ATLANTA SPEECH SCHOOL

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

HOSTESSES: Jackie Cushman, Elkin Alston, Tee Davis, Julie Harlan, and Anna Muir

WELCOME/CALL TO ORDER: Margaret Warren
Thank you Comer Yates and Haven Long for hosting Mimosa today. Also, thank you to our hostesses. Welcome to the annual Mimosa business meeting

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Margaret Warren
Margaret highlighted that the flower arrangements today represent each of the 11 Honorary Members, who are those individuals who have been Mimosa members for at least 50 years:  Elkin Alston, Gayle Alston, Betty Bowring, Pattie Boykin, Jean Glenn, Lyn Glenn, Nadine Lawton, Linda Beth Loughlin, Bettye Maddox, Linda Maddox and Anne Spalding.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:  Margaret Warren
Today, we will be approving the minutes from the October and November meetings, which have been posted on the website. There was a motion and a second to approve the minutes, and they were approved by unanimous vote.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Hostess Chart: Jinny Keough
Jinny presented the hostess chart and reminded the group that there are still three people left who need to sign up for 2017. She will follow up personally with each.

Membership and Dues: Lindsey Sones
Membership dues are 100% paid.

Treasurer: Julie Harlan
Mimosa remains in great financial shape.  The last four parties Mimosa hosted in 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016 collectively raised $116,000 in net proceeds, which is an average of $29,000 per party.  This has enabled Mimosa to contribute $40,800 to the Speech School and $63,400 to the Atlanta History Center, for a total of $104,200, over the last six years.  The remaining funds will be used for our annual commitment to the Speech School and History Center over the next two years before our next party in 2018.

Mimosa ended the year with $28,200.  This includes $8,900 in the operating account, $14,000 in the party account and $5,300 in the savings account.  Please let Julie know if you would like to see the accounts.

Speech School: Karen Brown
SolTerra continues to be the crew used for monthly maintenance. It is and has been $240 a month which includes ground and irrigation maintenance and plant health care. The Speech School reports they enjoy the courtyard daily both through the classroom windows and having various activities/gathering in it.

Quarry Garden:  Louise Moore
We’ve been cutting back the ferns that have finally browned out for winter.

All the Dentaria (toothwort) is coming up for spring, showing a lot of fresh green groundcover which is nice in this time of year when most plants are dormant.

We’ve done our winter pruning, including opening up the canopy around the Gordonia (a close relative of the Franklinia, that we like to point out to visitors as it was originally thought to be a new species of Gordonia), removing a dead dogwood, and have been limbing up water sprouts off other trees.

Children are back from school holidays and are back to their field trips, doing the  In Their Moccasins tour experience through the Quarry Garden multiple times a week.

It’s that time of year that we pull English ivy, which covers the cliffs all the way down to the creek. We would love to have a workday with Mimosa club members that would like to get out in the nice weather we’re experiencing to help us pull the ivy off the lower levels around the Quarry. Please let me know if anyone is interested. We could take 4-10 people.

The waterfall was a big hit during Candlelight Nights, where it was lit up with thousands of tiny blue and white lights. It was the first effort at incorporating the Quarry Garden into the Candlelight Nights program experience since I’ve been here.

Also Jinny Keogh had asked about the start of The Quarry Garden.  Here is what we found:

“ In 1972, the [Atlanta Historical] Society began to plan a new building ([McElreath Hall] and, while searching for a site, rediscovered the quarry. Mrs. Ivan Allen, Jr., a member of the building committee was intrigued with its possibilities and enlisted her garden club, Mimosa, to clear out the overgrowth. The quarry’s potential beauty was revealed in its rock ledges, mossy slopes, waterfall, stream and towering sycamore and beech trees. “Mimosa decided to turn the quarry into a natural garden, using plants native to Georgia. Eugene Cline, one of America’s finest horticulturists, was chosen to complete the clearing, establish the streambed, plan paths and select and plant wildflowers and shrubs. “The quarry was cleared in the spring of 1974 and in the summer, unwanted plants were meticulously poisoned. Planting was to begin in 1975, but work came to a halt when townhouse development upstream sent the runoff from a large parking lot into the quarry’s gentle stream, turning it into a gouging torrent whenever it rained. After a year of lawsuits, the stream was re-engineered and planting finally began in 1976. “On March 23, 1976 the garden was dedicated and named Mary Howard Gilbert Memorial Garden to honor on of the club’s founding members.”        -Sue Vrooman, “History of AHC’s Quarry Garden”

Flower Show (also known as Amaryllis Project): Leslie Morgan
On December 6^th we held a Christmas floral workshop at the Swan Coach House. The event was full and attended by 20 members. Jennifer Euart instructed the group on creating and decorating amaryllis pots which members were then able to take home. The event was a huge success.

