Hello everyone and Happy March. Looks like snow on the ground where the white blossoms have fallen off the trees. Looks so pretty - snow without the cold!  

This month`s meeting on March 16th will be held at the Oakdale Masonic Center starting with refreshments at 12:30, meeting to start at 1pm. Our guest speaker this month will be Glenn Burghardt talking about Oxalis or clover. Glenn and Laura Burghardt will also be hosting the meeting this month and coming to the meeting in their Irish costumes. Members that would like to wear the green theme this month are welcomed and encouraged to. Let’s go green!! There will be a prize for the favorite outfit. The Thought of the Day will be given by Laura Burghardt.  

          We will meet at the Oakdale Citizens Cemetery on March 7th at 1 pm to plant a tree in honor of Arbor Day. It would be nice if our members attended this tree planting .

          There is a Home and Garden show this Saturday and Sunday at the Modesto Centre Plaza. This year it is free admission to the show. Some may like to go to this show. I hear they will have more gardening exhibits than other years.  

          On March 20th & 21st, the Camellia Society will host this year’s camellia show at the E&J Gallo Administration Building located at 600 Yosemite Ave in Modesto. Show starts at 2pm on Saturday and 10:30 on Sunday.  

          March 20th is also the Irish festival in Murphy’s. This is a fun trip. Watch the parade, listen to the bagpipers, have a corn beef sandwich and then travel a short distance to the Ironstone Nursery to see the hundreds of Daffodil’s.  

          The annual Daffodil show will be held at Ironstone on the 12th of this month. If anyone is interested in attending any of these events please let Brenda know. 847-3907.  

          We have started making plans for this year’s salad bar luncheon. We need donations for our gift baskets. Donations may be brought to our monthly meetings or dropped off at the home of Grace Griggs. If you have donations and need them picked up please call Grace at 847-5142. We used everything we had for the District meeting so we have nothing left at this point. Gently used items are always welcome. Members may ask local businesses for donations for the raffle and the silent auction. Please call Marilyn for the tax deductible/thank you form. We need the name and value of each donated gift from a business. Marilyn ‘s number is 848-8746.  

          If there is a committee that you would like to help with please let Brenda know or sign up with the chairperson of a committee at this month’s meeting. It takes all of us working together to have a successful event. 

          It is also time to start slipping plants for the farmers market that starts on May 27th and our salad bar luncheon in June. Please save any potting containers. We will need them. If each member pots 10 plants each we should have plenty for these two events.  

          The field trip to the flower and garden show in San Mateo has been planned for March 24th. We will meet in the city parking lot located on Yosemite Ave across from the fire station. We will have coffee and quiche made by Grace and leave for the show at 7am. We still have empty seats to fill so the last payment date had been moved to the 15th. Please ask a friend or anyone you think might want to go on this once a year fun trip. We will be returning to Oakdale round 6 pm. Wear comfy walking shoes.  

          Hope to see all our members at this month’s meeting and at some of these outings. Any questions, call Brenda at 847-3907.  

Oakdale Garden Club president

Brenda Peterson