First of all, we would like to honor the passing of one of our long term members.  Mary Easley-Bradley made her transition from this world on December 22, 2021.  Mary was an active member of the Garden Club since 2002, and an active realtor in the area for over 30 years.  Her presence will be missed.  A charitable contribution will be made to SafeSpace in her memory.

We had a lovely day for the presentation of awards to Annie Ruffing as Outstanding Member and Dotty Tazzetta as recipient of the final Penny Pines Award.  We are grateful to both of them for their continued dedication to organizing the gardening committee and maintaining our 3 community gardens.

As an update on the Enjoyment Book...we have currently sold 71 books, resulting in a profit of $710 for our Garden Club.  Sales of the book will end on January 31st.  Please contact Pat Jones at 719/293-1898 or Dawn Blair at 772//692-2131 to get a copy before the sales end.

Our Treasurer, Linda Biagioni, reports that as of January 13, 2021 the Garden Club has a balance of $7,017.86 in our checking account and $6,769.95 in our savings account, for a net worth of $13,787.81.

The Martin County Fair is being held on February 12-20 at the fairgrounds in Stuart.  If you have a beautiful plant, flowers or craft you would like to share with others, this is your opportunity.  Please see their website at www.martincountyfair.com for more information and entry forms.

At our Executive Board meeting last Wednesday, the Board passed a motion to suspend membership dues for the upcoming 2021-2022 Garden Club season.  Since we have had to cancel our general meetings for this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Board felt our members hadn’t received much benefit from this season’s dues, and it should carry over to next season.  Anyone who is a current member will not pay dues for next season.

Also at the Board meeting, the Nominating Committee was formed to elect officers for next season.  The Bylaws require two members from the Executive Board and three members from the general membership.  The committee chairperson is Jan Rogan and the vice-chairperson is Gail Rounds.  If you would like to volunteer to be on the committee, please contact Jan at 772/807-0094 or Gail at 772/692-2706.  

As this season (2020-2021) is considered an odd year, the officers’ terms that are expiring are President, 2nd Vice President, Corresponding Secretary and Assistant Treasurer.  Jan Rogan, our current Corresponding Secretary, is the only officer seeking re-election.  If you have a desire to be on the Executive Board, please contact Jan or Gail.  If you would like information about any of the board positions, please refer to our current Bylaws for a description of the office, or feel free to contact the current officer.  As there are three board positions to be filled, we ask that each of you consider how you might participate on the Executive Board to keep our Garden Club active, and be open to discussion from a call by the Nominating Committee.  

In anticipation of our general meeting scheduled for Wednesday, February 17th, members of the Board have had several inquiries about holding either an outdoor meeting or a Zoom meeting.  Since several members still feel uncomfortable about meeting outside of the home, it was decided to have our February meeting via Zoom.  Many of you are already familiar with meeting on Zoom, and it is hoped that this will be a good opportunity to have some face-to-face contact with our members.  The Zoom meeting will be on our regularly scheduled meeting date (2/17) and open at 10:45 for social discussion, with the meeting  beginning at 11:00.  All members will receive a Zoom invitation a few days prior to the meeting date.  The meeting will consist of a business meeting, followed by a presentation by Gail Rounds, highlighting some of her favorite plants.  

And, last but not least, Gail Rounds has provided the following information about the colorful Blanket Flower:

Blanket Flower, aka Gaillardia: A plant for those HOT summer days

Gaillardia pulchella is a member of the Asteraceae family, with daisy-like petals surrounding a central cone. This bright, cheery, colorful plant, also known by the common names Blanket Flower or Indian Blanket, is a native to Florida. There are more than a dozen known species and can be found throughout Canada, United States, Mexico and most of South America.

The plant forms a mound; it has slightly hairy leaves and fuzzy stems, and is very drought tolerant.  Blanket Flower needs plenty of sun and good drainage. They’re not picky about soil but don’t tend to do well in heavy clay. They will thrive here in Florida and draw lots of butterflies to your yard.  The best time to plant Gaillardia here in Florida is in March. They are available in yellow, orange, red and bicolor and will bloom summer through fall. I still have a few blooms in my garden. These annual flowers will reseed themselves or you can propagate by division.

Can you find the Gaillardia pulchella?

On behalf of the Executive Board, we hope you all have a safe and enjoyable month, and we look forward to actually “seeing” you all at our Zoom meeting on February 17th.