the compost - garden club of cleveland€¦ · paula coleman - best in show floral design, ... stan...

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THE COMPOST

“Digging in to make

a difference is a

deeply rooted ethos

and part of the

compost of our

being.”

- Maura Campbell

GC of Michigan

In Th is I s su e

Appreciating the theme “Rooted in Cleveland”

Reflections

Meeting Activities

Flower Show Highlights & Awards

GCC Gives Back

Thank You!

Dedee O’Neil, Katie Heins & Lynn Shiverick at the Ohio City Farm

Special Edition Compost Summer 2015

Appreciating a Good Meeting Theme - by Lynn Shiverick

“Rooted in Cleveland” – what a great theme for a Zone Meeting! As Zone X Chairman, my primary job was to organize the first day’s Zone X Business Meeting. This included setting the tone as well as the agenda, and the “Rooted” theme truly took hold, branched out and flourished! The 11 Presidents in our Zone (Ohio, Michigan and Indiana) each gave a report accompanied by six slides describing how their own clubs were rooted in community – past, present and future. It was fascinating to see and hear how much we have in common, but how each of our clubs is unique and especially tied to the City in which it was founded. The Presidents’ reports were fantastic, and it really helped that I was able to communicate the “Rooted “ theme well in advance, giving them lots of lead time to gather their slides and craft their reports. Here is one example from Maura Campbell of the GC of Michigan: “Digging in to make a difference is a deeply rooted ethos and part of the compost of our be-ing.”

The fourteen Zone X Committee Representatives also gave impressive reports, and again, the “Rooted” theme was a wonderful springboard for communicating the priorities of our national GCA Committees and the work that is going on across our Zone. They all were so clever using the theme … for example, from Sandy Bergsten, Photography Rep: “The big news is that the Photography Committee has been successfully pruned from the Flower Show Committee and propagated as a stand alone specimen along with Horticulture, Flower Show and Conservation.”

Breaking up the reports was a lively and inspiring presentation by Ann Zoller of LAND Studio. She took that “Rooted” theme and ran with it too. We finished the afternoon with spirited roundtable discussions, discussing how we can better utilize GCA tools and resources to foster local involvement – in other words, to take advantage of all GCA has to offer, but remain “rooted” at home.

And maybe the best line of the Meeting was “ Having fun is in our roots too!” Hats off to Dale and Margaret for giving us such a great theme around which to organize our Meeting!

-Lynn Shiverick, Zone X Chairman

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Reflections from the

GCC Delegate

Attending the Zone X Meeting as a Club Delegate was truly an honor and a privilege to be among so many inspiring women and dedicated clubs to the GCA.

Our organization has the power to move mountains. It was evident that each club is doing tremendous work in all areas of conservation, horticulture and developing a wonderful sense of community in each individual club.

I felt an overwhelming sense of pride for our Garden Club of Cleveland as well as our beautiful city on the lake.

I am so grateful for our inspiring group of women and it was a pleasure to see the Zone X Meeting from both the inside and as a Delegate.

We truly Rocked this event as only true Clevelanders can!

-Brooke Slater

Ohio City Farms Refugee Gardens

Zone X Meeting Reflections - by Brooke Garratt

I cannot begin to describe what an honor it was to attend the Zone X meeting as a representative of our club and as the president of the hosting club. Dale Naylor, Margaret Wilson and Lisa McConnell were fabulous chairmen of the meeting and the flower show. They could not have done their jobs without all of our members who joined in to make the events a wonderful success. Thank you to all! Lynn Shiverick led an informative business meeting on Monday which included reports from all the Zone X club presidents and Zone X representatives. Anne Zoller inspired all of the attendees with her presentation about LANDstudio and it’s collaborative efforts in the Cleveland area. The meeting was followed by group discussions about how we can better use GCA resources to benefit our clubs and our region. All of the meeting attendees loved the dinners in our member's homes and our special GCC “Uber” drivers! Tuesday’s program began with a drive through Cleveland and a visit to the Refugee Response farm in Ohio City. Mebby Brown and Karry Hatch described landmarks and points of interest along the way. The beautiful farm was a perfect example of the urban restoration and innovation that is happening in Cleveland today. The young staff at the Green Corps garden enchanted all with their knowledge and pride in their work before our lunch at Dunham Tavern. Dan Molthrop led a panel discussion during lunch that enlightened us about issues all Midwestern cities face today. Our tour finished with a hike to the “beak” of the Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve and a delightful talk delivered by a Katharine Grosscup Scholarship recipient, Brad Kasberg. Tuesday evening was a highlight of the meeting! The spectacular flower show was a perfect backdrop for a party for both our members and the meeting attendees. We all were amazed by the fabulous entries in all areas of the show. The traditional Awards dinner followed the party. It’s always fun to see friends old and new recognized for their efforts and skills. It was especially satisfying at this dinner for Claudia Fulton to receive a Zone Conservation Award for her work at Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve! As the meeting attendees dispersed on Wednesday morning, over and over people thanked me and commented about the wonderful meeting; the speakers, the energy in Cleveland, the gracious hospitality of our club. I wish all of our members had been there to share in the accolades!


