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.  

The executive board met in August and voted some new additions to MAGC.  The monthly newsletter will
now be called "The Latest Dirt from Morris Area Garden Club".  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.  

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.
MAGC 2009 Year in Review
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