Herbs and Spices: We will have a holiday cocktail party on Thursday, December 19th from 5:30 to 7:30 pm at Arlene Baxter’s home in Berkeley.

Holiday Luncheon

BGC Board Meeting via Zoom

Tuesday, November 26th from 1:30 to 3:30 pm at Theresa Malki’s home in Berkeley. Come learn about cover crops for improving soil health from Theresa Malki. Cover crops are plants grown between seasons to improve soil quality but are not usually harvested. Cover crops can help with erosion control, improve water quality, and reduce weed pressure. They can also help with biocontrol of pests and diseases, and increase organic matter in the soil. All are welcome. Please RSVP to Mollie Boero. 

There will be no Propagation meeting in December.

Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Avenue, Albany.

12:00 to 12:30: Doors open for meeting setup and socializing.

12:30 to 1:30: Regular Business Meeting, Plant Notes, Drawing

1:30 to 2:00: Refreshments and socializing

2:00 to 3:00: Decorating for the Holidays- Using what’s in our gardens, plus additional foliage/flowers and ideas- Kay Wolff

3:00 to 3:30: Cleanup

Display Table: Please bring in any beautiful flowers in your garden you'd like to show off. Non-flowering garden achievements are also welcome.

Garden Exchange Table: Please be sure to take any unsold items back home with you at the end of the meeting.

Masks at meetings are optional. However, now that cold and flu season is here, you may want to bring and wear a mask at our meetings.

Date Change - On Thursday, November 14th we will decorate wreaths at David Boniske's house in  Albany at 10 am. Please let David know immediately if you want him to order a $16 wreath for you. Also, he asked for RSVP’s  if you plan to come so he can set up supplies and chairs for everyone.

Tuesday, November 12th from 11:30 am to 2:00 pm at Mollie Boero’s home, Berkeley. The topic is New World herbs, spices and foodstuffs; specifically, sumac, potatoes, tomatoes, blueberries and fish.

BGC Board Meeting via Zoom

On Thursday, October 24th at 1:30 pm we will meet for two great tours at the Cameron-Stanford House Museum. The first tour will include a brief history of the 1876 house as we tour the main floor. Our own member, Linda Nack, will be our docent for this part. Then, we will follow the landscaper through the elegant Victorian garden that she created there just a few years ago. The museum is asking for a $10.00 donation from each of us. Those of us who are interested will share a no host lunch at the beautiful Lake Chalet next door at 11:45. Check out the website, www.cshouse.org, and contact Eugenia Hirsch if you would like to join us.

Tuesday, October 22nd from 1:30 to 3:30 pm at Evelyn Borchert's home at in Albany. This meeting will be a tool sharpening and cleaning workshop. It's an opportunity to learn how to care for and upkeep your garden tools. Bring a tool or two to work on and Evelyn will provide cleaning materials. All are welcome. Please RSVP to Mollie Boero

Get Ready for Halloween! On Thursday, October 17th the Succulent Group will meet at David Boniske's house in Albany at 10 am. Bring several pumpkins to decorate with your succulents. Contact Barbara O’Hay about supplies you will need or any questions you may have.

Everyone is invited for a meet-up and tour of The Watershed Nursery, a native plant nursery at 601-A Canal Boulevard, Richmond. We’ll meet on Wednesday, October 16th at 10:00 am for a guided tour of the facility. The Watershed Nursery is an employee-owned cooperative that provides native plants and services to habitat restoration projects in Northern California. They also serve local gardeners. Their mission is to grow and support diverse, healthy, and functioning ecosystems. Carpooling is encouraged, since parking is limited. Please RSVP to Mollie Boero.

Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Avenue, Albany.

12:00 to 12:30: Doors open for meeting setup and socializing.

12:30 to 1:30: Regular Business Meeting, Plant Notes, Drawing

1:30 to 2:00: Refreshments and socializing

2:00 to 3:00: California Natives- Kathy Kramer, Founder of Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour

3:00 to 3:30: Cleanup

Display Table: Please bring in any beautiful flowers in your garden you'd like to show off. Non-flowering garden achievements are also welcome.