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Day One - Welcome and Business Meeting

GCA President Katie Heins

Planter Reclaimed from Cleveland Foundry Welcome Flowers at Intercontinental Hotel by GCC Members

Zone X Meeting Co-Chairs Dale Naylor & Margaret Wilson

Brooke Garratt giving GCC Report Ann Zoller, LANDstudio executive director, gives a presentation on Leveraging Success through Partnership:

Lessons and Stories from a Transformed Cleveland

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Day Two - Tour of Cleveland - Ohio City Farm

The Ohio City Farm is a self

supporting non-profit that

harvests 22,000 lbs. of food

each year on its 6 acres along

the Cuyahoga River. It is

designed to incubate

entrepreneurial farm

businesses and support

workforce development

programs.

Ohio City Farm Participants: The Refugee Response Great Lakes Brewing Co. CMHA Green Team Cleveland Crops Central Roots

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Day Two - Conservation Panel Discussion - Dunham Tavern

Following the Ohio City

Farm Tour, meeting

attendees were guided

through the Green Corps

Gardens at the Little

Yellow House, by Green

Corps youth. They shared

their enthusiasm and

knowledge of gardening

with our attentive group.

An informative discussion

was held at Dunham

Tavern. A lovely lunch was

enjoyed while Dan

Moulthrop, CEO of the

City Club, moderated a

panel discussion titled

Growing Cleveland's

Urban Transformation: A

Conversation about

Cultivating our Soil,

Land and Communities

with panelists:

Kristin Ohlson

Author, The Soil Will Save

Us

Jim Rokakis

VP of Western Reserve

Land Conservancy

Brian Zimmerman

CEO Cleveland

Metroparks

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Day Two - Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve

After lunch, the bus

continued onward for a visit to

the Cleveland Lakefront Nature

Preserve, with GCA Catharine

M. Grosscup Scholar, Brad

Kasberg speaking to the Zone

X Meeting Attendees.

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Day Two - Flower Show Opens

I am so proud to be a

member of the Garden

Club of Cleveland. It's

an amazing group of

talented, creative, hard

working women. The

Flower Show was

better than I ever

imagined. We were

commended by the

judges for so many

things from our new

photo displays to the

photography clerks to

our creative schedule

and judges hospitality.

Thank you to everyone

that volunteered or

entered a class. It was

such a success

because of all of you. A

big congratulations to

Paula, Margaret and

Deb for their well de-

served awards!

-Lisa McConnell

Flower Show Chair

Dale Naylor - Blue Ribbon Floral Design

Margaret Wilson - Dorothy Vietor Munger Award

Paula Coleman - Best in Show Floral Design, Sandra Baylor Novice Floral Design Award & Harriet DeWaele Puckett Creativity Award

Linda Miller - Blue Ribbon

Debbie Oliver - Cincinnati Town & Country Garden Club

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Day Two - Flower Show Opens

Photography Exhibit - New Panels Worked Great!

It was a wonderful culmination of excellent planning, hard work, and very helpful people all around which created a beautiful display at the InterContinental. Even the bellhops got into it....enthusiastic and helpful with plenty of carts to help us move things here and there...and with a smile and friendly greeting!

-Deb Fitzgerald

Class 1—All Photographs received an award and Class 1 received a special commendation from the judges!

