GARDEN GAZETTE Spring 2021 The San Francisco Garden Club CALENDAR March Tuesday, March 2* SFGC Zoom Meeting/Program Steven Brown 1:00 pm - Email invitation SFGC Tuesday, March 16* SFGC Zoom Meeting/Program Author Gabriel Frank Spring 1:00 pm - Email Invitation Programs April Tuesday, April 6 * March 2 April 20 SFGC Zoom Meeting/Program Rania Ragers Peter Brastow Steven Brown 1:00 pm - Email invitation Chair, CCSF Environmental, Senior Project Manager, The Presidio Trust Tuesday, April 20* Horticulture/Floristry Department SFGC Zoom Meeting/Program Richard Turner DIY Healing Basket and Wreath Rania Ragers • Richard Turner Lead Project Designer 1:00 pm - Email invitation a Look at “Tunnel Tops” and more March 16 May Author Gabriel Frank May 4 Tuesday, May 4 * Striking Succulent Gardens SFGC Zoom Meeting/Program Matthew Stephens Matthew Stephens Director, Gardens of Golden Gate Park 1:00 pm - Email invitation April 6 “Updating” Tuesday, May 18* Peter Brastow SFGC Zoom Meeting/Program Senior Biodiversity Coordinator, May 18 Erika Tanchy SF Department of Environment Erika Tanchez 1:00 pm - Email invitation Envy Floral Design A Plan for Plant June Designing with Wildflowers Diversity In the City Monday, June 7 Bouquets to Art •Opening Night June 8 - 13 Public viewing All presentations are on Zoom at 1:00 pm Look for the Zoom invitation in you email mailbox a few days prior to the meeting. Click on the link and you will be taken to the Zoom meeting. You will be notified of SFGC event and activity changes as Covid-19 rules and regulations evolve Member. Event * T 1 President’s Letter Message from Betty I must say that being your president is a fascinating experience. I have (almost) learned Zoom, dealt with decisions via email during a pandemic, and enjoyed working with a most enthusiastic and passionate board who is eager to keep the club strong and involved through these months of sheltering. The only thing I would definitely change is being able to chat with you personally, face-to-face, instead of through the Zoom lens I am pleased with our efforts to date. In December we began a fundraising campaign to assist witha new nursery for the San Francisco Botanical Garden. Although we have until May 31st to raise our committed $10,000, I am excited to report that in a little over two months we have raised almost $6000 and there are still a lot of you who have yet to respond. This illustrates that we have a magnif- icent group of members who are truly dedicated to our mission of philanthropy. If you haven’t yet participated, I encourage you to send a check to the club’s office with SFBG written in the memo line Our new website is finally online. While we are still finding glitches that need to be refined, it is working.In your web browser, go to San Francisco Garden Club and let me know what you think. It is not only pretty, it is informative. Spend some time going through it; you might find some information about the club that you never knew! When I first began attending meetings in the late 80s, one of the treats I discovered was getting tomeet guest members from the League of San Francisco Consular Corps. I am thrilled that we have reinstituted that invitation and each month we have welcomed more wives to our Zoom meetings. When you check in on the first and third Tuesdays, look for new faces and welcome them. Another program we have initiated is to offer $50 guest memberships to those we normally would invite to our luncheons. This allows them to receive our newsletter and participate in our bi-monthly Zoom meetings. The membership is good through May 31, 2021. If you know someone who you might bring to the meeting, ask them if they would enjoy being a guest member. It’s a great way to introduce someone to what this club is all about. Speaking of Zoom meetings, we are enjoying between 30 – 40 participants at every session. We have decided that it will be impossible to hold luncheon meetings this club year. Zoom is our only way of keeping in touch. Tish Brown has programmed some wonderful pres- entations and has a new and different program twice a month through May 18th. Don’t miss even one! They run the gamut from workshops to authors. Want to know what is happening botanically in San Francisco? Then make sure you watch every Zoom session. I must admit that being president has made me more aware than normal as to what is happening in nature. This past week I read about how spinach plants talk to each other, learned how consortiums will prevent the extinction of certain species and that we need more snow in the mountains! What new data have you discovered lately? I want to thank my Board of Directors: Tish Brown, Barbara Johnson, Joanne Lindeke, Eva Monroe, Gail McCollom, Jean Ellingsen, Beverley Hayes, Jean Lee, Theresia Treadway and Martha Woollomes for working tirelessly and making things happen! They are amazing and deserve many virtual hugs!!! As this pandemic winds down, I leave you with the wise words of Anne Frank: “The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does it feel it all is as it should be.