Tuesday, February 12

8:30 a.m.

Onwentsia Club

Governor's Room

NO MARCH MEETING

Tuesday, April 9

8:30 a.m.

Onwentsia Club

Governor's Room 

LFGC Meetings

OTHER REMINDERS 

 

 

 

 

Cranes: A Story of Survival

 

Thursday, February 28

5:30 - 6:30 p.m.

Lily Reid Holt 

Memorial Chapel

Lake Forest College

 

A featured discussion presented by Lake Forest Open Lands Association and Lake Forest College with special guest George Archibald, Co-Founder of the world renowned International Crane Foundation.  Click here to register and for additional information.

 

Register now 

$10: Lake Forest Open Lands Members

$15 Non-Members

$20: Day of event

FREE: Lake Forest College or Student ID

 

 

 

Art en Fleurs 

"The World At Our Fingertips"

 

A Show of Flowers, Horticulture, Photography and Botanical Arts

 

Friday, Saturday and Sunday 

July 19, 20, 21, 2013 

Milwaukee Public Museum

(Click here for full schedule and more information)

GCA Visiting Gardens 

in Chicago

September 15-20, 2013

Early autumn is an ideal time to enjoy its parks, gardens, institutions and to explore its fascinating history. These rich attractions fill Chicagoans with pride and they refer lovingly to "Our Kind of Town."

Please email your name and email address to be put on the Interest List.

LFGC Past Presidents, seated L to R: Karen Stensrud, Jean Armour, Martica Marquardt, Jane O'Neil, Judy Boggess, Joan DePree. Standing:Juli Priebe, Prue Beidler, Alice Goltra, Corlene Cathcart, Crissy Cherry, Carol Swift, Marina Carney, Pamela Hull. Missing from photograph: Adele Fanning

The Lake Forest Garden Club, a founding member of GCA, celebrated its 100th anniversary this year. To mark that historic milestone and represent its mission, the club incorporated into itslogo - now used on all LFGC printed materials - the words: "Legacy of Service"; "Conservation, Education, Beautification"; and "1912-2012."  Read the full article

 "In passing, I would like to say that the first time Adam 

had a chance, he laid the blame on a woman."

Horticulture Division Report

Lucia Heyworth's cattleya orchid, 1st Place and  Best in Show.

Charenton Drake's elegant succulent container takes a Blue.

Hort exhibits including  Louise Glasser's Sweepstakes-winning cacti.

The Show merited a Judge's Commendation for "the impressive number of entries, noteworthy variety and symphony of color" in the Rex Begonia class. Congratulations to Anne Frost (who won the blue ribbon for the plant she herself propagated), Charenton Drake, Lucia Heyworth, Betsy Hough, Posy Krehbiel, Kate Morris and Denise Scherck for their enviable exhibits.

Many thanks to all who participated and kudos to all who took home a colorful ribbon or two. The Show was a huge success and a fitting launch into the holiday season.

Submitted by Louellen Murray, Horticulture Chairman

Floral Design Division Report

Silent Night, Crissy Cherry  1st Place.

The members of Lake Forest Garden Club once again showed great style and talent in their "Musical Merriment" creations. It was an official GCA Club Flower Show, complete with schedule, judges, awards and commendations; many thanks to all of the arrangers. You did an outstanding job and at a frenzied time of year.

Prue Beidler, Marina Carney, Crissy Cherry, Maggie Coleman, Charenton Drake, Betsy Hough, Elizabeth Jenkins, Liz Lavezzorio, Tica Marquardt, Jane O'Neil, Marina Puryear, Denise Scherk, Karen Stensrud,

Joy to the World, Prue Beidler and Karen Stensrud  2nd Place.

Cassandra Vermillion, and Tricia Wood produced twelve inspired floral designs that ranged from the humorous to the sublime. Who can forget Cassandra Vermillion's exuberant symphony of tutu inspired dancers: "Mrs. Priebe's 4th Grade Pageant; Waltz of the Flowers Goes Haywire" or Marina Puryear's and Charenton Drake's sunflower melting snow globe inspired by "Frosty the Snowman";

Twelve Days of Christmas,  Liz Lavezzorio 3rd Place  and Novice Award.

baby's breath coated in graphite for buttons, nose of hypericum, echinops eyes and salt crystals glued to the inside of the dome to mimic falling snow.

The judges were duly impressed by the diversity of design and so wowed by the level of novice 

participation that each novice arranger received a Judges Commendation. Congratulations! In addition, congratulations to our Best in Show recipients, Maggie Coleman and Jane O'Neil, and Novice Award recipient, Liz Lavezzorio. And finally, the schedule that was developed with input from Louellen Murray and Betsy Hough but finessed to perfection by Maggie Coleman received a Judges Commendation.

Submitted by Betsy Hough

 "I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure in the landscape-the loneliness of it-the dead feeling of winter.

January Program

Presentation by Landscape Photographer, Linda Oyama Bryan

Cassandra Vermillion  and photographer,  Linda Oyama Bryan.

Lake Forest Garden Club kicked off the New Year with a fascinating presentation by landscape photographer Linda Oyama Bryan at the beautiful home of Laura Gillette. Linda displayed her photographs of breathtaking North Shore gardens and shared her photography tips for plants and landscapes. Her talk inspired us for the Club Photography Show next winter and the Show of Summer in June, 2014.

