Happy holidays! Thank you again to Felicia and Carl for hosting our club holiday gathering. I heard it was a wonderful time for all!
It may look a little bleak in our backyards but keep telling yourselves that spring is around the corner. Winter is a good time to plan for garden additions. January is the time to order seeds. Many perennial flowers and herbs that have a long germination period can be started indoors by the end of January. If you are looking for particular varieties of plants, order now. Most companies have spring shipping dates but if you wait until March to order, they might not have what you want in stock.
Koi keepers have been ordering Japanese koi since late October. Koi are harvested from the mud ponds late fall and on Facebook, it looks like everyone was flying to Japan to get first pick. Koi purchased through dealers are now arriving in the United States and going through a quarantine process at the dealers’ facilities. If you look online at US koi dealer websites, you will see a lot of new koi in stock for purchase.
I’m looking forward to a new year of koi and water gardening with the Charlotte Koi Club. We are going to experiment with two online ZOOM videoconference meetings in January and February. These meetings will be about one hour (or less) and focus on checking if anyone has any problems with their koi getting through winter temperatures and 2024 gardening ideas. Watch your emails for an invitation.
We are still looking for 2024 meeting hosts. Our first in person meeting will be March 9th. Please check our events page and if you are able to host a meeting in 2024, contact Felicia Santos.
Stay warm!
Lori Vertin
President, Charlotte Koi Club
- Lori Vertin