Memories of Our March Meeting

Remembering the fun and friendship shared at our March meeting and looking forward to the day when we will gather again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Tisket, a Tasket, January Baskets!

What a way to start the new year! Nickie Lane and her hostess committee welcomed members to the home of Kathy Eastman.

Members enjoyed presentations from our scholarship awardee on his coastal restoration research, and basketry artist Matt Tommey took us on a “walk in the woods” to learn about the evolution of his basketmaking, sharing his new book and a selection of his work. Matt designs from nature and often works with clients to walk their property and collect materials to incorporate into custom pieces.

 

 

 

Presidents Council Comes to New Orleans

​The 2019 Presidents Council brought over sixty Presidents, President Elects, Zone Reps, and GCA committee chairmen to New Orleans led by Zone IX Chairman Barbara Bush. The meeting opened with garden tours hosted by Ruthie Frierson, Sally Lapeyre, and Caroline Calhoun. Caroline Reily hosted the group for a seated dinner at the Reily home in the Garden District. Maxine Fox and Harriet Nelson also opened their gardens. The business meeting was held in the Playhouse at Longue Vue House and Gardens. Paul Soniat gave a tour of the Botanical Garden and the group visited the Enrique Alvarez garden and the new outdoor kitchen. Wednesday night dinners here hosted by Kim White and Virginia White. The wrap up meeting was at the NOPSI hotel where the group was staying. NOTG and Garden Study Club volunteers helped host the group.

Zone IX ladies were very impressed with our hospitality, the gardens, beautiful decorations, abundant flowers, and wonderful food!

Zone Meeting Flower Show Highlights!

Floral Design

  • Linda Miller, 2nd place for her beautiful two-sided arrangement for Wonders of Restoration

Photography

  • Maria Wisdom, 2nd place for her photograph of birds for Wonders of Observation

Needle Arts

  • Kathy Eastman, Honorable mention for her beetle needlepoint canvas for Wonders of Delight

Horticulture

  • Maxine Fox, 2nd place for her Saintpaulia, or African violet
  • Flora French, 1st place for her Sarracenia flava, or Yellow Pitcher Plant (flower)
  • Flora French, 2nd place for her Sarracenia leucophylla, or Red Pitcher Plant (foliage)
  • Flora French, 2nd place for her Pinus palustris, or Longleaf pine
  • Shane French, 3rd place for her Drosera capillaris, or Sundew
  • Catherine Freeman, 1st place for her Clivia miniata, or Bush Lily
  • Ruthie Frierson, Honorable Mention for her Aechmea fasciata, or Bromeliad
  • Chrisie Kelleher, 1st place for her Graptopetalum payaguayense, or Ghost plant
  • Paige Morrison, Honorable Mention in the Challenge Class for her Lilium matrix, or Lily
  • Marianne Mumford, 3rd place for her Cunninghamia
  • Marianne Mumford, 3rd place for her Trachycarpus fortunei, or Windmill Palm

Three Cheers for Chrisie and Linda for representing NOTG!

Wonders of the Wetlands 2019: Zone IX Meeting in Beaumont, Texas

A highlight of the 2019 zone meeting was celebrating with David Waggonner, a partner in the architectural firm Waggonner and Ball, when he received the Zone Civic Improvement Award at the Zone IX Awards Dinner in Beaumont.

New Orleans Town Gardeners proposed David for this award because of his visionary work with water management. After Katrina, David became a champion of solving water management problems in New Orleans and throughout the region by making water an asset not an adversary.

Congratulations David!

Going Green at the March Meeting

Carro Gardner brought a fresh and radical approach to the lunch at our March meeting, serving as head hostess her first time since joining the club in 2001. An avid organic gardener, environmentalist, champion of sustainability and new board member of City Park, Carro decided we should try to make our club meeting at the Grow Dat youth farm as earth-friendly as possible.

Toward that end, she led her hostess team in rethinking how we handle lunch. Individuals brought real tablecloths and napkins, stainless silverware, and plastic Mardi Gras cups….all of which could be washed and reused. We purchased biodegradable bamboo plates. Four members each brought two casual flower arrangements with plant material from their yards for the table decorations. Instead of water bottles, Carro brought a two gallon water cooler. Instead of box lunches, Carro ordered organic green salad from Grow Dat and 4 varieties of healthy delicious wrap sandwiches from Green to Go, all served family style. When we finished eating, any food waste was scraped into a bucket which was then used for composting. The cans from some sodas and sparkling water were recycled. And after everything was cleaned up, Carro hoisted a very small bag overhead to show how little packaging was used and how little actual trash we accumulated from serving 45 people.

In addition to the almost negligible environmental impact of the lovely outdoor lunch, when the bill was tallied up, the luncheon cost HALF of our normal garden club lunch expenses. Each hostess only needed to chip in $31.50 for a beautiful, ecologically sound lunch in City Park. We left the site without any trace of having been there!