State Garden Club Liaison: Mary Huntz
Mary announced the 2017 Festival of Camellias at Massee Lane Gardens. Celebrate a southern classic with the 2017 Festival of Camellias at Massee Lane Gardens, with special events in January and February, the peak blooming season for camellias in Georgia. The Festival’s opening day celebration on Saturday February 4, 2017 features a ribbon cutting to launch the Georgia Department of Tourism’s new Georgia Camellia Trail, which features over 30 gardens, including Massee Lane Gardens.

Admission is free from 10:00 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. on February 4, 2017 and includes a video presentation on the history of Massee Lane Gardens, self-guided tour, and free scavenger hunts for children.

Website: Margaret Glenn
There are still a few missing member photos.  Margaret’s goal is to have a picture for each member.  Also, contact her for any help needed with accessing and searching the website.

NEW BUSINESS: Margaret Warren
New Members – we will have room to accept three new members this year; the new member proposal form is on the website under the “Member Info” tab, and I also have hard copies to hand out today.  The proposal form and supporting letters must be received by March 15th.  We will vote online during the first two weeks of April, and the new members will be announced at our April meeting.

Nominating Committee – we need to elect one Active member and one Associate member to join the three past presidents on the Nominating Committee.  Mildred Spalding, Parker Tekin and Sandy Jones were nominated from the floor, and were elected by unanimous vote of the membership.

Other announcements/news – there was a brief discussion about ideas for member activities outside of regularly scheduled meetings. Some of the suggestions were: attending the Cherokee Flower Show, taking a bike tour of the gardens near the beltline.

PROGRAM:  Sophie Mason introduced our speaker, Comer Yates, Executive Director of the Atlanta Speech School.  Comer highlighted the work of the Speech School and its Cox Campus which provides free, online access to research-based professional development for all Georgia teachers of children from birth to eight years of age.  The recently-produced video “Every Opportunity” has had over 40 million views which focuses on the way in which adults interact with children.

ADJOURN: Margaret Warren

That concludes our meeting.  Our next meeting is Tuesday, February 28, 2017 at the Swan Coach House. The meeting is adjourned.

Respectively Submitted,
Nell Mitchell

PIEDMONT PARK: MAGNOLIA HALL

HOSTESSES: Karen Brown, Sarah McElroy, Sandy Wagner and Sophie Mason

WELCOME/CALL TO ORDER: Margaret Warren
Welcome to Magnolia Hall which was built in 1945, this building was originally a blacksmith’s forge and its original fireplace is still in place.  Thank you to the hostesses.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Margaret Warren
Please remember to sign in

Member updates
Congratulations to Jennifer and Pat Euart on the birth of their twin girls

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:  Margaret Warren
Today, we will be approving the minutes from the October meeting, which have been posted on the website ; there was a motion and a 2^nd to approve the minutes, which were voted on and approved by unanimous vote.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Hostess Chart: Jinny Keough
The following members still need to sign up for hostess duties next year: Marianne Craft, Catherine Fleetwood, Sharena Hall, Fran Hilsman, Nancy McGuirk, Leslie Morgan, Lamar Smith and Nancy Tracy.

Membership and Dues: Lindsey Sones
Membership dues are due with a $25 late fee after December 1st.  I am passing around a membership roster that shows if you’ve paid your dues and how many meetings you have attended and are expected to attend. We are keeping track of that via Google Docs this year. You can also pay your dues online.

Treasurer: Julie Harlan – report presented by Margaret Warren
In general, Mimosa is in great shape.  Currently, we have $5,300 in our savings account, $7,500 in the operating account, and $35,000 in the party account.

We netted $30,000 from the party last spring, and therefore we will distribute $18,000 from proceeds to Speech School (40%) and History Center (60%), and will hold back $12,000 for our commitments to Speech School and History Center over next two years, plus money for party.

We have accumulated $5000 over the last 3 or 4 years in the party account, since we haven’t had to pay for flower show expenses and have not fronted party costs.

Speech School: Karen Brown, Caroline Davis
The School has asked to keep maintenance simple due to the drought. There was an issue with the irrigation which has been fixed.

