When do I Cut Back Daffodils?

Daffodils are one of the most popular spring blooming flowers. When the flowers are gone, when

is the proper time to remove the leaves?

Daffodil leaves should be cut back after they turn yellow and begin to die. They use their leaves

to create energy, which is then used to create next year’s flowers. If you remove the leaves too

early the bulb will not produce a flower the following year.

Resist the temptation to remove them too early. If they are in your yard, mow around them care-

fully. My mother-in-law's yard has hundreds of Daffodil plants which increases the mowing time

by about an hour. Being patient now will reap benefits next spring with a beautiful flower show.

From Branon Thiesse BS, MS

County Extension Agent - Staff Chair

May 2018 Volume 13, Issue 4

Our next meeting is May 3rd

Greeting @ 6:00 Meeting @ 6:30

Speaker: Norm Judd~ St. Bernard’s Health

and Wellness, “Healthy Back Basics”

Springtime! The time of year we all LOVE! It’s not hot and humid, the bugs haven’t awak-

ened yet (except for the occasional wasps), the days are longer, there are lots and lots of plant

sales to purchase new and beautiful plants for our gardens. Speaking of plant sales, our one and

only fundraising plant sale is upon us but by the time you may read this it’ll be over and Jason can

kick back and relax. His job is kind of like Santa Claus’, that one day of the

year that so many of us rely on and it’s pretty much all on his shoulders. I ap-

plaud you Jason! You do a wonderful job for us.

Our projects are off to a great start and as you will see in this newsletter our

members are hard at work. I hope everyone can stay as motivated as they are

now. Stay healthy, stay strong!

~Donna Tolewitzke, President

WEEDER’S

DIGEST CRAIGHEAD COUNTY MASTER GARDENERS

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Minutes of the April 2018 Meeting

By Karen Massey

The April 5, 2018 meeting of the Craighead County Master Gardeners was called to order at 6:32 by President Donna Tolewitzke Program – Jason Mullins, Plant Sale Project Chair was the speaker for the evening. His program was brought to you by the letter “Y”. The plant sale is April 28 from 7am – 3pm and is the only fundraiser of the year. And by the number 10, the minimum number of plants that all members should strive to bring except for the new members, which is 5. If you drop off plants Thursday at the ASU Farmers Market, please text a picture, your name and location of your plants to Jason. Friday from 3:30 – 6:30 at the ASU Farmers Market will be the large drop off for plants before the sale Saturday. All boxes, wagons, yard art, tools, books and magazines are welcomed for the sale. Jason also presented a program on Insectary Gardening. Minutes – the minutes of the February meeting were approved as printed in the monthly newsletter. Treasurer’s Report – Stephanie Neely gave the current balance. Project Reports – Barbara Pitcock gave the varying reports form the Project Chairs. And Mike Wilbanks would like for Project Chairs to text or email him work days for the video he is making for the booth at the NEA Fair. Diane Sandberg also handed out new 2018 Photo Directory to all members. Old Business – Revisions to the CCMG Policies and Bylaws were voted on and approved. New Business – Plants for Sunset Gardens will be handed out to the residents May 12th. Plants can be dropped off at Margaret Williams home at 412 University before the 12th if members are not available that Saturday. And members have to sign the sign-in sheets when dropping off plants. PNG Conference will be September 18 & 19 at the Arkansas 4-H Center in Ferndale, AR. All members are welcomed to attend. Annuals to Perennials – All new members and mentors, please mark your calendars for Saturday, July 21st in Batesville, AR for this event. Announcements – Mimi Cox received a email from Cheryl Lavers about the book “100 In-sects of Arkansas and the Mid-South” that she and her husband will have published by Et Alia Press in Little Rock. Door Prizes were given by Peggy Lane. Birthdays – members with April birthdays were given a plant. Meeting adjourned 7:45

3

A big thank you to Stephanie and her hus-

band Keith for picking up the mulch at Mid-south Nursery and hauling it to the Exten-sion Office! It gave us mulchers what we needed. Thank you, thank you to Donna and

Stan, Mary, Debbie, Cleo, Donna, Stephanie, Barb and Diane for all your hard work spreading that mulch. The area looks great. Thanks again to all!! ~Nick, Marilyn and Katie

10 members gathered on 4/12 and planted onion sets, 2

varieties of carrots, red and white onion plants, cabbage,

leaf lettuce, purple hull peas, yellow crookneck and zuc-chini squash, straight 8 cucumbers and marigolds. In ad-

dition, we prepared 2 raised beds for future herb planting.

