Plant and Pantry 10.1

Annual Meeting Remarks
May 2010
It’s been a great year! We started our meetings in June with Martha Brown's talk on Collecting and Growing Herbs and are finishing with two Quad Blue Ribbons at our GCV Flower Shows -- we’ve definitely been shining stars in this Valley! We have accomplished projects and learned new ideas all year long. We kicked off our September meeting with Paula Travis who lectured on Monarch Butterflies and how they affect our region. In mid-October, I attended the GCV Board of Governor's Meeting in Warrenton, Virginia. Not only did we meet in a barn, but we toured gorgeous horse country and historic farms. For our October club meeting, Cyndi Fletcher and Rosemary Francis organized and we hosted our own In-Club flower show with our fantastic associates judging. November took some of us to Charlottesville where the GCV Conservation Forum focused on global warming, saving our green space, and urban planning. We continued the conservation theme in our November club meeting where Mimi Wade taught us how to recycle items such as wine corks into bulletin boards and trivets. Then there was the holiday party in December hosted by our lovely Hospitality Committee at the beautiful home of Patty and Stephen Lemon.

We all took a breather until January when Taylor Nelson spoke on permaculture and sustainable gardens. In February we met jointly with Mill Mountain to hear Sallie Sebrell and Fayetta Weaver update us on how climate changes in Virginia are affecting our flora and fauna. They showed an informative slide show produced by the National Wildlife Federation. Our GCV Director Julie Grover from Lexington attended the meeting and joined us for lunch. Many of us spent the last days of February relaxing at the Homestead while learning about a variety of topics from flower arranging to Virginia's historic gardens (Mount Vernon and Monticello) at the second GCV Symposium. As spring finally appeared in March, Lee Wilhelm enthralled us all with his informative talk on Green Roofing with Succulents. I know we all went home inspired and looking at roof space on our houses -- Green Roofs are just so cool, you want one of your own.

Early April brought eighteen of us together -- we piled in cars and headed to Lynchburg to support our flower arranging team and one of our sister clubs who spear headed the Daffodil Show at Sweet Briar College. It was a beautiful day as we lunched on the lawn of the President's home and heard our own Landscape architect Will Riley describe the ground renovations GCV undertook there in previous years. Later, April showers did yield flowers as we learned how to use all those mechanics that make our flowers stay in the vase, arranged with care, and with color, and even in colored oasis (who knew this existed) at our April meeting. Paula Irons and Kay Strickland from Mill Mountain led us in yet another fabulous and successful Historic Garden Week – the houses were beautiful and the gardens appeared manicured in perfection. Everyone loved the gardens and the flower arrangements! There was something for everyone and no one went on that tour without coming home inspired to "try this on your own at home." We cannot thank Paula, our arrangers, and our hostesses enough for all of her hard work and dedication.
In May, Meredith Coleman and Missy Rakes and their committee planted the Transportation Museum – it looks fantastic with the perfect flowers chosen by our horticulture experts. Then Becky Austin and I sped up to Richmond for the Annual GCV meeting and a look at the renovated Virginia Fine Arts Museum. And now here we are at Plant and Pantry. What a year -- our executive committee and committee chairs have worked nonstop all year. I want you all to know how wonderful these women are and I cannot thank each and every one enough.

Marylee Burnstein – keeps those programs coming to educate us on conservation, flower program that inspire us to put even al little something in a vase and horticulture programs that get us in to the best dirt.

Rosemary Francis who arranges while taking minutes and directing -- she takes multitasking to a new level.

Lee Baker who keeps track of that money and reminds us to spend it.

Kelly Douthat who writes our beautiful notes and sends emails tirelessly.

Eileen Dickey who keeps our rolls current and our new members coming.

Colleen Hamlin and Cathy Lester make creative horticulture -- you saw what they did with a horseshoe and now blue bottles to make a river . . .

Meredith Coleman and Missy Rakes make the Transportation Museum boxes overflow with flowers from May to October (and remind us all to water!)

Joyce Rice our daffodil expert and Ama Childress who keeps us (and the rabbits) in lilies.

Paula Irons who took HGW in stride.

Meredith Coleman and Cathy Leitch who doled out cookie's in Forrest Moore's spectacular garden!

Mary Almond who leads our conservation efforts and keeps us focused on Richmond legislative issues.

Cyndi Fletcher and Rosemary Francis who find the most innovative containers, the best local spots to eat, the finest spirits, and the best flowers to arrange, then win blue ribbons and take quad blue two times in a row at GCV Flower Shows.

Joann Callis, Linda Kaufman, and Sandy Carson who showered us with fabulous food at our joint meetings and holiday soiree.

Eileen Dickey and Kelly Ellis who battle those RCGC meetings and manage to find a report on all the updates (and reupdates, and changes).

Stacy Potter who updates our website, and keeps our information current with total ease.

Angie Link and Mary Catherine Baldridge who put together another fantastic Plant and Pantry at Kelly's beautiful home. Many thanks to you all, your committee, and Kelly Ellis and Kelly Goldsmith for all of your work to put this program on for us.

Denise Revercomb and Julie Perry who are leading the charge to our 2011 Annual Meeting next spring.

Our hostesses who served us beautiful lunches each month that gave us breathers to enjoy our time together and to develop friendships over lunch – Phyllis Norbo, Denise Revercomb, Meredith Coleman, Becca Stinson, Stacy Potter, Laura Davis, Linda Kaufman, Susie Feinour, Patty Lemon, Mary Ann Johnson, Betty Lesko, Cindy Smith, Lainy Wilhelm, Ama Childress, Christy Izard, Kelly Ellis and Kelly Goldsmith.

And all of you, who support every task, I want to thank you more than I can say. You all are terrific and you are the heart of the gardening and flower arranging experts in our Valley!

And now a quick review of what we have accomplished. We have five new members: Deena Lugar, Leslie Magee, Babs Smith, Meg Carter and Betty Wetherington.

We’ve updated our club bylaws. Many thanks to Linda Steadman, Denise Revercomb, Ama Childress and Joyce Rice for their hard work and perseverance on all these changes.

We are stronger as our reorganized calendar and fiscal year bring us in line with GCV and fellow clubs; we accomplished some big goals: we’ve learned something at every meeting, we’re getting more involved -- in community projects – both conservation and horticulture and on the state level -- we now have six club members on GCV committees: Joyce Rice on Daffodil, Ama Childress on Horticulture, Mary Ann Johnson on Restoration, Denise Revercomb on Symposium, Elaine Stephenson on Historic Garden Week, and Cyndi Fletcher on Flower Shows. We have brought home two Inter-Club blue ribbons from the Rose Show and the Daffodil Show and took Quad Blue in both of those shows this year. We are making an impact on our Valley and our State and this is just the beginning of a golden time for our Club. It is a time to shine and we are holding a torch – one that future members can enjoy and carry on for the future.
Respectfully yours,
Katherine Fulghum Knopf, president
Now I turn the gavel over to Becky Austin who will lead us as President of Roanoke Valley until May 2012. Becky is fun, creative and a joy to get to know. We had a great time in Richmond together and she will keep us organized and moving forward as our work continues to shine in our Valley and beyond.

Katherine Knopf