The October Meeting of the Gulf Hills Garden Club and a Special Birthday!

The October Gulf Hills Garden Club meeting at the home of club member, Beth M.  She and her hosts provided a delicious brunch buffet with Mimosas.  A heartfelt thank you to her and her hosts Mollie, Jeanette and Danny.  And thank you Mary Ann for a very meaningful devotion.

The home was beautifully decorated with fresh flowers on each of the many tables.  Danny furnished a dozen multi-hued gourmet eggs from his chickens as a door prize.

We had four guests:  Former members, Carol G. and Marge D., so very nice to see these ladies again; and Martha C. and Pat DeHaan. 

The program for the meeting was a presentation of the goals from the Garden Clubs of Mississippi and the National Garden Club organization.   

Pleasures and Challenges from our Garden this month was a discussion of “What does a garden mean to you?”  Members paired to reflect and share gardening experiences.  Michael brought a leaf from a plant he could not identify and none of us could either

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The members of the Gulf Hills Garden Club surprised our president with a Birthday Cake.  

Next meeting is November 19.

The Hummingbirds Have Arrived in Gulf Hills and Ocean Springs, Mississippi

In mid-August the humming birds arrived once more in the Gulf Hills Garden Club area!  What a joy to watch them darting and tumbling through our late summer gardens!  If you love "hummers" as much as we do you can do a number of things to attract them to your garden and make their fast lives a little less hectic.  I have put in a number of links that will take you to fact-filled sites about hummingbirds, so please use them.

 

  

As gardeners we can plant many different plants in our gardens that will appeal not only to our own visual senses and also fulfill the needs of the hummingbird.  Here are two different websites with helpful lists of hummingbird friendly flowers  The Best 18 Plant Families for Natural Nectar and Planting a Hummingbird Garden

Keep in mind that hummingbirds also need a good supply of clean fresh water. it can be anything from a sprinkler for them to fly through to a very shallow bird bath.   Here is a very good article on providing water for hummingbirds.  Providing Water for Hummingbird

 

Hanging hummingbird feeders are the most common way for us to provide food for these high powered birds.  Here is a link to information about humming bird feeding.  

Debbie's Tips for Attracting and Feeding Hummingbirds

It has been noticed that some humming birds are staying along the gulf Coast during the winter months.  Winter hummingbirds in the Gulf   Please help "Make a Home for Hummingbirds" along with the National Wildlife Federation.

Here's a fact-filled PDF article that you may download about the Ruby-throated hummingbird

Remember that hummingbirds can be one of the most delightful ornaments that we can have in our modern gardens.  Take a few minutes out of your life to enjoy the birds and the flowers.  

I'd like to thanks photographer Larry Keller for allowing us the use of his spectacular hummingbird photos on our gulf Hills Garden Club blog.  Clicking on the Hummingbird pictures above will take you to full size images of each photograph. If you click HERE you can enjoy his full gallery of amazing wildlife photography.

Gulf Hills Garden Club Marjorie Albrycht Yard Award for March of 2015

A local Gardner was presented by the Gulf Hills Garden Club, with the Marjorie Albrycht Yard Award for March of 2015.
The long time Gulf Hills resident and Gardner was also given a Camellia Japonica "Delores Edwards" (1989) hybrid to plant in his beautiful garden.  At this time of year on the Gulf Coast it can be a bit difficult to find a garden that has not been hit by the ravages of winter. This one was full of glorious blooms that made us all feel a bit closer to actual spring, which for us will be not to far down the road...Oh, wait, what is that??? I can see it just ahead! Spring is truly almost here!

Among the many plants that were flowering in our yard of the month choice were,

Magnolia liliiflora or Japanese magnolia

 Galanthus or Snow Drops

And three different types of Camellia

We hope that the images above will give  you a small glimpse of why we chose this garden as the yard of the month!

From the Garden of a Gulf Hills Garden Club Member, Shrimp Plant-Justicia Brandegeana and Bursting Hearts-Eunoymus Americanus

Here we have two images that were recently taken by one of our club members of two of the plants that they currently have in their Gulf Coast garden.

Shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeana)  The brackets are shrimp colored and resemble the shape of shrimps.  Also available in yellow. As much as we love shrimp here on the South Coast it is just no wonder that this is such a popular plant among our gardeners.

Bursting hearts (Eunoymus americanus) bloom in late summer through the fall.  This plant was purchased at the Spring Plant Sale at Strawberry Plains Audubon Center, Holly Springs, MS.  This gorgeous plant is native to the United States but is on the endangered plant lists in a number of states to include New York and Illinois.  Breath taking when hiking in the woods and the bright red color is seen.

For further information please visit:

Shrimp plant (Justicia brandegeana)

Bursting hearts (Eunoymus americanus)

Update on the 2015 "Coastal Treasures" Mississippi Gulf Coast Spring Pilgrimage by The Gulf Hills Garden Club

Here is an update on the 2015 "Coastal Treasures" Mississippi Gulf Coast Spring Pilgrimage.

The website is up and going now. Please take a moment to stop by and take a look at the website.

To the left is the cover art for the rack card. The cover was done by one of or newest Gulf Hills Garden Club members Michael W. Moses.

For more information about the rack card art please Click Here