September 2010

The Merry Weather Garden Club met on Thursday, September 30, 2010 at the Foxx Den in Greenville for a planning session and lunch.

   Organizing the plans for the downtown Greenville Christmas decorations was accomplished with Toots Hobson volunteering to decorate the fire bell area and place the eight small lighted Christmas trees the club made at the sidewalk entrances to the courthouse.

   The club reflected upon what decorations at Christmas had been the most successful and concluded that we need larger greenery that is not dwarfed by the courthouse’s imposing size. The overload of red bows and spotted greenery give a cluttered and junky look that would be better left unpacked and unused. The small wreaths at the courthouse doors usually fall off and really can’t be seen except when walking in so the club chose to not use them.

   Sally Neal will look into obtaining sixteen large wreaths to be placed on the base of the columns and Linda Latzak will check the craft stores for prices too. The Georgia state capitol is decorated similarly and our current flood lighting precludes any extra needed lighting.

   The islands on the square will again have the crepe myrtles lighted.  Jean Biggers volunteered to call Shirley White, Peggy Jones, and Babs Gordon about lighting and swagging the railroad bridge.

   Linda Wilburn reported on the streetscape project with the good news that Ga DOT has approved all plans after an addition to the plans was made and that project is out for bids.  The addition which allows big trucks to make wider turns costs an extra $50,000 which the Better HomeTown group (of which garden club is a part) will have to raise. Engraved pavers will be sold at a cost of $250 each with six lines of text or a maximum of 210 characters allowed.

   BHT had currently raised $60,000 for the project and has matching money coming for the project. If we can’t raise the additional money, Wilburn said, the project gets scaled down. Lamp posts are also being sold at a cost of $3,000.

   Beginning in December, Better Home Town starts the application process for Phase II which will improve the west side of court square and address the courthouse retaining wall.

   October and November programs were planned with a trip to Waverly Hall and Sweet Briar plus lunch at the Farm House and a November trip to Rocky Branch and lunch at Rose Cottage.

   The club concluded with lunch, touring Foxxy Finds, and choosing seed packets to take home that were brought by Marilyn Austin.