Author: bklngarden

Fall Gardening Speaker Series – Brooklyn Branch, Cuyahoga Co. Public Library

Presented by Friends of the Brooklyn Library & Laurel Garden Club

Pruning: When, Where, and How
Tuesday, September 10, 7:15–8:30pm

Are you interested in improving the appearance and increasing the vigor of your landscape plants? This presentation discusses the appropriate time and proper technique for pruning shrubs and deadheading flowering plants. Join Sue Gold from the Master Gardeners of Cuyahoga County to learn the when, where, and how of pruning. 

Registration required: https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/10750485#

Putting Your Garden to Bed
Tuesday, October 01, 7:15–8:30pm

As fall winds down and winter approaches, gardeners need to address some basic maintenance that will make their work in the spring much easier. This presentation explains the basic tasks for preparing for winter. Topics covered include lawns, roses, evergreens and shrubs, flower beds, vegetable gardens, and tools, too. Presenter: Christine Harris from the Master Gardeners of Cuyahoga County.

Registration required: https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/10750487#

Laurel Garden Club 2024 spring series with Friends of Brooklyn Library

This year we’re partnering again with the Friends for an instructional series at the Cuyahoga County Public Library Brooklyn Branch, 4480 Ridge Road. Register now to guarantee your place! Download flyer.

Friends of Brooklyn Library Spring Gardening series

Seed Starting Demonstration: Tues, Feb 6 from 7:15 – 8:30pm
Cookie Kriozmanich from the Master Gardeners of Cuyahoga County will demonstrate & explain how to succeed with starting seeds indoors. Learn about proper containers, planting, light, heat, how to set up an area at home, when to start, how to water, how to prevent dampening off, and how to harden off.
Register: https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/9605486

Container Vegetable Gardening: Tues, Apr 2 from 7:15 – 8:30pm
Chris Harris from the Master Gardeners of Cuyahoga County demonstrates how growing vegetables just outside your door can be easy and fun! Learn how to grow your favorite vegetables in containers—even potatoes! Choosing the right containers, proper soil, watering and much more. Register: https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/9605807

Gardening for Pollinators: Thurs, May 16 from 7:15pm – 8:30pm
Learn how you can support the health & number of pollinators in your garden! Greg Cada will teach us about the types of pollinators in our area and their role for plant life, food supply and economy.
Important Ohio pollinators such as honey bees, bumble bees and monarch butterflies have recently gained attention due to declining populations. Fortunately, gardeners can take steps to support these and other pollinators through plant selection and simple gardening practices.
This presentation was created by a partnership between the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, and The Ohio State University Bee Lab and Pollinatarium.
Register: https://attend.cuyahogalibrary.org/event/9606000

Garden Club of Ohio annual convention in Independence

The Cleveland District cordially invites you to attend the 96th Annual GCO Convention Tuesday, April 16-Thursday April 18, 2024 at the Holiday Inn in Independence, Ohio. Vendors, raffles and an Ohio Judges Council Standard Flower Show will be part of the entertainment. Cleveland offers so many things to see and do just around the corner; come early and stay late! 

  • Tuesday, April 16th the beat begins for past and current Board members with Kathy Wagner’s favorite music – old fashioned jazz! Did you know that jazz music has a long history with flowers? Gardenia’s tucked in Ella Fitzgerald’s hair and Herbie Hancock’s love of roses are examples. And callas were everywhere! Join us as we turn down the lights and enjoy the celebrated Barbara Knight Trio as we swing to songs related to flowers.
  • Wednesday, April 17th begins with our Life Member Scholarship Breakfast featuring Lake View Cemetery’s COO and VP Ops Marilyn Brandt. Why a cemetery? As a member of American Public Gardens, Lake View is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Level 2 Arboretum. It houses the Moses Cleaveland Trees, one of the nation’s largest Weeping Canadian Hemlocks, and a Japanese Maple collection. One can find the gravesites of Alan Freed, the Father of Rock ‘n Roll, Eliot Ness, John D. Rockefeller and the soaring monument housing the caskets of President James A. Garfield and his wife. “Lake View Cemetery-Cleveland’s Hidden Gem” will be a wonderful tour presented by someone who knows all the secrets.
  • Thursday, April 18th will showcase The Big Book and Bette Lou Higgins of Eden Valley Enterprises. Bette is an Emmy-nominated documentary filmmaker and was voted to participate in the 2023 national Women’s Storytelling Contest. Her presentation of “What’s Her Story” will include local Clevelanders such as Harriet Keeler, a botanist, author, educator, and suffragist who is memorialized in Brecksville Reservation of the Cleveland MetroParks.  Our annual meeting will follow. Think Educational Exhibit.

