Welcome and Call to Order
- Aimee Nix welcomed everyone and thanked Hostesses – Karen Brown, Mary Ayres Griggs, and Leslie Morgan
Reading and Approval of Minutes
- Aimee called for approval of the minutes from the November 2022 meeting which have been posted on the website. Motion to approve by Shelby Drinkard, 2nd by Jackie Cushman, all approved.
- Aimee read Mimosa Garden Club Purpose as stated in our Bylaws. It’s a great reminder of why we’re all here and she hopes it’s helpful to our new members.
Purpose is as follows:
The purpose of this Club shall be to promote among its members a love for and an intelligent interest in the cultivation of flowers, of gardens and of landscapes, the beautification of local streets and highways, the encouragement of love of nature, and the conservation of plants and trees throughout the State of Georgia.
The Special Projects supported by this Club are the development and care of the garden at the Atlanta Speech School and the development and care of the Mary Howard Gilbert Memorial Quarry Garden at the Atlanta History Center.
Officer Reports
Vice President – Parker Tekin
Indicated she would give update later in meeting with Aimee
Second Vice President (Speech School) – Kendrick Williams
Kendrick reports that everything is going great in the garden and the new tables out there are very nice. Kendrick will be sending out sign-up sheets to work on pots and for a workday in the Spring so be looking for that.
Third Vice President (Quarry Garden) – Molly West
The main update is the devastating polar plunge we all had over the holidays. There has been severe cold damage across campus. We won’t know how severe until about February or March when plants start to push new growth. Many of the evergreens have lost all their foliage. We have also had some flooding, not unusual for the quarry garden. Soon we begin cutting back the rest of the perennials and prepare for spring ephemerals (plants marked by short life cycles) to come up.
Corresponding Secretary -Katie Bockstedt NO REPORT
Treasurer – Jo Phelps
From 2022:
I think we can all agree that it was wonderful to get beyond the
pandemic and get back to having meetings, seeing each other, and
enjoying our fabulous party last spring at the Alston’s. Our party
chairs, Mary Ayres and Jessica, along with their talented committee
gave us a night to remember and raised $14,000 over our expenses
of $22,000. We will hold $6000 in the party account for our future
commitments and distribute an extra $4800 to the Atlanta History
Center and $3200 to the Atlanta Speech School in addition to our
annual commitments of $3000 to the Atlanta History Center and
$2000 to the Atlanta Speech School. All monies will be distributed
in February. The total balance in our three accounts is $34,240. We
are fiscally sound with an energetic board to lead us into the future.
The accountant who has been helping us file our taxes has retired, so we need to find someone else this year. Does anyone have any connections or recommendations? If so, let Jo or Aimee know.
Committee Reports
Programs – Julie Yates and Sarah McElroy NO REPORT
Membership & Dues – Amy Underwood
Aimee gave Amy Underwood’s update thanking everyone for paying their annual membership dues. We’re almost at 100% paid – just a few remaining members haven’t paid and Amy has reached out to them individually.
Historian – Jinny Keough NO REPORT
Parliamentarian – Jackie Cushman NO REPORT
Website- Jennifer Hill (Report read by Shelby Drinkard)
We have troubleshooted and determined that some are having difficulty accessing the site due to some new security protocols that were auto-added with renewal of our hosting agreement. We will follow up with an email to all membership; but, anyone having difficulty accessing the site should enter the following URL into their web browser:
PROGRESS ON REDESIGN: We have been making incremental adjustments to the website throughout the year, an example being the ability to auto upload all meeting/events to a chosen personal calendar (e.g. Outlook, Google Calendar, Mail). Excited to share that we’ve made progress on the overall re-architecture of the site which should vastly improve navigation, links, usability, etc. Will share three (3) mood boards at that next meeting as well as via email for everyone to weigh in on a new website design. There won’t be a formal vote but but we will be asking anyone interested to please weigh in on their preferred option for color palette, photo treatment, page layout and font.
State Garden Club Liaison – Lindsey Sones NO REPORT
New Business- Aimee Nix
- Amaryllis Project – Hopefully your amaryllis plants have bloomed! Please take photos and send them to Alden Potts. Prizes will be awarded at next month’s meeting.
