Camellia Club of Mobile Inc

Last Meeting of our 2013/2014 Camellia Season

The Club will be holding its last Meeting of this Camellia Season at the Mobile Botanical Gardens on Sunday, April 13^th. It will start as usual at 2:00 p.m. with a social half-hour, with the Meeting called to order at 2:30 p.m. (if the President can get the attention of the socializing members!) This will be a busy meeting so we hope to see you there.

The Nominating Committee will put forward a slate of nominees for the positions of Officers and Board Members for the approval of the members present. This new Board will serve throughout the 2014/2015 Camellia Season and will be elected by the members present. Nominations can be made from the floor.

This Meeting will also see our Annual Photo Competition – there will be, as usual, the four following categories:

1. Photo of camellia bloom

2. Photo of camellia and people

3. Photo of camellia(s) in arrangement

4. Photo of camellia in the landscape

Everyone present will get to vote for their favorite in each category. Club Secretary Jim Dwyer has organized four lovely prizes which will be awarded to the four winners. We only ask that you do not submit photos that have been submitted in our Club’s previous competitions. Photos do not have to be framed, or even printed on photo paper, we had some lovely pictures last year on plain paper!

If you have any questions on taking care of your camellias through the summer, bring them along to this meeting, there will be an informal question session where everyone can exchange information and tips on the past season and what to do for the coming season. The next season will open with our Meeting on September 14, 2014, all members will receive a mailout package late August/early September which will include information on our Club’s programs for 2014/15 season and dates/information on Shows being put on by other Clubs on the Gulf Coast. You will also receive a dues notice – still only $5.00 per member – Note: if you joined during 2014 you will not receive a dues notice since you are paid through the 2014/15 season.

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Blooms in abundance at March Meeting!

The horrible ice and chill winds of January and February produced a bumper crop of lovely blooms in March. Our members flooded the Botanical Gardens tables with loads of different blooms. Walter Creighton and Jim Smelley were roped in to judge this impromptu show and awarded prizes to Carolyn & Don Oyler, Al & Vickie Baugh and Laura Barnard. Larry Heard and Robert Moore provided the prizes which were much appreciated by the winners. Several members brought blooms for identification. MaeBeth Chandler was delighted to find that her pretty peach pink large bloom was originated in 1959 by Dr. Fawns of Fresno, CA and named “Taffeta TuTu”. Dr. Jim Dwyer identified it for us with the extra bonus that it is fragrant! It is one of the biggest fragrant blooms I’ve seen – scented camellias mostly seem to be from teeny-tiny (C.transnokiensis) to mid-size ( “High Fragrance”).

CAMELLIA CHAT

Members who are on Facebook will be interested to know that the Camellia Club of Mobile now has a Facebook Page and our new member MaeBeth Chandler has volunteered to look after it (if that is what you do with “Facebook pages?) So if you have any particularly good pictures of camellias or our meetings or Shows, do share them on this page. The Fort Walton Beach Club has a nice Facebook page with lots of gorgeous pictures.