KEY WEST GARDEN CLUB Summer Newsletter 2017 Message from the President As I write this message for the Summer Newsletter it is roaring with thunder outside, and Nature is watering our fabulous gardens! Typical summer s day in Key West, as it was wall to wall sunshine this morning! Although the summer months are slower in Key West, with fewer visitors and fewer volunteers to help in the gardens and propagation, the gardens actually need more work to maintain their beauty. The sunshine and the rain make everything grow including the weeds! The smaller band of volunteers who are here year round really work hard to keep everything looking gorgeous, encouraging the butterflies, birds and other wildlife, as well as tourists to visit West Martello! West Martello is still one of the most popular venues for weddings, and other romantic assignations a charming young man asked if we could keep the garden club open for just a few minutes after hours so that he could propose to his sweetheart in the white gazebo, overlooking the sea the most romantic spot in Key West in my humble opinion! We have recently hosted two film crews who wanted to shoot in our gardens; the first was a group of college students who were making a film about the history of Key West, particularly the Civil War era, organized by the Key West Art & Historical Society. This will be shown in local schools to help with teaching local history. The second was for an online travel show called City Guides ; one of their 25 minute programs is to be about Key West. The Garden Club & West Martello were chosen as one of only five other venues to showcase Key West; primarily because of our excellent reviews on Trip Advisor and our own website! There is always something going on in our beautiful historic ground, throughout the year! Rosi President
In Memoriam Anne-Francis Ford The Garden Club s beloved Fran Ford, 94, passed away quietly on Sunday, July 2, at her home, surrounded by her family. Born January 16, 1923, in Providence, Rhode Island, she was the daughter of the late Brigadier General Harold Richards and Beatrice Winter Barker. Optimistic and energetic, she was the driving force behind her family and environmental interests. With her husband, she raised four children providing them with unconditional love and a strong belief in themselves throughout their lives. She had a passion for the environment and nature. She was a former President of Florida Keys Audubon, Chair of the Key West Tree Commission, long-term active member of the Key West Garden Club, creator of the Whistling Duck Pond, supporter of the Indigenous Park and recognized for her work in Key West by the Fran Ford White-Crowned Pigeon Preserve. The Garden Club would not be the Club or Gardens they are today without Fran and the support of her wonderful family. The Ford family kindly requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be given to The Key West Garden Club. We have received many wonderful donations in Fran s name including a very generous donation from Fran s oldest son, David. We are planning to use these kind gifts to extend the Flexipaving in the gardens to enable wheelchairs and strollers to be able to navigate 100% of the gardens, as I am sure Fran would have wanted. The new pathways will be named The Fran Ford Way in her honor. Fran lived all of her 94 years to the fullest, and made a significant difference to all she met. She will be greatly missed by all. Rosi Molly Shallow The Garden Club will also miss another member who had been active in past years. Mary Elizabeth Molly Shallow passed away in June 2017. Molly was a professional photographer and lectured at Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. She was a senior advisor and board member of the Key West Library and in charge of the Books to Ships program.
Scholarship Award Getting to Know our Scholarship Recipient Last year the Board voted to change the Lois Kitching Scholarship award from a one to a four-year commitment for a deserving Key West high school student. As it turns out, it was a wise decision. Our current recipient, Sydney Gallagher, graduated from Key West HS in 2016 and just finished her freshman year at the University of Florida with flying colors. We are delighted with her hard work and academic success (3.6 GPA) as a Marine Science major with coursework on environmental and sustainability issues. When we asked what she found most surprising about college life, her immediate response: how quickly she s made many new friends who constantly encourage me to try new activities and expose myself to new things. Some of those activities include Wahines of the Waves, an all girls sports club that encourages girls to try sports traditionally dominated by men, a surf trip to Costa Rica over Spring break and snowboarding for the first time in North Carolina. This summer Sydney is living at home where she attends Florida Keys Community College during the week and works weekends on the Sebago. She says that while her pre-paid college-plan pays tuition and books, the Garden Club scholarship is extremely important help toward her living expenses at UF. In early June Sydney visited with some of the Monday volunteers and was thrilled to receive this year s check for $2,000. Keep up the great work, Sydney!!! Another positive review of the Club A couple told Rosi the story of their first visit to Key West in 2006. They were excited to visit the Key West Garden Club since the wife had just started her own little garden club in her community of Deep Creek in Punta Gorda Florida. They got off their cruise ship and looked for a cab when it began to rain heavily. They called the club concerned that it would close and the receptionist said she would be there in 20 minutes or so to pick them up. They were on the corner of Duval and Caroline. Then there she was. I wish I could remember her name. She was so sweet. She gave us a grand tour of the gardens and the clubhouse in the rain no less. No one else was there so we had the gardens all to ourselves and when we were done our lovely tour guide took us back to Duval and Caroline. Fred and I will always remember how all the members we met that day made us feel special. In January 2018 the Deep Creek Civic Association and Garden Club of Punta Gorda are planning a cruise to Key West and Cozumel. All the ladies in the garden club are looking forward to visiting the Gardens and meeting the members.
