Eastern Michigan Hosta Society: July 2016

Thursday, July 28, 2016

August 2016 Newsletter

Note from the President- No rain has fallen in weeks and the garden hoses are getting a daily work-out. Does this sound familiar to your house too? The total rainfall at Pace Gardens since May 1, 2016 is 6.32 inches. May gave us 1.35 inches of rain, June was the wet month at 2.95 inches, and July with temps in the 90’s most days has given us a meager 2.02 inches and there is no way to keep up with the plant’s needs when there is one spigot of water to tap. Every day we go out into the gardens to assess which gardens are showing the worst symptoms of drought so they can be watered first or at least as soon as the sun us no longer on that garden so it can be watered without scalding the leaves of the plants. To find a bright side to this, consider this a test to find out which plants are able to withstand some drought then make notes for future reference. Share your findings with others and compare notes to make a list of plants you can recommend to others.

Our meeting last month at Gene and Louise Arms was a lot of fun with hundreds of Hosta to look at and everybody got to take a Hosta home with them thanks to Gene and Louise. Gene said that the volunteer seedling Hosta were plants from Mick Hodgson’s gardens that were self-sown a few years back. Gene’s Gardens are a great place to figure out Hosta identity simply because he has so many marked named varieties that you can walk through and compare a leaf to plants that resemble your leaf until you find a match. Off to the side of Gene’s main gardens is a small multi-level garden of Hosta which Ethan (Gene & Louise’s grandson) is the proud owner. There is a picture on the blog of Ethan with his garden. Ethan wants to be a Hosta hybridizer and at his age he has the capability of seeing many generations of seedlings from his hybridizing efforts. Big thanks go out to Gene and Louise for sharing their gardens with us as well as for their wonderful hospitality. I also want to thank Ethan for showing us his garden and helping people throughout the entire evening.

Our next meeting is at Steve and Marilyn Balabon’s home. Steve said their house is back in the woods so when your GPS says you are there, you’re not keep driving back into the woods. I look forward to this meeting as this is my first time seeing the Balabon’s gardens.

A few things to remember about the EMHS Summer meetings at members gardens;
Bring your own folding chair to sit in
Bring your favorite dish to pass for the potluck
Dress for the weather (sunscreen/umbrella)
Be prepared to have a great time
Leave once the meeting is dismissed to give the gardener time to unwind after the meeting

See you at the August 11^th meeting,
Glen Pace
EMHS President

Next Meeting- Our next meeting is on August 11, 2016 at the home of Steve & Marilyn Balabon, 8279 Marys Lane, Fostoria MI 48435 and their phone number is 989-795-2700.

The time schedule for the evening is;
5:00 Tour Gardens/Networking
6:00 Potluck

7:00 Business Meeting

Driving Directions-
(from our regular meeting place of the Mayfield Twp. Hall) – Drive North on M-24 for 13.5 miles to Millington Road. Turn left (West) and drive 2.5 miles to Mary’s Lane. Turn right (North) and drive 4/10ths of a mile to the house. Steve Balabon says GPS will stop you at the edge of the woods……the house is back in the woods at the end of Mary’s Lane. The EMHS sign will be at the corner of Millington Rd. and Mary’s Lane.

2016 Calendar of Events ?denotes need for topic, speaker, and/or place
Aug 11- Garden Tour at the Balabon Garden
Sept 8 – EMHS Plant Exchange, Daniels Garden
Nov 10- Annual Board Meeting
Dec 8- Christmas Party, Mayfield Twp. Hall

Review the July 14th, 2016 Meeting Minutes on the blog. We will vote to accept the minutes at the August 11, 2016 meeting.

Name Badges- If you need one of the new EMHS name badges, please put your printed name on the sign-up sheet at any meeting or you can email Glen with your request. Glen will try to have your name badge at the next meeting.

The EMHS T-shirts featuring Joseph Tychonievich's Hosta Addiction self-test are $18.00 each. The only two left are XXL. Contact Glen at PaceGardens@charter.net

The proceeds from the sale of this shirt go to promote our “Purpose” which is, to promote the interest of hostas and shade gardening; to extend horticultural education and activities to its members and the community.

