Happy Valentine's Day, KGC!

 

Everything is coming up red roses in KGC! Not only will we be gathering with our KGC sweethearts the day after Valentine's Day to sharpen our senses for photography, but the following week Terri Lorenz secured Molly Stephan and Weezie Monroe for GCA's Flower Arranging 101 course. It has not been offered in our Zone for years, so do take advantage of it by signing up here www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4dabac2fa46-floral More information is also in this newsletter.

 

Thank you to all of you who have entered Show of Summer. At Horticulture of the Vine, we had a champagne toast to KGC's success at the 2017 SOS, and hope to pop another bottle or two on June 23 when winners are announced! Watch your inbox for a Special Edition Show of Summer Newsletter coming soon. Please send questions that you have to Terri Lorenz for Floral, Heather Blackwell for Hort or Shelley Galloway for Photography. And, you can always ask me!

Did you know that Shelley Galloway and Stacey DeLuca are the Show of Summer Photography Chairs? It would be fantastic to have lots of KGC Photography entries! Please check out the article in this newsletter about all of the fun Classes that you can enter. I know that you have a photo in your collection that you can enter. Why not take the plunge????

 

Speaking of sweethearts, Sybil Brooke Sylvester will be our benefit speaker. Beth Glass, Kathy Elmer and their committee have been hard at work planning a delightful event debuting Sybil's first book, Fresh. Please watch your inbox for the stunning Save the Date card, and do share it with your friends! It's not too late to add your friends' addresses (email or snail mail) to the invitation list. A quick email or call to Beth or Kathy will do the trick!

 

The Board at its January meeting voted to raise the benefit ticket price by $20. This was after much thought, debate and deliberation. However, the Club has been operating at a deficit and the benefit is the only way to make that up -- unless we raise dues. We must break even on the benefit, and costs have risen. Our Co-Chairs will also be improving the audiovisual equipment so that you and your guests will have a better experience. We've received many complaints about this over the years; Beth and Kathy are on their way to ameliorating the problem.

By the way, KGC had a great turn out at the Combined Garden Clubs of Kenilworth Meeting! Thank you, KGC!! Many attendees told me how much they appreciate all that you do for Kenilworth and the community.

Thank you for all that you do for KGC and the community. I hope you'll be my Valentine!

 

Fondly,

KGC February Program featuring John Vlahakis Wednesday, February 15 -- 7 p.m. Zia Gallery, 548 Chestnut St., Winnetka

Floral Design 101 Wednesday, February 22 -- 9:30 a.m. Church of the Holy Comforter 222 Kenilworth Ave., Kenilworth We are grateful to have Zone XI Floral Design Chairmen Molly Stephan and Weezie Monroe as instructors.  This class is rarely offered and extremely informative.  Class will be limited to 25 students and is open to other area clubs. There will be an $80 fee for supplies and floral materials. You should have received an invitation via email with registration instructions.  Use this link to sign up: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e4dabac2fa46-floral Contact Terri Lorenz for more information: terrilorenz@gmail.com

KGC members gathered with our neighboring clubs for an adventure-filled presentation by Andrew Bunting on January 23 at the Kenilworth Union Church.  Andrew serves as the Chicago Botanic Garden's Assistant Director, as well as the Director of Plant Collections.  He is a former president of the Magnolia Society International. Andrew is also a plant explorer.  Along with explorers from the US and other countries, he typically embarks on one to two US and one international expedition each year.  His talk focused on four trips he has taken in recent years to Japan, China, Vietnam and Columbia. Before each expedition, Andrew must find a climate that is similar to ours, choose a target area and then make a list of coveted plants.

The search will focus on plants that are missing from the CBG collection.  In addition to planning, he and his team must secure permits from the country to export their finds.  For a typical three-week trip, they will get four small lot permits.  Each of those is good for 50 seed types, with 50 seeds per box.  Seeds must be completely cleaned of all fruit flesh and dirt or debris, and dried.  They also collect herbarium vouchers, which are pressed flora such as the branch of a pine tree.  These are collected in triplicate and shared.  Evenings are spent cleaning and processing seeds, and taking notes about the seeds' habitats -- latitude and longitude, soil and other conditions. 

The audience laughed when Andrew noted that he'd wanted to be a plant explorer from the time he was six years old.  While it is exciting to search for specimens of endangered plants and trees, it is busy and challenging work.  Local guides lead the explorers, and they are dependent on them for help with toting most of the supplies such, including things like coffee filters for drying seeds.  Sometimes a local will look at a photo and send them directly to a desired tree.  Others times, it does not go as smoothly.  Expeditions go on, rain or shine.  Once Andrew and the team were lost for a day and a half in the mountains and had to eat wild bananas for food.

Once the team returns, all bounty must clear customs, and sometimes the USDA will confiscate and incinerate seed collections on entry.  To mitigate potential loss, the group uses multiple entry ports such as Atlanta, Seattle and the District of Columbia.  Once back, seeds are sown.  Approximately 50% of the seeds will germinate.

Andrew has a special interest in magnolias.  The world contains 280 species, and 120 of those are in China.  Columbia has 34 native species that are endemic, meaning they exist nowhere else in the world.  Seventy five percent of them are evergreen and subtropical.  Andrew has written a book , The Plant Lover's Guide to Magnolias, that contains gorgeous photos of many magnolia varieties.

