October 2025 Meeting
Valerie Crabtree – Let’s Talk Herbs!

Valerie Crabtree is self-taught, gardening herb officio. Valerie talked the audience through the process of growing their favorite herbs in containers. She demonstrated the process, pot, clean dirt, seeds and thoughtful care thereafter. Not too much sun, watch for wilting – they need regular watering with potable water or natural rainwater (not caught off the roof). It is important to avoid reclaimed water, as herbs watered with reclaimed water are no longer edible. Watch for bugs and use only organic treatments. You will be rewarded with fresh herbs before you know it.

Her go-to reference books are:

• Gardening in Containers, Editorial Staff of Ortho Books, Designer Gary Hespenheide
• The Herb Book – Arabella Boxers & Philippa Back

All you need to start are: Seeds, flowerpots (containers), clean potting soil, Organics Insecticidal Soap, Neem Oil, Miracle Gro Watering Can Singles, 6.5” pruning shears (Fondwell), and garden gloves.  

Valerie brought some of her freshly cut herbs – dill, basil, rosemary, sage, cilantro, thyme. The aroma from fresh herbs were magical. Valerie gave Cindy Smith made rosemary; Cindy baked focaccia bread. Each garden club member received samples to taste and to take home. 

November 2025 Meeting
Adaptive Gardening with Jessica Sullivan

Jessica Sullivan, from the Osceola Country Extension, gave an enlightening talk on how to save your body while working in your garden. She suggested gardening in raised beds. On-the-ground beds should be a least two feet tall, 3-4 feet wide with a stable surface surrounding the beds. She demonstrated cool tools for raised beds – Garrett Wade hori, hori gardening knife, T-Grip, and raised bed cultivator from Gardeners Supply. Jessica also discussed the purpose of a variety of tools; what each was best used for – pointed digging spade for digging in roots, tools for hoeing, and how to use hand pruners. She recommended Fiskars Powergear hand pruners, Fiskars Power-Gear Loopers with ratchet action (for up to 2inch branches) and Fiskars Power Gear Super Loopers. Jessica demonstrated tools with arm support, braces/grip aids, and adaptive handles for leverage. 

She also suggested making a practice of warmup exercises and stretches prior to beginning your gardening or lawn work. To reduce back strain you should use a wide stance when raking, cultivating hoeing, or shoveling. She recommends keeping your back straight and move with your knees. Ensure you have the right garden work shoes and gloves to protect yourself from fungi, bacteria, parasitic worms and protozoa. Looks like I need to do some garden tool shopping, how about you? 

Further information is available at: 
Webinars, Resources on gardening for human health. 
www.flhhn.com
[email protected]

January 2026 Meeting
Sustainability with Danny Sexton, Kissimmee Florist/s

Our January meetig Danny Sexton of Kissimmee Florist. The florist is a 45-year Kissimmee Florist is a 45-year-old family business. It started with Ray Bud, who later married a woman named Rose. Yes, it’s true! 

Mr. Sexton gave a facinating talk about the history of the flower industry and the topic of sustainability. Until about 1969 – 98% of every flower was grown in the US. The US did not have a lot of regulations 50 years ago; it was the wild west. Sustainability shifted, concerned about saving water, fertilization, insecticides. EPA introduced regulations which prompted the growth outside the US. Now 98% of what a florist sells are grown outside of the US. Fifty years ago, most flowers were grown in an open field, now most are grown with some type of protection. Florists truly sell an international product now: Ecuador, Ginger from Costa Rica, Europe – Holland/Belgium, Gerbers from Canada, Carnations from Colombia. Most tropical flowers are from Columbia, El Salvador, Mexico. Kenya is the third largest rose producer in the world. Kenya is good at managing water, just enough water to develop just the right size of rose. Sunflowers and snapdragons are grown locally in Florida. 

The flower industry has a grading process most retail stores sell Grade A. Grocery, Walmart, Sam’s, Trader Joes sell Grade B flowers. The flower head hard; the bloom, not as large; stem not as long – cost less, but not as good a quality. Freedom rose is the most popular in the US – high success rate of opening. Bred for opening rather than fragrance. 99% of consumers want the rose to open. Less than 1% will have fragrance. Consumers want roses that will be partially, ¾ way open, and stay that way for 7 – 10 days. 

Between April and May 2025, the florist industry experienced a 20% increase across the board. Drove home the fact that they needed to be better stewards of the flowers. Kissimmee Florist recycles as much as they can. Special section of vases they use to repurpose flowers, nursing homes. They share as much as we can – so things don’t go to waste. The Rose bowl has found ways to repurpose the hundreds of thousands of stems of flower, make potpourri which is sold for charity, other nonprofits are invited to repurpose for other things. 

Sustainability is now on the consumer. We want to teach the consumer how to take better care of their flowers and ultimately keeps the cost down. Up to 25% of every flower grown never meets the market. The flower never leaves a trace; it is destroyed.  

How you take care of the flowers impact the industry. Customers need to do what is right; avoid too much light, change the water, use flower preservative, cut the stems, so the flower lives longer. Better care of the flower stems slows the cycle of flower demand, so it saves water, time, fertilizer. When a flower is cut; the amount of fluid in the stem, is the life of the flower. Look at the stem before you put them in the water, want to see bright white in the stem if it is dark, the stem is clogged. Droop head syndrome, what happened is at some point the water channel (stem) was clogged. Cloudiness is bacteria in the water. 

Bottom the stem is the biggest indicator of freshness of the flower. As it drinks the water the stem will crinkle, curl, pith in the middle, change color.

February 2026 Meeting
Raising Monarch Butterflies with Meryl Rachlin, Club Member

Meryl Rachlin presented a lecture on Monarch butterflies – more specifically about raising them.
With the widespread use of genetically modified seeds and the herbicide Roundup in agricultural, combined with the over-development of land throughout our country, the habitats for butterflies has diminished. The availability of both the flowering plants Monarchs rely on for food, as well as the essential Milkweed plant for egg-laying, continues to be depleted by millions of acres a year.  
The ability to raise monarchs seasonally in your yard may seem a small bite in this giant, horrible story but every little bit helps. The magical transformation from egg to butterfly is quite miraculous and to witness it is glorious. Meryl says the cost and work to doing so is quite worth it. Meryl has graciously shared the slides from her presentation on our News Page.