Hostesses Gretchen Cockerill, Diane Peyton, Jerre Anne Wagner, Judy Belt, Penny Johnson and Juanita Ayres were gracious and we were well fed and entertained.
Mary Frances Ashmore led us in the pledge and a provided a response for us to read in various parts of a Thanksgiving message. Our response was
Grateful, grateful
Truly grateful I am
Grateful, grateful
Truly blessed
And duly grateful
It was very effective and moving.
Program chair Penny Johnson introduced our speaker Jodie Douglas, a Certified Landscape Design Consultant and Master Gardener who gave a PowerPoint presentation of garden design best practices and trends and with examples of successful and inviting landscapes and some that need to be tweaked.
Jodi also showed up some quirky areas as well as what to do with builder problems you often inherit such as drainage issues for example.
She has an informal style of presentation and could be quite funny and graphic. She gave us a tecnique to stand across the street from our homes and squint and see what "jumps out at us." Then ask whether that's what we want to stand out.
She reminded us that tropicals do freeze and to keep our landscapes simple.
She also claimed that gardening tastes change every seven years. One trend today is toward less formal landscaping and lower maintenance costs. And again we were reminded to spend $1 for soil for every cent we spend on plants and to use plants that conserve water and use rain barrels for further water conservation and savings.
She encouraged us to attend the Master Gardeners Green Thumb series. Ladies, I'm embarressed to say I was having a lot of trouble with my camera, which has now been replaced. The photo I got of Jodi, I would not embaress her by posting . . . so my apologies to Jodi.
But I captured a little of Arvada and Cindy's fun during our break.
The highlights of our business meeting is that our bulb sale resulted in a record of 19,933 Caladium bulbs sold with Arvada Simcoe and Joan Fox leading with large sales, which members across the board assisted with good sales. During her time selling bulbs Joan has now sold over 20,000 bulbs! We haven't kept count on Arvada.
We formally voted to donate the Christmas decorations to the Quail Valley Fund Homeowners' Association so we will no longer be responsible for decorating the entrances. After the decorations come down this year, we will be announcing to the community that you can go by the Fund and select whatever is there. They don't want to be in the storage business of Christmas ornaments and will outsource the decorations in the coming years.
A committee is being led by Sharon Wright for the Snowfest Committee. Judy Belt, Gretchen Cockerill, Jackie Walker and Arvada Simcoe volunteered to help.
Jo Ann Mayhall reminded us to complete our Membership Surveys for Nancy Lindsay and the new board next year.
We also have a new member, Sharon Rios, who is pictured above on the left with Shirley Renfrow, who led our horticulture segment. It was a very effective segment with us standing around the "pool table" and various people who brought items told about their item. Sharon Wright announced that her husband Mark has just had a successful Plumeria seedling with a beautiful pink and yellow blossom and lovely fragrance that he is yet to name, but will register as a new hybrid. People shared cuttings and just some interesting plants, plant tips and our love of gardening.
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