Comments to the EMHS blog: I am mentioning blog posting to let you know that your comments to the blog can be published too. All you have to do is go to the EMHS blog at http://easternmichiganhostasociety.blogspot.com and comment to a blog posting which will alert me that you have made a comment. Once I deem the comment valid for publishing I will okay and it will automatically be posted. Please note that I cannot edit or spell check your comments, all I can do is to publish, ignore, or delete your comments. All comments will be screened by me to deter any vulgarity or inappropriate comments being published to the EMHS blog. Glen

Club Members selling Hosta or related products;

Please call or email to set an appointment before visiting
Brown, Deb- Aeroponic Tower Garden.
505-379-9100, www.debbrown.towergarden.com

Daniels, Marlene- Bottle wind chimes.
810-664-8317, gardenfairy50@aol.com

Hanner, Mark/Becky- Pottery.
810-631-4292, mhanner@aol.com

Hunter, Barb- Hosta, Daylilies, Pond supplies.
810-664-7531, baha@chartermi.net

Lisik, Phil/Ginger-Hosta, Daylilies, other plants.
989-642-5772, lisik46@yahoo.com

Pickard, Carolyn- Daylilies, Hosta.

989-871-2873, robfamily5 @yahoo.com

Websites of Interest:

American Hosta Society-

http://www.americanhostasociety.org

American Hosta Society Convention- http://www.americanhostasociety.org/Activities/Conventions.htm

AHS Hosta Library Website-
http://www.hostalibrary.org
Michigan Hosta Society Website-

http://www.hostahappenings.com
Eastern Michigan Hosta Society blog- http://easternmichiganhostasociety.blogspot.com

Hosta College Website-

http://ihostohio.com/portal/glhc

Hosta Society Membership info-
American Hosta Society, $30 individual, $57/2 years, $34 family, $62/2 years
Send dues to: Sandie Markland, AHS Membership Secretary, Post Office Box 7539, Kill Devil Hills, NC 27948

Michigan Hosta Society, Dues are $15 per household for up to two people, good for 2 years. Make checks payable to: The Michigan Hosta Society and send to; Michigan Hosta Society, 2509 Wembly Lane, Troy, MI 48084-1280

Eastern Michigan Hosta Society, Dues $5 per year per household, Make check payable to EMHS and mail to: Barb Hunter, EMHS Treasurer, 316 Davis Lake Rd. Lapeer, MI 48746

Saginaw Valley Hosta Society, Dues $20 per year per household, Make check payable to SVHS and mail to: Gordon Burnside, SVHS Treasurer, 11640 W Freeland Rd. Freeland, MI 48623

EMHS Board of Officers:

President Glen Pace
PaceGardens@charter.net 989-244-4029

Vice-President Becky Hanner
BGHanner@aol.com 810-631-4292

Treasurer Barb Hunter
baha@chartermi.net 810-664-7531

Secretary Marlene Daniels
gardenfairy50@aol.com 810-664-8317

Past President Mark Hanner
mhanner@aol.com 810-631-4292

Fund-Raising Mick & Cathy Hodgson

cehodgso@hotmail.com 810-664-8985

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

July 14, 2016 Meeting Minutes

The Meeting – was held at Louise & Gene Arms home

Networking – 5:00 pm Gardens open, sign in, networking

Refreshments – 6:00 pm the meeting was called to order by President Glen Pace, Glen thanked the Arms for opening their home and gardens for the club, visitors were introduced and a wonderful potluck was enjoyed by all.

Approval of Minutes - there were no changes to the minutes from the June 2016 meeting. Motion to accept the minutes was made by Dyane Moore and seconded by Wanda Sizemoore. The membership voted to accept the June meeting minutes.

Treasurer’s Report – Barb Hunter, treasurer gave a report for June 2016, beginning balance was $XXX.XX and total income of $XXX.XX, and total expenditures of $XXX.XX leaving the club with an ending balance of $XXX.XX Motion to accept the report was made by Mark Hanner and seconded by Louise Arms. The membership voted to accept June’s treasurer’s report.

Calendar of Events – Glen went over the calendar, our next meeting will be at the home of the Balabons’. September’s plant exchange will be at the home of the Daniels. As of this time we do not have anything scheduled for our October meeting. If anyone has any ideas please see Glen. November is the annual board meeting and if anyone would like to attend they are most certainly welcome. December ends our year with our annual Christmas party.

SOHS – The members of the Southwestern Ontario Hosta Society visited 4 gardens on June 18^th. Each garden was given a garden stone in appreciation of the visit.

Garden Stone – Glen is in the process of seeing if it is possible to have a garden stone made up for EMHS. These stones would be strictly for those that host a meeting at their homes. He will get back with us at a later date.