New Trees Five crabwood trees in 25 gallon containers were planted behind the mulch bin. They were donated by Barbara Douglas. Scott Montgomery and his associate Marco from Native Landscaping volunteered to plant them. The trees will be kept to 15 feet and have enhanced that area facing Atlantic Boulevard. Iguanas in the Gardens (that we like) A green marble sculpture by artist Gloria Shaw was donated to the Garden Club by her family. Gloria was a well known sculptor who also taught at the Florida Keys College. Lizzie s Lizards are nestled among the short-leaf fig by the green gazebo. A plaque will be put in to acknowledge the artist. May the Fourth Be With You! Another lovely July 4 th at the Garden Club. Hope everyone had a great holiday.
Everyone is a fan of Bob s. Bob Hans is putting together more fans to help cool off the fort. He is the fixer of all things. On the 4 th of July holiday, Bob had the pleasure of dealing with backed up toilets at the Club. We have asked that the County replace the paper towels with air dryers as folks keep putting the towels in the wrong place. Another improvement to the restroom area are lights that stay lit by the entrance and a new bubbler that also has a water bottle fill feature. Thank you to Hazel Hans for her persistence in dealing with the County. Bob and Hazel Hans are a great team! (They will also be celebrating their 50 th wedding anniversary this August. Many congratulations!) Some like it hot The cacti at the top of the hill are thriving including the endangered semaphore cactus. New Email Address for Garden Club Kudos to Christa Varacalli (on the right). Christa not only has streamlined our membership book but is now helping our receptionists in updating their computer skills. Our new email for the Club is keywestgardenclub@gmail.com. Kathleen Gillis is doing a bang up job of learning new techniques in dealing with membership, merchandise and visitors. Ron Zemlicka has also been trained in the updates. Christa is also helping Eloise Pratt in bringing our library into the modern world. Eloise says we have about 450 books.
Mosquito Control Occasionally we call in Mosquito Control to see how the Gardens are doing. We ususally pass with flying colors, as we did on this day. The following are reminders of best practices to cut down on mosquitoes breeding by: Emptying all standing water and water-holding containers in yards Keeping hot tubs and pools in working condition and chlorinated Emptying plastic swimming pools when not in regular use Flushing out water-holding plants like bromeliads Cleaning clogged roof gutters and draining flat roofs Stocking ornamental ponds with mosquito-eating fish Drilling holes in garbage cans and recycle bins Removing old tires with stagnant water Removing water from stored boats Changing water in pet bowls, vases and birdbaths at least twice a week Screening rain barrels, water tanks and cisterns or requesting fish Floral Design Seashells help our floral designs make it through the hot summer months.
Volunteers Lourdes Menendez now lives in Wisconsin but is a member and spent her day volunteering at the Club. Donna Froelich is one of the orchid team keeping the orchids beautiful. There are now orchids in the entranceway, enhancing the first view of the fort. Bobbie Sauvageau is our constant Bonsai gardener. Catherine Thibeault Perry is putting together orchid fertilizer bags for our plant sale in November. Donna Farrow has done a great job of carrying on this project that was started by Propagation
New dress code for board members. This is a photo from Memorial Day 1949. It first came to our attention when Annette Liggett found it in the Arts and Historical archive. It was sent our way again by Karen DiMaria when she was going through photographs at City Hall. I wonder what these ladies would make of our new skinny strap T- shirts. The Garden Club has been around a long time! Our new T-shirts have a cool design by Rosi Ware of the ficus tree. We have restocked all our merchandise. It s time to upgrade your wardrobe. Rosi Ware, our illustrious president, came to work in spite of having had surgery on her hand and then a fractured foot that happened while she was in Spain. Nothing keeps Rosi down, a friend lent her this scooter contraption and she was doing whatever she could to help out at the Club. No more surgeries or accidents are allowed for Rosi!! The Navy and the Garden Club Our Garden has an intriguing backdrop of the ruins of a 19th century military fort, one of three red brick forts on our tiny island. Key West is in the midst of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Naval Air Station but the military has been a presence here much longer. In 1822 Lt. Matthew Perry was sent to take possession of this island for the US and established Naval Station Key West. The following year Commodore David Porter was sent here to eradicate piracy. The military is still here. In 1948 Mrs. Goddard of the Key West Women s Club and wife of a Naval officer, worked tirelessly to reactivate the Key West Garden Club, an organization in prewar years which had attained distinction with its