Quarry Garden: Parker Tekin, Louise Moore
We recently purchased new plants for the Quarry Garden to go along the entrance ramp and in a few bare spots:

The following in landscape plugs (about 2”):
-Silver sedge, Carex platyphylla, 32
-Tall tickseed, Coreopsis tripteris ‘Gold Standard’, 32
-Great blue lobelia, Lobelia siphilitica, 50
-Allegheny spurge, Pachysandra procumbens, 32
-Hoary skullcap, Scutellaria incana, 50

The following in gallons:
-American germander, Teucrium canadense, 3
-Frost aster, Symphyotrichium pilosum, 10
-Fringeleaf tickseed, Coreopsis integrifolia, 4
-Anisescented goldenrod, Solidago odora, 2
-Swamp aster, Symphyotrichium puniceum, 2
-Woman’s tobacco, Antennaria plantaginifolia, 4
-Swamp sunflower, Helianthus angustifolius, 3
-Chadds Ford lady tresses (orchid), Spiranthes cernua var. odorata ‘Chadds Ford’, 13
-Starrush whitetop, Rhynchospora colorata, 3
-Dixie woodfern, Dryopteris x australis, 7
-Dwarf blazing star, Liatris microcephala, 11
-Great blue lobelia, Lobelia siphilitica, 4
-Leavenworth’s tickseed, Coreopsis leavenworthii, 3

They had national fern expert, George Sanko, come here for a walk through of the Quarry Garden to give them a positive identification on all of the native fern species in the Quarry Garden. He was astonished at the cinnamon ferns and royal ferns. The ones he’s had for 20 years are miniscule compared to the ones we have (which look positively Jurassic.) His exact words were “that is incredible.” Coming from someone who’s been growing ferns for most of his adult life that was high praise! He also mentioned he was very impressed they could grow Southern maidenhair fern – they cannot keep it alive at his garden- Ferns of the World. The Broad beech fern appears to be much more vigorous because they have given it so much sun, doing very well.  He will provide them with some species that are true to type to add to the collections.  He indicated their resurrection ferns are better than most collections as well.

Rosemary will be planting the new perennials this week and over the next few weeks with volunteers. The bog garden area near the pond will be the site for the 13 new orchids mentioned above. http://mtcubacenter.org/plants/chadds-ford-fragrant-ladies-tresses/

The irrigation in this garden has been crucial to keeping the garden collections alive during this horrible drought.  The plants along the top of the Quarry Garden rim are not irrigated however and we have been watering as often as possible by hand.  This would be a great area to add irrigation in the future.  We’ve added a number of oakleaf and smooth hydrangeas around the rim as part of our expanding hydrangea collection. These species can tolerate drought to some extent, but we have been keeping them watered every week, by hand, and will do so until established.

Otherwise, they are continuing to cut back for winter, leaving what is helpful to birds and wildlife until about February.

Flower Show (also known as Amaryllis Project): Leslie Morgan, Sharena Hall
The Christmas Floral Workshop will be on December 6th 11-1 at the Swan Coach House. The event is already at maximum capacity with a waitlist.

State Garden Club Liaison: Mary Huntz
Nothing to report

Website: Margaret Glenn
Nothing to report

OLD AND NEW BUSINESS: Margaret Warren
As a reminder, we will have room to accept 3 new members this year; the new member proposal form will be available on the website under the “Member Info” tab, or if you’d rather, you can send an email to Margaret Warren, and she will make sure you receive the form. Please let Margaret know if you will be putting anyone up for membership.  Also, there are 9 current honorary members – she would like to honor them at the January meeting; please send ideas if you have any.

PROGRAM: History of Piedmont Park Conservancy by Brittany Molinaro and Mark Nelson
Sophie Mason, introduced our speakers, Brittany Molinaro and Mark Nelson. Brittany recently joined the Conservancy as Director of Development and Mark is the Director of Operations for the Conservancy.

ADJOURN: Margaret Warren
That concludes our meeting. Our next meeting is our annual business meeting on January 24th at the Atlanta Speech School. Meeting Adjourned.

