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
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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 2nd 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