Garden Exchange Table: Please be sure to take any unsold items back home with you at the end of the meeting.

Masks at meetings are optional. However, now that cold and flu season is here, you may want to bring and wear a mask at our meetings.

Tuesday, October 8th from 12:30 to 2:00 pm at Beth Feingold’s home, Berkeley. We are exploring Old World foods.

Floriculture: On Thursday, September 26th at 1:00 pm we will enjoy a free guided tour of the Dahlia section of the Lakeside Gardens at Oakland's Lake Merritt. We will be meeting Chris Dix, our BGC September speaker and dahlia grower, at the north gate of the garden. You are free to visit the rest of the lovely garden, including the bonsai garden after our tour. If you are interested in coming, contact Eugenia to confirm your attendance and receive parking information.

Propagation: Tuesday, September 24th from 1:30 to 3:30 pm at Mollie Boero’s home in Berkeley. Come to a houseplant/container plant repotting workshop. Some good reasons to repot houseplants: Your plants are not thriving, plants seem root-bound, the soil is in need of a refresh, or the plant needs to be put in a bigger or more decorative pot. If you have plants that need dividing, you can share divisions with others.

Bring your plants that you wish to repot and containers (decorative or plastic to put inside a decorative pot) that you’d like to use. Bring clippers, trowel and gloves. We’ll supply soil and perlite, and I have some plastic pots that could be used as liners for decorative pots with no holes.

All are welcome. Please RSVP to Mollie Boero.

Albany Community Center, 1249 Marin Avenue, Albany.

12:00 to 12:30: Doors open for meeting setup and socializing.

12:30 to 1:30: Regular Business Meeting, Plant Notes, Drawing

1:30 to 2:00: Refreshments and socializing

2:00 to 3:00: “All about Dahlias” – Chris Dix

3:00 to 3:30: Cleanup

Display Table: Please bring in any beautiful flowers in your garden you'd like to show off. Non-flowering garden achievements are also welcome.

Garden Exchange Table: Please be sure to take any unsold items back home with you at the end of the meeting.

Masks at meetings are optional. However, now that cold and flu season is here, you may want to bring and wear a mask at our meetings.

Succulents: This month only we will meet at 1:00 pm Thursday, September 12th at David's Boniske’s house  in Albany. (The date is because both Barbara and David are away on our regular time.) Come and see David's extraordinary succulent garden and help us plan this year's activities. Please RSVP to Barbara 

Herbs and Spices: Tuesday, September 10th from 11:30 am to 2:00 pm at Beth Feingold’s home in Berkeley. We are starting a new season studying the Columbian Exchange. For our first luncheon, we are working with the Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash.

On Thursday, June 27th at 10:30, we will get a sneak peek at the gardens of Fairyland on Oakland's Lake Merritt. This tour is special for many reasons, the main one being that Fairyland is only open to adults accompanying children! Patricia was kind enough to arrange a tour for us adults.

And, even though this is ‘officially’ a field trip for Floriculture Study Group, everyone in BGC is invited to join us. Gardener Jennifer Hurlburt will be leading our tour.

The address is 699 Bellevue Avenue and there is typically ample street parking. Meet at the entrance to the park by the Old Lady and the Shoe exhibit (you can't miss it!).

Contact Eugenia if you would like to join us.

Tuesday, June 25 from 1:30 to 3:30 pm at Theresa Malki’s home. 

Come learn about making compost tea and DIY non-toxic pest sprays from food grower extraordinaire Theresa Malki. Others are invited to share their methods and ideas for maintaining soil health in the garden.

Date: Tuesday, June 18th.

Time: 12:30-3:00 pm.

Location: Live Oak Park Picnic Site #2, on the east side of Walnut Street, right by the Art Center which is at 1275 Walnut Street.