Flower Shows and beautification of Key West. Many of our own Garden Club volunteers and members are now here because of some connection to the military. Hazel Hans started researching some of our members: Jerry Baker, Bob Hans, Chuck Pratt, Fran Ford. We thought we would recount a few of their stories over the next year. This is Jerry Baker s story who served on the USS Bushnell AS-15 as did Chuck Pratt. Jerry helps out at the Gardens with Bob Hans on maintenance. "My wife and I arrived in Key West the Spring of 1968 after driving a Pontiac Tempest convertible from San Diego. She was 3 months pregnant and sick most of the way. My orders said not to bring dependents as no housing in Key West. No way I was leaving her anywhere. We stayed in the Blue Lagoon Motel for a while and another place on the corner of Fleming and White before finding a small house in a Cuban family s backyard on Patterson. We were there a year and then moved to an upstairs apartment in a large conch house on Simonton Street. It was a large beautiful place with a balcony and the rent was $125.00 a month. A lot of money then. We loved Key West, it was a different place then, all shrimpers, sailors and treasure hunters. I worked in the carpenter shop on the Bushnell as a Patternmaker mostly doing woodworking and replacing teak decks on the submarines. I rode my bike to the ship each day. It was great duty. I worked nights at Logans Lobster House at the end of Simonton Street washing dishes, weekends heading shrimp on Stock Island and then later at a drug store where Searstown is now stocking shelves and washing dishes at their lunch counter. I was discharged in June of 1970 and returned to Texas to go to college. I was 21 and had served 4 years in the Navy. We always came back to Key West whenever we could. This is an etching of Key West Harbor in 1874 as seen from West Martello. Because of the Virginius Affair (an American ship, the Virginius, was hired by Cuban insurrectionists to attack the Spanish regime. Spain executed some Americans on board.) Our country decided to send a large number of Navy ships to Key West to flex its muscles in front of the Spanish who ruled Cuba. This essentially avoided a war with Spain. If you have a story to share send it to HansKeyWest@gmail.com. If this historical connection interests you there is a year long exhibit at the Custom House that is not to be missed.
Propagation Propagation is very busy in the summer, especially with a skeleton crew. One addition is the propagating of a giant anthurium, courtesy of Bill Becker of US 1 radio. Bill has been growing anthuriums for years and has donated many to our Club. He is very knowledgeable and generous with his help. The Lignum Vitae seedlings are growing well. There will be lots of plants to sell at the Fall Plant Sale. More Trip Advisor Comments Just had to share this one review from a woman from Tampa. Kudos to Ron Zemlicka, receptionist, and to Donna Farrow and everyone that makes a difference in having butterflies in the garden. Kitty Garden Sanctuary on the Beach I'm a butterfly gardener so I mostly went to see if I could spot any new (to me) butterflies. I live outside of Tampa, but it's amazing how many different butterflies one can see in South Florida. First off, the man working the front desk was extremely helpful and friendly. He gave an introductory talk and handed us maps, and I also saw him later engaged with other visitors. He was more than happy to talk about specific plants, or the gardens in general. I got my butterfly wish in spades! My most exciting sighting was a Florida Duskywing. I saw both the butterfly and found caterpillars on their host plant, Locustberry. I did multiple loops through the gardens and it seemed like I saw something new every time. As many people will point out, this is about the only thing in Key West that is free. And there's free parking, too! So leave a generous donation in the box. The club has only been running the gardens for about 50 years, so it's still a baby in botanical terms. Let's keep them going - I hope I can visit again and again to watch it grow. Programs We look forward to welcoming our members back from their travels and hope the summer went well for all. Jane Tiedeman has a great line-up for our general meetings. Here are the first two. Hope to see you there! Thursday, October 5, 2017 Peter Kouchalakos, PCK Orchids Orchids, of course! Thursday, November 2, 2017 Sharon Lieberman, K.W. Garden Club member Succulent Gardens A special, HUGE, thank you to all who volunteered at the Club during an especially hot summer in Key West. You should all be proud of yourselves. The Gardens look beautiful, especially all the orchids. Many thanks for photos from Robin Robinson, Kitty Somerville, Rosi Ware, Lynne Bentley-Kemp, Eloise Pratt, Sue Sullivan and Hazel Hans. Thank you for edits from Christa Varacalli. Editor, Sue Sullivan