Evergreen Garden Club
Minutes of Meeting on January 21, 2025
(By Zoom)
Attending: Connie Anderson, Kathryn Baker, Julia Bellinger, Cherry Bourque, Amy Dewey, Doris Dixon, Catherine Farrell, Mary Jane Glass, Kay Glenday, Nancy Gorman, Jeannette Harper, Lynn Keith, Mary Frances Koltes, Diana Luka-Hopson, Claire Marshall, Sally Marshall, Dolly McKenna, Colet Mitchell, Ann Reid, Donna Roberts, Anne Snodgrass, Ellen Thrasher, Susan Vanderver, Rosa Wallach.
Susan Vanderver, our techie guru, welcomed everyone to our Zoom garden club meeting, which was recorded in the Cloud. Susan and President Winkie Crigler and 1st VP Doris Dixon’s son Ben helped the three presenters prepare their slide presentations.
Lynn Keith led us through a couple of the glorious Rockefeller gardens in Acadia National Park on Mount Desert, Maine, as well as the Camden, Maine, garden of her friend Amy. In Mount Desert, we saw extensive plantings of azaleas and a large formal lawn surrounded by a path and wide perennial borders and a Chinese arch. Amy’s garden contains flowers and a vegetable garden. Lynn also showed us her watercolors of views from this garden. Lovely!
Colet Mitchell carried us off to her friend’s estate near Antigua, Guatemala. There is a nearby volcano, Agua, which erupted in 2018, causing extensive damage to nearby properties, though not to this one. The 10-acre property has a fulltime gardener who propagates plants and uses materials at hand like brush as stakes and fencing. He paints the trunks of trees with white lime as a barrier to ants. There are many, many fruit trees such as bananas, Persian limes, and persimmons.
Kay Glenday reported in from her family’s place in Point Clear, Alabama, on the east side of Mobile Bay. The property has wide lawns and gracious old trees. Kay’s family bought the contemporary home when she was a girl. She spent her summers there growing up. Azalea, rhododendron, and other plants grow profusely on the waterfront property.
Susan thanked the three presenters, and then Vice President Doris Dixon took over to conduct the business meeting. Doris thanked Susan as well as Winkie and her own son, Ben, who helped with creating the presentations.
The minutes of the November meeting were approved as written.
Treasurer’s Report:
Treasurer Susie Taylor was not present but provided a report: We currently have $10,468.45 in the bank. There are two members that have not yet paid their membership dues. Once we collect these payments, we will have slightly exceeded our budget projection for existing members’ dues income because of mandatory late payment fees.
The garden club is on track to meet its approved budget. As a reminder, the approved budget anticipates available funds of $4,000 to donate in support of our philanthropic mission. This is $1,000 less than we have been able to donate in the past because of our investment in our new website.
Membership: We welcomed new members Ann Reid and Sara Vilms in November. There are currently 41 Active members in the club, leaving 4 open spaces. Candidates will be presented at the March meeting. There is one nominee as of this meeting (Christy Thorley, proposed by Doris Dixon). The deadline for submitting candidate applications for membership is February 10. Letters should be sent to Xenia Wilkinson. Candidates will be considered at the March meeting.
Nominating: Sally Marshall (Chair), Fossy Fenwick, and Pam Selden have graciously agreed to serve on the nominating committee.
Dolly McKenna will host the March 18 meeting. The program will be a presentation by Yankee Clippers.
Our February meeting will be a demonstration about repotting orchids at Hillwood. There is a $35 fee for materials to repot your own plant. The fee for audit only is $18. Hillwood needs a final count of attendees by February 10 and payment by February 11. For those who wish to stay to lunch, Hillwood offers casual dining in the café from an abbreviated menu.
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:45.
Respectfully submitted,
Mary Jane Glass
The link and password to view the presentations at this meeting are below.
Passcode: *jF2t@Z$