An E-Newsletter for Selby Gardens Volu nteers February 2015 Volunteers are encouraged to provide news tips and stories for Inside Dirt. If you have something to share, please contact Phyllis Kirtley at pkirtley@selby.org or Diana Schultz at terra06@embarqmail.com. There s a New Face at Selby Gardens! Saturday & Sunday, February 21 & 22 All hands on deck for this year s Plant & Garden Festival! This is Sarasota s original plant sale. In addition to plant vendors and displays by the Ikebana and Bonsai Societies, we ll offer live music from 1-3 on both afternoons. Gardens Members, remember you get first dibs on the best plants gates open to current Members only at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. Volunteer Newsletter Inside Dirt Please join us in welcoming Jennifer O. Rominiecki as Selby Gardens new President and CEO. Jennifer arrived for her first day on Monday, February 9, and dove straight into getting to know her staff, our volunteers, and these lovely Gardens. Jennifer comes to us after 15 years at New York Botanical Garden, where she served as Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Special Assistant to the President. She and her family are settling nicely into their new home in Sarasota. Volunteers are invited to meet Jennifer on Saturday, February 21, at noon during Plant & Garden Festival (see below). It s Time for Plant & Garden Festival 1
Volunteer/Staff Lunch around Town Treviso Restaurant at the Ringling Museum FEBRUARY 23 rd at 12:30 Looking for something light and luscious? Want an ideal spot to join a friend from Selby for a leisurely lunch? The culinary arts are given new meaning at Treviso thanks to the restaurant s take on some classic favorites, served in the beauty of The Ringling estate. Come join the fun and bring a guest on Monday. Meet some of your fellow volunteers. Ordering is from the menu and individual checks are provided. RSVP to Phyllis at pkirtley@selby.org by Friday, February 20 so we can make our reservation. Remember, the Museum and grounds are free on Mondays so come early and stay late. Volunteer and Staff Mixer for the Borucan Masks Exhibition Wednesday, March 11, 5:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m. There s nothing lovelier than a sunset on the Bay, especially after daylight saving time begins. So join the fun and meet the new, the old and the usually not seen members of the Selby Gardens family. The mixer will begin at 5:00 on March 11 th outside of the Christie Payne Mansion with light appetizers and a cash bar in honor of the Borucan Masks exhibit. VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES If you are interested in any of these positions, please contact Phyllis Kirtley at 366-5731 x 227 or pkirtley@selby.org Welcome Center Register positions are available Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Horticulture - We have openings in the gardening crew on Thursdays and Fridays. Administrative Help in Education - We are looking for one or two volunteers to organize and schedule the volunteers who work in the Conservatory and on the Ask Me Cart. 2
Calligraphy Volunteers The Events Department is looking for Calligraphy artists to address development and community formal invitations. A call to our existing Walk & Talk Tour Guides Our Adult Tour Guide team is seeking new guides. You will begin by shadowing one of our experienced Adult Guides. These tours are generally between 1 to 1.5 hours. We also have a full Gardens' "talking points" document to share with those interested. Please contact mshelley@selby.org for more information and to schedule a shadowing session. Ask me Cart and Conservatory Guide Openings We have six open slots for Ask Me Cart and three open slots for Conservatory guides - contact cron@selby.org for times and details. Museum docents needed We have 2 openings for bi-weekly shifts in the mansion/museum: Every other Friday afternoon (1:30-4:30 pm) and every other Saturday morning (10:00 am - 1:30 pm). If interested contact Marilynn at mshelley@selby.org. RSVP to Marilynn Shelley regarding the Breakfast Potluck with Museum Docent training for the Rainforest Masks exhibit. Potluck will be in the Great Room by the Bay beginning at 8:30 am, with training session immediately following at 9:30 am. YFP (Youth & Family Programs) Our Little Sprouts preschool program is growing! Engaging volunteers are needed once a month to help set-up and facilitate engaging, nature-inspired crafts and sensory activities for our littlest garden guests. Don't miss this opportunity, it's a positively delightful experience! Email dferguson@selby.org for more information. Also we are in need of volunteers for family & school programs. Kids' Corner/Children's Rainforest Garden We desperately need volunteers Saturday mornings in the Kids' Corner. The greatest need is on "Selby Saturdays" mornings once monthly. Contact is dferguson@selby.org or x 273. Thanks to all who brought us their bottle caps, we now have them in abundance! We won't need any more for our bottle cap installation (except for green). 3
