January/February 2011 Newsletter

Note from the President- Welcome to 2011! We have been fortunate so far this winter. There haven’t been any of the below zero temps with no snow cover, we haven’t had any heavy snowfalls to clean up, and now we are already seeing a stronger sunlight with a few minutes of longer daylight. That doesn’t mean we aren’t going to get bad weather, it just means I am looking forward to spring. Two weeks ago when the snow had all melted I was able to go out and find blooms at Pace Gardens. The Hamamelis (Witch Hazels) are in bloom, the Helleborus are in bud with H. “Josef Lemper” in flower, and the Cyclamen are in beautiful leaf and some with buds. There really is something to look forward to.

I finally have the EMHS Membership Directory completed. It has been emailed to the EMHS Board for approval and as soon as I hear back from the remainder of the Board I will email it out to you, the membership. When you receive it please check your information and email any corrections to me immediately. I have the directory in MS Word so I can easily make additions, deletions, and corrections. After your name you will find a year. This is the “Dues paid thru date”. If that date is 2010 you must pay your 2011 dues ($5.00) which can be mailed to Treasurer, Mary Smith at any time, but must be paid by the March meeting for you to continue to receive your newsletter. Any dues paid after that date will not be prorated and will be paid only for the 2011 year. I will email the Membership Applications for you to print out, fill out, and mail to Mary. Her address is on every Membership Application.

There will be a couple of extra meetings this year. We have Clayton Oslund from MN giving a presentation on “Bringing Nature’s Beauty into Your Shady Garden” in March, another Japanese Maple grafting session in late spring (contact Glen if you are interested), and possibly another special meeting in October on dividing a single Hosta crown into multiple plants.

Don’t forget you can view the EMHS blog for updates about EMHS at any time. Go to http://easternmichiganhostasociety.blogspot.com/ anytime night or day to read past meeting minutes, past or present newsletters, and see the next meeting date on right side of the screen.

Lastly, we had no members volunteer to run for Office in 2011. The current Officers have offered to keep their current positions for another term, but if you are interested in running for office in 2011, please contact Mark Hanner.

Glen Pace
EMHS President

2011 Calendar of Events
January 2011- No Meeting
February 17th- Jan Everson presenting a slide show of the 2010 Nat'l Convention
March 11-12th- Hosta College in Piqua, OH
March 17th- Clayton Oslund presenting "The Shady Garden" (first time speaker in our area)
April 14th- Grey Gitzen presenting a slide show on Hellebores
May 12th- Mark Hanner presenting a slide show on Japanese Maples
June 9th- Garden Meeting at the home of Jerry and Bernadette Perrou in Clio
July 14th- Garden Meeting at the home of Carolyn Pickard in Millington
August 11th- Garden Meeting at the home of Dyane Moore
September 8th- EMHS Plant Exchange at the home of Pam Walmsley in Grand Blanc
October 2011- No meeting scheduled
November 2011- No meeting scheduled
December 2011- Annual Christmas Party/Potluck, date to be announced

Next Meeting- will be on February 17th, 2011 at the Mayfield Twp. Hall in Lapeer. This is our regular meeting place just south of the point of M-24 and Saginaw Rd. (north of the cemetery on Saginaw Rd.).

Hosta College- As soon as more information about Hosta College is received a mass emailing will go out to the membership. For those that receive the newsletter by email, be sure to let one of the Board Members know you would like to receive a call when information is available.

Hosta Stones- The 2011 EMHS Hosta Stone featuring H. “American Halo” by Van Wade was unveiled at the December 2010 meeting. If you are interested in purchasing a stone for the member price of $30.00 for the plain or $35.00 for the colored stone (non-member price is $5.00 more), please contact Mick and Cathy Hodgson. Also, the Board has decided to sell the overstock past year Hosta Stones for the discounted price of $20.00. Please call Mick and Cathy for a list of the available stock.

We hope to see you at the February 17th meeting!

EMHS Officers;
President, Glen Pace pacegardens@charter.net 989-244-4029
Vice-President, Carolyn Pickard (no email) 989-871-2873
Treasurer, Mary Smith brooktrout@tds.net 989-871-9833
Secretary, Marlene Daniels gardenfairy50@aol.com 810-664-8317
Past President, Mark Hanner mhanner@aol.com 810-631-4292
Fund-Raising, Mick and Cathy Hodgson cehodgso@hotmail.com 810-664-8985