UPCOMING AT A GLANCE
Sept 9th – Garden Club Meeting
FROM PRESIDENT LEELA
As I begin my term as President, I just want to wish you all a glorious summer. It would be divine if the next 3 months would be like this week has been – cool and sunny (we won’t focus on the DRY part).
Spend lots of time chillin’, unwinding and lounging in your gardens ……. that is, after all, what all that work is for. 👍
Happy summer; see you in September!
Leela Menon
FROM (PAST) PRESIDENT LISA
A few days ago, I started looking through my photo collection to find pictures of fun times and great people that I could add to this final newsletter of my time as your President. I rapidly moved past the number of pictures that I knew I was allowed. So now I want to thank each and every one of you that helped to make this year happen.
This is the best garden club in the country, as I have said many times, and something like that requires a whole lot of cogs in the wheel to keep it moving forward. Well, we are a lucky bunch that just happens to have an exclusive number of extremely talented “cogs!” That’s pretty much our entire membership. I’m honored to have served as your President and privileged to have worked alongside our Board members ~ Vice President’s Debra Holland and Cece Clark, our Treasurer Kathy Schoenduve, and ongoing Secretary Marina Huggins Dye. All of the Committee Chairs and their volunteers that served on our very long list of activities need to stand proudly and take a bow!!! So thank you ALL for making 2025 ~ 2026 a wonderful year for everyone to experience and celebrate being part of this amazing community…Flotsam and Jetsam Garden Club. Looking forward to seeing you on one of the committees I have signed up for during this upcoming Year. The New Board is up and running and making plans for another exciting year. Hugs All Around!
Lisa Eastep (Your Past President)
PS – I’m chairperson for Workshops next year…. Anybody wanna come play with me?
Lisa Eastep
JUNE LUNCHEON
What a welcome change to our June Luncheon, dining at Heronswood Gardens!
A big Thank You to Dr. Ross Bayton, Shelby Nelson and all the participating crew members that helped make our event a happy success! Thank you to our wonderful luncheon garden club volunteers, Mary Cannon, Crystal Ramstead and Valerie Kemmer for helping to set up. Also, a big thank you to our volunteer tour group guides, Chuck Holland, Hilary Vonckx, Margaret Carr, Lenore Lynch and Sheri Kiley! Thank you all for participating, bringing a delicious assortment of dishes and desserts! Not to sound like an awards show – but a very special Thank You to Debra Holland for the whole Heronswood idea and for being instrumental in organizing the garden tours.
‘Cheers’ to another successful event with Karen Lemagie spearheading the scholarship awards!
‘Cheers’ to another productive and memorable year!
Margaret Sinnott – Marina Huggins Dye
NANCY GARING
Many of you reading this may remember Nancy Garing, a very active garden club member who served two years as president (2004-2006.) She passed away in Bothell on May 31. Don and I knew Nancy and her husband John in the Tri-Cities, and it was their encouragement and hospitality that propelled our decision to move to Eglon when we retired. Over the years we shared cross-country ski trips, dinner parties, neighborhood activities and many other good times. Nancy was creative, fun, energetic, inclusive and loving; and she always had the missing dinner ingredient whenever I needed to borrow. Nancy put her ‘all’ into anything she did. If you were a house guest you definitely became a garden club member, no excuses. A celebration of her life will be held on August 2 in Redmond. Call me if you would like details.
Lenore Lynch
FIELD TRIPS 2025 – 2026
This last year was a fantastic time for field trips to great gardens around Puget Sound. In October we enjoyed tours of the private garden of Dan and Jennie Everts, who are avid maple and conifer collectors, and the Bellevue Botanical Garden. In March we visited the Vista Garden in Bremerton with both Baqi Koppelman and Dr. Albers leading the tour. In April we enjoyed Lakewold Garden in Lakeland with another enlightening tour by a truly knowledgeable and entertaining docent. Finally, in May we toured the Dunn garden in Shoreline with a docent who was also a plant breeder. Many of us enjoyed the social time with other members as well as the beauty and history of great gardens in our area.
For the 2026-27 FJGC year, our committee is currently planning a local tour of member gardens in September. We already have two members volunteering for their gardens to be shown and we would love to have others. Participants appreciate learning from our neighbors and seeing private gardens in development, they don’t need to be perfect. If anyone else would like to open your garden, please contact me.
This summer Lenore and I will be scouting out several gardens in the Gig Harbor area that will be open through the NW Perennial Alliance open garden program. We are looking forward to another wonderful year of field trips. If anyone would like to join our committee, please contact me. Have a wonderful summer!
Cheers,
Joann Ater for the Field Trip Committee (Lenore Lynch and Sherry Pollard)
SOIL
Need some soil but don’t want to drive all the way into town? There is leftover soil after garden sale. A $5 donation to the Garden Club will get you two 5-gallon buckets full. The pile is still held at Brooke Luehmann’s house (6997 NE Buck Lake Rd), across the street from the from the Community Center. You can leave your $ with Brooke or bring it with you to September’s meeting.
