VENUE: Dicksie King’s home
DATE: November 28, 2017
HOSTESSES: Dicksie King, Kendrick Williams, Penny Nunnally, Mariea Sibley
WELCOME / CALL TO ORDER: Jinny Keough
ANNOUNCEMENTS / MEMBER UPDATES: Congratulations to new member Katie Bockstedt on the birth of her daughter, Margaret Anne, on October 15th. Thank you to Wawa Hines for arranging a special program for the March meeting. We will be touring Fernbank Forest
APPROVAL OF MINUTES: October minutes are not ready for approval. We will approve both October and November at the January Annual Business meeting, which will be January 23rd at the Speech School.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Vice President (Hostess Chart) – Lindsay Sones
The hostess chart is completely full for 2018-2019.
Membership & Dues – Leslie Morgan
$50 Dues are due December 1st, and after that are $75. Half the club has not paid.
Treasurer – Jo Phelps
No Report.
Speech School – Maggie Fischer
No Report except that they are using the upper garden as a playground while it is under construction.
Quarry Garden – Parker Tekin
The two huge (100′) tulip poplars that fell during Irma have been completely cleared now. We had a special crew from Gunnison come out to remove the one left hanging from the cliff edge bit by bit. It was quite a spectacle getting the whole stump to slide down the cliff edge without ripping out the amphitheater! We used an air spade (a jet of air from a compressor) to blow the soil and rocks off the stump, and tied it off to several other trees to lower down little at a time, sawing off roots as possible as we went. It weighed about 20,000 pounds. The wall of the amphitheater was repaired but there is still a mountain of soil below that eroded and now has to be spread out at ground level. We’ll have to settle that area down and replant in spring.
The machinery used to take it out created a significant amount of damage to the trails since they are such a soft, mulched surface that is quite spongy with rainfall. However, over the past week they have all been re-graded, stone edging is being reset where it was crushed into the earth, and trails are being mulched again – should be finished today and back to normal. It has raised awareness and consideration of how badly we need to resurface the Quarry Garden trails at some point, and redirect stormwater so it does not flood so easily in there. I am considering whether we can excavate the mulch out of the trails (it has been mulched probably every year for 40 years or so – raising the paths very high) and replace at some point with stone – like the gneiss that was once harvested from the actual quarry here. More on that at a later date.
We have met with Andrew Crawford to get a design and quote to replace the railings on the bridge over the Quarry pond. He is working on that and should have it for us soon.
We’ve planted a weeping hemlock, relocated two gorgeous and large prostrate American hollies, and planted about 30 of the smooth hydrangea – ‘Haas Halo’ at the entrance to the Quarry Bridge from Swan driveway to demonstrate the beauty of native plants used as an ornamental landscape. The deer and voles gave us a run for our money, but we replanted some and expect them all to come back fine in spring. We’ve just about finished underplanting those shrubs with a groundcover layer of alumroot (native Heuchera) Pennsylvania sedge and woodland phlox.
The next Connor Brown Children’s Trail activity hub has been installed in the Quarry – they are very realistic frogs, toads and salamanders that are made of resin, and adhered to stones around the pond for children to find. We will create interpretive panels for them in the coming year so they know what to look for, the habitat we’ve created here with the bog and pond that is so crucial for amphibian life, and the lifecycles they go through. There’s always such a bumper crop of chicken-nugget sized tadpoles in that pond! It’s a child magnet.
We’ll be working on the next Connor Brown installation this week and next – more on that in the next report. This was a VERY busy month in the Quarry! Thank you for all your help on the volunteer day!
Flower Show – Emily Jordan
Jinny reported for Emily. Please enter the Flower Show. Horticulture deadline is 11/22. There was a discussion about the deadline for amaryllis. Flower design deadline is 1/2//2018. The new members will be doing two table designs. Photography deadline is 1/10/2018. Also, Ellen Wiley will be doing a sensational seeds class at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens on 1/20. The flower show is 2/22-26.
State Garden Club Liaison – Mary Huntz
There is an adorable book for children ages 5-10 that is available for $10.80 with shipping. It’s about the life cycle of a pumpkin seed through becoming a jack o lantern. Please contact Mary if you would like to purchase one, Also, we are giving the Speech School two copies for their library.
Website – Margaret Glenn
If you have any questions contact Margaret, or if you need to change your address on-line then you may contact her, as well.
NEW BUSINESS: Jinny mentioned there was an article in the Cherokee Garden Library magazine about fall plants to see in the Quarry Garden. Our door prize winner is Mary Mac Sutherland.
The Spring Party is May 2nd, 2018. Please mark your calendars.
PROGRAM: Parker Tekin introduced our speaker Crystal Baker. Crystal owns a monogramming business called South of Hampton, with a storefront off Roswell Road and Powers Ferry. She talked about how monogramming came into existence and showed us many of her pretty and unique designs. She monograms too many items to list here.
ADJOURN: Jinny Keough
That concludes our meeting. The meeting is adjourned.
Respectively Submitted,
Mary Ayres Griggs