Plaquemine Garden Club’s Fall Projects

Due to COVID 19, the Plaquemine Garden Club will not be physically meeting during the fall of 2020. Not wanting to lose their friendships and sharing opportunities, the Club decided to continue to foster communication with its 79 members in different ways. The Club divided its membership into 8 teams, each with a leader and a co-leader (officer). Each team will complete a project each month individually with assistance from their leaders and other team leaders giving them a chance to “visit” with each other. In turn, the team leaders are sharing their ideas and results with each other. In addition to the projects, a monthly newsletter is sent to all members.

​For September, a Plaquemine Garden Club Member garden flag in honor of their practicing conservation was delivered to each member. A protective mask was made for each member out of various floral fabrics to brighten up their appearance when they are able to get out and about. The 2020-2021 Yearbook and the September newsletter were also delivered to the members. October’s project will be a clay flower pot for them to decorate and an aloe vera plant to remind us to “heal our nation and our earth.” November’s project will be a “let’s give thanks for our friendships” goodie bag where the team members will contribute to each other’s goodie bag. And December’s project will be an exchange of Christmas cards.

Looking for Beauty by Michelle Sanders

Attached is an article that Michelle Sanders of the Plaquemine Garden Club wrote about finding, replanting, and using horsetail reed that she found in the "wild" near her home. It's a really good story about native plants and a member's love of flowers. Always be on the Lookout for Beauty This year has been such a strange year. I think we can all agree with that. But tucked into the year has been some sweet moments and treasured times.

One of the things I will treasure was hopping on the back of the 4 wheeler with my husband and riding in the fields to the levee to find wild flowers to put on the kitchen table and to give to family and friends. At the time I was just starting what I loosely refer to as my “cutting garden”. It’s really just a wild area that has flowers that are wild and unkept but just perfect for cutting. It makes it easy to make sweet little arrangements for family and friends during this time when I couldn’t just stop by the local store to buy flowers. I had some flowers from my yard but it wasn’t much so we would ride to the fields & levee near our house to scavenge for wildflowers to fill in.

At first in the spring there were plenty of these Clasping Coneflowers and they were perfect. But the last time we went further along into the summer there weren’t any more of my cherished flowers and I got discouraged. Since my cutting garden still hadn’t fully come up yet I still needed some things to fill in. Then I stumbled upon this… There were TONS of it nestled along the ditches and spreading well beyond (obviously it was quite invasive). I thought it was some sort of bamboo, but I didn’t really know what it was…I just knew I loved the look of it, and it would be perfect filler for my arrangements.

I cut a bunch of it and took it back with me, still a bit disappointed that I didn’t get my wildflowers I had gone out there for. When I got home, I looked it up and did some research. I found out it’s called Horsetail Reed Grass (Equiselum Hyemale is the botanical name) and it is indeed invasive but very easy to grow. I clipped the few Zinnias from my cutting garden that were bloomed and ready and added them to the handful of Horsetail Reed Grass that I had collected, and it was perfect. As soon as I saw what a great addition this would make to my cutting garden, I immediately got the 4-wheeler, a bucket and my potting tools and got some pieces to plant for future use. It has now been planted in a pot in my yard for a couple of months and has thrived. So, the moral of the story, always be on the lookout for beauty!