After the presentation, our hostesses put out a lovely spread of tea and sweets. 

 We embarked on our three year Horticulture education journey in 2015, first exploring the geneology and attributes of vitis vinifera, then conditions under which fine wine grapes are grown, and finally the human element in viticulture and viniculture. Former KGC Horticulture Chair, Lenore Macdonald, has been our guide. On Thursday, January 28, we looked at the many ways that the viniculturist and viniculturist manipulate the grape, growing conditions and vinification to create the final product. This year, we used sparkling wines to study the point. Members and guests learned a lot and left with a much better understanding of horticulture.
 

Thank you to Katherine Buehler, who opened her lovely home for our workshop, and to her husband, John, and son, Tom, who also participated. We also welcomed Cathie Murphy and Peach Carr as guests, and Peach brought her daughter, Molly, who will be heading to law school in the fall. A big KGC thank you to our hostesses, Jeanne Daniel, Mary Lois Hakewill and Mary Gordon. The treats were perfectly paired with the wines. Finally, Lenore said that it has been an educational experience for her as well, and was happy to share her love and knowledge of the ephemeral vitis vinifera with the Club. Thank you, Lenore, for all of your work on this fun & informative program!

As 2017 Benefit Chairs, we are so thrilled to share the Save the Date card with our KGC membership. Thursday, April 27th is going to be a fabulous day. Many of you know Sybil Brooke Sylvester who is from Birmingham, AL, and a flower arranger extraordinaire. She will be introducing her first book, Fresh, to our audience.

 

Invitations will be in the mail the second week of March. As a reminder, our membership is required to purchase two tickets. There was a slight increase in ticket price this year to $95 per ticket. Remember monies raised from the Benefit help to keep the KGC budget strong for all our other garden club activities. The wonderful lecture and luncheon will be held at Glen View Club.

 

Don't forget to SAVE THE DATE - April 27, 2017

 

                                                                                  --Kathy Elmer and Beth Glass

                                                                                       --Terri Lorenz

February Flashback Foto!

Remember when?

 All of us were once New Members and participated in the Show of Summer New Member Challenge. 2011's team included Mary Gordon and Mary Lois Hakewill, shown here planting our entry, as well as Jeanne Daniel, Sharon Hayes, Lenore Macdonald and Diane Phillips.
 
We think that this year's challenge is much more fun - and cuter! - than ours. The 2011 Challenge was, "A collection of rooted specimens from at least three (3) different genera representing three (3) different botanical families, planted in terracotta colored plastic containers, using a display structure provided by the Horticulture Committee." Our first reaction was "huh"? But we managed to win second place, learn a lot, and make lifelong friends in the process!
 
2017 New Member Challenge Team,  we're here to help you! And we'll be cheering for you every step of the way!!

Each year, the Philanthropy Committee meets to discuss and review potential charitable funding ideas for the Kenilworth Garden Club. Our garden club, in the recent past, has generously donated monies to: The Endowment Fund and The Founders Fund of GCA, EnablingGarden at the Chicago Botanic Garden, Charles A.Ware Memorial Garden, the Magnolia Garden, and, more recently, to the Midwest Care Center, Misericordia McAuley Residence and Kenilworth Beautification.

 If you are interested in submitting a charitable funding proposal with a budget, it must be received by February 15, 2017. Proposals may be submitted to Kathy Elmer at kelmos3@me.com or mailed to 44 Warrington Drive, Lake Bluff, IL 60044.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We got your attention!

It's nominating season. We will be nominating an Assistant Program Chair as Kelly Chestnut "flies up" to Program Chair, as well as Assistant Horticulture and Assistant Floral Design Chairs. Marty Shaw and Joan Dodson will be those respective chairs. Ware Garden will be getting a new Co-Chair and we are looking for Nominating and Photography Chairs, too. If you are interested in any of these positions or have suggestions, please let Lenore Macdonald or Mary Lois Hakewill know asap. The more you are involved, the more fun KGC is!

Please contact Lenore Macdonald if you have any questions or comments.

Member Spotlight

Beth Glass

From   our   archives

This spring The Garden Conservancy will host a six-week seminar titled "The City in a Garden: History of Chicago's Parks, Gardens and Green Spaces."  Julia Bachrach, historian for the Chicago Park District, will host these Wednesday evening sessions at the Newberry Library beginning on March 1.  For more information, click here.

A warm and wonderful KGC thank you to:

Our January meeting hostesses, Cheryl Anderson, Stephanie Keehn and Stacey Van Metre for the lovely tea sandwiches at the Combined Garden Clubs Meeting;

Katherine Buehler for opening her lovely home for Horticulture of the Vine, and to our hostesses, Jeanne Daniel, Mary Lois Hakewill, Stephanie Keehn and Mary Gordon for the fabulous treats;

Diane Phillips for her research on insurance and financial matters;

Our Finance Committee, Diane Phillips, Katherine Buehler, Leslie North, and Mary Lois Hakewill for its careful oversight of our financial matters;

Leslie North, for all of the details that she takes care of behind the scenes;

Terri Lorenz, for organizing Flower Arranging 101 for KGC and the local GCA clubs --
Kudos to you, Terri!!;

Marty Shaw for her work on Beautification; and

Julia Kyle for her help with the 2017 Benefit.