GENEVA GARDEN CLUB GENERAL MEETING MINUTES, September 1, 2015
The meeting was called to order by President Debbie Notaro at 12:15pm and was held at SPRC.
Debbie recognized long time Garden Club member Erin Blake’s passing and Linda Brodine shared a letter about Erin that was read at her memorial. Linda once again thanked the club members that helped with her service. We were welcomed to our new meeting facility and the rules and expectations were discussed. Today’s raffle items were 10 mum plants and 2 pepper plants. Debbie thanked Deb Hall-Reppen, Jane Foster and Jessica Dean for their hard work organizing the Garden Walk and made special mention to our top ticket seller, Helen Hogan with 79 Garden Walk tickets sold. A thank you letter was read by Deb from Darlene Larson on the way the Japanese Garden was showcased for the walk and how appreciative she was. We did not receive our sales tax exemption from the state of Illinois.
Secretary’s Report: The minutes from the May meeting were confirmed by Secretary Julie Brown and approved by Glorianne Campbell and seconded by Jane Martin.
Treasurer’s Report: Julie Maturo reviewed the amounts in each of the club’s bank accounts.
Vice President’s Report: Maryann Rosenfelder handed out the new brochures to members in attendance and will mail to those not present. The October meeting will be an off-site workshop at Heinz Brothers Nursery in St. Charles. We will be making pumpkin planters and the cost is $15.00 due by September 25th. Payment can be made by PayPal, check or cash. Please let Sheila Persinger or Maryann know if you plan on attending. All members are welcome and encouraged to attend the meeting even if not planning on making the planter.
Committee Reports
Membership: Kristie Dienst reported we had 9 guests present today and a couple who would like to be members. Please send any email changes to Kristie.
Scholarship: no report
Ways and Means: Cathy Rex reported that we will once again be having a CPK fundraiser October 7th. Also a plant sale fundraiser is being planned for next spring.
Communications: Tammy Chiovari reviewed on how to navigate the GGC website and will continue posting meeting minutes and Signup Genius. The “contact us” is working again.
Legislation: Glorianne Campbell reported everything is up to date and all forms have been submitted for 2015-16.
Publicity: no report
Hospitality: Jane Martin welcomed everyone and thanked the board for providing the desserts and members for the lovely salads. The new meeting room is very roomy and will fit our needs nicely.
Always on Tuesdays: no report
Historian: Annette Barnes reported she and Ginny will be updating our archives at the Geneva History Museum soon.
Assemblage: Linda Brodine reported things are going well but mentioned on occasion emails that are sent out end up in people’s spam mail. She is careful to include GGC in the heading. The majority of our communication is via email so please check closely.
Arbor Day Report: Susan VanderVeen reported that the Park District was very appreciative with our contribution of $2000.00 for the replanting of trees throughout our Geneva parks. Between 10-12 trees will be planted this fall.
Service projects/Civic: Chris Shaw reported voting is still available until Midnight for the Tour des Fleurs Geneva Beautification contest. The fall clean up at the knuckles was completed despite the rain. Will plan on planting mums prior to the Festival of the Vine. The final fall cleanup will be October 29th.
Other Business: We received a 1st Place ribbon from the Garden Clubs of Illinois for our winning window box entry at the Chicago Flower and Garden Show. Debbie shared the story of the window box being bought by a couple for $300.00. She also asked for volunteers to do the window box for next year. Please let her know if interested. Debbie would like to have a Garden Walk wrap up meeting to discuss the positives and negatives of this year’s walk. Please email any comments, suggestions or observations regarding the walk to Debbie as this will help us prepare for next time. Some of the comments shared today were 1) Loved the Boutique at Maryann Snook’s, nice variety and affordably priced. 2) Loved the Japanese Garden, locals and out of town guests alike 3) Will-Call, liked, sold many tickets but too much for one person. People wanted readable maps. It was suggested that in the future we send ticket info out per email so people can look up the map route ahead of time. 4) Master gardeners were not as informed as in years past. Many did not know much at all about questions asked. 5) Perhaps could sell a ticket for just the Japanese Garden, many asked about doing that garden but not wanting to do entire walk. There were many bikers and walkers who inquired about this. 6) Suggested to include another park and a historical home, also positive comments on both. 7) Perhaps the Master Gardeners could visit the gardens the week before to become more familiar with the gardens. 8) It was mentioned people liked having small plant name indicators to ID the plants, very helpful.
Debbie read a thank you card from Vicky Thompson, she was thrilled to be included on our walk.
Mary Stavenhagen has volunteered to be the Garden Walk chair for 2017. She will need at least one co-chair. Please consider joining her.
Debbie informed us that there are GCI classes available for members to take and then test for certifications. Then will be able to become a docent. Also, there is a big push to help increase the Monarch butterfly population through the replanting of the milkweed plant. This is the only plant the Monarchs eat any lay eggs on. GCI has a lot of information on this as well.
Mary Garrison talked about that in years past, the garden clubs would take part in Flower Shows with submitting a plant specimen from your yard and being judged on it.
Education is a big part of our mission as a club, and we should focus on this more in the future. It was suggested we incorporate this into a monthly meeting.
Gail Ellenbaum mentioned that long time member Liz Gericke has been very ill, and it would be nice to send a card to her.
A motion to adjourn the meeting was given at 1:44pm by Julie Maturo and seconded by Sheila Persinger.
Respectfully submitted by Secretary Julie Brown.
