The
Merry Weather Garden Club met on Thursday, June 12th, 2014 at the home of
Sallie Mabon. Co-hosting with Mabon were
Helen Claussen, Diana Norris, and Mary Anne Harman.
Members
met on the Mabon’s deck overlooking their garden water feature and enjoyed
chatting during a social hour and getting to meet guests Ute Whatley, of German
background and who is Toots Hobson’s new neighbor; Brenda Fernander, guest of
Linda Wilburn, who is the new resident in Greenville in the house beside the
Methodist Church; and also Shae Rossetti, the eldest granddaughter of Sherry
Carothers.
Because
Greenville has enjoyed four very special weddings this summer that have
involved many garden club members, Sallie Mabon presented a program about the
historical use of flowers in weddings plus some fun wedding trivia.
Most
garden club members married in the time period when a wedding was a simple
church affair and the reception meant a cake, mints, nuts, and punch in the
church fellowship hall. Today, Mabon said the average wedding costs $29,700 and
annually $72 billion is spent on the event. Encouraging to note, forty percent of
married couples paid for their weddings themselves.
The amount spent on flowers, corsages, and
bouquets run minimally at $700. Flower prices vary according to the varieties
chosen, the time of year, and if they are locally grown. The most requested
flower is the rose followed by tulips, calla lilies, lily of the valley,
hydrangea, peonies, ranunculus, stephanotis, sweet pea, and gardenia. Overall,
the most expensive flower is the orchid.
Wedding
trivia questions were fun with members learning that wedding dress costs at the
low end run $200 and high end $2-5000. In Eastern cultures, white is the color
for mourning so wedding dresses are never white but usually colorful. The veil,
symbolizing youth and virginity, hid the bride from the “evil eye” and in
centuries past was red, blue, or yellow with white becoming popular in the
Victorian period for those wealthy enough to have a veil. The veil was also
handy in arranged marriages so the groom did not see the face of his betrothed
until it was too late!
The
club learned there is no law requiring a woman to take her husband’s name. The
wedding vow “til death do us part” was not part of a slaves’ wedding vow
because ownership allowed the couples to be split apart and sold. Mabon
explained the tradition of “jumping the broom” which was like the earlier Roman
groom carrying the bride across the threshold to signify they were married. In
the 1500s, the Council of Trent proclaimed marriage a sacrament of the church.
In
club news and business, Carla Snider reported on the Keep America Beautiful
meetings. The club voted to donate $100
to our local county litter campaign led by Jane Fryer.
Linda
Wilburn gave a report on the status of the streetscapes and the process of
getting the design approved which has taken much longer than anticipated.
Wilburn also arranges for the landscaper to cut, maintain, and pick up the
litter on the islands around court square and the club contributed $250 to that
effort. Yearly costs total $700 so more donations are needed to keep our county
seat beautiful.
Gail
Coffee reported on the Animal Shelter as needing a good weeding and trimming as
well as more shade for the dog runs. Trustee help is not available like it used
to be so members of the club volunteered their help and to purchase shade trees
for the site
The
next garden club meeting will be July 10th with Marilyn Austin and
Lynda Woodall hosting. The club will
meet at Larkspur Antiques in Woodland and tour the day lilies there.
The
club members enjoyed a delicious salad luncheon with each bringing a different
type of salad with the menu varying from fresh greens to congealed salads to
stuffed shells.
