The Atlanta Speech School
HOSTESSES: Jennifer Euart, Gayle Alston, Terri Alston, and Emily Ferguson
CALL TO ORDER: Mary Huntz
Mary called the meeting to order, welcomed everyone and thanked the hostesses. Minutes from September, October and November were voted on and approved. Thank you to the Speech School for providing the beautiful flowers and drinks.
SPEECH SCHOOL REPORT: Terri Alston
The Atlanta Speech School loves the Mimosa Garden. Jack Zimmerman sent a personal email to Terri saying how beautiful the garden is and how much they enjoy it.
QUARRY GARDEN: Parker Tekin
The new farm cat, Artful Dodger, has begun hunting so we hope he will discover the plethora of voles in the Quarry under the mulch paths and get to work. The pond has flooded twice this winter already, with water going all the way to the deer sculptures, covering the majority of the interior large bed (bed 8). This concerns me for the life of the plants in there; they are not aquatic plants though some do tolerate the occasional flood. At some point we will need to address the drainage in the Quarry on a large scale and figure out how to pipe the overflow water into the creek or create another detention pond, like the one at the top of the Quarry near the Gardens building.
This isn’t on the immediate horizon, but perhaps next year. We will have to assess the damage in spring. A lot of silt came in with the last flood so there was a mud-line across the whole center bed that may have covered the crowns of many plants. We have our fingers crossed, as this area has flooded in previous years as well, so hoping the plants survive.
The waterfall froze over earlier, and had icicles all down the front, which was quite beautiful! We blew out the irrigation system back in December so it will not freeze, that is protected.
We also have a couple people in the invasive plant business brainstorming ways to rid the sides of the Quarry Garden of the English ivy without causing a landslide or erosion into the creek. We are doing ivy removal in Swan Woods this year, where it is an easier test case, without having the steep slope that the Quarry presents us. Sarah will monitor that success over the next year before determining a plan for the Quarry walls.
AMARYLLIS PROJECT: Lindsey Sones
30 Members have participated
4 members have not paid
Email your amaryllis photos to Leslie Morgan: lesliemorgan1@mac.com
Awards will be given in April
MIMOSA PARTY REPORT: Jennifer Euart and Emily Ferguson
The ‘May Day” themed party is May 4, 2016 at the home of Rae Knox. Soiree is catering the event. Lisa Henson is the party treasurer. All new members will help the committee with the party. The sign up sheet was on the table at the meeting. There are 3 donations for the auction. The financial goal for the Party is $28,000. net proceeds in order to meet our obligations for two years.
PROGRAMS: Aimee Nix
The February meeting will be at the home of Mary Huntz. The program is a pruning workshop with Terry May. Dress accordingly- the meeting will be outside, weather permitting.
The May 10th meeting will be at Chastain Farm on Urban gardening.
HOSTESS CHART: Marianne Craft
The chart shows that there are meetings that need to be filled. Please sign up.
WEBSITE: Margaret Warren
To enter the Mimosa website:
The username is your first initial and last name. The password is your home telephone number WITH the dashes.
Also, please make sure your profile is updated. Be sure to go to the bottom of the page and click on Update to save your changes.
PHOTOS FOR DIRECTORY: Guerry Redmond
Please see Guerry and have your picture taken for the directory, if you haven’t done so.
MEMBERSHIP: Mary Huntz
This is the time of year when we review our Mimosa Directory to see how many new spaces for new members will open up.
It saddens me to report that after counting spaces numerous times, unfortunately we don’t have room for any new members this year. According to the By Laws our membership is capped at 70 members, excluding Sustaining, Non Resident and Honorary members.
Just as a review especially for newer members this is what is in our By Laws:
Members-Elect are considered as new members through May of their second full year. Members –Elect must attend five meetings per year and work on the Flower Show a.k.a. the Amaryllis Project. Members Elect must also work on the Mimosa Garden Party in May and participate in the work of the Club.
Active members must attend five meeting per year and participate in the work of the Club.
Associate members: after 15 years of actively being involved in Mimosa an Active member may become an Associate member. Associates must attend one meeting per year.
One may become a Sustaining member after being active in the club for 30 years!
Sustainers have all the privileges of membership.
One may become an Honorary member after being in the club for 50 years! Honorary membership may also be bestowed by unanimous vote of the Club on a person who has shown special interest and concern for the Mimosa Garden Club. And they shall have all the privileges of membership. Of which we have nine!
Very Important: Professional Membership shall be granted to those Active members of Mimosa after five (5) years of membership who work full-time with inflexible hours. Professional membership classification must be requested to the Board yearly by July 1. Professional Members must attend at least one meeting per year. We currently have two.
If there is anyone who would like to ask for permission to be placed in the Professional members category, please submit a letter to that effect to the Board by July 1st. That information will help us as we select who will serve on the Board of Directors this year.
Non resident members may not hold office.
We are so, so fortunate to have so many very active Associate and Sustaining members. Thanks to all of you for making Mimosa a wonderful club.
Our new website is programmed by your membership date to recognize who is eligible to move up to Sustaining. Unfortunately we have no one moving up to Sustaining this year; therefore, there is no room for a new member.
Looking forward five years, if there are no changes such as a resignation, someone moving —
2015-2016 0 members
2016-2017 1 member
2017-2018 1 member
2018-2019 1 member
2019-2020 2 members
Over the next five years, we’ll have room for five new members.
We have consulted Betty Glenn and Libby Lanier, our Parliamentarians, about this. They are in agreement.
Do we have any discussion?
Members then discussed that attendance should be monitored. All Members Elect and Active members must attend 5 meetings each year as stated in the by-laws.
A Special Membership Committee was established to consider membership options.
Gayle Alston
Blair Mann
Catherine Fleetwood
Emily Jordan
Esther Garges
Sissy Davis
This Committee shall meet over the next ten months, taking suggestions from the Mimosa membership as to how to address the issue of having spaces for only five new members over the next five years. If an Active member does not meet her obligations, what should happen? The Committee will present a Report and its Recommendations to the Officers and Board of Directors not later than January 1st. Any By Laws changes will be voted on at the January meeting.
TREASURY REPORT: Email from Julian Harlan
We had a great year in 2015. In 2015, we contributed $10,800 to Atlanta Historical Society and $7,200 to the Atlanta Speech School from our party proceeds earned from the party in 2014. We ended the year with $18,215 in total from our three cash accounts. This is pretty in line with our budget, with the exception that we didn’t collect all our dues for 2015-2016. Please pay your dues if you haven’t paid them for 2015-2016. We are looking forward to a profitable party this spring to replenish our party account with the funds necessary to make our next two years of commitments to the Speech School and Atlanta History Center. Please call Julie Harlan at 404-808-2492 if you have any questions.
Dues: Everyone pays dues except for Honorary Members. Mimosa Dues are $50 and due by December. However, because this is a transitional year to receive information via our website, the $25. late fee is waived if you pay by February 1st.
Sarah McElroy, Dues Treasurer, will contact all members who have dues in arrears.
NOMINATING COMMITTEE: Mary Huntz
We need to nominate one Active and one Associate member to serve on the Nominating Committee to draw up the slate of Officers for next year.
Sissy Davis nominated Lindsey Sones
Shelby Drinkard nominated Jinny Keough
Anyone interesting in serving on the Board next year, please send Mary an email.
Mary Huntz gave a door prize, a quart jar of homegrown and canned green beans to Claire Benedict.
Comer Yates spoke briefly thanking Mimosa for our support.
Respectfully submitted,
Rae Knox