Respectively Submitted,
Nell Mitchell

ATLANTA HISTORY CENTER

HOSTESSES: Maysie Beeson, Elizabeth Morgan, Sissy Davis, Aimee Nix

WELCOME/CALL TO ORDER:  Margaret Warren
Margaret welcomed everyone to our Quarry Garden work day, and thanked those who worked in the garden.  More than 15 members worked alongside the staff clipping back hibiscus and pulling perennials. The staff really appreciated our efforts and the combined 15 hours of work made a huge difference in the appearance of the garden.  She thanked the hostesses (Maysie Beeson, Elizabeth Morgan, Sissy Davis and Aimee Nix) and reminded everyone to sign in.

PROGRAM:    Shelby Drinkard introduced our speaker, Sheffield Hale, President and CEO of the Atlanta History Center.  Sheffield gave an update on the anticipated move of the Cyclorama to its new home at the History Center. The expected completion date is mid-2017. Sarah Roberts, the vice president of the Quarry Garden, gave an update on the condition of the Quarry Garden, mentioning that this is the 40th anniversary of the garden. Many mature trees and plantings are well established thanks to the foresight of Mimosa Garden Club forty years ago. She mentioned that 30,000 children tour the Garden annually.

ANNOUNCEMENTS / MEMBER UPDATES:  Margaret Warren
Sadly, we recently lost long-time member, Mickie Keough, on October 6^th.  Mickie is the mother of Shayla Rumely and Eileen Millard, and the mother-in-law of Jinny Keough; Mimosa has made a donation to the Forward Arts Foundation in Mickie’s memory; we continue to keep Shayla, Eileen and Jinny in our thoughts and prayers.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:  Margaret Warren
There was a motion and a second to approve the minutes from the September meeting; the members present voted unanimously and the minutes stand approved as submitted. They have also been posted to the website.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

* Vice President (Hostess Chart) – Jinny Keough – reported that the slots for next year are filling up, and reminded any members who are due to host next year to please sign up asap.

* Membership & Dues – Lindsey Sones – Lindsey reminded everyone that dues are now payable, and may be mailed to her or paid on the Mimosa website via PayPal.

* Treasurer – Julie Harlan – no Treasurer’s report was given.

* Speech School – Karen Brown, Caroline Davis – no report was given.

* Quarry Garden – Parker Tekin, Louise Moore
Most of the summer has been about keeping our plants watered and weeded in there, but also selective removal of some small trees that were causing too much shade or had poor form, and finding better plants for those locations. We’ve reused a lot of rock that was dug out from the mulch trails and raised to show the edges of the beds in locations where it had been lost.

We hosted an event in the Quarry for the first time in late spring/early summer, a cocktail party with some of our Board in attendance that was auctioned off as a fundraising event for our animal collections. That was a lot of fun and great exposure for the Quarry Garden to a new audience. I gave a talk about its beginning, the collections, and Mimosa’s involvement from inception to today. Also on the exposure topic – GardenSmart is played repeatedly on GPB on early Saturday mornings I believe where I took the TV crew into the Quarry as part of the show and talk about our native plants and Mimosa’s original vision for this garden. Also the bald cypress we planted for the Bartram exhibit have nearly doubled in size! They are very tall now. Lots of blue mist flower coming into bloom, and goldenrods which makes for a nice combination.

* Flower Show (also known as Amaryllis Project) – Leslie Morgan, Sharena Hall – Margaret gave the report in their absence.  As we mentioned at the last meeting, in lieu of the Amaryllis Project, we are going to do a holiday floral arrangement workshop instead, led by our very own Jennifer Euart!  An Evite for the event will be sent out on November 1^st, so be on the lookout for that; space will be limited, so please respond quickly if you would like to attend.  Details are as follows:

Tuesday, December 6^th – 11:00am – 1:00pm
Location: Swan Coach House
Cost:  $50, which includes lunch and all supplies

* State Garden Club Liaison – Mary Huntz – no report given

* Website – Margaret Glenn – no report given

OLD / NEW BUSINESS:  Margaret Warren
Margaret reminded everyone that we will have room to accept three new members this year; the new member proposal form is on the website under the “Member Info” tab, or if you’d rather, you can send me an email, and I will make sure you receive the form; we will begin accepting the forms in January 2017 and the deadline to submit will be March 2017

ADJOURN:  Margaret Warren
That concludes our meeting.  Our next meeting is Tuesday, November 15^th at the Magnolia Hall in Piedmont Park.  Just a reminder, that is the 3^rd Thursday, not the 4^th.  The meeting is adjourned.

