PROGRAMS 2024
Theme: “Oh, The Places We Will Grow”
If meeting at the Nimmonsburg United Methodist Church, 918 Upper Front St., Binghamton NY, please park in the parking lot behind the church and use the parking entrance to the church. All Board Meetings will be held at the church, except when tied to a luncheon or otherwise noted.
FOCUS GROUPS 2024-2025
Cheryl Miller – Co-Chair 607-759-1112 and Joanne Arnold – Co-Chair 607-723-2799
In addition to the programs presented at our regular meetings (First Thursdays) , Focus Groups are held once monthly, year-round, to further explore various topics of interest to gardeners, nature lovers, and those curious to learn more. NOTE: Sign-ups will go out in advance of each. Carpooling will be available for field trips and all carpool drivers will be subsidized for fuel if desired.
April 10 Wednesday
Where: At the church
Time: 1:00 pm
Topic: Table Decorations
Create Spring table decorations for the April 11th luncheon. After the luncheon, the arrangements are delivered to our shut-ins, but you will be able to make your own as well for the cost of the materials. Please bring your own gloves and pruners if you have them.
Time: 10:30 am Board Meeting
12 noon Luncheon
Join us to kick off our year “Oh, The Places We Will Grow”
Location: Cortese Restaurant
117 Robinson St., Binghamton, NY
Speaker: Mary Rutz, owner of Wander Creek Farm, Greene, NY.
Wander Creek Farm grows vegetables, herbs, and flowers using regenerative farming practices for their CSA farm share, local farmers’ markets and wholesale. Growing 40 different kinds of veggies
May 2 Thursday
Time: 10:30 am Board Meeting
1:00 pm General Meeting
Topic: “Protected Native Plants”
BGC members, Sybille Sullivan, and Tony Antes will discuss some of the plants/flowers on the FGCNYS list found on pages 32-33 of this book. Learn what a native and protected plant is. Become acquainted with some new species or some old ones that you may not have realized were native to our area. Get a jump on thinking about what new plants to spruce up your yard this year!
May 16 Thursday
Time: 10:00 am (meet at the church parking lot to carpool)
Where: W&W Nursery, Apalachin, NY
Topic: Water Gardens
Are you interested in putting in your own water garden feature? We will get a lesson on how to make a container water garden, how to care for it, and what plants to put in it. Plants and accessories will be available for purchase. After we will enjoy lunch at Chat-A-Wyle!
June 6 Thursday
Time: 10:30 am Board Meeting
1:00 pm General Meeting
Topic:“A Drupa Scholarship Winner’s Meet & Greet”
Our annual meeting with the accomplished young men and women we have encouraged through our Drupa Scholarship program provided by the estate of Laimons and Silvia Drupa. The students will share their accomplishments over the past year. We are delighted to partake in their educational experiences.
June 20 Thursday
Time: 10:00 am (meet at the church parking lot to carpool)
Where: Kutik’s Everything Bees
Program at 11am
We will have a guided tour of Kutik’s Everything Bees in Oxford, NY. Kutik’s has been family owned and operated since 1978. We will learn about all the phases of honey production. We will have an opportunity to tour their pollinator friendly gardens and shop for honey to take home from their gift shop before we leave.
July 11 Thursday – Annual Summer Picnic
Time: 12:00 Noon
Place: Otsiningo Park – North Picnic Shelter
Topic: Picnic
Relax and enjoy the company of your fellow Garden Club members in the great outdoors.
Please bring your own picnic lunch or take advantage of a box lunch containing ¼ chicken, 2 sides and a roll from Phil’s Chicken House. Beverages will be provided by the Club.
July 18 Thursday
Time: 10:00 am (meet at the church parking lot to carpool)
Where: VINES in Binghamton
We will take a tour of VINES (Volunteers Improving Neighborhood Environments) 2.5 acre farm right in downtown Binghamton, where together with youth employees and volunteers, 7000 pounds of food is grown per year for sales and distribution. Then we will walk around the corner to tour the VINES brand new office building and learning center, the first net-zero energy building in Binghamton and the first commercial building in the Northeast made from straw bale construction.
Aug 15 Thursday
Time: 10:30 am (meet at the church parking lot to carpool)
Where: Gourdlandia in Ithaca, NY
Visiting Gourdlandia will be nothing short of magical. Featured on CBS Sunday Morning in November 2023 (Google it), we will tour Graham Ottoson’s garden and her studio. Pack a lunch and folding chair to picnic together at Robert Treman State Park. The tour is scheduled for 1PM. Website – www.gourdlandia.com
Sept. 5 Thursday
Time: 10:30 pm Board Meeting
1:00 pm General Meeting
Speaker: Colleen Wolpert from the Naturalist’s Club of Broome County.
