Members of Carroll and other garden clubs of District V met October 10, 2019 at the Holly Hills Country Club in Ijamsville where we have been holding our meetings for the past several years. All participating clubs were asked to design succulent centerpieces to be sold as fund raisers. Thank you to Vicki Myers for lending her camera to the task of capturing these arrangements and garden club members.
There was a good crowd of attendees in the room. Holly Hills C.C. provides coffee, tea and pastries for morning refreshments as members arrive for registration and to pick up packets. On this day, they were dropping off individual club yearbooks and picking up the new District V Directory. It’s a great time for meet and greet.
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- The crowd
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- Carroll GC and friends
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- Our peeps
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- Members of District V Executive Board
This was Marjorie Schiebel’s first official district meeting as Director and also President Terry Conner’s first time to give a report on Carroll Garden Club. We also commemorated the passing of Sally Booth, long time member of our club.
After a lovely lunch of “Autumn Salad, Chicken Cordon Bleu (or crab cakes), and a Grilled Vegetable Tower followed by Lemon Raspberry Torte” it was time to set up the projector for our guest speaker, Leon Carrier of Plant Masters in Laytonsville, MD. He first told us about his journey into the world of flower growing after seeing how eagerly people in the farmer’s markets were snapping up bouquets of seasonally available flowers and decided that was the business to get into. He is part of the Local Flower movement, suggesting people learn to appreciate the “terroir” of their area and use what is locally available rather than relying on product grown abroad that requires much transport (contributes to climate change) and much chemical spraying of flowers.
Today he owns four acres ( now with a recent five acre farm addition to be run by his son) with field grown flowers, some hoop houses and a greenhouse. He grows annuals, perennials and woody plants on site and serves primarily local area farmer’s markets but also florists, weddings and brides who come for specialty parties where they pick-your-own flowers and do floral arts. He brought along some succulents for sale at the meeting.
Leon Carrier of Plant Masters
