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 6th 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