Hi all,
Just A friendly reminder of our next ECA meeting on Saturday Dec 9th at 10 am at Volunteer Park Conservatory. Hope to see you all there.
With this cold snap hovering over the Pacific Northwest, I hope you are all hunkered down safe and warm.
We are now at the tail end of a transitional period. Our blooms are winding down and we are preparing our stools for dormancy. The kind of cold weather we are currently experiencing can kill our chrysanthemum stools if they are not properly stored. It is best to store plant stools in a cool, (not frigid) dry place. Stools need to go into dormancy a minimum of 4 to 6 weeks.
Success for the following year begins with the care of our stock to produce the quality cuttings for next year. Now we must build on that in several ways:
1) Continued care of stools through dormant period.
2) Breaking out of the dormant period and producing cuttings, and
3) Taking early cuttings.
Also we’ll provide some helpful notes along the way. Check out the attached December Cultural Notes. Additionally there is more growing tips and information on the ECA web page – www.ecamumclub.org.
That being said, we hope to see you on Saturday December 9th at 10 am at our monthly ECA meeting at Volunteer Park Conservatory.
Supplies:
The following supplies will be available at the December meeting:
M&R soil less mix
Early Season Fertilizer
Starting Cubes – In the storage shed
VERY IMPORTANT ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION:
1) Peat tray orders
Mark Ross will be placing an order for peat trays after our December meeting. If you have questions or want to place an order contact Mark Ross no later than 12/15/2023. Mark can be reached via email at [email protected]
2) ECA Master Growing List
Michael Boudreaux is spearheading our effort to update our ECA master growing list so we know what cultivars we have in the club and who is growing them. Please send your 2023 Chrysanthemum growing list to Michael Boudreaux at [email protected]. Michael will compile a 2023 list of chrysanthemums by grower.
3) ECA Kings mums Group Order in January
ECA will be placing a group order to Kings Mums in January. There a benefits to participating in a group order including quantity price discounts, priority customer status and priority delivery. Go on line to the Kings website at https://kingsmums.com/ and start your list now. Email your list to Erika Harris at [email protected] by January 5, 2024. She will compile our orders into one and submit it to Kings Mums. ECA will pay for the group order. You will be responsible to reimburse ECA for your Kings Mums purchase. We expect to receive our group order from Kings in March.
4) Designated Mum Mentors –
Are you new to growing chrysanthemums? New members should take advantage of our experienced mentors in growing mums. Mentors can answer questions you may have about material in the Novice Handbook, where to get the necessary mum growing supplies and tips and tricks they’ve learned over the years growing mums. There are no dumb questions. Invite your mentor to your “mum patch” so they can see how to better help you. Or a visit the mentors’ “mum patch” to gain some insight into how to make your plants more vigorous and healthy, resulting in better bloom quality. Please contact Sue Joyner at [email protected] or 360-303-8284 if you’d like a mentor. Hopefully you will repay the investment by entering a few of your blooms at our next show.
5) Volunteers needed:
In addition to ECA officers, we have a group of important committee’s positions that are essential for our organization to thrive the ECA committees and descriptions are listed below. Please consider how you might contribute to our club by volunteering to take on a small role. We look forward to hearing back from you regarding how you would like to contribute to our club. Please contact Sue Joyner at [email protected] or 360-303-8284 if you’d like to volunteer.
Cultural Committee – Responsible for cultural instruction, classification list, cultivar acquisition and rejuvenation, recommending project blooms, growing supplies and club history.
Membership Committee – Responsible for new member recruiting, coaching, member polls & records, Arrange manpower of events & plant sales (including publicity and sales notices).
Show Committee – Responsible for the show location, Show dates, judges, stewards, staging, ribbons, trophies, awards & publicity
Social Committee – Responsible for meeting location, summer garden tour, & annual banquet. Accounting for the number of individuals who will attend events & bring potlucks
Communications Committee – Responsible for maintaining ECA website ECA FB Facebook administrator & Zoom
Support Committee – Responsible for publishing the year book, ordering ribbons, printing show programs, Show notices & plant sale notices. Tabulates show points.
Welfare Committee – Responsible for oversight, when possible, for the health and welfare of the members under the weather, sending remembrances when appropriate, & advising the secretary of situations for inclusion in the monthly notices
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Upcoming ECA Calendar:
Saturday December 9, 2023 10 am -Noon – Evergreen Chrysanthemum Association monthly meeting
Saturday, January 13, 2024 10 am – Noon – Cutting Preparations
Saturday, February 10, 2024 10 am – Noon – no meeting – cutting University instead
Saturday, February 17, 2024 10 am – Noon – Cutting University
Saturday, March 9, 2024 10 am – Noon – Club Plant Sale
Saturday, April 13, 2024 10 am – Noon – Club Plant Sale
Saturday April 20, 2024 9 am – 2 pm – Public Plant Sale
Saturday, May 11, 2024 10 am – Noon – Bonsai and Cascades
Saturday, June 8, 2024 10 am – Noon – Hybridization discussion
November 2023 Meeting Minutes
In lieu of our November meeting we held our annual banquet at the MIZUKI BUFFET on Saturday, November 11, 2023. We had about 15 people in attendance. Several members brought in beautiful blooms to share with the group
