| Morris Area Garden Club has had a very successful and productive 2009. Become a member of MAGC so that you won't miss out on anything else! We started in January with Pam Coley holding the monthly meeting at her home to discuss purchasing, lighting, watering, feeding, transplanting and propagation of houseplants. Our new scholarship program was approved by vote and a committee was appointed to search for a recipient. The executive board met in February and made nominations for new officers and planned the meeting schedule through March of 2010. The program was presented by Ed Pfaff, a certified arborist from Redbud Creek Farms. Ed educated us in the proper "hows and whens" of pruning trees and shrubs and the correct tools to use. We also packaged up 500 envelopes of several varieties of seeds saved from our gardens to give away at the 2009 Grundy County Environmental Fair. We welcomed new member, Nan Taller. March brought us Vicki Henson who shared her many books, photos and travel experiences about Claude Monet and his French garden. Lusia Wozniak graciously accepted the position as Garden Walk Chairperson and the theme will be "Celebrate America". MAGC participated in the 2009 Grundy County Environmental Fair for the fourth year. We welcomed Betty Cheshareck and Diana Browning as new members. April had Dr. David Bainbridge DVM as our speaker. His topic was Orchids. Dr. Dave brought about a dozen of his beautiful, blooming orchids with him and discussed their care. Boy! Does he know his orchids! Annual dues were collected, as our new fiscal year began, and new officers were installed. Our first annual scholarship was awarded to Carrington Flatness, a graduating senior from Seneca High School. A discussion was held and it was voted to adopt a parcel of highway from IDOT. We welcomed new members Arlene Laraway and Jan Benson The May meeting began our summer hours and was held at the home of Diane & Bob Lucas. We toured their beautiful garden and learned Pounded Flower Art by Ginny Bellamy. We also had our annual Spring plant exchange and assembled and packaged 14 raffle baskets full of gardening items, gift certificates and other fun items to be used at the Celebrate America Tea. MAGC welcomed Nancy Jennings, Deborah Ritke and Juarte Pezze as our latest new members. June was a busy month for MAGC. We met at the home of Jane Tesdall where we toured her lovely garden. Jane demonstrated cooking with herbs from her organic garden. The smells were amazing! Our 5th annual garden walk and tea was held on the 27th with our private walk-through tour the night before. Approximately 250 guests toured the seven gardens. The annual MAGC Flower liability insurance and started procedures to earn our Not-for-profit status. IDOT assigned us the space of highway between Saratoga School and Morris Airport to maintain four times Marvis & Jerry Borens, Donna & Ken Iverson, Jean Peterson, Ed & Carol Mayer, Roger & Gail Breitwieser, Margo McIntyre and Kevin Ballard were welcomed as new MAGC members. In July we toured Morris Hospital's Serenity Garden and the gorgeous gardens of MAGC members, Carol Padovano and Nan Taller, later relaxing on the deck in the cool evening, drinking wine and eating snacks. |
| August: We now have MAGC business cards and a web site has been approved. There was no formal monthly meeting in August. August usually finds us taking a field trip to an area garden or nursery. This year members and guests sojourned off to Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, IL. We ate lunch in their restaurant then leisurely toured the gardens. September began the fall/winter meeting hours as we moved to our new meeting place at New Community Christian Church at 705 E. Washington St. in Morris. We were so very happy to find a meeting place that is easily accessible for everyone. The first edition of the MAGC web site was published. We held our annual produce exchange and Jeff Rugg, Extension Unit Educator and Horticulture/IPM of the Kendall County Unit gave us an informative and entertaining program on getting our landscape and garden ready for winter. MAGC collected 24 cans of soup for We Care of Grundy County, the local food pantry. We have a welcome packet for new homeowners in the area. It took 3 Saturdays to clean the roadway for IDOT. It hadn't been picked up for quite some time. It looks beautiful! Emi Scala, Francine Ciotti and Sandy Boyd were welcomed as new MAGC members. The October meeting had Richard Fielding of Up-Cycle Products in Minooka speaking to us about composting and water conservation. We have two sponsors on our web site and in our newsletter. MAGC members donated 13 boxes of pancake mix, 16 bottles of syrup, a box each of grits and brownies and 2 cans of soup for We Care of Grundy County. We welcomed Lorraine Vilt and Emilie Wills as our newest members. November brought us Russell Higgins, IPM Specialist (Integrated Pest Management) from the U of I Horticulture Dept. His topic was "Getting the Bugs Out". MAGC collected 21 boxes of instant and regular oatmeal for We Care of Grundy County. We welcomed Diane Pallardy, Julie Belden and Carrington Flatness as our newest members. December always brings our annual potluck and Yankee Swap game. We also had Dr. David Bainbridge DVM and his Peregrine Falcon, Nijji Benay and his Military Macaw Parrot, Charlie as our guests. Dr. Bainbridge discussed pesticides and human greed as dangers to birds and other wildlife. A second IDOT clean up was completed on Rt. 47. We collected 22 boxes of mac n cheese and 17 boxes of rice for We Care of Grundy County. A new schedule is in the works for 2010 Upcoming Events and promises to be just as rewarding, educational and fun as 2009. Guests are always welcome at our meetings. For information regarding meetings or MAGC, please contact us. |
| This page last updated 08/01/10. |
| You're listening to Kenny G - Silhouette |
| MAGC 2009 Year in Review |
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