Our Workshops and Speakers aim for enjoyable education. Looking for Civic Award projects or learning about botanical arts, we can help!

  • Workshop: Mandy Spisak is a multimedia artist using pressed flowers to make a pretty and usable luminary. Mandy teaches at the Peninsula Art Academy and at her studio Mindfully Made Arts. She uses upcycled fabric and wallpaper to create beautiful sustainable works of art. Think Botanical Arts.
  • Workshop: Jessica Shaffer and the FirstEnergy Green team will address how large-scale reforestation by one of the nation’s largest power companies helps the environment and our lungs- The ‘power’ of one tree! Tie a white ribbon (lung cancer awareness) around your very own tree or shrub seedling during this workshop. Think Conservation, Trees, Pollution and Reclamation.
  • Speaker:  Jonathon Cepek is a Wildlife Ecologist who has served with the USDA and now as the Manager of Wildlife for 24,000 acres in the Cleveland Metroparks.  He has authored many articles and has been a speaker at national and international conferences. He runs a long-term urban ecology project and using 200 wildlife cameras he found that after 100 years, Bobcats, River Otters and Trumpeter Swans are making a comeback in NE Ohio.  Think Wildlife.
  • Speaker:  Nathan Rutz is Director of Soil at the very unique Rust Belt Riders food recycling plant in downtown Cleveland. RBR gathers food waste, with meat and bones, from residential and commercial locations with an unusual twist- it is recycled to high grade soil. Think recycling.
  • Speaker: Our Design Banquet features award winning Jeremy Rettger, AIFD, CFD. Jeremy loves competition and won the 2023 Arrangement Category at the Mid America Invitational Cup, the 2022 Designer of the Year from the Great Lakes Floral Association and too many more to list. He has designed the large entry floral design at the Cleveland Great Big Home + Garden Show for many years. “Fun and Fantastical” will showcase unusual floral designs and Jeremy’s personality will shine through. The material and his mechanics will be left open to view after the program as an educational tool for you. Think Flower Show designs.

Questions/request registration form:   mmz772 [at] roadrunner.com

David Slawson – Japanese Garden presentation at 4/9 meeting

Our April meeting will feature the presentation “Evoking Native Landscape Using Japanese Garden Principles.” Dr. David Slawson of Seven Hills will be the speaker. He is one of America’s foremost landscape artists trained in the Japanese tradition. Among his creations is the Japanese Garden at the Cleveland Botanical Garden.

7:00 p.m. in the Community Room of the Brooklyn Fire Station, 8400 Memphis Avenue, Brooklyn, Ohio 44144.

Learn more about Dr. Slawson online at SlawsonCreations.com. See a brief video preview of our evening’s program at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCBu_4q0Pls


Download a flyer to print/share.

2019 Plant Sale is May 18th – Save the Date

Our annual plant sale will be Saturday, May 18th, 2019 from 9pm to 2pm. in the Brooklyn Senior Community Center, 7727 Memphis Ave, Brooklyn. The sale will be open to the public. There is plenty of parking and the sale is indoors so weather is not a factor.

For sale will be professionally grown perennials, annuals, herbs, vegetables. Large selections of plants including selections appropriate for containers and window boxes, for sun and shade. Join us rain or shine and fill your garden with color and scent.

Download flyer

Mel Hauser, Good Nature Organic Lawn Care, at March 12, 2019 meeting

Our first meeting of 2019 will feature a presentation about Healthy Backyards by Mel Hauser from Good Nature Organic Lawn Care.

Plan to attend if you are interested in:

  • the use of common lawn and garden chemicals and the risks they
    pose to our people, pets, wildlife, water and natural environment
  • how to have healthy lawns and vibrant gardens without using
    dangerous chemicals

Mel is Good Nature’s Outreach Coordinator and a popular speaker to advocacy groups on topics of concern for a healthy environment. Expect a lively and interactive presentation with Mel’s real life experiences and anecdotes to help us understand how to be better stewards of the earth…starting in our own backyards. A great opportunity to sort through the myths and marketing jargon common with the word “organic.” Mel is a lifetime resident of Northeast Ohio, currently residing in Brook Park. He has served on the Rocky River Watershed board since 2011, striving to protect our environment for future generations.

Good Nature Organic Lawn Care, since 1999. Based in Independence.

Download a flyer to print/share