Program: We will begin with lunch, followed by our usual business meeting and installation of our officers and committee chairs for the upcoming year.

This will be a great time to socialize outdoors, enjoy each other’s company, and pass the leadership baton in a lovely park setting.

Lunch Details: We are organizing box lunches from Ann’s Catering ($25 per lunch), or you can bring your own lunch. A flyer with the catered box lunch selections is attached to this issue of the Bulletin. You can order and pay by credit card on our website https://berkeleygardenclub.org/online-payments/.

Alternatively, you can mail your order and check (made out to Berkeley Garden Club) to P.O. Box 7757 Berkeley, CA, 94707. Signups must be received by Monday, June 10th so we can place your order with the caterer. Don’t miss out…SIGN UP NOW!

If you plan to bring your own bag lunch, please respond on line no later than June 10th so we know how many people plan to attend. We suggest a $5 donation to the Club to defray the cost of the site rental and other incidentals.

And, finally, volunteers are needed to bring cookies and, as always, for set-up and clean-up, and to bring a few camp chairs. Please sign up to help with those tasks on Signup Genius: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E0449ACA622A2F94-49795052-picnic#/

2024 Art & Plant Street Sale 

Saturday, June 15, 2024 11:00 am-4:30 pm 

Lincoln Street at Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA 

In partnership with the Arts and Crafts Cooperative, Inc. (ACCI) 

Purchase flowering plants, veggies, herbs, house plants, succulents and more propagated by Berkeley Garden Club members and browse ACCI artworks

Find horticultural gifts for Father’s Day on Sunday June 16

Discover lovely, water-wise plants that grow well in our East Bay microclimate

Bring your gardening questions for our experienced, local home gardeners

Proceeds fund BGC’s community outreach mission, including civic beautification, education and local conservation 

Tuesday, June 11th, from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm at the home of Mary K Shisler.

We will be having our cocktail party and enjoying Venetian finger food.

Please email Mary for more information.

Tuesday, May 28th from 1:30 to 3:30 pm at Mollie Boero’s home in Berkeley. The BGC plant sale has been rescheduled for June 15, so we’ll prepare plants folks have grown for the plant sale. We will label, price, trim, mulch and generally spiff up plants for the plant sale to make them sale-worthy. If you have some last-minute plants to pot up, please bring those. Bring gloves, clippers, trowel, any plants you have to make ready for the plant sale. We will provide soil, BGC plant labels, price dots; and we’ll have a few decorative 4-inch planters as well as a few plastic 4-inch, six-packs, and gallon pots. If you have six-packs or 4-inch pots; or the plastic nursery trays for holding plants, please bring them. People should hold on to the plants they propagated to care for them until the day of the plant sale. All are welcome. Please RSVP to Mollie Boero.

Thursday, May 23rd at 2:00 pm we will be taking a tour of Oakland's Morcom Rose Garden. We will be having a tour by a rosarian who will give a brief history of roses, and how some of the various classes of roses evolved. Contact Eugenia Hirsch to confirm, and for information on where to park.

12:00 Noon: Doors open for meeting setup and socializing.

12:00 to 3:00:

Display Table: Please bring in any beautiful flowers in your garden you'd like to show off. May is a great time for roses! Non-flowering garden achievements are also welcome.

Garden Exchange Table: Please be sure to take any unsold items back home with you at the end of the meeting.

1:00 pm:

Regular Business Meeting

Plant Notes

Drawing

2:00 pm: “What Really Works in A Garden” – Margene Filson, Bay Area gardener

On Thursday, May 16th the Succulent Group will meet at 10 am at David Boniski's garden in Albany to make succulent bouquets. David will provide the materials and some succulents. Bring your own as well. Please RSVP to Barbara

On Thursday April 25th, we will visit Filoli in Woodside. We are each buying our own tickets on line at https://filoli.org/visit. and meeting in the entrance building at 10:00 am. Let Eugenia know if you plan to attend so that she can look out for you.