Just A friendly reminder of our next
ECA meeting on Saturday Dec 14th at 10 am at Volunteer Park Conservatory. Hope to see you all there.
It was wonderful to see so many in attendance at our appreciation and awards banquet a few weeks ago, The blooms that were brought in were wonderful. Thank you to everyone who participated
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 sometimes get this time of year 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.
There’s always the question about growing mums on last years stools… Mums grow best on new roots because new roots absorb nutrients better than old roots which become woodier with age,
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 14th at 10 am at our monthly ECA meeting at Volunteer Park Conservatory.
Supplies:
1) Peat tray ordersMark 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 2024 Chrysanthemum growing list to Michael Boudreaux at [email protected]. Michael will compile a 2024 list of chrysanthemums by grower.
3) ECA Kings mums Group Order in January ECA will be placing a group order to Kings Mums right after Christmas. 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 – Michael Boudreaux, Susan Soon and Sue Joyner
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 14, 2024 10 am -Noon – Evergreen Chrysanthemum Association monthly meeting
Saturday, January 11, 2025 10 am – Noon – Cutting Preparations
Saturday, February 10, 2025 10 am – Noon – no meeting – cutting University instead
Saturday, February 15, 2025 10 am – Noon – Cutting University
Saturday, March 8, 2025 10 am – Noon – Club Plant Sale
Saturday, April 12, 2025 10 am – Noon – Club Plant Sale
Saturday April 12, 2025 9 am – 2 pm – Public Plant Sale
Saturday, May 10, 2025 10 am – Noon – Bonsai and Cascades
Saturday, June 14, 2025 10 am – Noon – Hybridization discussion
November 2024 Meeting Minutes
In lieu of our November meeting we held our annual banquet at the Azteca on Saturday, November 16, 2024. We had about 18 people in attendance. Several members brought in beautiful blooms to share with the group
