North Olmsted Garden Club upholds its 60-year-old tradition
By Thea Steinmetz
Insights
Published Aug. 8, 2007

The members of the North Olmsted Garden Club are looking forward to their 60th annual Flower and Garden Show on Aug. 25 at the North Olmsted Community Cabin at 28114 Lorain Road. The theme of the show is “There’s No Place Like Home to Garden.”

The schedule is a fun one, based on “The Wizard of Oz.” The classes run from Emerald City to Ruby Slippers and the Scarecrow. There are even special categories for a Junior Division.

The show this year is dedicated to Jane Bartell, past president and devoted club member for over 30 years.

Jane is an award-winning avid gardener who has a positive influence and beneficial imprint on the club. Her gardening interest started with herbs, and this led to a general interest in growing all kinds of plants. She has many fond memories, but there is one that still gives her pleasure to think about. She learned that the founder of the garden club, Paul Young, a former garden writer for the Cleveland Press, was celebrating his 98th birthday. She quickly organized a committee to honor this gentle man with a dinner. Little could she know that Paul Young would live another 10 years before peacefully passing away at the age of 108.

One of Jane’s interests has always been to involve the public at large in the yearly flower show. She feels strongly that not just the members of the club should have a chance to exhibit their prized flowers and vegetables, and suggests that this day is one for the whole community to get involved in. You don’t have to live in North Olmsted to enter.

Entries are accepted at the cabin on the day of the show between 9 and 11 a.m., with entry tags available at the door that must be completed by the exhibitor. Containers for specimen flowers and vegetables will be furnished.

To obtain a show program and learn more about the various categories, such as Artistic Design, Floral Specimens and Container Plants and Vegetable/Fruit Specimens, call Sheryl West, (440) 427-9856.

For all those fancy roses and dahlias, Tony Colnar is offering a special display from his garden. The public is invited to view the show between the hours of 1 and 8 p.m., and admission is free.

The president of the North Olmsted Garden Club is Rose Racz and the vice presidents, Cheryl West and Tess Jalkanen, are the show chairpersons.

Herb of the Year
Every year the commercial herb growers of this country pick an herb that they wish to highlight. We would be remiss if we did not take advantage of taking a closer look at this year’s selection, Lemon Balm.

It is in the family of lemon-scented herbs and has many useful applications. Its weedy characteristics and generous spreading habits make this a plant that even non-gardeners can grow.

My earliest Lemon Balm recollections date to when I visited my grandmother during summer vacation. She would grab a handful of the leaves and bring them to the dining room to polish the table to a high gloss. No spray cans with chemical formulation were even available to her. Every now and then I still treat our own table to this earth friendly herb.

The ease of cultivation and complete absence of exacting growing conditions suggests that once it is in your garden, it will be there forever. Lemon Balm thrives in sun, shade or partial shade. Any soil conditions will do, and the plant rewards the grower with a generous harvest.

Do not confuse this with Lemon Verbena. Some mix up the two plants. No, Lemon Verbena is a tender plant that does not survive our winters. Lemon Balm is an enthusiastic self-seeder. Even the seeds are not fussy and might come up in the cracks of a driveway.

Mixed with peppermint or spearmint in the early part of the growing season, it makes a delightful tea. Another way to use the fresh leaves is in sun tea. Stuff a quart jar with the leaves and add one regular black tea bag and let it sit in the sun for a day.

When stewing apples, adding a few leaves brings a piquant taste to the fruit. Fresh fruit salad will also benefit from the addition of finely chopped leaves. The adventurous cook in me even makes pesto with this plentiful herb. It is a good way to stretch the basil and parsley if there is not quite enough for a good batch for the pasta.

This is an herb that does not improve by drying it, and it is of little culinary value in its dried stage. In spite of that, I dry some every year for a certain purpose. As winter colds hit our family, I make a steam preparation that includes plenty of Lemon Balm. While I won’t go as far as to claim that it has certain medicinal properties, it makes for a pleasant steaming experience.