General Meeting Minutes
December 6th, 2023
Gwen Babcock’s Home
Welcome: Thank you, Gwen, for hosting and Adrienne, Kristin, and Marcia for drinks and treats! Welcome Guests!
Attendees: Marcia Albrecht, Annie Babcock, Gwen Babcock, Susan Babcock, Debbe Booth, Catherine Coquilllard, Bette Cooper, Lisa Evans, Megan Foker, Page Haralambos, Connie Harding, Tracy Hirrel, Debbie Hollingsworth, Susan Kranwinkle, Alfrida King, Adrienne Kreindler, Angela Loewel, Marianne Lynch, Carlin McCarthy, Judy McDonald, Nancy McGowan, Kathy Miller, Ruth Pasqualetto, Kristin Poulsen, Eugenie Schluter, Cathy Tosetti, Cindy Wenzlau, Athena Wood, Yvonne Zaro
Absent: Nena Brogan, Liz Gilfillan, Barbara Jameson, Mary Anne Mielke, Sally Miller, Gretl Mulder. Sara Pelton, Megan Phelps, Annette Serrurier, Dorothy Scully, Clare Tayback, Sally Wenzlau
Guests: Kelly Dunn attended with Connie Harding, Lisa Weithas attended with Kristin Poulsen, Mimi Techentin attended with Debbe Booth, Amy Kessel attended with Adrienne Kriendler, and Laura Babcock attended with all the Babcocks.
Minutes: Athena asked for a motion to approve the November minutes. Bette moved to approve the November minutes with one correction (see below), Cindy seconded
Correction to November minutes – the Digger historical minutes were written by Reneltje Paxton
Treasurer: Megan reviewed the account balances – B of A 67,107.08, Schwab 16,229.54, Endowment $334,485.15
She also reminded the Diggers of the Zelle option for dues and boutique sales (diggersgardenclub@gmail.com)
Program: Yvonne thanked everyone for making the gorgeous arrangements and explained the floral delivery process. 75 arrangements were created and will be delivered to various Pasadena philanthropies. Thank you to all our delivery drivers!
Our next meeting will take place at the Huntington January 10th with a special tour of the Huntington Gardens Desert Garden led by Nicole Cavender
Endowment: Debbe – Solicitation letters went out in November. It’s still ok to donate!
Visiting Gardens: Judy – We have been asked to have guests from the Hillsborough Garden Club tour some of our gardens in April. Pasadena Garden Club has declined due to the schedule conflict with their benefit. We also have our Auction in April so we may ask them to choose a different time.
Conservation: Carlin provided a brief Conservation Study Conference report. She thanked the group for sending her to the conservation study in Georgia. She gave a brief overview of her visit – much of which focused on the Barrier Island preservation work and their enhancement of the marshes to protect beaches.
In February we will be making bee boxes at Sally’s craft house.
Carlin also mentioned the Nextrex recycling challenge – if you get 200 pounds you get a bench. Anyone interested should visit their website to register at NexTrex.com
Field Trip: Ruth & Kathy M. – Looking for a fun field trip in February. We may do some pot shopping with teams
Historian: Bette read from early Digger minutes which were a thoughtfully written, cheeky and humorous summary of our origins and mission.
Garden History & Design: Susan B. spoke about the Virtual Garden History and Design conference report. The conference was online, and the theme was “Visionary”. The focus areas included: 1.) Cities improving their public areas, 2.) How they started collecting and archiving some of the GCA’s garden history, 3.) A woman who has a huge property in the Hamptons -Edwina Vongell
Horticulture: Alfrida – brought rest of challenge plants and repotted them to 1-gallon pots.
Membership: Liz was not in attendance but please note that December 15th is the deadline for proposals and supporting documents for new members. Any questions?…call Liz.
Old Mill: Adrienne and Nancy gave a few upcoming dates including, next workday 12/13: 9-10am, Holiday Concert 12/10, La Canada Chamber Choir will be performing, Flower Truck LA 12/14 , Work day next Wednesday for one hour.
They trimmed the Chinese Elm hanging over the roof. Waiting for some other pruning to be done. Used Joe Sanchez to do the work.
Roster: Marianne (no report)
Auction: Angela and Kristin, Old Mill April 24th (No report)
Ways and Means/ Scrip: Clare was not in attendance for scrip purchase.
Ways and Means/Boutique: Thank you Annie! Megan announced we made $2,287.00 at the holiday boutique
Eugenie told scary AI story and recommended everyone needs to have a “safe word” for their families.
Other Business:
Upcoming Events: see the Dirt for more info!
- December 10th – Old Mill Holiday Concert-La Canada HS Chamber Singers
- December 13th – Old Mill workday 9-10am
- December 14th – Old Mill Flower TruckLA 9-11am
- January 10th – Tour of Huntington Gardens Desert Garden with Nicole Cavender
- January 25th – GCA Virtual Photography conference
- February 6 – GCA Virtual Floral Design Conference
Respectfully submitted,
Connie Harding
Recording Secretary