Newsletter May 2023

Allow me to introduce myself. I’m the new editor of the newsletter. My name is Leandra (Lee) Sisco and I’ve lived in Florida over thirty years and have been a member of the Garden Club for over 11 years. 

I retired from the school board in May, 2011 where I worked in Technology. 

We have seven grandkids and can never spend enough time with them! 

My other pastimes are knitting, sewing, cooking and baking but most of all GARDENING. Vegetable AND flowers. 

Please send me any pictures you think would be significant to our club. And stories, I need stories! Thanks. My email is leesisco@icloud.com

Leandra (Lee) Sisco

 Spring picnic and Auction - April 19th, 2023

The Garden Club Spring Auction and Scavenger Hunt was a success. Great fun and the weather cooperated.  The food was catered by Publix and cupcakes made by Gary and Celeste’s daughter. Jennifer Rothe made the adorable gnome centerpieces. 

April 19^th Picnic expenses- $619.64 for food, cupcakes, and decorations; Raffle proceeds-$266.00; total picnic cost of $353.64

The auction was done in a raffle ticket fashion and the more tickets you put in each bag the better chance you had of winning that item. Carol Zieres and myself handled the auction. Gary handled the Scavenger Hunt. Thanks to all who helped with the food set up and sign in tables, etc. 

Here are a few photos. 

 

As of the day of the picnic we had 90 paid Garden Club members.

 SHGC presented a check for $1500 to the Parks and Recreation Dept. for summer camp scholarships. 

Board Meeting May 3, 2023. 

Present were Gary and Celeste Sawtelle, Leslie Zambito, Gisela Benny, Lee Sisco, Paula Harvey, Carol Zieres, and Rebecca Cunningham.

Treasurers Report: bank balance 8,588.55

Plant sale:  will take place second Saturday in May. May 13th from 9 to 1. Please come volunteer. All those wishing to volunteer should be at Folly at 8:30. 

We discussed possibly holding planting classes during the Saturday sales such as propagating class, etc.

Future programs/Events:

Our monthly Garden Club meeting will take place on Wednesday May 17th at 9:30. There will be a plant exchange. Speaker will be Teresa Badurek an Urban Horticulturist who will talk about pruning. 

We are planning an Open House in Early August at the Rigsby Center that will showcase our club activities and committee opportunities. 

This will be our summer get together since there won’t be regular meetings. 

Keep in mind: This will be your chance to get on a Garden Club committee. 

Committees forming will include, but are not limited to: Mullett Creek, Hospitality, Field Trips, Educational Outreach, Communications and Merchandising.

Refreshments will be served.  

Folly News:

Over 200 trees planted at Folly Farm Nature Preserve

This past Monday, Will Moriaty's tree planting organization, the Tampa Bay Reforestation and Environmental Effort, Inc. (Tree, Inc. – Reforesting Tampa Bay with native trees (treeinc.org) planted native trees in the Folly Farm Preserve's wetland area. Trees Inc., Keep Pinellas Beautiful, Safety Harbor Garden Club and other volunteers joined together to help plant over 200 native trees on Monday, May 1st!

Spearheaded by John Fuller and overseen by Will Moriaty the project focused on removing invasive plants and replacing them with native trees including approximately 150 Bald Cypress trees!

We have water at Folly!

An irrigation project was recently completed connecting water to all our gardens at Folly. Safety Harbor Landscaping ran water lines to the gardens and to our nursery area. Now each garden will have access to a 50ft hose that can be used to hand water or attach to a sprinkler.

Thats all for this Month. 

See you Wednesday May 17 at the General membership meeting at
Moccasin lake Park. Bring a plant to exchange.

Social at 9:30am 

Business at 10:00am

Followed by the speaker.

 

 

 

 

P

Hi everyone!

 Our annual SHGC Summer picnic is scheduled for Wednesday, April 19 at the Folly Farm Nature Preserve Barn!

10AM - 11:30AM   scavenger hunt/ Auction Item dropoffs

The scavenger hunt winds its way through our Folly Butterfly Gardens!

Registration tables also will be open at 10:00AM to allow plenty of time for the scavenger hunt/Garden stroll and dropping off auction items.

The hunt will be fun and informative and there are prizes!

 

The highlight of our Summer Picnic is the auction!

Garden art, amazing plants, tools, garden jewelry, books, and all sorts of cool stuff!

We ask everyone to please bring an item.

Each item will have a paper bag with the item description (You fill this out upon drop off). 

To win an item, you place your raffle tickets into the bag for the drawing. 

Everyone gets a raffle ticket at registration. You may purchase additional.

 

Picnic Volunteers needed:

Registration

Barn set up

Auction

Food set up

Clean up

Wherever you need me!

Please RSVP your intention to attend the picnic by clicking on this link and mention your volunteer preference.

SHGC Picnic RSVP

 

Your 2023 dues must be paid to attend (you can pay at picnic registration)

Guests of dues paid members are welcome - $5  

 

Hope you can make it!