AHS National tour – Marlene Daniels, Barb Hunter, and the Pollards gave a quick over view of their time at the nationals in St. Louis.

Hosta Tailgate – Carolyn Pickard gave a quick over view of the hosta tailgate party she attended.

Reminders – EMHS/Hosta addiction t-shirts are still available and if you need a name badge make sure sign the sheet and Glen will have it available at the next meeting.

Raffle – Thank you to Glen Pace, Gene & Louise Arms, Barb Hunter, Wanda Rybak, Nancy Martilla and Jan Geisken for donating items for our raffle and door prizes. The club made $XX.XX.

Next meeting – Our next meeting will be held at the home of Marilyn and Steve Balabon.

Adjourned – A motion was made by Becky Hanner to adjourn the meeting and it was seconded by Ken Daniels. Meeting was adjourned at 7:51 pm.

Respectfully submitted

Marlene Daniels

Secretary

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Visiting the Arms Garden on July 24th, 2016

The following pictures were taken at the garden of Gene and Louise Arms. Our youngest member, Ethan (Gene & Louise's grandson) has his own garden here as well.

Gene Arms among his 700 named Hosta and hundreds of seedlings

Ethan proudly shows off his garden

One of the sunny areas in the garden

Paths meander throughout the gardens

Looking across the gardens

EMHS members take their time looking at the summer garden tour meetings

Looking through the shadier part of the garden

Tuesday, July 5, 2016

July 2016 Newsletter

Note from the President- Summer has definitely come to Eastern Michigan, it is hot, dry, and watering the gardens is a must if you want the plants to grow instead of go dormant. Most of us have gotten very little help from Mother Nature this year at least in the form of rain or cool temps, but our beloved Hosta still manage to trudge through the extremes enough to make us want to keep them. The leaf textures, colors, shapes, and sizes are so diverse that there is always a Hosta that can be found to suit most any spot in most any garden.

The Majors’ were wonderful hosts for our June meeting and the gardens they have created are breathtakingly beautiful! There else could you find a head sculpture that is taller than the owner of the garden, a woman made out of moss, or a mud man with daylilies for hair. What about those pathways through the Hosta beds down by the lake with collections of Hosta sold in the EMHS Annual Plant Sale, were they not fantastic? One of my favorite places was the blue garden. You can see a few of the pictures I took while we were there on the EMHS blog. Thank you Patrick and Patricia for being our hosts!

Gene Arms has asked that I add a bit of information about their gardens to the newsletter so that the members will know what to expect at his and Louise’s gardens. This is what Gene sent to me:

A little about my place. I have a hobby farm, goats, chickens, rabbits, cats, dogs and 700 named hostas as well as several hundred hosta seedlings. The driveway is very rough and rocks border the hosta beds, so please watch your step when visiting our gardens.

A few things to remember about the EMHS Summer meetings at members gardens;
Bring your own folding chair to sit in
Bring your favorite dish to pass for the potluck
The club provides the plates and flatware
Bring insect repellent
Dress for the weather (sunscreen/umbrella)
Be prepared to have a great time
Leave once the meeting is dismissed to give the gardener time to unwind after the meeting

See you at the July 14^th meeting,
Glen Pace
EMHS President

Next Meeting- Our next meeting is on July 14^th, 2016 at 5:00 PM at Gene and Louise Arms’ home at 4577 Millis Rd. North Branch, MI 48461 and their phone number is, 810-688-2357.

Driving Directions-
(from our regular meeting place of the Mayfield Twp. Hall) – Drive North on M-24 for 5.7 miles to White Road. Turn right (East) and drive 1.3 miles to Millis Road. Turn right (South) and drive 4/10ths of a mile to the house. The EMHS sign will be at the driveway.

2016 Calendar of Events ?denotes need for topic, speaker, and/or place
July 14- Garden Tour at the Arms Garden
Aug 11- Garden Tour at the Balabon Garden
Sept 8 – EMHS Plant Exchange, Daniels Garden
Oct 13- ?________________, ?___________
Nov 10- Annual Board Meeting
Dec 8- Christmas Party, Mayfield Twp. Hall

Review the June 9th, 2016 Meeting Minutes on the blog. We will vote to accept the minutes at the July 14, 2016 meeting.

