The Rainbow Garden Club North Texas this year is funding a $2,500 scholarship
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
Taffet@DallasVoice.com
This year, with the help of the North Texas Chamber of Commerce, The Rainbow Garden Club North Texas is funding a $2,500 scholarship, Stan Aten said. It is, he said, “a major milestone for us in helping the next generation.”
And it’s an example of how the garden club, with about 80 members, is so much more than just backyards.
The club is also working with several branches of the Dallas Public Library including Hampton-Illinois Branch in Oak Cliff and the Oak Lawn Branch. But they’re not helping with books; they’ve started a seed collection.
Anyone can go to these branches and check out some flower seeds. Plant them. Watch them grow and flower and then harvest the seeds. The when the season is done, return some of the seeds to the library to be checked out by the next person.
Aten said the club is aways looking for innovative ideas as well as new members. And this weekend would be a great time to meet members of the club: They’ll have a booth at this Sunday’s Oak Cliff Earth Day at Lake Cliff Park.
“We’re actually quite involved in the local gardening scene,” Aten said, noting that the Rainbow Garden Club is a member of the Oak Cliff Garden Forum, which is made up of seven garden clubs on the south side of town, the Dallas Council of Garden Clubs with 29 clubs mostly in Dallas County but also includes a few in Ellis and Kaufman counties and District 10 of the Texas Garden Clubs.
“That gives us access to different schools,” Aten said. “Environmental school, flower judging schools, landscaping and design schools.”
He said the classes help members become better gardeners.
“It’s becoming more challenging,” he said. “Our climate is different. Changing. We have to adapt what we grow.”
Aten said we have two seasons in Dallas — summer and not summer — and we have to learn new ways to garden and learn to pick plants that will withstand the heat.
To do that, Rainbow Garden Club meets once a month with educational and social events. In summer there’s a pool party. And “Occasionally we’ll go on road trips,” Aten said.
“Sometimes we’ll meet at Northaven Gardens.”
“And we learn from each other,” he added. “Then we have experts. One is a palm expert who plants them all over Dallas.”
While palm trees are thought of as more tropical and coastal, Aten said some palms are native to the Dallas area. But he warned, “Plant adapted varieties or you’re just wasting your money.”
“In March, we went on a tour of the Bachman Lake Greenbelt,” Aten said. They’re just in the process of clearing invasive species.
In addition to their own gardens, RGC tends three community gardens — at Hampton Illinois Branch Library where they maintain the courtyard garden, at the North Oak Cliff Branch Library where they maintain the irises in small patches of garden in the parking lot and at Old City Park next to the Browder Springs Building.
Aten offered some tips for gardeners: Use less chemicals. Plant flowers and other plants that will attract butterflies and beneficial insects.
The success of vegetable gardens depends on how much sunlight you get in your yard.
“If you don’t have six hours of sunlight, you’re wasting your time,” he said. But that should be before 2 p.m. Late afternoon sun in this area will burn your vegetables.
Be water-wise: Plant more draught-tolerant plants.
And his favorite tip to save money: The water department buys 2,500 trees a year, and the city gives out trees in November. To make sure you get your tree, sign up in September.
For new home buyers, Aten suggests rather than digging up your garden right away, then spend the first year tending what’s there and wait and see what come up. Bulbs, he reminded, are buried in the ground. They’ll come up when they’re ready, bloom and then die back down.
The soil you have in your yard will affect what will grow. Find a neighbor who’s lived in the area awhile with a garden you like and ask them for tips on what grows best in your neighborhood.
And visit gardens, garden centers and arboretums throughout North Texas to get ideas for your yard. He suggested Chandor Gardens in Weatherford, the East Texas Arboretum in Athens, the Heard Museum in McKinney and Weston Garden in Fort Worth.
For more information on the Rainbow Garden Club visit RainbowGardenClub.