“ Looking forward to seeing you on Zoom, Betty Angel Donors SFBG Nursery Tish Brown Janet Cushing Beverley Hayes Anne Holly Sally Ketchum Joanne Lindeke Gail McCollom Susan Milliron Lynn Norris Merilyn Presten, Sandra J. Swanson Elizabeth (Betsy) Vobach Betty Packard Voris Martha Woollomes 2 SFBG & SFGC Website SFGC Project Updates Club Pledges $10,000 towards building Botanical Garden Nursery By Sandra Swanson The San Francisco Garden Club has a long legacy with the San Francisco Botanical Garden. We dress up and go to Garden Feast and we roll up our sleeves to work in the garden. We raised funds for the Celebration Garden and cut the ribbon at the opening 18 months ago. Now, Garden Club signage identifies our garden and the garden is shaping up! About a year ago, our Board sent a letter to Stephanie Linder, Executive Director of the Botanical Garden, endorsing the Garden’s plan to build a new, world-class Plant Nursery complex to replace the garden’s dilapidated 50 year-old facility. Once our club was offered the opportunity to participate in the realization of the Plant Nursery, to fulfil the garden’s role as a world class Botanical Garden, the club stepped up. With 80% of the total funding complete, the first 70 persons or organizations who contributed $10,000 or more to the new nursery will be honored by having their names engraved on the Nursery entry, where the names will remain for 50 years. On December 1, 2020 the Garden Club accepted the challenge by immediately pledging $10,000. Its name will burnish the Botanical Garden nursery once built. In just two months, members have already raised nearly $6000. If you have not donated to the Botanical Garden Nursery Fund, please do so in the coming days and weeks. No amount is too small and no amount is too large. It would be great for every member to contribute something towards this project. Make your check out to SF Garden Club and mail to the office at 640M Sutter St, San Francisco Let’s meet this target before 94102. In the memo line, put Botanical Garden. If you are so inclined, you may make a donation on the final due date of May 31, 2021 our website: www.sanfranciscogardenclub.org Now on the web: San Francisco Garden Club By Betty Voris For the last 18 months, an Emerge Design team from City College City has been working with Betty Voris to develop a completely new website. In spite of Shelter-in-Place and the team and instructor having to individually work from home, a new website was born. The old website, containing old and incorrect information, was totally eliminated from the web. Actually, the old website was harder to take down than the new one was to create. We also have hired a webmaster.. Google “San Francisco Garden Club.” Take some time to look through it. There is a lot of historical data and pictures from over the years that you should find very interesting. You can make donations and pay dues directly from the website. You will have the latest in what’s happening and a calendar with future events There is a totally private Member Only section that is closed to the public. It contains the roster, the by-laws and the policy manual. To get into the private Member Only section, you must complete a registration form. The user name for everyone to initially use is sfgc. Type “sfgc” into the user box. The password box is blank. In order to have your own private password and be able to get into that section, you must hit “Forgot Password.” You then create a password and place it in the password box. The password is absorbed into the system. No one has access to it nor is it available anywhere. If you lose your password, you will have to create another one. If you encounter any registration problems, our webmaster is available to help and has created a short tutor. In order to make certain the Members Only section is available only to members, a registration period will begin upon release of this newsletter.