What better way to celebrate Louisiana Native Plant Month than in Carro Gardner’s beautiful native garden? Town Gardeners celebrated the neighborhood in April, enjoying our business meeting and program in Carro’s home and garden with Tammany Baumgarten (right) of the Louisiana Native Plant Society, Native Plant Initiative of Greater New Orleans, and BaumGardens. Tammany presented on the garden project she and Carro undertook together but also on the general benefits of native gardening and the opportunity to integrate native plants alongside longtime non-native favorites such as camellias. The Heart of the Park committee gave a hat luncheon fashion show extraordinaire, Jeanne Barousse introduced the elegant plan for tablescapes, and Caroline Reily invited members and guests to sign up for a millinery session to ensure a festive chapeau. After a discussion about the Heart of the Park luncheon, members voted to continue hosting the luncheon for the next two years. Lynn Box, Kristi French, Virginia Rowan, and Pierce Young, our Zone Flower show delegates and entrants, shared their plans and designs for the Flora & Eudora Zone IX Flower Show the following week. Members enjoyed lingering in Carro’s garden while walking across the street to the home of Beth Favrot, where a delicious lunch was presented by head hostess Catherine Freeman and her committee. New members  received their initial NOTG orientation.

The Garden Club of Jackson put on a beautiful Flora & Eudora Zone IX Meeting and Flower Show in April, weaving the words of author, photographer, and gardener Eudora Welty through every aspect. Educational speakers included Susan Haltom, who revived Miss Welty’s garden at her request and documented the process in One Writer’s Garden, a beautiful chronicle of a garden over the decades.Nicole Johnsey Burke, author of Kitchen Garden Revival and the new Leaves, Roots, and Fruits, shared the story of her Gardenary business and the elements of a successful kitchen garden. The final speaker of the meeting was Harvey Cotton, longtime leader of the Huntsville Botanical Garden, who spoke on native plants and planting for pollinators. During the meeting, participants enjoyed dinners in private homes, a reception in Eudora Welty’s garden, and tea at the Old Governor’s Mansion in Jackson. Garden tours before and after the meeting offered extra opportunities for exploring all the Hospitality State had to offer.The culminating event was a beautiful awards dinner planned and executed by our own Barbara Bush in her role as Zone Representative for Awards. The highlight of the night was the presentation of a GCA Zone Award in Garden History and Design to our own Flora French for her decades of work on this important aspect of GCA. Many thanks to Kristi French and Dr. Ronnie French, who conspired to have Flora in Jackson for the event while maintaining the secret of her special award!Floral Design AwardLynn Box created a beautiful table scape for a bride and groom in the Delta Wedding Class, winning a yellow ribbon and incorporating silver, china, furniture, and linens from Barbara Bush, Helen Butcher, Mary Hines, Tina Kern, Dee McCloskey, and Lynn’s own collection. Roses and hellebores took center stage in her lush, romantic arrangements.Horticulture AwardsKatie Rafferty and Kristi French did a wonderful job gathering cuttings for the show—many thanks to all who let the committee sneak into your gardens and take cuttings and to Kristi for acting as our horticulture delegate in Jackson, submitting specimen in the eight required classes.Kristi won a blue ribbon and the Novice Award in Horticulture for our favorite pitcher plant: Sarracenia leucophylla. Carro’s borage won a blue ribbon in an herb class. Cathy Pierson won a red ribbon for the beautiful New Dawn climbing rose she propagated. Dee’s bottlebrush took a blue ribbon and a good old loblolly pine won a red ribbon. Finally, Kristi made a beautiful arrangement for the challenge class. Each of the 21 clubs had to make a bouquet of cut specimens that would have been in gardens in the 20s, 30s, and 40s. Kristin won third place with a beautiful white and green arrangement presented in a julep cup. The bouquet included cuttings from the Reily garden on Prytania, Carro’s native garden, the French farm, and McCloskey farm—apologies to any gardens overlooked!Photography AwardVirginia entered a beautiful shot taken in the botanical garden for her Curtain of Green entry, winning a yellow ribbon and compliments from the judges! Botanical Arts AwardPierce…

Longue Vue House and Garden welcomed Town Gardeners for our March 2023 meeting in the Playhouse. Head hostess Jenny Charpentier and Tina Kern arranged a delicious lunch on the tented tennis court and horticulture chairs Katie Rafferty and Kristi French offered a hands on kokedama activity for those willing to get their hands dirty! Several members went home with ferns or other plants housed in the unique moss covered balls. Longue Vue Executive Director Baty Landis and Director of Gardens Amy Graham gave a fantastic introduction to the history of Longue Vue and impact of twentieth century landscape designer Ellen Biddle Shipman. Shipman cited the three essential characteristics of a real garden as design, greenery, and privacy. She was known for creating axial relationships between garden and home, easily recognized at Longue Vue. The Longue Vue website notes that Ship-man was “considered the dean of women landscape architects” and “designed over 600 gardens between 1914-1946, contributing significantly to a thriving gardening revival that occurred during the early twentieth century.”

November’s joint meeting with the Garden Study Club was chock-full! It began with announcements and business items from both clubs, including some NOTG trivia from the 60s, teasers about Art in Bloom 2023 and the Heart of the Park Hat Luncheon, and the unveiling of a special joint project at Audubon Park. Next, City Park’s CEO Cara Lambright expressed her enthusiasm about the recently created City Park Conservancy. Cara and Bo-tanical Garden Director Paul Soniat graciously thanked both clubs for our history of support for the park and gardens.For our program we were treated to a superb presentation by renown floral and event designer Lewis Miller of Lewis Miller Design. He shared oodles of photos of gorgeous events he has designed. Key themes in his work include flowers as fantasy; creating layers; contrasting rough with refined; and using dynamic flowers that shift and change within an arrangement over time. He also explained the origins of the “Flower Flash”, a concept he created to spread good will be sharing the beauty of flowers with fellow residents of New York City. (Watch GCA’s “The Making of a Flower Flash” video here.) To cap off his presentation, Lewis deftly assembled a lush arrangement with pink and peach tones while entertaining audience questions. What a delight to learn from someone so talented, experienced and personable!The meeting wrapped up with a beautiful lunch. Some lucky ladies took home amaryllis or paperwhite bulbs, which were given as door prizes. Many others left with a copy (or two!) of Lewis’s most recent book, Flower Flash. Best of all, everyone went home feeling creatively inspired!!Photo right: Speaker Lewis Miller with Courtney LeClerq, GSC, and Tina Kern, NOTG.