School tour guides Shifts vary. Contact dferguson@selby.org for more information. Display House guides: please remember to record the number of guest interactions on your shift in the white binder in the Welcome Center information desk. Capturing these numbers informs us of our impact on the visitor experience! With the onset of season, combined with an increase in family and school visitors, I'd like to remind all volunteers to welcome families & students with the same enthusiasm as we welcome all guests. Selby Gardens has invested significant resources in attracting a family audience, and we want to be sure that they feel comfortable from the moment they arrive to the moment they depart. We know that Walk n Talk tours, for example, can be quite full during these months, but please keep your groups to one side of the sidewalk so that other guests can get through - including school groups and families with or without strollers. Thank you. - Jeannie Perales A Note from Education Director Jeannie Perales Carmen Baskind What s New with the Associates? Every Mask Tells a Story is the title of the Associates luncheon program on February 16. Selby s own, Marilynn Shelley will present a program on masks created by the 4
artists of Boruca, Costa Rica. Discover the history of the masks and how the modernday artists have helped to preserve this history while adding a part of their personalities to each mask they carve and paint. Learn how preservation and conservation remain a constant concern for both their village and Selby Gardens and how those efforts have merged over the years. Chef Roberta of Milan Catering with be serving a Costa Rica themed menu of piña colada shooters with raspberry, chicken empanadas with key lime and cilantro drizzle, and caramel bananas over flourless chocolate squares with saffron cream. Member of the Gardens, volunteers and staff are welcome to attend. Lunch is $20 for members and $25 for non-members. Deadline reservation is February 11, please contact Carmen Baskind at 941.724.1854. Please note: To order Associates name tags at a cost of $10.00, contact David Muolo at 315.345.8734. Birthday greetings to Julian Hansen, Phyllis Kirtley, Dorothy Lawrence, Cathy Layton, Linda Lestock, Tina Pitoniak, and Donna Santo. Upcoming Volunteer Gatherings Annual Volunteer Appreciation Dinner April 15 Th at 5:30 under the Banyan Tree. Volunteers, Staff and Guests* (guest price to be announced) May Day Pot Luck Luncheon May 1 st, 12:00 Noon in the Great Room by the Bay for Volunteers and Staff Participants will be asked to bring specific types of food/beverages to share. Please remember to bring serving utensils! Little Sprouts Club Little Sprouts is a fun, interactive program for preschoolers and their caregivers. Hundreds of families participate in this delightful program designed to stimulate young imaginations, engage curiosity, and encourage early development of a lifelong love and respect for nature. The Little Sprouts program is a family-friendly way to enjoy the 5
beauty of the Gardens. Free for Members and preschoolers Adult non-members pay regular admission UPCOMING PROGRAMS: Hardwood Forests: March 3, 4, and 7 @ 10:30 am Coastal Sand Dunes and Seashore: April 7, 8, and 11 @ 10:30 am Muddy Day: May 5, 6, and 9 @ 10:30 am By Bruce Holst News from Botany The Belizean photojournalist Tony Rath has given us permission to use his two aerial shots of the sink hole where Ella Baron (our friend from Belize s Caves Branch Botanical Garden) and I began working January 24. Photos by Tony Rath 6
This trip fits perfectly into our (Selby, Caves Branch, and the University of Belize) 3-year inventory of the epiphytes of Belize. It is into an interior area that would have been difficult to reach on our own. And Caves Branch Botanical Garden is again providing strong support of our collaboration and participation on the trip. We hope to find an abundance of epiphytic plants! In addition, there is a compelling story written by Tony (https://tonyrath.exposure.co/belizeis-at-war ) about the area we are going into. It makes it sound more dangerous than it is, but paints an interesting picture of the region, including the sinkholes. The region will be proposed as a UNESCO world heritage site by the organizers of our current trip, an effort which I hope we can support Tony also will publish a photojournal story of our December trip with him to the southern border with Guatemala. It features Selby Gardens and is a good story to share with our people. The title is great, and Mike McLaughlin, Jeannie Perales, and Trustee Dr. Kelvin Cooper (who took part in the expedition) will appreciate it after our pleasant afternoon swamp hike near Chan Chich "To boldly go where no one wants to." And...Toscano will tell us about interesting fieldwork in Brazil that he recently completed and much more in the coming months. And finally, we will wrap up the Carlton Ranch Fee Parcel inventory in February. Thanks, Bruce Holst 7
