Meeting Minutes
2017-2018
The Weeders Meeting & Flower Show
Minutes, May 8, 2018
Hilltop House
Schedule of Events
9:30am Flower Show Registration and Passing
10:30am Entries Closed
10:45am Meeting/Announcements
11:15am Talk by Eric Hsu of Chanticleer
12:15pm Lunch and announcement of Flower Show Winners
President Jackie Burke opened the Weeders Meeting at 10:45 am by thanking the Flower Show Chair Patty Greenhalgh, Vice Chair Wendy Bailey, and the Flower Show Committee members, for their organizational efforts that made entering and passing of entries to the Flower Show a pleasant experience!! Well done! (Attached is the list of Flower Show winners).
Jackie then welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked the Meeting Chairs, Patty Minehart & Marilyn Sprague, and Hostesses Lloyd Brown, Chris Cacioppo, Karen Doyle (replacing Cheryl Cheston), Nancy Holmes and Tess Hooper for putting together another great Weeder Lunch Meeting that coincided with our Spring Flower show. A special thank you was extended to Sally Wood, who made the beautiful spring flower arrangements for the lunch and food tables with flowers from the gardens of Julie DeVuono and Lloyd Brown.
Guests – Patty Minehart introduced her two guests, Fredricka Brecht & Doris Strawbridge.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Review of the April 10, 2018 Meeting minutes: A motion was made to accept the minutes, motion was seconded & all approved.
Treasurer’s Report – Nancy Evans provided an overview of income and expenses. (See attached report).
Executive Committee Meeting Highlights, April 17, 2018 :
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Further examine our Conservation Donations to make sure we are not duplicating what PCGCA is doing.
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Need to establish a more realistic budget for travel expenses.
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Job descriptions are being updated to reflect the changes being implemented as a result of reassigning responsibilities in the areas of publications and communications, as well as new positions being created to spread the workload.
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We plan to have our books audited to ensure compliance with 501c3 Best Practices. In addition, we are looking at a new software program to simplify bookkeeping. We also plan to pursue obtaining an EIN Tax ID #, if we determine that it would be a benefit to our club.
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December Christmas Sale/meeting – as in the past, we will continue with selling homemade comestibles & other homemade items provided by Weeders and to make the table top decorations for Bryn Mawr Rehab. In addition, we plan to have a wreath making workshop for a small fee. Details will be forthcoming.
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Preliminary plans are underway for a possible Weeder Field Trip to Maine in July 2019. Stay tuned!
GCA Annual Meeting Highlights – April 27 – 30, 2018:
Jackie reported on the GCA Annual Meeting attended by her, Nancy Holmes & Lloyd Brown. Highlights included:
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Former 1st Lady Laura Bush received The GCA Achievement Medal (this is same award that our Weeder member Amy Freitag won last year)!
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Founders Fund Winner was “A Therapeutic Garden” – Nurturing Plants and Enriching Minds proposed by the Kenilworth Garden Club Zone XI and seconded by the Garden Club of Evanston.
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The Freeman Medal Plant of the Year: Pycnanthemum muticum, commonly known as mountain mint.
Committee Reports/Announcements:
A sign-up sheet was passed around to encourage members to sign up to serve on a committee that they may be interested in but are not currently a member. Committee Chairs were also encouraged to poll their existing members to ensure that they want to continue to be active on a particular committee.
Awards – It’s not too late to send in a suggestion for the Morton award. Please notify Patricia Doolittle should you have a suggestion. And don’t forget to let Melissa Bullitt know of any outside entries and awards you may have received at other flower shows/exhibits.
Club Flower Show – In an effort to ensure that our records are complete and accurate, please confirm your entries for the 2017 Fall Flower Show to Patty Greenhalgh ASAP.
Conservation – Taddy Dawson has uploaded Biddie Edwards Conservation Reports to the Weeder website. Look under the Conservation section of our website to find short descriptions of reports/materials with photographs and links to articles.
GCA Bulletin – Linda Anderson, with the help of Alice Doering, have submitted an article on our Strafford Station project to the GCA Bulletin.
Horticulture - Alice Doering provided a report on the Concourse Lake Project. She showed a photograph of the team of helpers from Power Core, supported by the Fairmont Park Conservation Committee. Power Core is a group of young adults who have achieved a High School Diploma or GCE Equivalent and who have varying degrees of disabilities. They helped plant 30 trees and shrubs at NO cost to us!! Greenland Nursery provided the plant material - all native plants and all propagated at the Greenland Nursery solely for Fairmont Parks use. Magnificent!!
Upcoming workshops:
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Trough Workshop, Monday May 21st. A sign-up sheet was passed around for those who are interesting in going. Trough’s could become a future class for our flower show. There will be a shopping opportunity at Phillips Perennials, which is where the workshop is being held.
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Jenny Love Floral Design Workshop, June 14th 10 am. The cost is $175.00. Please let Patty Greenhalgh know if you are going.
Other Announcements:
Lloyd Brown provided an update on Stoneleigh, the estate of John and Chara Haas in Villanova, which was donated to Natural Lands and scheduled to open on Mother’s Day as a public garden.
The Lower Merion School District is seeking to seize this property under eminent domain in their efforts to find a location to build a middle school and/or athletic fields for the LMSD. Lloyd encouraged all of us gardeners and supporters of open space to fight back and keep alert for news updates. The Weeders will disburse information as it becomes available. Stay tuned and help Save Stoneleigh!!
Respectfully submitted,
Nancy H Holmes
Recording Secretary
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Program - Eric Hsu, Plant Information Coordinator, Chanticleer Gardens
“Chanticleer Through the Seasons”
Eric Hsu, Plant Information Coordinator at Chanticleer Gardens, and a self-described “plant nerd” since childhood, gave an interesting talk on how the gardens at Chanticleer have transformed over the years. He shared behind the scenes photographs and discussed concepts that reflect upon design inspirations and innovative design techniques that are used at the gardens.
