The newly named Ready, Set, Grow Garden Club is ready for new garden ideas, set with fun, and growing with members. During the July meeting, Sue Resop came up with the winning club name; she holds the title of the club's first president. Andrea Benton was chosen for vice president, and Sherry Demske will hold the positions of treasurer and secretary.

The July meeting was full of garden tips and secrets. Various ways to label plants were demonstrated. A new way to water containers and newly planted flowers was shared, and different tools to make gardening easier were revealed. Club members also learned the secret to keeping slugs away from hostas and rabbits out of their yards. New perennials from the garden center were shown and discussed, and a sample stepping-stone was presented for the upcoming class, being held at Greenleaf Landscape and Gardens.

The "visiting vase," filled with cut flowers from Anita Robert's yard, was passed on to Cindy Young, who will bring it to the next meeting on August 16th, when the club will plan a monthly club booklet and have a perennial plant exchange.

New members are welcome to join the Ready, Set, Grow Garden Club. Meetings are held at Greenleaf Landscape and Gardens, located at Hwy. 96 and PP, on the third Thursday of the month, from March to October, at 7 PM.

Anyone wishing to attend the stepping-stone class on August 8, please call Greenleaf Landscape and Gardens at (920) 864-7778 to make reservations.

"We're in the middle and we are simply marvelous! We are the flowering perennials, shrubs, and grasses that catch your eye with our color, our form, our fragrance and sometimes, our motion. We provide many of the key elements of the garden design. We aren't the tallest, and we aren't the smallest."

As the eye falls upon any garden, be it a garden bed, pathway, entrance or outdoor room space, it may look upon the border babies but it will definitely drift upward toward themid-level plants. Much of the beauty and drama of the garden takes place here in the middle. Much of the structure of the garden takes place here, too.

Lucky gardener, you have almost an endless choice of plants from which to choose for this location and we cannot begin to name all of them. Instead, we'll give you a number of design tips to help in the selection of your "Marvelous Middle Collection."

1. Colors and Color Combinations: create a mood or match your home colors.
2. Fragrance: flowers and/or foliage with a nice scent.
3. Shapes: mounds, billows, spikes, and fillers to fill in empty spaces.
4. Textures: look at the flower and foliage shapes and sizes.
5. Motion: see the way the plants move in the breeze.
6. Garden Theme: xeriscape, cottage, cutting, natural, woodland, native plants...you can find mid-level plants for almost any theme.

We'll look forward to seeing you and when we do, ask us for suggestions for mid-level border plants for your kind of garden. We'll be watching for your arrival — see you soon!

Who is standing high above the bright flowering faces of the garden? The "tall and sassy" guys. These plants are the ones that first catch your eye. And these tall plants in the background of your gardens may be selected from the perennial group, grasses, shrubs or small-scale trees. As you make your selection, remember — they can have the important role of creating the theme of the garden design. It could be a single plant as the focal point, one with strong architectural form or a colorful grouping that stands high above the other flowering plants in a perennial bed.

A strong focal point, such as the beautiful lacy and waterfall structure of a Japanese maple called 'Waterfall' (weeping form, 4-6 ft) is a good example of a single plant creating a garden theme. An observer will be expecting to see a bubbling stream with a waterfall directly beneath its weeping branches. The maple and the stream could be surrounded by a woodland garden of columbine, hosta and trillium. Or perhaps the focal point is created with a different tree; envision a semi-shady meadow garden with your tree surrounded with daylilies, ornamental grasses, rudbeckia and more.

Another function of the tall member of the garden is architectural interest or structure. The butterfly bush (Buddleja), flax (Phormium), or small trees are examples of structural plants, each creating a different mood or type of garden. All offer garden interest, many even in the winter.

Perhaps you have a perennial garden without a tree or large architectural plant. Height, drama, color, texture and motion can be achieved in no time if you choose from the many different tall-growing perennials such as buddleja, canna, lavatera, verbena (bonariensis), watsonia, and ornamental grasses.

Whatever your garden design and whatever the plant function that you desire, we have a large selection of "tall and sassy" plants available today. Come in and take a look!

Lawns are put to the test this time of year. Any weakness in water coverage, soil nutrition, or weed control shows up in the heat of summer. Now is the time to recheck your sprinkler system. Plugged or broken heads need to be fixed or replaced. Brown patterned circles in your lawn generally indicate a sprinkler head has been plugged by a grain of sand or has become a victim of a vicious lawn mower attack.

The irrigation system in flower beds should also be inspected. Many times we plant in front of a sprinkler. This is not a problem when the plant is small, but it can result in disaster for other plants in the bed as the new guy grows and blocks the water for the others. Make the necessary adjustment and watch your plants flourish.

Let's face it, working in your garden or watering your lawn is not easy while yellowjackets are buzzing around you. The yellowjacket could be searching for food or trying to protect the nest it carefully constructed during the past season.

Although wasps are helpful in pollination, and some varieties actually feed on insects such as caterpillars and other crop destroying bugs, their venom can be harmful to those who are allergic to stings.

There are several ways to protect your garden visitors from the yellowjacket. The most natural way is by prevention. Wasps are attracted to food sources by smell, so eliminating any type of food such as soda or protein will keep these critters away. Do not squish a wasp, as the bug releases a pheromone that attracts others of its kind. Even worse, if you swat at the yellowjacket and miss, it will only try to defend itself by trying to sting you.

The easiest way to remove yellowjackets from your garden is by using a trap. The yellowjackets will enter the trap and get stuck. When using a trap, be sure to empty it weekly. We suggest placing a few strategically in different parts of the garden (away from entertaining areas) for best results. You can also spray the nest, if it is not near any vegetables or herbs. Note that spraying does put you in danger of being stung.