Contributed
Members of the Seven Lakes Garden Club have enjoyed a number of special April events.
The club kicked off its April meeting with an easy, fun Trunk Plant Exchange. Members with plants, cuttings, and seeds to share pull into the parking lot at the Chapel of the Pines and raise their trunks and hatches.
A spree of checking out the goodies and grabbing them up ensues for about fifteen minutes. Members go home with lots of great plants at a great price: free.
They headed indoors to hear from the day’s speaker, herbalist Kate Smith of Made Whole Herbs.
Smith shared her personal journey in discovering herbs to address her ongoing medical issues. With doctors only offering only drugs, her North Carolina grandmother inspired to start researching herbal solutions. The journey dramatically changed her life.
Smith acknowledges that medicine plays an important role and that understanding, research, and balance are paramount. She created her own business when she discovered that nature has a lot to offer in healing.
Smith led the group through how to identify useful plants in our area. She shared the triangle method of identifying plants. It is important to utilize resources to identify plants, not just one source but a minimum of two. There are excellent resource books by experts on plants in our area.
The process starts by looking at the plant and being able to correctly articulate how the leaves are arranged. It is like learning a new language.
Kate explained the benefits of two common plants, dandelion and plantain. Both have medicinal properties. She emphasised the importance of research and learning how to properly identify the plant and how you can use it to your benefit.
Making tea is a common use of the plants. Honey and other herbs can make it more palatable since they can be bitter. There are multiple ways to process and use these plants for your health. The club enjoyed the engaging and interesting presentation.
SCGC members also enjoyed a special trip last month. On Friday, April 11, 15 members of the SLGC joined with members of seven other garden clubs on a Spring Field trip to Fayetteville.
The first stop was the Cape Fear Botanical Garden. The garden was in early Spring mode and showed nice color many azalea varieties including the deciduous native Yellow Azalea.
The garden has many unique feature gardens including a heritage garden area and a camellia garden.
Lots of interesting plant specimens were found throughout the garden along with some fun features like the Kaleidoscope and the Children’s Garden.
The group enjoyed a box lunch from Bees and Boards at the garden then headed out for some shopping therapy.
Gardeners love plants of all kinds, and they really enjoy adding new plants to their gardens. Bell’s Seed Store on Russel Street was a treat for all with its wonderful selection of all things garden. Club members enjoyed reducing their inventory.