Some of Linda's tips include:

• Determine whether horizontal or vertical orientation is best for the subject. When in doubt, shoot both ways.
• Learn to observe and evaluate the light. Select or create the best light for your subject: frontal, side, backlight, diffuse or artificial.
• Find the most appropriate angle for your subject.
• Find the best background.
• Look for foregrounds to frame your subject.
• For a closeup of an individual flower, try using the wide angle of your zoom and get very close to the subject.
• Use the 'Rule of Thirds' for good composition. This will dictate how you should move around to make elements fall in the desired places within the frame.
• LET YOUR GARDEN INSPIRE YOUR ART.

Submitted by Susan Chandler, Program Chairman

"The only time to eat diet foods is while 

waiting for the steak to cook."

    ~ Julia Childs

Garden Science

On April 11th, 18th and 25th LFGC is sponsoring "Garden Science", an enrichment

Center for Conservation  Leadership students.

The goal is to provide a learning experience that links horticulture, environment and health. It will provide students the necessary tools for transition into more advanced programs like Green Youth Farm and the Center for Conservation Leadership.

Green Youth Farm participants.

The three-day program will run during the lunch hour for 7th and 8th graders in the Neal School greenhouse. The curriculum is centered on gardening and nutrition. Students will grow micro-greens, learn about the food chain, plant growing cycles and celebrate by consuming their produce.

The curriculum was established by the Chicago Botanic Garden and classes will be taught by Lake Forest College students as a practicum for their Environmental Education class. Two follow-up trips to vegetable gardens will complete the learning experience. Lake Forest Garden Club members may volunteer to organize the greenhouse, assist students in their planting and help chaperone follow-up field trips to Elawa Farm and the Botanic Garden.

Please contact Mary Hoffman if you are interested in this or other education volunteer opportunities: NCCP Breakfast Club (early-morning reading aloud to K-5 students); mentoring a Center for Conservation Leadership student; and participating in the noon-time reading program in August at the Lake Forest Open Lands' Day Camp.

Submitted by Mary Hoffman

Beth Kiernan, Mary Hoffman, Betsy Hough, Maggie Coleman, Joan DePree, Eliza Fournier (Manager of School and Community Gardening, Chicago Botanic Garden) readying the  Neal Math & Science Academy's greenhouse for April classes. Liz Lavezzorio was  hauling to the recycling bins.

"To be healthy, you have to eat what you don't like, drink what you don't want, and do what you don't enjoy doing."

 "Amazing! You hang something in your closet for 

awhile and it shrinks two sizes."

Ladies of the Club,

The decidedly tentative arrival of winter-virtually no snow and a record shattering 60+ degree day in late January-seems to give the lie to that old saw, to wit that Chicago has only two seasons:  winter and the Fourth of July.

The calendar, however, asserts that the holidays are over, the Christmas trappings boxed and stored.  The young New Year looms large with its promise of change and resolutions, if not redemption. Shedding the excesses of Christmas past usually ranks high on the list of New Year's ambitions.  Which leads me to the word of the month:  pervicaious, which means very stubborn. ... as in pervicacious pounds that refuse to let go.

But here's a newsflash:  we all know that the red-wine loving French have less heart disease than we do, but now UK researchers have discovered why.  It seems that red wine is rich in polyphenols, which helps block production of a protein that causes blood vessels to constrict, with damaging possible results. Red grape skins and seeds are high in polyphenols.

Meanwhile, the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine notes that clean homes may be unhealthy because children exposed to more dust were less likely to have allergies or hay fever. The dust seems to desensitize them to substances that trigger allergic reactions.

Therefore, for the sake of your health and that of your family, consider drinking red wine in a dusty house.  Now isn't thata logical interpretation of the good doctors' warnings?

And as the calendar turns into February, don't be lulled into a false sense of optimism.  The words of Joseph Wood Krutch also apply to the Midwest: 

The most serious charge which can be brought against New England is not Puritanism but February.

Stay warm!

Robin

"Did you know that the stock-market page has a very clever   column that tells everybody exactly what to invest in?"

Good Things

1969: Evelyn Sharpe's French Chocolate Cake

(Perfect for Your Valentine!)

 

This recipe appeared in an article in The Times by Jean Hewitt.

 

Ingredients:

1lb.semisweet chocolate

10tbs.unsalted butter, softened

1tbs.unbleached all-purpose flour

1tbs.sugar

4eggs, separated

Sweetened whipped cream

 

 Method:

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line the base of an 8-inch springform pan with parchment paper.
2. Melt the chocolate gently in the top of a double boiler over hot, not boiling, water. This is a critical step in the preparation and should be done very slowly (or it can be done more speedily in the microwave).
3. Remove the melted chocolate from the heat and stir in the butter, flour and sugar. Beat yolks lightly and whisk into the chocolate mixture gradually.
4. Beat the egg whites until they hold a definite shape but are not dry and fold into the chocolate mixture. Overbeating or underbeating will ruin the cake. The beaten egg whites should be folded smoothly, quickly and easily into the chocolate mixture. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes. Turn off the heat; open the oven door, leaving it ajar, and allow the cake to cool completely in the oven.
5. The cake is best served a little warm. Decorate with whipped cream. Run a long, thin knife under hot water and then slice the cake into small slivers. It is rich. Serves 10.

Note: I recommend using bittersweet chocolate and salted butter. To the whipped cream, I fold in a heaping tablespoon or two of crème fraîche.