Respectfully submitted,

Elizabeth Hogan

Atlanta Botanical Gardens: Day Hall

HOSTESSES: Jessica Brown, Mary Ayers Griggs, Sandy Jones and Lori Kennedy

WELCOME/CALL TO ORDER: Margaret Warren
Introduction and welcome to our first Mimosa meeting for the 2016/2017 year and thanks to the hostesses. Please remember to sign in.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: Margaret Warren
Reminder that this is not a party year- our fabulous program chairs are working on some possible activities for the spring.

Member updates
– Nicole Warren has moved to St. Simons, so she has changed her status to Non- Resident

– Julian Williams has resigned due to travel and her inability to make the meetings; we are sad to see her go, and wish her all the best.

– Sadly, we recently lost Eugenia Creekmore Wilson, a long-time honorary member of Mimosa, and the mother of previous member Laura Wilson Blackburn; Mimosa has made a donation to the Forward Arts Foundation in Jean’s memory

Approval of the Minutes
There was a motion and a second to approve the minutes from the April meeting, as well as the May meeting; the members present voted unanimously and the minutes stand approved as submitted. They have also been posted to the website.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Hostess Chart: Jinny Keough
Jinny Keough introduced herself as the vice president and informed the group that now one of the VP’s responsibilities is the hostess chart. She showed the new large sign up board and the list of hostesses due for the next year (2017-2018). She noted that the spread sheet with the next 8 years of hostess duties is on the website. Because of 2 resignations and the number of family groups, several years are short of hostesses, including next year. Three members from this years hostess list kindly agreed to move to the next year to even out the numbers. There are currently 100 members on the hostess list.

Jinny also mentioned a project she will be working on this year: updating and printing the family tree lists that Jackie Cushman started a few years ago.

Membership and Dues: Lindsey Sones
Lindsey is tracking everyone’s attendance. Check your email accuracy. Make sure you pay your dues. You can also pay your dues online.

Treasurer: Julie Harlan
Nothing to report

Speech School: Karen Brown, Caroline Davis
The garden at the Speech School has maintained its integrity. The bird bath was removed due to mosquitos and upkeep. They had a Fall party in the courtyard so it is being used and appreciates. There will be a fall workday scheduled, stay tuned.

Quarry Garden: Parker Tekin, Louise Moore
Nothing to report

Flower Show (also known as Amaryllis Project): Leslie Morgan, Sharena Hall
This year to replace the amaryllis project, we thought it would be nice to have a Christmas floral workshop. The date is Tuesday, December 6th from 11-1 at the Swan Coach House. Jennifer Euart will be demonstrating and instructing us on putting together a Christmas floral piece. The price for the event is $50 for lunch and the floral materials. We will be sending out an email invite soon. There are 20 spots for this event. We are looking forward to this event, hope to see you there.

State Garden Club Liaison: Mary Huntz
Nothing to report
Mary Huntz has an email change of address- mhuntz@huntzco.com

Website: Margaret Glenn
If you are still having trouble with your website username and password contact Margaret Glenn – marge.glenn@gmail.com. If you need help uploading your head shot, please email it Margaret Glenn and she can upload it to the website for you.

OLD AND NEW BUSINESS: Margaret Warren
As a reminder, we will have room to accept 3 new members this year; the new member proposal form will be available on the website under the “Member Info” tab, or if you’d rather, you can send an email to Margaret Warren, and she will make sure you receive the form; we will begin accepting the forms in January 2017 and the deadline to submit will be March 2017.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS/NEWS:
If you still need a picture for the website send one of your own in to Margaret Glenn (marge.glenn@gmail.com) or contact Guerry Redmond (guerryredmond@bellsouth.net / 404-234-0761)

PROGRAM: Pumpkin Centerpieces with Nancy Nichols
Nancy Powell, one of our program chairs, introduced our speaker, Nancy Nichols. Nancy Nichols is a 4th generation Floridian. She now lives in Highlands, NC. She is a member of 2 garden clubs there. She showed us how to do Fall arrangements using, succulents, moss and pumpkins. You pull Succulents through the moss. Lightly spritz with water every couple of days. Use dirt or soil that doesn’t hold too much moisture. She showed us how to replicate succulents.

5 Best Succulents for Atlanta :
1. Echeveria
2. Crassula
3. Sempervivum
4. Sedum
5. Aloe

ADJOURN: Margaret Warren
That concludes our meeting. Our next meeting is Tuesday, October 25th at the Atlanta History Center. Meeting Adjourned.

Respectively Submitted,
Julie Yates