who their regional person is to give programs

Rare & Exotic Plants – local nurseryman

Bats in the Bellfrey

Healthy Soils, Healthy Gardens, Healthy Lifestyles

Gulliver’s travels in the garden – garden fairies

Begonias – hardy & not so hardy – American Begonia Society – www.begonias.org

The Secret Life of Cool Season Crops – extension agent

What’s new & unique from seed

Bamboo, The Earth, & us – running versus clumping

Care & Propagation of African Violets – African Violet Society

The Wonderful World of Proteas

Dazzling Dahlias

Tree Care from Roots to Canopy

Heirloom Tomatoes

You’ve Heard of the Three R’s?? Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle

Kiku – The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum

Hey, Look Me Over – rich, bold, Clematis

Have a silent auction

Hardscaping

This Iris, That Iris, Wet, Dry, I’m so-o-o confused!!

Have a seedling tree sale

Codling Moths – when to act, how to act

Replenishing your soil – different amendments, organics versus chemical

Pollution, Pesticides, and People

Plant Pronunciation – Fine Gardening Magazine has a great site where you can hear the words pronounced and see the breakup of the name

Gardening for your bath – herbal bath salts & scrubs

Wild plants for food and medicine

Conservation and natural resources

Global Palette of Plants for Inspired Winter Gardening – botanicalgarden.berkley,edu

Home Greenhouses

Hoes, Hoes, & more Hoes – Carol Michel, Indpls. Gardening Examiner, indygardener@gmail.com She has other programs also.

Snakes, frogs, and other amphibians - www.atlantabotanicalgarden.org

Flower pounding ( how to instructions)

Contrived Flowers - Ellen Elliott if in central In.

Endangered means there's still time - from Fish and Wildlife - 800-344-wild