Holiday Decoration. It's time for the holidays. The florists from Floral Acres were here to lead us in a "hands on" project. We created holiday centerpieces for using in our home decoration or give as gifts. Our club provided the decorating materials free of charge to all the members. Some members even brought their guest to join us. Everyone who attended was having a good time. Thanks Floral Acres for their support! Followed after the program, we inducted a new member Gene P. and had a nice refreshment.
The November 2017's program was themed Succulents - Simply Beautiful by Gale Borger, who is a master gardener through the University of Wisconsin, Kenosha system. She has been gardening for more than 50 years. She founded Gerry's Garden in order to share with others the tremendous satisfaction one can achieve from gardening. She shared her love for succulents with us and demonstrated how to transplant and propagate the succulents.
After the program and refreshment, the club held the business meeting as usual and inducted two new members. Welcome Carrie H. and Linda N.!
The October program was presented by James Eaton, who has practiced the art and science of arboriculture and horticulture for 24 years. He is a certified arborist via the International Society of Arboriculture. Jim provided the diagnosis and treatment of conditions, diseases, and insects on all types of trees and shrubs. Our meeting was held at United Methodist Church of Antioch. It started at 7:00 pm with program, then followed with refreshment and general meeting. Members enjoyed fellowship and refreshments while learning!
Our fall potluck was held at our September meeting. Members brought a lot of delicious food to share. What a delightful feast! After the potluck dinner, we had a presentation by Merleanne Rampale from SWALCO, a public information officer and education director from Swalco on recycling and composting. We learned how to proper recycling in Lake county, IL region, and how to make composting the right way.
Speaker Merleanne Rampale from SWALCO
The Antioch Garden Club celebrated the end of another wonderful fiscal year of gardening with our annual potluck dinner. An installation ceremony of new officers was conducted at the meeting, as well as a welcome introduction to our new member Laura Paukner. We also awarded our community scholarship of 2017 to Kyla Knauf-a recent graduate student from Lakes Community High school. She is enrolled at the University of San Diego and planning to major in Environmental Science. Congratulations to our newly elected officers: president Barbara Gollwitzer and secretary Nancy Zitkus, and our scholarship recipient Kyla Knauf!
The May program was showing a video on Monarch butterflies by Kay MacNeil, GCI Milkweed for Monarchs Chairman. From the video, we learned how we can help save these beautiful creatures with milkweed seed. The year 2016 was the worst ever for monarchs, with numbers decreasing drastically. It's very informative. For those of you who didn't have chance to attend the program, here's the video for you to watch now. Just click the video ->
The program was presented by John Pini from the Chicago Aquatic Society and his associates. It's a creating your own indoor water garden project. Plants grown in water, similar to planting in a fish tank. They're very easy to look after, needing only regular water changes. The club members and guests came with their own clear glass container such as apothecary jars, attractive vases or aquariums. The club provided all the plants. Everyone who attended the program was excited to learn how to make a Wabi-Kusa, one of many styles of the water gardens. And happily brought home with an unique plant ensemble at the end of the program. It was really a fun filled event. For more information about the aquatic plant, visit the Aquatic Plant Society website at www.chicagoaquaticplants.com
The district IX 38th Annual Meeting & Luncheon was held on March 14, 2017 at the Concorde Banquets, Kildeer, IL. "Plant a Rainbow” was the theme. Featuring Floral Demonstration by Jennifer Hunt of JH Events & Flowers. Our club president, co-vice presidents and two more members attended the meeting and brought back several awards. During the meeting, president Jayna Legg sent a post on our Facebook stating: "Congrats to Antioch Garden Club! Thank you to our amazing Horticulture Committee Chair Karen Coulter and our awesome yearbook editor Chong Li and all our dedicated committee members who made today's honors possible! The yearbook won first in our District IX and our Horticulture efforts earned a Gold Seal once again! I love our club and all the great works it accomplishes for our village!" The attendants enjoyed a great floral arranging talk. Our club donated a fairy garden created by AGC member Barb Gollwitzer for the raffle. And speaking of the raffle, president Jayna won a gift basket and each of attendant got to bring home a tulip in a bud vase. Here are pictures for sharing.
Our program for March 6, 2017 featured a presentation on landscape design by Page Hunter. Page is a licensed Landscape Architect who owns Townline Design, a Waukegan based design-build firm specializing in custom residential landscape design. In addition to installing hardscapes, creating landscape designs for new yards and redesigning existing yards, she has also installed rain gardens, solved drainage issues, created native landscapes and prairies, designed children's playgrounds and created water features. An early proponent of sustainable native and edible landscapes, Page also serves on the board of Green Town Urban Farming, which grows organic vegetables that are donated back to the community through food pantries. She is also a member of the Waukegan Garden Club. The refreshment provided after the program.