Topic: Caterpillar Gardening
Butterflies and moths are beautiful pollinators that can’t exist unless the caterpillars reach adulthood. Learn what plants they require and how to help them survive all life stages. Most are living in your neighborhood in one of those life stages throughout the year. Learn how to tell caterpillars from other larva that might be less favorable for gardeners. Learn which gardening practices are more beneficial to insects including butterflies and fireflies.
Sept 19 Thursday
Time: 1:00 pm
Where: At the church
Topic: Houseplants
Nurturing a variety of houseplants can be a challenge. Master Gardener, Anthony Antes will share his expertise and give us pointers on what it takes to have healthy indoor greenery and flowers.
Oct. 3 Thursday
Time: 10:30 am Board Meeting at the church
1:00 pm General Meeting
Speaker: Carol Bayles, President of Southern Tier Orchid Society
Topic: “Orchids”
What a beautiful and exotic flower the orchid is! Does it intimidate you? Carol Bayles will teach us how to grow these tropical beauties in our own homes. There are so many varieties. You will be amazed! Did you know orchids can be pollinators also?
Oct 17 Thursday
Time: 1:00 pm
Where: At the church
Topic: Recycling in Broome County
Come learn all about the reality of where your recycling goes when it leaves your house. Cornell Cooperative Extension Recycling/Composting Educator, Kira Hawes will give us the dirt on recycling in our Broome County area.
Nov. 7 Thursday
Time: 10:30 am Board Meeting
1:00 pm General Meeting
Speakers: Sarah Hodder, President of the NYS Bluebird Society
Topic “Bluebirds”
Sarah Hodder, President of the NYS Bluebird Society and a Master Gardener through the Broome County Cornell Cooperative Extension, will give us a fascinating presentation on our NYS bird, the Eastern Bluebird. Learn all there is to know about this beautiful bird, and how to help protect them.
Nov 21 Thursday
Time: 1:00 pm
Where: At the church
Topic: New Leaf Cider Company
Broome County’s first and only hard cidery, located in near-by Port Crane, will share its history and operations as a New York State Farm Cidery. Enjoy free samples along with cider to-go purchase if you wish. Refreshments served.
Website: www.newleafcider.com
Dec. 4 Wednesday
Time: 1:00 pm
Where: At the church
Topic: Flower Arrangement
Come and learn to create a holiday table arrangement from Sue Cerrentani. Sue is a graduate of Cobleskill College and has worked in local flower shops. Arrangements will be used for our holiday luncheon on December 5th, but you can make your own arrangement if you wish at cost.
Dec. 5 Thursday – Holiday Luncheon
Time: 10:30 am Board Meeting at restaurant
12:00 noon Luncheon
Program: Installation of 2025 Officers.
Place: Little Venice Restaurant, 111 Chenango St., Binghamton, NY. (reservation form on pg. 51)
NOTE: All folders and year-end reports are to be returned to the President.
Starting this year, the Focus Groups are scheduling events in January, February, and March of 2025. Please see below.
Jan. 16 Thursday
Time: 1:00 pm
Where: At the church
Topic: Linen Production from Flax to Slacks
Amy Cook is a member of the Lamb to Loom Fiber Guild and owns her own flock of Finn Sheep. She is skilled in all stages of wool production from shearing to dyeing, spinning, knitting and weaving. She will take us through the process of producing linen from the flax plant.
Feb. 13 Thursday
Time: 1:00 pm
Where: At the church
Topic: Valentine’s Cards
We will be making valentines cards for our loved ones in time for Valentine’s Day. Extra cards will be delivered to our shut-in members, along with sweet treats!
Mar. 20 Thursday
Time: 1:00 pm
Where: At the church
Topic: Hot Chocolate, Cookies and Podcast
Enjoy hot chocolate and cookies while we watch the extraordinary podcast “Natures Best Hope” with renowned ecologist and best-selling author Douglas Tallamy, PhD Discussion will follow. Douglas is an American entomologist, ecologist and conservationist. He is a professor at the University of Delaware. Douglas speaks nationwide about his concerns that the approach to gardening must change. He contends the widespread planting of ornamental plants, native to other parts of the world, is creating ecosystem-wide problems.