Camellia Club of Mobile  Newsletter  Volume VI -  Issue  6

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !!!!  COME CELEBRATE OUR SEVENTIETH!!!!    

Our Club which was founded in l940 will be celebrating its 70^th birthday with a special party at our next  Meeting on March l4 at the Mobile Botanical Gardens.  There will be party food, some historical  Show programs, membership rosters (from ‘way back!), photos, etc. for our members to enjoy, plus President Vickie Baugh will present the list of our membership’s l0 most popular blooms.  This will be a very social meeting and we are sure you will all enjoy it.  Elaine Maxime will be demonstrating how to wax camellia blooms & all members will go home with one as a gift. If you’ve never seen this done, you’re in for a lovely surprise!  It would be so nice if some of the members who were so active in the past could be present as well, like Cecile Lovvorn (long-time Treasurer), Jenette Bain & Julie Ryan (both served as Secretary), Jimmy Johnson & Pat Ryan (both past Presidents) – without their hard work and dedication to the Club during their tenures, we would not be celebrating this awesome anniversary.  I wonder if that group of businessmen, who got together 70 years ago to share their enthusiasm for their favorite flower, realized what a terrific tradition they were starting?  All of us who are the beneficiaries of their great idea will happily celebrate it at this Meeting!  Do come and enjoy yourselves – you know the food will be good with our Carolyn Oyler orchestrating it …………………………………………………..                  __________________________________________________________________________________________

PROPAGATION MEETING WELL ATTENDED IN FEBRUARY

The February meeting was the usual success, with our experts educating members on the finer points of propagation by grafting, air-layering, rooting and planting seeds.  A couple of our experts were unable to attend (Walter Creighton had an unbreakable prior commitment & Barney Barnard was down with a back injury) but Jim Smelley and Al Baugh did sterling work in taking up the slack.  Dr. Jim Dwyer had a super interesting display on rooting and growing from seed.  We were also pleased to welcome two new members from Irvington, Jack & Gail Gehlken, who joined at the January Show.  They even won a camellia plant in the raffle!  Our thanks yet again to Jimmy Walker for providing a great selection of scions for grafting. Several members were disappointed that the snow (yes! snow in the South!) had made it impossible to make the trek up to Birmingham the previous day for their Show.  Our good growers always hate to miss a chance to exhibit the gorgeous results of their labors!   Global warming weather has really thrown a spanner (oops! monkey-wrench) in the works this year!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CAMELLIA CHAT………………                                                                                     

Checking through the list of award winners at our January Show it was a treat to see that we had a lot of first-time winners from our Club, including Don Oyler,  Carolyn Oyler,  Marcheta Houston, Vaudine Driskell, Martha Terry and Laura Barnard!  And they weren’t just in the three novice categories – Laura won the Alabama Growers Trophy in Memory of Dolores Oates!  Nice going, folks! That’s the way to celebrate our 70^th!

At the Brookhaven Club Show in Mississippi, Jim & Elaine Smelley won the Best Seedling Award for a lovely seedling that originated from our own past President N.C. “Barney” Barnard.  Now  I know why my cute little seedling from “Sarasa” didn’t win! – Barney has developed some really nice seedlings over the years, now we have to get him to name them so we can all have them!  Congratulations, Jim, Elaine & Barney!

FREE – FREE - FREE!!!!  Earl Comstock has about 10 large plastic “sweater boxes” complete with lids which he wants to donate to any Club members who would like them for transporting camellias to meetings and Shows.  No, he is not giving up exhibiting, he just has a lot more boxes than he needs.  If you would like to take advantage of his generous offer call him at 251-943-5386.

The Nominating Committee for next year’s Officers & Board has been selected and will be announced at the March meeting, they are already hard at work on their selections – not an easy job since some of the Officers, including the Secretary, have pleaded for a rest for while!  If you’re approached by the Nom/Com, do remember that the outgoing people will be there to help and provide backup, so no need to panic!  ( For those of you saying “But what about the Newsletter?” that is not part of the Secretary’s job.  I edit the Newsletter in order for all members to know what is happening in the Club, when meetings are and also to ensure that older members who can no longer make the meetings do not feel left out of the Club they worked so hard to build.)

APRIL 11 Meeting will include: Expert advice on how to take care of camellias during the summer.  Our Camellia Photo Contest with 4 categories:

1: Best camellia bloom.   2: Best camellia in arrangement.   3: Best camellia in the landscape.   4: Best camellia bloom or plant with people.

The Election of the Camellia Club Board and Officers for the 2010/2011 Season will also take place. Meeting will be at the Mobile Botanical Gardens as usual.  Hope to see you all there.