We worked hard and were very productive. We look for-

ward to many more “fruitful” days!

~Paula Smith, Project Co-Chair

Riceland Community Gardens

ASU Plant Sale

LeVeta Howerton– Project Chair

Despite the weather,

the ASU Horticulture

Plant Sale was a

success! Dr. Pittcock had a good

variety of plants to

choose from, a

gardener could go

broke shopping

there.

Extension Office

4

Volunteers at the ASU Dis-

play Garden and Entrance

to the Farmers’ Market have braved cold, windy

days to bring the garden to

life for 2018. The loyal vol-

unteers enjoy fellowship and

a sense of real accomplish-

ment. Some changes will be evident this year. The soil

in the Farmers’ Market and

bed at the entrance to the

garden has been amended.

While maintaining the “WOW” factor on the hillside

as guests approach the gar-

den, 2018 will see this area

being “naturalized” for both

aesthetics and safety of the

volunteers. It’s steep! Per-ennials planted in the past

couple of years are poking

their heads out to welcome

spring—finally. It’s a BIG

garden and needs lots of volunteer hands. Come join

this active group!

~ Susan Westbrook,

Project Chair

Nature Center– Butterfly Garden

We went. We conquered. We wait.

Several plants were identified and labeled. We dug stuff and replanted and labeled some more.

We removed multiples of several things. The garden needs warm, sunny weather to aid in getting plants up and growing better. We are

at Mother Nature’s mercy. Plans will be to keep check on the garden and work in two weeks to

clean out random Goldenrod, Rubeckia, Mexican Petunias, etc. as needed. And then hopefully

the garden will be ready to plant.

Our plants have been ordered from Pine Ridge; and Dr. Pittcock has plants set aside to the gar-

den in her greenhouse. Again, need the soil temperatures to increase.

A shout out to all who could work today!

~Barb Evans and Pat Finch~ Project Chairs.

ASU Display Garden & Farmer’s Market Entrance

5

HWES Spring Plant Sale Melinda Smith– Project Chair

On the Deck At the Farmers Market

We are ready for another season for “On the Deck”. The next 6 months we will meet, greet

and educate the public by informing them about the Master Gardener Program, answering

questions and providing written information about gardening, and presenting short educa-

tional programs by our members.

We begin May 26th from 8:00-12:00, with a program by our member Mike Wilbanks, entitled “Jack and the Beanstalk”. This program will be interesting for children as well as the adults.

Come out and see us and hang around. Some of you may want to participate in future pro-

grams as well.

We do have a good time, just ask our committee!

“On the Deck” takes place on the 4th Saturday each month from May thru October. Jan Dupwe~ Project Chair

Barbara Pitcock~ Co-Chair

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Upcoming Events May 2018

5 -Greene County Plant Sale

12- Plants for Sunset Gardens

12- Mid-South Hosta Society Annual Hosta Sale and Hosta Trail Tour, 9am-

2pm. Memphis Botanic Garden, 750 Cherry Rd, Memphis, TN

18- Memphis Orchid Society Annual Sale, 12pm-5pm. Memphis Botanic Gar-

den, 750 Cherry Rd, Memphis, TN

26- “On the Deck” at the Farmers’ Market

31 - June 2 - 2018 MG Conference, Fort Smith

May Birthdays

2nd Karen Lynch 8th Becky Phillips

9th Tricia Brashears 9th Daveta Kirkindall 18th Lisa Davis

18th Debbi Hall 23rd Pat Shirley

24th Susan Shelton 29th Debbi Lamb 29th Ann Ross

29th Diane Sandberg

Health News

Tetanus also called Lockjaw A serious bacterial infection that causes painful muscle spasms and can lead to death.

Preventable by vaccine

Tetanus is a potentially fatal bacterial infection that affects the nerves. A vaccine can easily pre-vent the infection, which has no cure. Tetanus causes painful muscle contractions, particularly in the jaw and neck. It can interfere with the ability to breathe, eventually causing death. Being gardeners we must be aware that small cuts and punctures can cause this serious infec-tion, especially if the injuries are from rusty tools. Editors note: My own grandmother developed tetanus after stepping on a fishbone in her back yard. She was hospitalized for several months at Memphis.

