‘Great turnout’ for 16th annual Garden Club Gala
Once again, the 16th annual Garden Club Gala proved to be one of the island’s most popular events of the year.
Those attending the event, held at the Garden Club Park at The Center, were parked in every available spot all along Stingfellow Road and on every side street in the vicinity.
This year’s chairperson, Mary Reich, is also vice president of the Pine Island Garden Club.
“I am thrilled that even though there were some forecasts of rain, we have a beautiful sunny day for this gala,” Reich said. “This was fairly easy to put together because we have a large group of club members that have done this before and vendors that want to come back every year. In fact, we had several vendors that wanted to join us this year but we ran out of space.
“This is just a great turnout,” Reich said. “I think we are in our 16th year and we have everything from vendors selling plants, trees, herbs, crafts, art and even baked goods and other food. This is just a fun community event.”
Master gardeners were available to answer gardening questions as well as several demonstrations by local experts: “Bonsai and Keshiki,” “Herbs,” “Floral Arrangements From Your Yard,” “Basic Bonsai” and “The Calusa and Their Plant World.”
“The Garden Club has about 130 to 140 members and we have members that know such a wide variety of things,” Reich said.
Former Calusa Land Trust board member and bonsai expert Greg Lignelli spoke about “Basic Bonsai” for beginners. Bonsai is a potted plant or a miniaturized tree grown in a small dish. The tiny trees resemble a full-sized tree.
“The art form was developed in the Far East,” Lignelli said. “Probably in China around the sixth century before it came to Japan.”
Martha Kendall, author of “The Plant World of the Calusa: A View from Pineland,” and long-time member of the Garden Club, offered a presentation on the plants of the Calusa.
“As soon as this gala is over, we start planning for the next one,” Kendall said. “Although with something like 60 vendors, we have completely filled this space. I love this event because it’s very grassroots and feels like an old county fair. People want to know how to grow things here because it’s so different from wherever they came from.”
The purpose of the Pine island Garden Club is to aid in the protection and conservation of natural resources, encourage civic beauty and roadside beautification, stimulate the study of the fine art of gardening, and cooperate with other agencies in furthering the interests of horticulture and conservation. The Garden Club meets on the third Thursday of each month except June, July, August and December at the Lutheran Church, 10360 Stringfellow Road, at 9 a.m.
All funds raised at the gala will be distributed to the Calusa Land Trust, PAWS, Beacon of HOPE, CROW, Pine Island Food Pantry, and Boy Scout Troop 20. For more information, visit www.pineislandgardenclub.org.