The Gardens Gate – June 2022

June 2022 The Gardens Gate Port St. Lucie Botanical Gardens

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Volunteer Spotlight

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Out and About with The Gardens

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Upcoming Events

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2410 SE Westmoreland Blvd.

Port St. Lucie, FL 34952 Phone: 772.337.1959 Fax: 772.237.5952 Email: info@pslbg.org Web: www.pslbg.org

CONTENTS Monthly Calendar Link

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Discovery Backpacks

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Imagine

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Volunteer Spotlight

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Garden Center Update

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Combat Poor Soil Conditions

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Time For Some Laughs

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Mission Statement...

Out & About with The Gardens

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Friends’ mission is to create and maintain a beautiful, serene sanctuary in the center of Port St. Lucie that is environmentally sound and naturally diverse and to provide educational, cultural and recreational opportunities for all who visit.

Pictures from our Guests

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Pavilion & Gift Shop Hours:

Wednesday - Saturday 10:00am - 4:00pm Sunday 12:00pm - 4:00pm

Garden Center “Summer” Hours

Wednesday - Saturday 9:00am - 12:00pm FURRY FRIENDS ARE WELCOMED ACCOMPANIED BY RESPONSIBLE OWNERS. PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW YOUR PET TO RELIEVE THEMSELVES IN OUR GARDEN ROOMS. PET STATIONS ARE LOCATED AROUND THE GARDENS FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE. SKATES, BOARDS & BICYCLES ARE NOT PERMITTED ON THE WALKWAYS IN THE GARDENS

Suggested Donations: Adults $5 • Students $2 Free for FPSLBG Members and Active Military with family (IDs required)

Officers & Directors...

Upcoming Events & More Yoga and more

President: Vice President: Secretary: Treasurer: Directors:

Taste of The Tropics

Jeff Chambers Heather Furnari Mary Petrone Brenda Gustafson Mark A. Barnes John Erickson Laura Mehr Judy Nash-Wade Arthur Pearlstein Cathy Russo

Standing Committee Chairs...

Election Committee:

Stephanie Alessandrini-Giarraffa Cathy Russo Laura Mehr Brenda Gustafson

Finance Committee: Gift Shop Committee: Horticulture Committee: Membership & Volunteer Committee: Laura Mehr Resource Development Committee: Heather Furnari Strategic Planning Committee: Arthur Pearlstein

Newsletter...

Editor & Design:

Mark A. Barnes

The Gardens is managed and operated by Friends of the Port St. Lucie Botanical Gardens, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) public charity organization, that was founded to help support the daily operations of The Gardens. Friends volunteers provide hands-on daily oversight of the facility, including staffing to handle the many visitors year round. Please consider becoming a member of Friends. Friends' is a 100% volunteer organization. In all cases, donations are deductible to the extent allowed by law.

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President’s Message

Greetings one and all!

A big thank you to everyone that takes their time to donate volunteer hours to the Gardens.

Every time I walk The Gardens, I am told how wonderful and beautiful everything looks. When I explain we are all volunteers, people are impressed with the dedication and commitment you all give. We have visitors from all over the world that are impressed by how mature The Gardens look when I tell them we have only been open for 12+ years. So please feel proud of the hard work you have put in.

Things are starting to get off the ground. The Peacock House area has been fenced in with construction fence getting that ready for remodel. The Security system and WiFi are in the works and The Gardens fence as well as the paver installation of the Secret Garden are about to happen. Big thanks to the City of Port St. Lucie for making this all possible.

As for future events, we are waiting to see what impact the Port Project will have as far as parking and logistics of having big events. During the construction, the Gardens will still be accessible. Once the fence is installed we plan on our opening hours to be Tuesday through Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 12 to 5pm. Additional hours can be possible if we have the staff available. This is where more volunteers would be needed.

There will be meetings coming up with the City to discuss the Port Project and Holiday Lights so we can better plan more efficiently how the rest of this year and 2023 will be developing.

Please keep in mind this is YOUR garden and your input is encouraged to help maintain and enhance our beautiful Botanical Gardens.

Thank you all for everything you do!

Jeff (aka the Captain)

Jeff Chambers, President

Friends of the Port St. Lucie Botanical Gardens

F r i e n d s M o n t h ly B oa r d M e e t i n g June 13, 2022 • 4:30pm 3

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Are You Looking for Fun and Educational Children’s Activities?

The Gardens is the Perfect learning environment!!!

Our NEW Discovery Back Packs are available to the public inside the Pavilion, free of charge, for parents and kids to take an exciting adventure and learning experience through the Gardens.

Adults may sign-out backpacks Wednesday thru Saturday 10am - 4pm and Sunday 12noon - 4pm, with a Valid State ID, for use within our Gardens.

