The San Saba Garden Club met January 5th in our Mill Pond Clubhouse, with Anna Wilson presiding. The Club Collect was led by Gail Bruner and Lynn McHenry led the Club Creed. Twenty two members were present and ready to start the new year. Everyone was happy over the Christmas Tour of Homes report and we certainly appreciate the families who worked so hard to have the homes on the tour this year. Gail reported details and members shared responses from people enjoying the tour. Carol Littlefield reported on the progress of the finance committee working on a budget and presented ideas for a lasagne dinner probably on a Sunday in the next few months.

The Keep San Saba Beautiful Committee has daffodils for sale and had the bulbs available thru our table decorations today.

Trish Fullerton introduced her friend, Penny Adams, an Extension Associate, Viticulture Advisor for the Texas Hill Country with Texas AgriLIFE from Fredericksburg. Penny is the first woman winemaker of Texas with Cypress Valley Winery of Cypress Mills, Texas. She discussed many techniques of growing and pruning grape vines to insure the best fruit every year. Training trunk development ideas can be practiced with other plants as well. Penny encouraged us to use the correct tools in the garden and reviewed several pruning shears and lopers for the safety of the branches. Pruning stimulates growth so do not prune until time for the plants to grow. She gave the example that Valentines’ Day is always a good time to prune roses to bring on their growth for early spring. Then she showed us beautiful slides of gorgeous orchids and discussed products to use in growing orchids in Texas. Orchids are the largest plant species in the world and we should try to bring orchids to bloom, over and over. She discussed what orchids need for an environment to thrive: air, high light, water and humidity. She suggested Maxicrop for lots of blooms. So she presented each of us an orchid plant and challenged us to bring our blooming orchids to the April Garden Club meeting.

She closed her program with more beautiful pictures of tiny orchids to giant orchids, with fantastic colors, stating orchid growing can be a very rewarding plant.

The meeting was adjourned, Sharon Hayes said the blessing before our hostesses, Aileen Roberts, Clione Rochat, Jeanne Sauer and Trish Fullerton, served a wonderful soups and salads luncheon with special hot coffees and a table full of desserts.