7

Officers

President Donna Tolewitzke

Past President Ann Fergeson

Vice President Cindy Morris

Secretary Karen Massey

Treasurer Stephanie Neely

Assistant Treasurer Sandy Puryear

Projects Barbara Pitcock

Programs

Laura Bettis

Recruitment, Reten-

tion, Recognition Peggy Lane

Historian

Diane Sandberg

Social

Debbie Tate

Parliamentarian

Mimi Cox

Executive Committee

The Officers

Newsletter Editor Donna Tolewitzke

Members-at-Large

Donna Bandy

Val Price

If you are having problems logging hours and/or would rather Cindy log them for you, please email her at cindyamorris@hotmail.com. Please include where you worked, the date and the

amount of time you worked. And let's not forget, include your learning/education hours!

Just a reminder to be respectful of not only the speakers at meetings but to your fellow MGs. You may think you are talking quietly, but voices carry, making it difficult for others to hear

what is going on during the meetings.

As you arrive at the MG meeting each month, be sure to SIGN IN and pick up a ticket for the

door prize(s). The sign-in sheet will be on the table to the right as you come in the door. At the end of each meeting, we will draw for a door prize!

Be sure to wear your MG name tag to each meeting otherwise put 50 cents in the jar.

Also, our jar is available for your loose change donation that will help fund scholarships for new

members. Please donate!

Reminders

Project Chairs

ASU Display Garden & Farmers’ Market Susan Westbrook

On the Deck- Jan Dupwe

ASU Greenhouse- LaVeta Howerton

Butterfly Garden

Barb Evans Pat Finch

Courthouse, Extension

Office & City Hall Nick, Marilyn & Katie Wysocki

NEA District Fair

Ginger Adams-Seeds Mike Wilbanks-MG Booth Mimi Cox- Floriculture

NEA FFA-CDE- Stan Bachman

Native Plant Garden- Ethel Cole

Plant Sale- Jason Mullins

Plants for Sunset Gardens Margaret Williams

Extension Office Work & 2017 Basic Training Class

Neva Shewmaker

HWES Children’s Learning Garden

Melinda Smith

Riceland Community Garden Angela Schmidt

Paula Smith

Standing Committee Chairs

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Fun and Useful Links

Arkansas Master Gardener Program http://www.uaex.edu/yard-garden/master-gardeners

CCMG Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Craighead-County-Master-Gardeners/629232630461141?ref=hl

HWES School Gardens Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/HWESschoolgardens

Janet Carson's Blog - In the Garden

http://uofacesmg.wordpress.com/

Jim Long’s Blog

http://jimlongsgarden.blogspot.com/

Public Horticulture Events

http://www.uaex.edu/yard-garden/master-gardeners/events.aspx

University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture Research & Extension

http://www.uaex.edu/

Garvan Gardens with Janet Carson

http://www.garvangardens.org/photos-videos/gardeningwithjanet.aspx

For list of Arkansas shows, meetings, etc. see statebystategardening.com/ar/calendar/

For Master Gardener events see http://www.uaex.edu/yard-garden/master-gardeners/

events.aspx

For information on Memphis events see www.memphisareamastergardeners.org/events.htm

The Arkansas Cooperative Extension

Service offers its programs to all eligible

persons regardless of race, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, na-

tional origin, religion, age, disability,

marital or veteran status,

Weeder’s Digest is the official news-

letter of the Craighead County AR Mas-

ter Gardener Program.

Please contact the newsletter editor at

dtolewitzke@gmail.com with your arti-

cles, ideas, photos and suggestions.

Newsletters are Adobe files and require the latest

Adobe Reader to view. You may down-

load the latest Adobe Reader at

"http://get.adobe.com/reader/".

Craighead County Master Gardeners are trained volunteers

working with the University of Arkansas Cooperative Exten-sion Service and Craighead County officials to provide beauti-fication projects and horticultural information to the resi-dents of the county. In 2017 Craighead County Master Gar-

deners reported more than 11,108 hours of service and edu-cation to benefit Craighead County.

Branon Thiesse BS, MS

County Extension Agent - Staff Chair

Copyright 2012 -2018 Craighead County Master Gardeners. All rights reserved.

Our friend, Renee Shepherd, owner of Reneesgarden.com (Renee's Gar-

den Seeds), is making a wonderful offer for Health, Wellness and Envi-ronmental Studies Elementary School. If you go to her website and order seed, and use this code when you order: FR556A, she will donate 25% of the price of the seed you order, to the Health, Wellness and Environmen-

tal Studies Elementary Kitchen/Garden Program. Isn't that great? So, go to her website and order some seed, being sure to use the FR556Acoupon code.