Arbor Day and Upcoming ESS Course

Our first meeting, January 8, 10AM at the Bartram Trail Library features Master Arborist, Chuck Lippi, who will talk about maintaining trees.  This is anticipation of Florida Arbor Day on Friday January 16, when members of our club who are also Master Gardeners will be giving away up to five free tree seedlings per person in front of the library from 8:30AM until they run out.  See my article in the St. Johns Sun, "Right Tree, Right Place, the Florida-Friendly Thing to Do."

We're proud to announce that Course 1, The Living Earth, in the National Garden Club's Environmental Studies School curriculum has been approved.  Registration deadline is 2/1.

Members of our club who are serving on the planning committee will meet at the St. Johns County Extension Center on 1/21 to plan the course, which will be given 2/24-2/25 at the same location.

Art in the Garden and Christmas in Hastings

Our November GardenFest was not only an opportunity to mix and mingle with other District IV clubs, but a celebration of Art Burdett's life.  I think we all did him proud that day.  Our club had two tables full of plants and lovely collectibles.  Everyone shopped 'til they dropped and sunny smiles inside the Duval County UF Extension Center held back the rain all afternoon.

We're not sure what Mickey was telling Carolyn here; maybe Carolyn just didn't believe the number of plants our club sold!  We also had two "works of art" for door prizes:  a hypertufa pot with interchangeable decorations, and a hand-painted hypertufa leaf.

Our speakers from the University of Florida told us about color in the garden, permeable pavers, and explained the concept of Florida-Friendly gardening.  And "Glue-Gun" Jan Sillik gave us a lesson in artful flower arrangements while entertaining us with her humorous anecdotes.  Mickey won one of her arrangements!  Way to go.


  Yes, at GardenFest it seems that NOBODY DOESN'T LIKE GREEN!

Christmas in Hastings

The Holly Jolly Hasting Christmas Party sponsored by Pie-in-the-Sky was indeed very jolly and this author got her exercise organizing all the donations with Malea's grandchildren.  Fruit Cove Baptist Church supplied the dinners. 
  

A "gravy incident" enroute delayed their arrival, but not the dinner bell.  Malea and the volunteer servers were a whirl!  Plates were a little short on the sauce, but there was plenty of fried chicken and smiles to make up for the deficit.

Oh the Fun We Had! by Carolyn Mullinax, Treasurer

It was a beautiful day for The Old Settlers' Reunion on Saturday, October 25th!  Alpine Groves County Park is the perfect place for this annual event.  The blue skies and the swaying Spanish Moss under the huge old live oaks put everyone in a festive mood.  The event had the largest turnout that I know of in all my years of attending.

Shorty Watkins opened the day with the history of the Park.  Thanks to Claire and her volunteers, our butterfly garden was looking sharp and sporting new timbers to keep the brick walkway clean.  There were musicians, raffles and vendors of every kind.   Many of the Ladies were dressed in period dress costumes they'd sewn themselves, so fun!

We appreciate the Friends of Alpine Groves for letting us participate in their raffle fundraiser!  The Garden Club of Switzerland's own Dianne Battle (sporting a homemade straw bonnet circa the Civil War) made and donated a beautiful green large hypertufa leaf for our raffle (read about her hypertufa classes at her Master Gardener website).

The Friends also were kind enough to allow us a table to promote the Garden Club of Switzerland (GCOS). Mickey, Sarah, Dianne, and I represented the club and passed out information on Amendment One: The Water and Land Legacy amendment to protect funds in our state budget for conservation.  Many people were unaware of this proposal even though it was on the current ballot.  When they understood what it was about, they were very enthusiastic and said that they would indeed vote for it. It felt great to play a part in Amendment One's passage!  Yay!

We also told people about our Club and handed out our cards and brochures. As a result of this we added a new club member.  Welcome to the club, Laura!  What a great day!