GARDEN LIKE A PRO
Just because fair season is winding down doesn’t mean that gardening season is over.
Charlene Thornhill, president of the Darke County Association of Garden Clubs, offered several gardening tips for this time of year.
● Replace tired summer annuals and fill in bare spots with fall-colored plants. She suggested planting ornamental cabbage and kale because they can withstand light frost. Pansies are also a good plant for the fall.
● Continue to water annuals in containers and garden beds if rainfall is scarce. As the temperatures cool, the annuals will need less water.
● There is no need to fertilize annual plants at this time.
● Mid-September is the best time for planting spring bulbs, such as tulips, daffodils and hyacinths. In most areas, it also is the best time to begin planting perennial shrubs.
● Weed. Attacking weeds in the fall may keep them from rejuvenating before winter arrives. Also pick up weeds and bag them carefully.
● As harvest season ends in the vegetable garden, consider composting the remainder of the plants. Dig a hole in or near the garden, place the plant matter inside, cover the hole with soil and wait. This will provide much-need fertilizer in the spring. Thornhill said to do this away from open home windows because it may produce a strong smell.
As the Darke County Association of Garden Clubs recently celebrated its 60th annual flower show at the Great Darke County Fair, a few participants reminisced about their first flower show.
Charlene Thornhill, president of the Darke County Association of Garden Clubs, first entered an arrangement in 1954, when she was 9 years old. The class was called Farm Animals.
“I had a little yellow container and in it I had red zinnias,” she recalled. “I remember because I got an award. It was a rosette ribbon.”
For this year’s show, she re-created that arrangement. Because her zinnias did not germinate, she used alstromeria. Instead of the yellow chicken container, she used a yellow turtle.
Her arrangement, as well as others, was on display during the opening of the flower show at the Great Darke County Fair on Saturday, Aug. 18. As part of the 60th year celebration of flower shows at the fair, several women staged their first artistic design entered in a flower show.
Thornhill pointed out that the arrangements show how designs have changed over the years. Her design from the 1950s was small compared to the large displays of today. A slide show at the flower show will enable fairgoers to see the evolution of the flower shows over the past 60 years.
The Darke County flower show consisted of two shows, Aug. 18 and Aug. 22.
The horticulture division gives gardeners a chance to display what they grow. In the artistic division, participants may use their own flowers or purchased flowers.
Thornhill noted that entries for horticulture were lower than usual because of the dry, humid weather this summer. However, the tables still had hundreds of flowers. Dozens of artistic flower designs were displayed, as well.
The Darke County flower show has repeatedly received the Ohio Association of Garden Clubs’ Best County Fair Flower Show award over the years. The Junior Division has also received accolades.
Thornhill noted that in this year’s junior show, there were 49 junior artistic entries and 536 junior horticulture entries.
Darke County has junior garden clubs where children and teens learn about artistic design and growing flowers.
One of those juniors is 16-year-old Karlee Lennen, president of the Butterflies Junior Garden Club. She brought five artistic designs and dozens of horticulture entries to the fair.
Lennen began participating in the fair flower show when she was 7 years old.
She, like Thornhill, remembered her first entry. The class was called Wright Brothers, and she created a display with a blue background. She crafted an airplane out of toothpicks and pieces of wood and used carnations, hostas and baby’s breath.
“I got a big ribbon on it,” she said. “I didn’t think I would.”
Those ribbons and good first experiences may be what keep people entering year after year.
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