Presidents Message for November

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Hello Everyone,

 

I know October is over, but I'm still so excited about our performance in the gardens, hosting the District 8 Fall "Harvest Festival" meeting and all that November brings, I just had to reach out to all of you.

 

I would like to thank all the members who were able to come out over the long hot summer, giving their time, support, and plants and assisted in our CGC Great 8 Garden Restoration Project. You’ve all made the ongoing restoration of the gardens possible. I would like to give special thanks to Lorraine and Dave Bansavage, Michele Fry, Debbie LaHaie to name a few, for the shear volume of plants dug up, planted, delivered and earth moved. Also big thanks to Mike Flanery for the incredible re-wiring and restoration of our irrigation system. Many thanks as well to Ralph Hodge for all the help with the cleanup, volunteer plants, truckloads of mulch, and final cleanup of the irrigation work. Thank you, Anne France for the spectacular bromeliads for the Bromeliad Garden. Thanks to Sharan Haner for helping with the Butterfly, Tropical and the Pond Gardens. Appreciation to Christie Lopez for her work in designing, weeding all that torpedo grass and weeding again, donating her plants, shopping for more plants, regrading, chairing and completing the Butterfly Garden in time for the District 8 meeting. Thanks to Anne Shumate for her collaboration and donation of plants to the Butterfly Garden. Thank you as well to Alice Jarvis and Maggie Custer for their work on the final touches to the Pond Garden.

 

I would also like to extend my gratitude to everyone who assisted us in hosting the District 8 Fall meeting. Alice Jarvis, chair and Laura Daniel, vice-chair, both did wonderful work organizing the event. Jennifer Clarke, did a super job tracking and reporting registration. Special appreciation to Gladys Seney who agreed to coordinate the reception for our event guests inside and out. A delightful pre-meeting breakfast was offered on the patio, luncheon was served indoors and interim refreshments including mimosas were available for the duration of the event. Many thanks to the whole Event Reception team: Alice Jarvis, Laura Daniel, Jennifer Clarke, Anne France, Peggy Page, Gladys Seney, Maggie Custer, Sharan Haner, Linda Pointer, Sherl Polese, Mary Ann Schneider and Christie Lopez who all did a wonderful job. The vendors’ tables, also on the patio, were fun and entertaining. Anne France did well with our very own CGC jewelry vendor table too. Thanks to all who donated jewelry for this event; it was a great success! Appreciation to our perfect pollinator, Peggy Page who dressed as a honey bee and was very welcoming to all our guests and vendors. Peggy and Linda Myers also did a fantastic job organizing our basket workshop and the basket raffle. Thanks to everyone who made such enticing and creative baskets! They were spectacular. Also thanks to life savers Jane MacCaffrey, Hans Muehlen, and Jan Brandi for helping finish up the final details inside the building. Final thanks to the “Dance It Studio” team who graciously moved their things, hung pictures, installed an ADA compliant toilet, and provided us a microphone and speaker system for the event. You all made us shine! Glowing thanks and accolades are being sent to CGC from District 8 and its members.

 

In order to gather as many pictures of this momentous occasion as possible, we are currently inviting members to join in viewing and posting pictures of the 2022 FFGC District 8 Fall Meeting on Google Photos. It is a private photo album, meaning your information will not be shared. If you are interested in joining and sharing your photos, text me your google email account and I will invite you to the group!! We will later select a few photos to anonymously post separately on the CGC Facebook and website pages.

 

We are mailing the 2022-23 Yearbook to you this year. It has several events listed in the upcoming months. I hope you will have a chance to participate in them. Kudos to Anne France for updating, printing and mailing the yearbook.

 

Saturday November 12th at 9AM, we will be playing in the gardens. Special thanks to Annie Litton, a former CGC member, who donated a large variety of orchids, plants, pots and other items to the club. All of them are in the Pond Garden and need some loving care. There are some cacti which need planting in the Desert Garden. There are some bromeliads for the Bromeliad Garden. Also, the Rose Garden needs a deep cleaning and the bushes and the stumps of two trees need to be removed.

 

November 19th, at 9:30AM, we will have an executive board meeting. Please review the list of vacant committee chairs in your copy of the yearbook. If you are interested in one of these vacant positions, please let me know so the board can officially approve your nomination

 

November 19th, at 11AM, we will start the monthly membership meeting. After updates and discussions, we will be learning flower design from Susie Cochran. Susie is a certified flower show judge and she will be showing us some basics in flower design. The club will be providing material and flowers for this educational event. As always, members may bring a guest. We ask for a $5 donation for materials. So we know how much material to acquire, please RSVP me by text no later than November 11th.

 

With the next flower show coming up in April, 2023, this flower design program is very timely.  CLICK HERE for some pics from one of our past events.

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Hope to see you in the Gardens. 

Paul Keleti,  President, Clearwater Garden Club, 816-719-0192