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 musicold 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

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

Brooklyn Fall Fest 2018 is Saturday, Sept. 29

Stop by our booth at Fall Fest!
Sat., Sept. 29
Free Admission! Noon to 6pm. Activities both inside & outside for the whole family. Bake Sale & handmade craft show inside the Senior Center. Outside food trucks & children’s activities. Parking across the street at the recreation center with a free shuttle to the activities.

Brooklyn Veterans Memorial Park
7619 Memphis Avenue, 44144 (behind City Hall)

Superhero Food Truck
Swenson’s Food Truck
Brooklyn Boosters dogs and burgers
Kettle corn
Funnel cakes, lemonade, Philly cheesesteaks, french fries, fried desserts
Polaris Culinary students made desserts to share!

Fall crafts inside the Senior Center (along with the Brooklyn Historical Society and Laurel Garden Club)

Home Depot craft for kids

Hayrides, Face painting, Magic Mike balloons, Candy guessing, Bounce House, Friends and neighbors!

Cleveland Pollinator and Native Plant Symposium 9/21/18

The Cleveland Pollinator and Native Plant Symposium
Friday, September 21, 2018
8am-4:30pm
OSU’s Wooster campus

This full day program explores the importance of increasing natural diversity and ecological resilience. The 4th annual symposium brings together 6 regional and national experts to increase your knowledge of pollinators, native plants, pesticide usage, and planting designs that are robust, diverse, and harmonious.

Held at the Wooster Campus Conference Center at The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, the 4th Annual Cleveland Pollinator & Native Plant Symposium will focus on shifting traditional horticultural practices to designing landscapes for beauty, biodiversity, and ecological benefits.

The all-day symposium includes breakfast, lunch and refreshments. Free parking on-campus.
Find the full event schedule and register online:
www.clevelandpollinatorsymposium.org

Audience: landscape architects, designers, educators, master gardeners, homeowners, naturalists, and anyone eager to learn about creating pollinator and wildlife habitats that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but also form an ecologically valuable alliance.

Conservation Symposium 2018 “Biodiversity: Life in Balance” – Cle Museum of Natural History 9/7/2018

Biodiversity: Life in Balance
Cleveland Museum of Natural History
Friday, September 7, 2018
9am-4pm

Fee: $20/person ($25 after August 31, 2018) (includes lunch when ordered by 8/31)

Register now: www.cmnh.org/conservation-symposium

Registration is now open for this year’s Conservation Symposium, titled Biodiversity: Life in Balance. This year’s event delves into this term used to describe the planet’s biological diversity. Participants will explore the benefits and challenges of maintaining balance within local ecosystems and learn how to communicate biodiversity’s significance. Presentations will cover the Smithsonian’s BioCube project, tree pathogens, Odonata diversity, restoration success stories, and green burials.

The event will feature two keynote speakers; Jennifer Collins, Manager of Ocean Education at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, will give a talk titled Biocubes – Life in a Cubic Foot, and Dr. Chris Martine, Director of the Manning Herbarium at Bucknell University, will deliver the keynote address, #SciComm, Media Relations, and a Botanist on Mars.

Details about both keynote speakers, a schedule of presentations and other information can be found at: https://www.cmnh.org/conservation-symposium

In collaboration with the Conservation Symposium, expert-led field trips are being offered on Thursday, September 6 and Saturday, September 8: www.cmnh.org/conservation-symposium-field-trips

The Conservation Symposium remains affordable due to the support of sponsors: Cleveland Metroparks, Davey Resource Group, Geauga Park District, Holden Forests & Gardens, Lake Metroparks, Portage Park District, Summit Metro Parks, The Nature Conservancy, NE Ohio Sierra Club, Ohio Division of Wildlife, Nature Center at Shaker Lakes, The Trout Club of The Cleveland Museum of Natural History, The Trust for Public Land, Western Reserve Land Conservancy, The Wilderness Center and the Women’s Committee of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History.

Plant sale Saturday, May 19th from 9am to 2pm

The annual plant sale is located in the Brooklyn Senior Community Center, 7727 Memphis Ave, Brooklyn on Saturday, May 19th from 9pm to 2pm.. 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.

LGC_PlantSale051918

Garlic Mustard Pull – Wed., May 2

Join Big Creek Connects and Cleveland Metroparks. Help control the aggressive invasion of the alien Garlic Mustard plant and protect our native habitat.

Meadow Ridge Picnic Area of Brookside Reservation (Located at Fulton Rd and Park Dr, north of Memphis Ave in Cleveland.
Closed-toe shoes, long sleeves, pants. Bring your garden gloves if possible. Rain date 5/3.
info@bigcreekconnects.org. Day of event contact 216.661.7706.

Find information about the non-native, highly-invasive Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata ) here.

Download a flyer.

Backyard Habitat Ambassador Training 4/14/18

Habitat Ambassadors are volunteers trained by the National Wildlife Federation to educate their community about the importance of wildlife habitat. Ambassadors show homeowners and others small changes they can make to benefit local wildlife and interact with the community at events. If you enjoy gardening, talking to people, and helping others learn how to make a difference, this opportunity is for you!

April 14, 2018 from 10:00am – 4:00pm
North Royalton Library, 5071 Wallings Road, North Royalton, OH 44133

Registration deadline April 6, 2018:  http://cuyahogaswcd.org/events/2018/04/14/nwf-backyard-habitat-ambassador-training

Presented by the National Wildlife Federation and Cuyahoga Soil and Water Conservation District.

NWF Habitat Ambassadors flyer – 2018