Garden Club: October 2021

To kick off the holiday season, our club will take a field trip to Roger’s Gardens on Tuesday, October 19. Their garden shop will be decorated with festive Christmas trees, special ornaments, and holiday plants and bulbs available for purchase. We will meet at the Clubhouse Parking Lot at 10:00 a.m. to carpool. We’ve made lunch reservations for twenty people at the Farmhouse Restaurant on the grounds of Roger’s Gardens, and we can reserve more places if needed. You may also choose to have lunch elsewhere.
The Garden Club is happy to announce the return of our popular Lobster Fest, to be held in the Clubhouse at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 28.
What do lobsters have in common with the Garden Club? We have forests on land, but there are also kelp forests along our Pacific Ocean shoreline. And that’s where the bright orange California Spiny Lobster lives.
Kelp forests are some of the most productive ecosystems on earth. They are dominated by Giant Bladder Kelp, which resembles tall grass, but is really a brown seaweed algae. Since kelp is not a plant, it doesn’t have roots. It grows in large colonies, and attaches to rocks with anchors called holdfasts. Kelp obtains all of the necessary nutrients directly from ocean water, and harvests the sun’s energy through photosynthesis like plants on land. Kelp can grow up to two feet everyday! Kelp has multiple commercial uses, including as organic garden fertilizer in both meal and liquid form. The next time you’re at the bluff or the marina, watch for floating kelp and appreciate nature’s bounty.
We are fortunate that Marine Conservation Areas were established for future generations to enjoy all our coastal resources. That means protecting our kelp forests, and the lobsters and other wildlife that live and thrive in them.
—Ann Strauss