Mimosa participated in the ‘Victorian Holiday at Oakland’ event at Oakland Cemetery in early December. We had a fun morning decorating the King Mausoleum. A big thank you to Mandy Culpepper for leading the decorating with her wonderful creativity! Many thanks to Mandy, Shelby Drinkard, Mims Hill, Claire Benedict, Alden Potts & Sarah McElroy for working on this project. (Aimee showed photos from the event)
- In November, Mimosa Garden Club materials were gifted to the Cherokee Garden Library to maintain our history. Membership directories were given by Mimosa Garden Club member, Pattie Boykin. They date back to 1956 and go through 2013. Attendance ledgers and Quarry Garden materials were given by Mimosa Garden Club member, and current Historian, Jinny Keough. Thank you both for ensuring that these documents are safe and available for anyone to refer to in the future.
- It’s a good time to make sure all of your contact information is up to date in our online member directory- Aimee passed around a sheet to update contact information. Please complete and let Aimee know if you need to change your mailing address as well.
- Aimee and Parker Tekin (VP) have been thinking about our hostess shortfall this year and trying to find a solution. This year we have 27 hostesses for 8 meetings. It was 24 but we moved the Yates family to this May since last May’s meeting was canceled. (I’d like to keep them in this rotation going forward.) In this group we have one Honorary member, one soon to be Honorary member and 3 non-resident members who are hosting and they are not required to host.
- Ideally, we’d have 32 hostesses in a rotation to make 4 per meeting. The other two hostess group rotations currently have 32 and 38 hostesses for the next 2 years. This year’s rotation needs more hostesses.
Our membership quota is 70 members consisting of Members-Elect, Active, Associate and Professional members. Sustaining, Honorary and Non-resident members are not included in the quota. Currently Mimosa has a total of 106 members, and only 53 of those count towards the quota.
Member- Elect: 6
Active: 23
Associate: 15
Professional: 9
Sustaining: 28
Honorary: 15
Non Resident: 10
Total Membership: 106
- Aimee suggested we have room to increase membership (quota is 70 and we only have 53)
- Jinny Keough suggested that maybe we should increase the number of new members from 3 to 5 for this year to increase membership
- That was agreed upon so Jinny made a motion to increase number of new members to 5, Mary Hunts gave second and all approved.
- Per Jackie Cushman, this needs to be voted on again in March
- Please submit new member candidate’s details and endorsements via the website by our March meeting (March 28th). You can find the nomination form under “Member Info” from the main menu on the website. Voting will take place April 1-15. New members will be announced at our April 25th meeting.
- Aimee indicated it is time to assemble the slate for the 2023-2024 Board of Directors. We need one (1) Active and one (1) Associate member to be part of the Nominating Committee (also consisting of Past President Shelby Drinkard, Aimee Nix & Vice President Parker Tekin ).
- Mary Mac Southerland and Karen Brown are nominated, Jackie Cushman makes a motion to vote them into office, Shelby Drinkard 2nds the motion and all approve.
- Aimee discussed possibilities for member activities outside of regularly scheduled meetings and would love suggestions. Any interest in a possible Gibbs Garden trip in March? Please contact Aimee by email if interested.
- Aimee acknowledges our past president, Shelby Drinkard for her outstanding leadership last year. We usually celebrate the outgoing president at the May meeting, but we ended up canceling that meeting so she honors her now. Shelby was a wonderful president, she is smart, fun, organized and upbeat! She navigated our reentry to in person meetings after many months of uncertainty with grace and enthusiasm. From start to our big finish at the Garden Party, the entire year was a success. Shelby was a delight to work with and continues to be a generous mentor to Aimee. Thank you for your service, Shelby!
- Our next meeting will be February 28th at Food Well Alliance. Kate Conner, the executive director will speak to us about the organization. Food Well Alliance is a collaborative network of local leaders working together to build thriving community gardens and urban farms across metro Atlanta.
Program
- Comer Yates, Executive Director, gave us an update on the happenings at the Atlanta Speech School.
- Comer thanked our Garden Club for everything we do for the Speech School Garden
- He discussed the fact that the garden was a central place for the school during Covid.
- Garden served as a classroom for many of the classes, including music classes like the recorder.
- Garden also served as a cafeteria for the students and teachers.
Adjournment & Lunch
- Aimee thanked Comer Yates, Haven Long and the Atlanta Speech School for hosting us. She thanked the hostesses again (Karen Brown, Mary Ayres Griggs, and Leslie Morgan), and thanked the members for making Mimosa a wonderful garden club. She then adjourned the meeting for lunch.