UPCOMING FREE LECTURES Botanizing in Brazil: Orchid Research in the Field, Lab, Classroom and Kitchen with Dr. Toscano de Brito, Wade Collier, and Sofia Kuhn February 25 from 12 PM 1 PM Enjoy a presentation by this talented trio about the nature of the most recent Brazilian field expedition, the resulting research and collaborations as well as a look into the future. Through the presentation of rich visuals and enticing tales see the life of a field botanist through the lens of Wade Collier, photographer and newcomer to the Tropics. Selby Gardens visiting Brazilian scholar, Sofia Kuhn weaves a frozen tale of field adventures in South Brazil. Every Mask Tells a Story with Marilynn & C.J. Shelley on March 11 from 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm in the Great Room by the Bay For more than 10 years Selby has been exhibiting and selling exotic Borucan Rainforest Masks. Join C.J. and Marilynn Shelley for a presentation on 10 select masks created by the artists of Boruca, Costa Rica. Discover the history of the masks and how the modern-day artists have helped to preserve this history while adding a part of their personalities to each mask they carve and paint. Learn how preservation and conservation remain a constant concern for both their village and Selby Gardens and how those efforts have merged over the years. Preserving Eden: Clyde Butcher's Florida Photographs is on display through February 26 in the Museum of Botany & the Arts. In the Museum of Botany & the Arts Meet & Greet Signing with Clyde Butcher February 7 from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm This exhibit coincides with Marie Selby Botanical Garden's current annual Fantastic Florida theme, and explores the connections between Clyde's landscape photography and the Garden's mission of conservation education. Sales of the works in this exhibit will benefit both Selby Gardens and Clyde Butcher's conservation efforts. This exhibit, along with the concurrent Exploring Eden exhibit at the Tidal Lagoon, is sponsored by the Frank E. Duckwall Foundation. 8
Rainforest Masks of Costa Rica from March 6 April 17 March 5 at 5:30 pm is the Opening night reception in the Museum of Botany & the Arts. RSVP is not required. March 6 the Exhibit opens from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm March 7-8 at 1:00 pm 3:00 pm is Meet the Artists in the Museum of Botany & the Arts. RSVP not required. March 11 from Noon 1:00 pm is a BOTANICAL BRIEFING: Every Mask Tells a Story (lecture) in the Great Room by the Bay March 12 from 10:00 am Noon is a Mask painting class Celebrate the mask making traditions of the Borucan Indians of Costa Rica while painting along with one of the visiting artists. Learn design techniques while painting an authentic rainforest-inspired mask of your own. Instructor: Marilynn Shelley Member, $40; Non-member, $55 Materials Fee: $25 $40 per mask March 14-15 from 1:00 pm 3:00 pm is a Meet the Artists in the Museum of Botany & the Arts. RSVP is not required. Fantastic, wild and impressively detailed, Rainforest Masks of Costa Rica, is a beloved traditional exhibit at Selby Gardens. Each year visitors are captivated by the incredible new imagery and brilliant colors depicted in the meticulously hand-carved, painted masks inspired by Costa Rican flora and fauna. Guests may purchase a mask of their own to take home when the exhibit ends. Proceeds benefit the Borucan artists and Selby Gardens mission of conservation, research, education and horticulture. 9
Free and Discounted Classes Please note: To secure the special prices listed below; active volunteers must register and pay in advance of class at the Welcome Center or on our website. http://www.selby.org/learning/classes Potting & Mounting Orchids Wednesday, Feb 4, 11:00 am 1:00 pm Instructor: Angel Lara Special Volunteer Price: $25 New! Origami & Tea Ceremony Ikebana Wednesday, February 11, 10:00 am 1:00 pm Instructors: Pat Bonarek and Adrienne Wagner Special Volunteer Price: $25 Plus Materials Fee: $28 (pay instructor). New! Gelli Plate Printing Tuesday, Feb 17, 10:00 am 3:00 pm Special Volunteer Price: $35 Plus Materials Fee: $5 (pay instructor) iphone Photography Wednesday, February 18, 10:00 am 1:30 pm Instructor: Bob Fink Special Volunteer Price: $25 Florida Fern Safari Friday, March 20, 10:00 am 12:00 pm Instructor: Bill Coblentz Special Volunteer Price: $25 Early in the year though it be, it feels like spring is on the way. Many plants are blooming in the garden. This month, I toured the entry and southern section. 1. As you walk along the covered walkway, look to your right to see a hanging basket with the delightful pink and purple Quesnelia marmorata Tim Plowman. What s in Bloom by Terri Tumlin 10
2. Continue along the walkway to the bonsai exhibit at the end. The sloping bougainvillea (Bougainvillea glabra) with its exuberant rose colored flowers is well worth a look. 3. Now walk southward to the koi pond. At the start of the pond see the delicate white flower of Clerodendrum schmidtii in lovely cascades. 4. Along the path near the small gazebo, the white, lavender and purple yesterday-today-tomorrow plants are in abundant display. 5. Be sure to continue on to the succulent garden to see the chandelier plant (Kalanchoe tubiflora) with its many downward-facing dusky red flowers. The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway - Michael Pollan 11