Thanks to Karin Giger Eustis for writing up this great report on how Carro and her hostess committee made such a difference!

NOTG Flower Show Award Winners

BEST IN SHOW : Sybil Favrot & Anne Milling

1ST LAP AROUND THE PARK (FLORAL DESIGN): Lynne White

1st LAP AROUND THE PARK (HORTICULTURE): Molly Baumer

1st LAP AROUND THE PARK (PHOTOGRAPHY): Karin Giger

Floral Design

Class 1: Traditional Mass Design

  • 1st – Ethel Clay & Pierce Jonassen
  • 3rd – Ruthie Frierson & Betsy Nalty

Class 2: Contemporary Design

  • 1st – Sybil Favrot & Anne Milling
  • Honorable Mention – Elizabeth Bush & Shameen Wrighton

Class 3: Modern Line Design

  • 1st – Lynne White
  • Honorable Mention – Mary Clare Conwill & Helaine Benjamin

Class 4:

  • 2nd – Catherine Freeman & Anne Goliwas
  • 3rd – Flora French & Harriet Nelson

Photography

Class 1

  • 3rd – Ashley Bright
  • Honorable Mention – Laurie Williams

Class 2

  • 1st – Karin Giger

Class 3

  • 1st – Maria Wisdom

Botanical Arts

AWARD OF APPRECIATION:

  • Pierce Jonassen & Betsy Nalty
  • Katie Rafferty & Barbara Rosenberg
  • Elise Merlin & Pierce Young

Judges Commendations

  • Katie Rafferty – for her expressive and creative graphics
  • Beth Favrot – for her excellent participation as a first time scribe

A Walk in the Park Horticulture Award Winners

Class 1

  • 2nd – Sidney Thornton (Coleus)

Class 2

  • 1st – Helen Wisdom (Cypress Tree)
  • 2nd – Karin Giger

Class 3

  • 2nd – Catherine Freeman (Cast Iron, Live Oak, Spanish Moss)
  • 3rd – Paige Morrison (Purple Coneflower)

Class 6

  • Honorable Mention – Sidney Thornton
  • Honorable Mention – Catherine Freeman

Class 10

  • 1st – Cathy Pierson (New Dawn Climbing Rose)

Class 11

  • 2nd – Paige Morrison (Knockout Rose)

Class 12

  • 1st – Paige Morrison (Ginger Butterfly)
  • 2nd – Sidney Thornton (Texas Sage)
  • 3rd – Flora French (Fried Egg Plant)
  • Honorable Mention – Harriet Nelson (Hibiscus)

Class 14

  • 1st – Courtney Freeman (Satsuma)
  • 1st – Paige Morrison (Kumquat)
  • 1st – Paige Morrison (Holly)
  • 2nd – Sara Gaines (Kumquat)
  • 2nd – Cathy Pierson (Tabasco Pepper) 15
  • 2nd – Cathy Pierson (Coral Honeysuckle)
  • 3rd – Shane French (Bleeding Heartvine)
  • Honorable Mention – Paige Morrison (Wild Morning Glory)

Class 17

  • 2nd – Beth Favrot – Tarragon

Class 19

  • 2nd – Cathy Pierson (Zebra Cactus)

Class 26 – Milkweed Challenge

  • 1st – Pamela Pipes
  • 2nd – Flora French
  • 2nd – Chrisie Kelleher
  • 2nd – Ashley Bright
  • 3rd – Catherine Freeman
  • 3rd – Virginia Rowan
  • Honorable Mention – Paige Morrison, Katie Rafferty, Sidney Thornton

Joint Flower Show a Success!

What a wonderful day together. On November 13, members of the New Orleans Town Gardeners and Garden Study Club of New Orleans were welcomed by Poydras Home residents, family, and friends for “A Walk in the Park” joint flower show.

Poydras Home was a beautiful setting to showcase several categories of floral arrangements, photography, horticulture classes, and the new Botanical Arts category. Poydras Home residents participated alongside NOTG and GSC members in a floral arrangement category. The reception was a warm, lively event with members and friends ooh-ing and aah-ing over the entries.

Great thanks to the many hardworking volunteers who planned and manned the event and to all the who entered. A special “Hip Hip Hooray” to Linda Miller and Molly Baumer for serving as the NOTG cochairs of the event.

October Meeting Brings Out Our Competitive and Creative Sides!

Inside Virginia Rowan’sbeautiful home was serenity itself with Catherine calmly wielding the gavel, head hostess Chrisie Kelleher and her committee keeping everyone well fed, and members enjoying the simple and elegant arrangements dotting Virginia’s home.

Outside was another story as two teams of members vied for victory in the Great Grocery Store Flower Arranging Battle of 2018! Teams were given brightly colored fall bouquets from local grocery stores and challenged to make interesting and innovative arrangements. Laughter, creativity, and goodnatured competition ensued. Three cheers all around for the competitors and for the beautiful day we shared outside!