May 10, 2021
The Garden Club sponsors $1,000 college scholarships each year for Celebration High School students or to Celebration residents attending another school. These scholarships are funded, in part, by our semi-annual pine straw sales. We are happy to announce that we are awarding two scholarships this year to very deserving students. The award winners are Oscar Newman and Courtney Eynon.
Oscar plans to major in Environmental Studies with a focus on global warming and sustainability. A student at Celebration H.S., he is a member of the National Honor Society, participates in soccer and track and field, student government, school activities and volunteers in the community.
Courtney plans to pursue a degree in nursing with the goal of becoming a nurse practitioner. She is active in student government, the environmental club and volunteers in the community. In addition to completing her senior year at Celebration H.S., she is a manager at Kilwin’s and works as a park monitor at Town Hall.
Congratulations Oscar and Courtney!
We concluded our spring pine straw sale and saw record sales. Thank you for supporting our sale and our efforts to present scholarships, take care of the Celebration Memorial Garden, donate plants and hydroponic equipment to the schools and honor our veterans at annual ceremonies. We could not do this without you!
Now that Florida summer is here, you should be done with yard fertilization. The rainy season is not a time to fertilize your lawn as too much of the fertilizer ends up running off into our waterways. You may be finding that your plants are over growing their spaces and need to be trimmed back a bit. Plants need to be trimmed regularly to maintain their shape and size relative to your house and yard. Azaleas and Camellias should be trimmed back soon after they are finished blooming so that the buds can form for next year’s bloom season. Hedges and non-blooming yard plants can be trimmed pretty much whenever needed. Deadheading old blossoms can stimulate a new round of flower blooms on your annuals and perennials. One important thing to remember about trimming your plants is that diseases from bacteria, viruses and fungi can easily be transmitted from one plant to another. When moving between plants you should disinfect your clippers, trimmers, etc., so that you don’t infect all of the plants in your landscape. One easy method is to spray and wipe your cutting blades with 70% isopropyl alcohol, also known as rubbing alcohol. The alcohol is immediately effective in killing pathogens that could spread in your landscape. Be kind to your plants and you can save money from not having to replace diseased plants.
Our April club meeting was a lecture on container gardening. Many of us in Celebration have small yards or even just balconies. Containers are wonderful ways to grow many of our favorite plants. Eva Pabon, Osceola County Horticulturist and Master Gardener leader, gave her presentation and we learned about plants, soils and fertilizers needed to let the plants thrive in pots.
Our garden club has now concluded this year’s activities. We had great monthly lectures over the Zoom platform but no field trips. This fall we hope to be back in Heritage Hall for our monthly meetings and have monthly field trips. We will meet on the third Wednesday of each month at 9 a.m. If you are interested in knowing more about the Celebration Garden Club, please contact docwags@gmail.com or visit our website at Celebrationgardenclub.org.
By Brad Wagoner, Club President