Join Us Each Month at The Alternative Garden Club

May 1, 2012

The Alternative Garden Club is a social and educational organization open to persons committed to equality for all who share an interest in horticulture and landscape design.  The Club meets regularly for lectures, the exchange of ideas, field trips, special events, and the development of service projects throughout the community. More information about our organization can be found on the About Us section in the navigation menu above.

The Club meets the first Wednesday of every month at 7:30 p.m. at The Garden Center, 1602 East 2100 South, at the northeast corner of Sugar House Park. Click Here for a map of our location.

May Meeting

April 28, 2013

tulips 241 S wpThe next meeting of the Alternative Garden Club will be this Wednesday, May 1 at 7:30 PM at our regular location in the Sugar House Park Garden Center.  Esther Henrichsen will treat us to a presentation on Historic Gardens, an interesting and timely topic as we look forward to the Spring City Historic Homes Tour.  We hope to see you all there!

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Myrtle Spurge Alert

April 2, 2013

Myrtle Spurge wpMyrtle spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites), also known as burro tail, is now starting to bloom along the Wasatch Front.  With its bright yellow flowers, this drought-tolerant plant used to be sold as an ornamental.  Unfortunately, it is very invasive and spreads in our foothills to form almost monocultural colonies that displace native plants and wildlife.

You can help control this invader by digging it up wherever you see it.  Or if it seems like too much work to take a shovel with you on a hike, take a pair of pruners or hedge clippers and cut off the flowering heads.  This action will at least keep the plant from going to seed and reproducing this year.  Be careful!  The milky, latex sap is toxic and can cause blindness if it gets in the eyes.  Sensitive people can also develop a poison-ivy like rash from skin contact.

If you have myrtle spurge in your yard, do the environment a favor and remove it!  A good replacement plant is our native rabbitbrush, which is just as drought-tolerant and has beautiful yellow flowers in the fall.  If you’re looking for spring color, plant daffodils or tulips, which are non-invasive and do not need to be watered in our climate, because they complete their growth cycle before the heat of summer.

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April Potluck

March 31, 2013

tulipsThe next meeting of the Alternative Garden Club will be Wednesday, April 3 at 7:30 PM in the Sugar House Park Garden Center. We will begin with a brief business meeting, followed by a fun and delicious dinner provided by you, our members. Bring your favorite dish (entree, salad, side dish, or dessert) to share.

P.S. Garden tip for April: This month you can plant semi-hardy vegetables such as beets, lettuce, carrots, and potatoes. Finish pruning roses and fruit trees ASAP, but don’t prune spring-flowering shrubs yet, such as forsythia, lilacs, and bridal wreath, or you’ll cut off all the flower buds and won’t get any flowers this year!

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Garden Tip for March

March 26, 2013

daffodilsNow is the time to prune your fruit trees, grapevines, and rosebushes.  Also, hardy vegetables such as peas, spinach, onions, cabbage, and turnips can be planted as soon as the soil is dry enough to work (and it’s not covered with snow!).

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October Monthly Meeting: Annual Autumn Potluck

October 1, 2012

Oct ’12
3
7:30 pm

It’s fall again, and to help with evading the never-ending terror of political everything everywhere (unless, like me, you enjoy that sort of thing), it’s time to come on out for our monthly meeting, which happens to be the much-celebrated, practically perfect annual fall potluck dinner. Please join us on October 3rd at 7:30 in the evening for excellent food and great company. Please bring your favorite salad, side, main dish or dessert. Utensils, napkins, plates, and drinks will be provided. So, bring some tasty vittles and join your fellow friends and members for an excellent evening. We hope to see everyone there!

Date: Wednesday, October 3rd
Time: 7:30pm
Where: Sugar House Park Garden Center, 1602 East 2100 South

Tagged as: Alternative Garden Club, Garden Club Meeting, Potluck

Second Annual Equality Utah Garden Party!

July 8, 2012

Jul ’12
14
9:00 am
Please join our friends at Equality Utah for the Second Annual EU Garden Party. Equality Utah has helped so many people and enriched our community by fighting for what’s right. Let’s support them on July 14th with drink and tasty food. More information and to purchase tickets available Here.


Equality Utah
Equality Utah
175 West 200 South Suite 3001, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Phone: 801-355-3479 equalityutah.org.

Tagged as: Equality Utah, Fundraiser, Salt Lake Communtiy Service

Annual AGC Members Garden Tour

June 30, 2012

Jul ’12
8
2:00 pm

It’s time once again for The Alternative Garden Club’s Members Garden Tour. With an early spring and summer, and July heat coming early as well, gardens are weeks ahead. It would be nearly impossible to tell the time of year by looking outside, assuming you could see anything through all the smoke!
Keeping with tradition, light refreshments will be served at most venues. We look forward to seeing everyone for this spectacular summer event as we celebrate the gardens of our peers.

Date:Sunday, July 8th
Time: 2:00pm – 6:45pm
Where: We will meet at 3149 South 4180 West at 2:00pm to start the tour. Directions, notes and a map can be found below.


