President’s Message – February 2026

 I used to think what is wrong with people who walk around with earphones attached to their phones all day until I discovered podcasts and audio books. Now I cannot walk the dog or fold laundry without listening to a podcast or a book club book. Of course, my favorite podcasts are gardening podcasts. The two I listen to religiously are Joe Lampl’s, The Joe Gardener Show and Margaret Roach’s, A Way to Garden. I love that they interview authors every week. I learn about new gardening books, and the new theories and techniques they are devel-oping. The downside is that I have never heard an author who’s book I don’t need, kind of like when I see a plant at the nursery.

In a January program, Joe used an analogy that could be kind of stressful. He said the gardening season is like watching a train coming down the tracks. You know it’s a ways off but it’s coming fast! Luckily, he listed all the proactive things a gardener can do during these winter months to not get run over in the Spring. The first thing that comes to mind is sorting and ordering your seeds and I know friends who love to do that, but he listed others too. Get inspired by taking a class, read a gardening book you have been wanting to or visit the botanical garden. Do one little job that will set the stage for when the action starts. I left my gardening tools a mess last November so on one of these beautiful days they got sorted, cleaned and organized. It doesn’t last but at least come Spring I won’t be looking for my trowel and pruners in multiple buckets.

This month our program is “Let’s Talk Bugs & Birds! Welcome Beneficial Bugs & Birds to Your Garden. Our speaker is Scott Severs who is the wildlife biologist for the City of Longmont. Come learn and be inspired.

In other club news, a small group met at Debbie Arnold’s house last week to discuss our tech challenges. The most pressing issue is that we must replace the software Debbie uses to produce our newsletter, directory, and on-line profile. It will be defunct in October and no longer available. We are looking at Canva and other options. The second is that the software we use for the website is very old and difficult to use. We spoke about this at the January meeting, but I am putting it in the newsletter in case anyone has experience doing a newsletter or website. We would love to hear from you.

Now off to my second winter garden task. Getting my seed trays ready. It’s coming fast!

Happy Winter Gardening!

                  Mary