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Day Two - Flower Show Awards for our GCC

“I would like to thank all GCC members who entered our Hort Division. We were strong and beautiful with our entries as all wore many "hats" to support a successful Zone meeting. Happy Summer!”

-Gene Rucker

Paula Coleman - Best in Show Floral Design, Sandra Baylor Novice Floral Design Award Harriet DeWaele Puckett Creativity Award Margaret Wilson - Dorothy Vietor Munger Award Deb Fitzgerald - GCA Novice Award Photography Melanie Biche - Award of Appreciation for her Conservation Exhibit Judges Commendations went to Photography Class 1 - Rock and Roll Hort Class 35 - Propagating Native Tree by Seed Hort Class 38 - Propagating a Native Shrub by Rooting Botanical Arts - Class 1 Needle Arts - Classes 2 & 3 The Urban Pollinator - Classes 28 and 28A

Special Commendations from the judges to the GCC:

Venue Having a flower show with a zone meeting Judges Hospitality Judges Dinner Photography Clerks Schedule

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Day Two - Awards Dinner

Katie Heins, GCA President delivers speech at Awards Dinner

GCA AWARDS

ZONE CIVIC IMPROVEMENT AWARD Helen Heekin & Debbie Oliver - Town and Country Garden Club Claudia Fulton - The Garden Club of Cleveland

ZONE FLORAL DESIGN ACHIEVEMENT AWARD Robin Hardman - Akron Garden Club

ZONE CONSERVATION AWARD Gretchen Downs - Country Garden Club Marian Leibold - Town and Country Garden Club

ZONE PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD Sandra Bergsten - Garden Club of Dayton

ZONE HORTICULTURE AWARD Anna Warren - Garden Club of Michigan

ZONE JUDGING AWARD Catherine Miller - Shaker Lakes Garden Club

ZONE CIVIC IMPROVEMENT COMMENDATION LANDstudio - Ann Zoller

ZONE HORTICULTURE COMMENDATION Mansfield Frazier with the Vineyard at Chateau Hough

ZONE X HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMENDATION Stan Hywet Hall and Gardens

MEDAL OF MERIT Bliss Clark (2014) - Garden Club of Michigan Cathleen Stier Schell (2014) - Bay City Garden Club Martha Campbell (2015) - Bay City Garden Club Lorna Mierke (2015) - The Garden Club of Cleveland Carol Powell (2015) - Garden Club of Dayton

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Day Two - Awards Dinner

Claudia Fulton & Jennifer Fain, GCA Conservation Chairman

Dale Naylor & Margaret Wilson Lynn Shiverick & Sandy Bergsten

Ann Zoller with LAND Studio & Jennifer Fain Dale, Lynn & Margaret - Big Smiles at the end of a successful Zone Meeting!

Garden Club of America Award Winners

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GCC Gives Back Dr. Linda Bradley, Vice-Chair of OB/GYN, Women’s Health Institute, Cleveland Clinic visited the Flower Show and marveled at how beautiful the flowers in the cut specimen classes were. She related that there were patients in her ward who had nothing to brighten their rooms. So...instead of disposing of the flowers after the show, the Flower Show committee mem-bers made up over 30 small mixed bouquets and sent them to Dr. Bradley’s floor.

-Mary M. Reynolds

Dr. Bradley’s assistants Debra Pyle & Cathy Jackson with 2 carts bursting with bouquets.

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WOW! We are so very honored to be a part of this club and get to work with SO many talented, committed and fun members to create a successful Rooted in Cleveland Zone X Meeting.

This meeting was a long time in the making and like a wedding, flew by. It’s so hard to believe almost a month has passed. Both of us have received so many notes complimenting our club for the opportunity to see and get to know Cleveland. From the personal airport pick-ups, smiling faces at the hotel, exquisite floral arrangements, blessings from the sun gods, gardens in bloom, excited youth, conversations about our land and communities and resurrected spaces – people came away with new ideas for collaboration and an appreciation for our wonderful city. We were both privileged to be the coordinators of this Zone X meeting – thank you for the opportunity.

Dale & Margaret


THANK YOU!

the compost - garden club of cleveland€¦ · paula coleman - best in show floral design, ... stan...

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