View 2012 AGC Members Garden Tour in a larger map

Tagged as: Alternative Garden Club, Garden Tour, Members Garden Tour, Salt Lake City Garden Club

No July Monthly Meeting (Independence Day)

June 25, 2012

Due to the Independence Day Holiday, the July meeting of the AGC will not be held on Wednesday, July 4th. The July meeting has not been rescheduled and so our next monthly meeting will be on August 1st at 7:30pm. We hope to see everyone at the Annual AGC Members Garden Tour on Sunday, July 8th! More information on the tour coming soon! Happy Fourth of July everyone, be safe out there and enjoy the great weather!

Tagged as: Alternative Garden Club, Garden Club Meeting

Field Trip, 7th Annual Wasatch Community Gardens Tour de Coops

June 10, 2012

Jun ’12
30
10:00 am

June. First day of summer, Pride, a farewell to any semblance of chilly weather (almost), vacations, and the Wasatch Community Garden’s Tour de Coops. Please join us on Saturday, June 30th for the tour starting at 10:00am. This has become a much anticipated and well celebrated annual event for the AGC, and we look forward to another stellar tour.

The tour sells out completely as tickets are limited, so please purchase tickets as soon as possible (see below). Tickets are $10/person or (and here’s the best deal), $20 for groups up to six.

Date: Saturday, June 30th
Time: No offocial meeting time/place. This is a self-guided tour, but the hours are from 10:00am – 2:00pm
Where: The Urban Garden Company is located at 365 West 800 North, Salt Lake City (see map below)
Cost: Depends on participation ($10.00/individual, $20/2-6 people). We recommend pooling together in groups
Tickets: Get your tickets early as they sell out quickly. Tickets can be purchased online Here.
From the WCG Website:

If you have never been to a Wasatch Community Gardens Tour de Coops, make 2012 your first year. We know it won’t be your last. The Tour de Coops is a fun affordable community event, that can be family-friendly or a great way to spend the afternoon with friends.

Tour de Coops is a self-guided tour of some of the coolest urban chicken coops throughout Salt Lake City. Coop owners around town will open up their yards, gardens and coops to tour participants. It will be an excellent opportunity to check out unique coop designs and talk to folks about how they are raising their chickens, the breeds they raise and other backyard animals they have (bees, ducks, turkeys, etc…). It is also a great chance to see some very cool vegetable gardens, xeriscape/native gardens, permaculture practices, and some serious urban homesteading. This is an event that no budding permaculturalist, urban gardener or aspiring eggriculturalist should miss!

More information:
http://wasatchgardens.org/events/chicken-week-2012
Purchase tickets here:
https://wasatchgardens.org/civicrm/event/register?id=343&reset=1
The AGC’s March meeting notes (The Keeping of Chickens):
 http://alternativegardenclub.com/2012/notes-from-the-march-meeting-the-keeping-of-chickens/

Tagged as: Chickens, Conservation, Garden Tour, Permaculture, Tour de Coops, Wasatch Community Gardens

June Monthly Meeting: Thanks Thom and Millcreek Gardens

June 7, 2012 Events

[ June 6, 2012; 4:30 pm to 9:30 pm. ] As always Thom and Millcreek Gardens went above and beyond in supplying our June meeting with dozens of gorgeous plants that were given away at meeting’s end. Thanks also to Thom for the excellent and informative lecture. We owe both Thom and Millcreek a huge thank you from the garden club for their continued interest [...]

Tagged as: Alternative Garden Club, Bushes & Shrubs, Garden Club Meeting, Perennials, Salt Lake City Garden Club, Trees, Utah Garden Club

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June Monthly Meeting: New Plants and What to Expect in the Future

June 4, 2012 Events

[ June 6, 2012; 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm. ] As many of you know, Thom and Millcreek Gardens have been exceptionally supportive of the AGC, and we really can’t thank Thom enough. Join us then for June’s lecture, presented by Thom Sawyer, buyer for Millcreek Gardens, and a guest grower/expert, covering the newest plant additions to hit nurseries this year, the more unique introductions [...]

Tagged as: Annuals, Garden Club Meeting, Perennials

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2012 Pride Festival and the AGC

May 28, 2012 Activities

[ June 2, 2012; 3:00 pm to 8:00 pm. June 3, 2012; 11:00 am to 7:00 pm. ] It’s that time of year again, where we celebrate our history and community by participating in the largest LGBTQ event in the state, the Utah Pride Festival.

Our participation at Pride isn’t necessarily about increasing the club’s membership, though it’s certainly a welcome bonus. All of us engage, voluntarily or not, in more than our fair [...]

Tagged as: Alternative Garden Club, Gay Gardening Club, Salt Lake City Garden Club, Utah Garden Club, Utah Pride Festival

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A Retrospective Spring City Heritage Days

May 27, 2012 Activities

It was windy, cool, and occasionally rainy, but still an excellent time with excellent people. Of course, a special thanks to Dan for opening up his beautiful Mount Pleasant home for the weary traveler (great coffee, too) and to Bruce for a wonderful spread of delicious foods, which included the best rhubarb crumble anywhere. Seriously, [...]

Tagged as: Alternative Garden Club, Garden Tour, Spring City Heritage Days, Utah Garden Club

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