December Garden Club Program

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Holiday Party.  It's party time! The club celebrated this holiday season with a holiday themed party.  The decorations were festive. The buffet table dressed with gold and silver table cloths and candle. There were lots of delicious appetizers, desserts and drinks. We played two party games and the winners received gift cards to Floral Acres and Little Bean Cafe.  Plus a dozen of raffle prizes to give away. Members had a great time socializing, eating and playing games together. It was a nice way to end a very good year! During the meeting, two new members were inducted into our club. Welcome. Marsha and Bob! 

Collecting and storing seeds. This program presented by our very own club member Holly Markwart Swehla. Holly has been saving annual flower seeds since 1993.  She also has been dabbling in perennial seed collection for a much shorter time. Her collection has grown larger each year. Holly happily shared her successes and failures on seeds collection and storage, plus some tricks on how to cold wet stratify seeds for perennials. Members also enjoyed seeds exchange afterwards. Watch the picture slideshow below that tells a better story.

Seasonal Floral Design. This is a program that has been repeatedly asked for. Professional designers Laurie and Emily from Floral Acres on Route 83 in Antioch demonstrated how to artfully arrange seasonal floral designs. Three beautiful arrangements were demonstrated and raffled off to garden club members.  The meeting room was skillfully decorated by Carrie Hagy, who was our lead hostess for the meeting. After the presentation members were treated to wonderful fall and Halloween themed refreshments. 

Village garden tour and fall potluck.  The new fiscal year of our club has kicked off on Monday, September 9th. We started with a garden walk around 6:00 pm to tour the gardens in downtown Antioch that maintained by our club. Many members and two guests from GCI headquarter: Marilyn Krueger-the president of GCI and Marilyn Schweitzer-finance committee member of GCI and president of the Naperville Garden Club joined the tour with us. Everything looked lush and beautiful in the gardens. Everyone participated the walk were very impressed to see our tireless work in these gardens into fruition. After the garden walk, we enjoyed delicious potluck supper followed by business meeting. Every member received a new yearbook. We also inducted a new member Linda Worchel with a jar of local honey as a welcome gift. The president of GCI Marilyn Krueger made a presentation with information from GCI. Many nice prices were raffled off at the end of the meeting. 

A celebration for Karen Coulter's 14 years as horticulture committee chair was held on July 11th, 11:30 am at Mini-Park, downtown Antioch. 9 people attended the ribbon cutting ceremony.  The Ms Karen Firelight Hydrangea was dressed festively. A plant sign with "Ms Karen Fire Hydrangea Proven Winner plant of the year 2019" was unveiled.  The plant is happily situated at the northwest part of the Mini Park. It will grow up to 6 feet tall with beautiful flower heads hold up strong and change colors from white to pomegranate red over the seasons. It makes a great focal point in the park. Its longevity will grow up with Karen and AGC members for many many years to come.  Members joined the fellow gardeners for lunch at The Vegas Café afterwards.   

 Annual potluck. This was our last general meeting of the 2018-2019 fiscal year. We celebrated the end of this great year of gardening and friendship with an annual potluck dinner. There were full of activities at the meeting. We shared our gratitude to our outgoing officers president Barb Gollwitzer and secretary Nancy Zitkus who served our club wholeheartedly and honorably for the last two years; We held installation ceremony for our new secretary Cheryl Hoke who graciously stepped up for the job; We inducted our newest member Betty Sprovieri with a welcome gift of local honey; We presented a certificated of appreciation to our Plant Sale chair of 12 years-Cindy Cartner and a lifetime garden club membership for her dedication on the job; We welcomed our new Horticultural committee chair Holly Markwart Swehla with a "floral crown"; The horticultural committee group also announced that they are going to honor the out going chair of 14 years-Karen Coulter with a Proven Winner plant of the year 2019 "Firelight Hydrangea" and plant it in the Mini-Park of Antioch; We announced Nancy Zitkus Scholarship of 2019 recipient Kyla Knauf, as she qualified again this year on her excellent achievement at the University of San Diego and other horticultural related area. We also had a guest speaker Heather Bauspies who is the owner of Antioch Flower Shop for a colorful presentation of the floral business and programs. The meeting concluded with a plentiful of food and many raffle prizes giving away. We are all looking forward to another wonderful gardening year! 

Tool Talk.  Members brought their favorite tools and told us all about it. Some showed off their vintage tools that passed down from generations and made others mighty envious! Some showed off their loved tools that may save energy and time when working in the garden. It was fun to learn from each others!

Before the program started, the Antioch Township Supervisor Tom Shaughnessy made a presentation regarding the Osmond Park project that Antioch Garden Club will be helping along in the near future. There were many handout information materials to the members.

What a nice kick off the spring at our April program! Author, educator and speaker, Gale Borger from Gerry’s Garden made an educational presentation on how to start seeds with different methods and tricks. She showed us how to make newspaper pots and fill with her “Special Soil” mix.  Many of us planted  sunflowers in those hand made pots. Pretty soon, we will all be planting seeds in our garden.

At the meeting, we also inducted two new members. Both of them received a jar of local honey as a gift. The hospitality group made a spring feast with delicious food and colorful decoration that wowed everyone attended meeting. We were all enjoying this spring gathering with our fellow gardeners.

Before the program started, the Antioch Township Supervisor Tom Shaughnessy made a presentation regarding the Osmond Park project that Antioch Garden Club will be helping along in the near future. There were many handout information materials to the members.

Photography In the Garden.  Meredith Schnelle is a local artist associated with the Antioch Fine Arts Foundation who is an artist passionate about the natural world. Native plants are often the subject of her photography. Raising awareness of ecological concerns is a driving force for her work.  Many        photographs are of plants and animals that live in her yard. She is also a former Antioch Garden Club member.
 

Doors open at 6:30 pm at United Methodist Church of Antioch.  Guests are welcome!