The SHGC Summer Picnic Committe

 

APRIL BOARD MEETING MINUTES

Present: Gary Sawtelle, Celeste Sawtelle, Gisela Benny, Leslie Zambito, Cheryl Warth, Paula Harvey and myself, (Lee Sisco).

 Membership report - Paula reported 47 email reminders were sent as reminders to pay your dues. We currently have 16 new members and a total of 75 paid members. Membership should be paid before attending picnic April 19.

We discussed taking new membership at any time of the year that people want to join.

Treasurers report -
Celeste reports as of March 8 our balance was 7, 286.96.
We made about $1800 in plant sales.
Our balance now is $8, 588.55

Expenses: 
Gnomeo  $495
Pollinator Pathways signs and hand outs $312.

 

Garden Fest needed more food sources. We will provide feedback to the city for inviting a few more food trucks next year.

 

Folly News: Leslie reported we had 25+ volunteers helping at the Enchanted Garden Fest. We need to revert back to a sign up sheet including set up and tear down volunteers.

More water lines are being extended at Folly Farms and this should take place this month. Invasive brush will be mowed and chopped under. 

 

Annual Picnic and Auction April 19 11:30

Lunch will be served.
Guests are $5 extra.

Please donate garden related items for this event.
This will be a silent auction with tickets bought like we did at Christmas party.
Lee is making the ID tags for the items and they will be available at the table when you sign in to attend the auction/picnic.

A donation will be given to the City of Safety Harbor for kids to attend summer camp.
We also will be clearing out our Garden Club tshirts and the like at the auction. A suggestion is $5 a shirt and so forth.

 Cheryl mentioned a possible field trip to Marie Selby botanical garden in Sarasota in May. Or  possibly Spanish Point. A date for either of these wasn’t decided but May was suggested as it it getting too hot out. Gary suggested limiting the trips to 25 people.  

At the May meeting Theresa will be speaking about pruning.

 Gary suggests our succession planning could be better. Suggests a meeting during the summer in an air conditioned place with refreshments. Purpose to discuss volunteer for positions we need as far as committees, etc.

 

 Trip to Bok Tower, March 15, 2023

A great time was had by the Garden club. On March 15th 30+ of us went to Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales. Gary our president also served as our bus driver. He did a splendid job! Upon arrival we were greeted by a guide who showed us a tour of the plant nurseries. We were in our element. Surrounded by beautiful trees, spring shrubs in flower and the forever enchanting sounds of the tower.  Happy smiles all around, then a great lunch and wandering around the beautiful grounds followed. 

Enchanted Garden Fest 

March 26, 2023

Our none other than talented Chris Dotson has been diligently working on our giant wooden statue of Gnomeo. He got his head on his shoulders for the fest. Improvements still to be added. Bravo, Chris and crew!!

The plant sale was a success. Thank you to all who participated. The gorgeous day was dotted with many garden club members, some dressed as gnomes or fairies and even a witch or two. Entertainment and craft and plant booths all over, what more could a gardener want?

 



Present: Gary Sawtelle, Celeste Sawtelle, Gisela Benny, Leslie Zambito, Cheryl Warth, Paula Harvey and myself, (Lee Sisco).

 

Membership report - Paula reported 47 email reminders were sent as reminders to pay your dues. We currently have 16 new members and a total of 75 paid members. Membership should be paid before attending picnic April 19.

We discussed taking new membership at any time of the year that people want to join.

 

Treasurers report - Celeste reports as of March 8 our balance was 7, 286.96 We made about 1800 in plant sales and expenses for Gnomeo was $495 and Pollenator Pathways signs and hand outs was $312. Our balance now is $8, 588.55

 

Garden Fest needed more food sources and we discussed inviting a few more food trucks next year.

 

Folly News: Leslie reported we had 25 volunteers helping at the Enchanted Garden Fest. We need to revert back to a sign up sheet including set up and tear down volunteers.

More water lines are being extended at Folly Farms and this should take place this month. Invasive brush will be mowed and chopped under. Eventually putting a water feature there near the same place water is naturally there.

 

Auction April 19 11:30

Lunch will be served. Guests are $5 extra. We need volunteers for help with a Scavenger hunt to take place an hour before the auction starts. We also need volunteers to run the auction. Please donate garden related items for this event. This will be a silent auction with tickets bought like we did at Christmas party. Lee is making the ID tags for the items and they will be available at the table when you sign in to attend the auction/picnic.

A donation will be given to the City of Safety Harbor for kids to attend summer camp. We also will be clearing out our Garden Club tshirts and the like at the auction. A suggestion is $5 a shirt and so forth.

 

Cheryl mentioned a possible field trip to Marie Selby botanical garden in Sarasota in May. Or  possibly Spanish Point. A date for either of these wasn’t decided but May was suggested as it it getting too hot out. Gary suggested limiting the trips to 25 people.  At the May meeting Theresa will be speaking about pruning.

 

Gary suggests our succession planning could be better. Suggests a meeting during the summer in an air conditioned place with refreshments. Purpose to discuss volunteer for positions we need as far as committees, etc.

 

LS