Scheduled Lessons are available to public and Private schools. Inquire at our front desk or email education@pslbg.org.

Thank You.

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new Members and Volunteers, and to track hours. She has also upgraded our POS system, which can now track all of our inventory and print UPC labels with just a few clicks. The programs she has installed, called Rain and Neon are approximately 80 % complete, with the balance to be rolled out by the middle of June.

Our May 2022 ACE Volunteer of the Month was awarded to SHARI SCHWAMB. Shari has only been with us a short time, but has made a big impact.

Shari has a MS in computer science form George Washington University and worked as an IT project manager for Prudential Insurance for most of her working life.

She has brought that knowledge and talent to PSLBG, and has helped us move up to the next level in our IT systems. She has consolidated our Membership and Volunteer departments’ computer systems. Going from 5 separate programs, we now only need one to sign up

Shari has told me that the first day she walked into the gardens, she just knew this was the place she wanted to volunteer. She had previously volunteered at a hospital gift shop and for the police department in Boynton Beach, but she has said that the gardens here at PSLBG just really spoke to her immediately.

I recently had the opportunity to visit her lovely home in Tradition, and as soon as I turned onto her street, I immediately knew which house was hers, as most of the front yard had been planted in a colorful array of gorgeous pentas. There was no other color on the street, but hers. It was a perfect reflection of her colorful personality.

Her enthusiasm for our gardens, and all that she has given in terms of time and knowledge makes her the best choice for our May ACE Award Volunteer of the Month.

By: Laura Mehr

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Hours: Wednesday thru Saturday 9am - 4pm & Sunday 12pm - 4pm. Closed Mondays & Tuesdays Summer Hours Begin June 22nd 10

GARDEN CENTER SUMMER HOURS June 22nd through September 14th Wednesday through Sunday 9:00 am to 12:00pm Please stop by the Garden Center during our Summer hours. We will be there with lots of plants and unique garden items. We have an abundance of herbs, bromeliads, aloe, frangipani, milkweed and many more varieties for your yard.

Left: Thanks to John Erickson & Andrea Heitfeld, Orchid Society members for the donation of orchids.

Right: Holly Haas, our Garden Center ‘Herb Queen’ will do anything to get the herbs to the garden!

Lower Left: Beth Willard, Landscape Committee. Be sure to take a look at this beautiful creation.

Below: Merv Yearwood, Brenda Gustafson & Sherry Catalina at the recent Volunteer Party.

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How to Combat Poor Soil Conditions for a Better Garden It's easy to blame poor soil conditions for our garden troubles; I do it myself. In northern Wisconsin it was too sandy. Now where I garden in Cincinnati, there’s too much clay.

Some soil blocks nutrients from plants.

Some soil simply lacks enough nutrients for the plants we want to grow. And that is part of the problem—we need to choose the right plants for the soil, or find a different place to grow the plants we want.

Determining soil health

another foot of black gold (rich, dark soil). I used Milorganite with abandon—it doesn’t burn and it seemed to keep the deer at bay.

Each year I top-dressed the garden with generous amounts of more composted matter and organic mulch. The gardens in my raised beds grew lush and plants thrived. However, I admit that just beyond my yard, in the natural soil, a healthy community of plants also existed—natives to the area. I could have looked into gardening with those species, too.

SOIL HEALTH https://www.hortmag.com/smart-gardening/ how-to-combat-poor-soil-conditions-for-abetter-garden By: JENNIFER SMITH UPDATED:MAY 18, 2021 ORIGINAL:AUG 5, 2018

Start by taking several soil samples to your local extension office where they can analyze the nutrients in the soil. Then select plants with needs that fit those levels. That’s how we avoid double-digging and adding endless yards of amendments—in short, how to avoid a lot of backbreaking work.

Easy steps to improve the soil Even after adding plants suited to the soil, we can still enhance the growing conditions by adding composted manure. It's beneficial to plants, but keep in mind that most root systems reach far below the top few inches of soil. While the nutrients may be penetrating below the compost line, they may leach quickly through the soil if it's sandy.

When I gardened in very sandy soil, I created raised beds one foot tall. I added a foot of black soil, worked it in as deeply as I could to the original soil, and then I added 12

Poor Soil Conditions: A raised bed is one solution to combatting poor soil conditions.

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Beautiful updates to the Orchid Room by the Port St. Lucie orchid Society

Gardens wildlife by Dale Johnson

Gardens wildlife by Dale Johnson

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Metal Gardener by Artist Greg Hold

Beautiful updates to the Orchid Room by the Port St. Lucie orchid Society

Beautiful updates to the Orchid Room by the Port St. Lucie orchid Society

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