January Monthly Meeting

President, Norma Chiaramonte, called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. at the Cypress Creek Lakes Community Center, and welcomed new members, Kristina Haygood and Ian McWilliam

THOSE IN ATTENDANCE INCLUDED: Bev and Larry Allen, Jennifer Buchert, Norma Chiaramonte, Kathie Corbett, Sandra Gilbert, Debbie Haluch, Kristina Haygood, Elizabeth Hearn, GiGi, John, and the Marenco girls, Ian McWilliam, Marcia and David Mausolf, Cathy Oland, Mike Owens, Kathi Palacios, Ann Wiseman Schmidt, Peggy and Doc Stokley.

PROGRAM: Sandra Gilbert introduced her speakers, Lana King (owner of Blooms from the Heart) and Diana Hanley (President of Society for the Advancement of Floral Design SAFD). The subject this evening was “What Every Good Floral Enthusiast Should Know” – Floral Tips and Techniques! Lana explained the principals of floral design and created several floral arrangements while she was speaking to illustrate her subject. Diana invited anyone interested in floral design to join SAFD and explained the group and told us about floral programs and schools in our area.

DOOR PRIZES: Lana and Diana left all their flower arrangements to be given as door prizes. Ann brought plants from her garden and Mike brought a door prize. The door prizes were won by Ian, Ann, Peggy, Debbie, Cathy, Norma, Sandra, Mike, Kristina, Larry, Dave and GiGi who picked a prize in the order drawn.

HOSTESS:  Thank you to Mike Owens for being host this month!

NEW BUSINESS

YARD OF THE MONTH: Bev and her team picked Peggy and Doc Stokley's yard as Yard of the Month. Congratulations. 

MINUTES:  A motion was made by Ann to dispense with the reading of the minutes, and seconded by Larry.

OLD BUSINESS

BRICKS:  Sandra reported that Ian McWilliam and Doc & Peggy Stokley had ordered bricks for the Butterfly Garden. She will order the bricks. She reminded us that bricks are a great gift or memorial for loved ones.

BUTTERFLY GARDEN:  Larry reported that the Butterfly Garden is looking good.

SIGNS:  Larry reported that the metal frame for Yard of the Month sign is badly rusted and should be replaced soon. He also said that new entrances to Cypress Creek Lakes subdivision are nearing completion and we will be needing signs for those new entrances. Larry also reported that he is leaving a Club sign set at the Butterfly Garden during the month to let visitors at the Garden know about the garden club meetings.

NEW BUSINESS

SIGNS:  Norma requested help setting the meeting signs at the subdivision entrances. John volunteered to help.

MEMBER FOLDERS: New inserts for the member folders were handed out to the members present and folders were given to new members. The inserts included a cover page, a club roster and the monthly speaker information with hostess and door prizes.

OTHER: Norma said she needed pictures of the club’s activities to send to Federation for their newsletter.

Norma also reported that CAM was delighted with our donation of money and food for their Christmas food drive.

GARDENING TIP OF THE MONTH:  ­­­­­­­­­­­Extend the life of Poinsettias from Christmas, by keeping the soil moist and keeping them away from drafts and heat. They thrive in temperatures between 60 and 70 degrees.

1001 GardenLine Questions with Randy Lemmon.

NEXT MEETING: February 8, 2016 at the CCL Community Center.

PROGRAM: Jennifer Buchert is having Richard and Robbie Edie (with Wild Birds Unlimited) speak on “Backyard Birding for Spring”