Waseca Garden Club slows down for winter season

Members of the Waseca Garden Club held their monthly meeting at the University of Minnesota Southern Research and Outreach Center on Monday evening, Oct. 27. The topic under discussion  was decorative use of spruce tops, presented by Pat Forshee.

 

There were 20 members of the garden club present to watch the presentation. Forshee explained sellers acquire what look like miniature trees by cutting the top two to four feet off of specially grown trees. She assured everyone, “Don’t worry, they grow back, it takes a few years, but they do come back. They harvest them from August through November, then refrigerate the plants to keep them fresh.” She gets her tops from Bachman’s Cedar Acres in Farmington. Since these are being gathered from the tops of the trees, a lot of that gathering is done by machine, said Forshee, “These are not easy to harvest, and a lot of that land is owned by private people; you have to get state and county permits to gather and grow.” She mentioned sprcue trees prefer an acidic soil, then elaborated, “They grow best in bogs, a type of wetland with spongy, water-saturated soil rich in peat and naturally decayed plant matter.” The trees are packaged in a bundle of 10 to 20 plants. She decorates them to look like miniature Christmas trees or with leaves for a fall motif, for decoration around the house for holidays or to leave with a loved one at the cemetery.

 

For anyone who wants to create their own projects, she teaches classes where she provides pots, soil and decorations. She also will decorate them herself for sale; pertinent information can be found on Facebook by searching for Pat’s Potting Shed. Interested individuals can place orders; groups can schedule a class.

 

In other Waseca Garden Club news, there are 4 to 5 gardens ready to be considered for the 2026 Waseca Garden Tour, with additional recommendations anticipated over the next few months. A spring plant sale to raise funds was mentioned but no details have been set in stone. A few members of the garden club recently underwent a broccoli challenge where they tried eight different types of broccoli. The fairground garden will be having its perennials pulled in the next week or so; that garden is reported to be doing well. There will be elections in November with the new club officials being selected next February.

 

Refreshments were served after the meeting by Jolene Gundermann and Kathy Oftedahl and included pumpkin cake and cookies/bars along with lemonade. This meeting was free and open to the public. The next Waseca Garden Club meeting will be held on Monday, Nov. 24 at the University of Minnesota Research and Outreach Center and is open to the public.