Brooke Luehmann
GREENHOUSE GIVEAWAY
Sturdi-Built Greenhouses from Portland Oregon. Free to Garden Club members or families / Dismantle and remove. 11X20 / Dutch Door / No Broken Glass / Built in 2002
Lisa Eastep
SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
We are pleased to recognize our Flotsam and Jetsam Scholarship recipients for 2026. This year we have four young women, two returning recipients and two from Kingston High School. We continue to be impressed with the amazing students each year.
Rasa Turner is a 2026 graduate of Kingston High School with a 3.893 GPA. She was homeschooled through elementary while her mother was a traveling nurse. When she returned to Kingston Middle School through Kingston High School, she was active in sports and a variety of clubs including art club, garden club, soccer, swimming, and golf. She has volunteered for ShareNet through swim team, and fundraising at Whitehorse Golf course. Rasa will be attending Northern Arizona University in Environmental Engineering and Art Education for her love of protecting the environment and her love of art in all forms.
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Shelby Weaver will graduate in 2026 from Kingston High School (GPA 3.84) with college credits through Olympic College (GPA 3.85), which she began attending her senior year. She has a wide variety of interests, all with biology as one of their prerequisites, and a talent for photography. For three years she was on the track team, a year on the swimming team, and a year on the cross-country team. She has volunteered at Driftwood Key and Kitsap Humane Society. Shelby will be attending Washington State University in the field of Biology.
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Sophia Brown is attending the University of Oregon, completing her freshman year of college on the Dean’s List with a 3.96 GPA. She has decided to double major in Environmental Studies and Political Science with the goal of pursuing environmental law/ environmental policy by either completing law school or interning and entering environmental politics. As a walk-on, she has also joined the UO Rowing team, being the 2nd varsity coxswain as well as a member of the Climate Change Lobbying chapter of UO. Sophia will continue to work over the summer at the Dahlia Cove Studio in Port Gamble as a Kitchen Lead.
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Julia Beatty has just completed her junior year at Oregon State University in Corvallis with a GPA of 3.78, maintaining her personal goal of keeping her GPA above 3.5. Her field of study is in Fish and Wildlife Conservation Sciences. In the Fall, she spent three months in Tanzania studying wildlife management with the School of Field Studies, gaining a new perspective of the necessity for conservation. She volunteers at the Chintimini Wildlife Center and is in her second year working through the Sports Programs department of Dixie Ree Center. Julia will return to Kitsap to work for her fourth summer at Butcher & Baker Provisions.
Karen Lamagie
HORTICULTURE
I hope summer finds all of you cutting arms full of flowers and harvesting baskets of veggies.
Due to personal commitments I am not able to change, I will be unable to attend the September and October meetings. If anyone has a horticulture topic they would like to share at one of the meetings, please contact me.
Chris Brinton
Click here for Brooke Luehmann’s Chick Pea Salad Recipe served on Friday at the Garden Sale.
DIRECTORY UPDATE
New members in May! Update your directories! See the Updated Directory Errata on the “Members” page
Martha Pendergast
SCRAPBOOK
June Luncheon, Garden Sale photos, Field Trips and workshop photos are all on the Scrapbook page.
Holiday Luncheon photos from Karen Loffing & Lisa Eastep are on the Scrapbook page.
Look at the beautiful wreaths created at Lisa Eastep’s home at the Wreath Making Workshop.
Eastern Wind Fused Glass Workshop photos are now on the Scrapbook page. Our artists did a beautiful job!
Check out the field trip photos from Bellevue Botanical Garden on the Scrapbook page.
Check out the wonderful photos from our Halloween feast at the October meeting and the beautiful photos from our November meeting. Such fun!!
(https://flotsamandjetsam.club/scrapbook)
HORTICULTURE — Chris Brinton’s Meeting Notes
Download Herb & his Friends (April)
Download Plant & Seed Propagation Notes (March)
Download Putting Babies to Bed (November)
Download Drying Herbs and Citrus Zest 10-23, Spiced Liqueur Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme
Download September meeting notes here.
Click to download Chris Brinton’s Horticultural Presentation Handout —Tools Tips & Tricks
Meet Sandra & Roger Larsen — click on Members Mini Biographies to read Sherry Pollard’s fun interview.
To read Holly’s Horticulture articles, click on this link or look at the top menu–>Resources–>Horticulture
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Flotsam and Jetsam Garden Club
PO Box 14
Hansville, WA 98340
Meetings are held on the second Wednesday each month from September to June at:
Greater Hansville Community Center, 6778 Buck Lake Road NE, Hansville, WA 98340