The EMHS T-shirts featuring Joseph Tychonievich's Hosta Addiction self-test are $18.00 each. The only two left are XXL. Contact Glen at PaceGardens@charter.net

Comments to the EMHS blog: I am mentioning blog posting to let you know that your comments to the blog can be published too. All you have to do is go to the EMHS blog athttp://easternmichiganhostasociety.blogspot.com and comment to a blog posting which will alert me that you have made a comment. Once I deem the comment valid for publishing I will okay and it will automatically be posted. Please note that I cannot edit or spell check your comments, all I can do is to publish, ignore, or delete your comments. All comments will be screened by me to deter any vulgarity or inappropriate comments being published to the EMHS blog. Glen

Club Members selling Hosta or related products;

Please call or email to set an appointment before visiting

Daniels, Marlene- Bottle wind chimes.
810-664-8317, gardenfairy50@aol.com

Hanner, Mark/Becky- Pottery.
810-631-4292, mhanner@aol.com

Hunter, Barb- Hosta, Daylilies, Pond supplies.
810-664-7531, baha@chartermi.net

Lisik, Phil/Ginger-Hosta, Daylilies, other plants.
989-642-5772, lisik46@yahoo.com

Pickard, Carolyn- Daylilies, Hosta.

989-871-2873, robfamily5 @yahoo.com

Websites of Interest:

American Hosta Society-

http://www.americanhostasociety.org

American Hosta Society Convention- http://www.americanhostasociety.org/Activities/Conventions.htm

AHS Hosta Library Website-
http://www.hostalibrary.org
Michigan Hosta Society Website-

http://www.hostahappenings.com
Eastern Michigan Hosta Society blog- http://easternmichiganhostasociety.blogspot.com

Hosta College Website-

http://ihostohio.com/portal/glhc

Eastern Michigan Hosta Society, Dues $5 per year per household, Make check payable to EMHS and mail to: Barb Hunter, EMHS Treasurer, 316 Davis Lake Rd. Lapeer, MI 48746

Saginaw Valley Hosta Society, Dues $20 per year per household, Make check payable to SVHS and mail to: Gordon Burnside, SVHS Treasurer, 11640 W Freeland Rd. Freeland, MI 48623

EMHS Board of Officers:

President Glen Pace
PaceGardens@charter.net 989-244-4029

Vice-President Becky Hanner
BGHanner@aol.com 810-631-4292

Treasurer Barb Hunter
baha@chartermi.net 810-664-7531

Secretary Marlene Daniels
gardenfairy50@aol.com 810-664-8317

Past President Mark Hanner
mhanner@aol.com 810-631-4292

Fund-Raising Mick & Cathy Hodgson

cehodgso@hotmail.com 810-664-8985

June 9th, 2016 Meeting Minutes

The Meeting – was held at Pat & Patricia Majors home

Networking – 5:00 pm Gardens open, sign in, networking

Refreshments – 6:00 pm the meeting was called to order by President Glen Pace, Glen thanked the Majors for opening their home and gardens for the club, visitors were introduced and a wonderful potluck was enjoyed by all.

Approval of Minutes – there were no changes to the minutes from the May 2016 meeting. Motion to accept the minutes was made by Becky Hanner and seconded by Steve Balabon. The membership voted to accept the May meeting minutes.

Treasurer’s Report – Barb Hunter, treasurer gave a report for May 2016, beginning balance was $XXX with a total income of $XXX and total expenditures of $XXX leaving the club with an ending balance of $XXX. Motion was made by Mark Hanner and seconded by Pat Maitland. The membership voted to accept May’s treasurer’s report.

Plant Sale – Glen said the order blanks were now available for those that would like theirs back.

Tapper Gardens – The tour will be on July 9^th from 10 – 4 and cost is $10.00. Also on the 12^th it will be senior day and seniors will be able to tour free.

Other news – Glen had one Hosta finder left and it was sold to Pat Major. A group from Sarnia will be touring Pace, Hanner, Hodgson and Suncrest gardens on the 18^th of June. Also Pace Gardens will be having open gardens on the 25^th of June and the GCAMG will be touring the gardens on the 26^th of June. AHS national convention will be held in St. Louis, MO June 15-18.

Start digging your plants now for the EMHS Plant Exchange in September.

Reminders – EMHS/Hosta addictions t-shirts are still available and if you need a name badge make sure you sign the sheet.

Raffle – Thank you to the Balabons, Martillas, Glen Pace and Jan Geisken for donating items for our raffle and door prizes. The club made $X.

Next meeting – Our next meeting will be held at the home of Gene & Louise Arms.

Adjourned – A motion was made by Becky Hanner to adjourn the meeting and it was seconded by Pat Major. Meeting was adjourned at 7:26 pm