Members gathered December 10th for the annual Holiday Brunch at the delightfully decorated home of Marilyn M. The food was scrumptious, the company delightful, and a good time was had by all!
Exciting News!! LGC Garden History and Design Chair, Dawn D. announced that the club’s submission to the Garden Club of America Collection was accessioned to the Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens. This was a years’ long endeavor that included many club members and is the first Omaha garden documented for the archives since 2011. It will be found at Smithsonian Online Virtual Archives of American Gardens website (SOVA) early next year.
Author and poet Camille Dungy was the speaker for the LGC Lecture Series at Lauritzen Gardens November 7, 2024. LGC members had the privilege of meeting her for dinner before her presentation. Camille discussed her book, Soil, the Story of a Black Mother’s Garden.
“The green of growing things calms me. Plants stabilize me,” Camille Dungy writes in Soil, this brilliant and beautiful memoir of her deepening relationship with the earth, a relationship, a deepening, that necessarily demands she consider questions of family, history, race, nation, and power. The deepening demands we witness what erodes or frays or severs the stabilizing roots between us. Whatever seduces us into believing we are not in fact connected. To each other, to the earth. The soil though, just like Soil, teaches us we are connected. And fundamentally so. Let us try to listen. Let us put our hands in.”
-Ross Gay
Members met to discuss the book earlier in the month.
An engaging evening with renowned author, photographer, and conservationist Michael Forsberg. was held October 15, 2024 at Lauritzen Gardens. He shared insights on his latest project, a long-awaited study on whooping cranes.
On September 4, 2024, LGC members toured two community gardens. The Dundee Community Garden is located at 49th and Underwood Ave. One of the founders, Mary G., led the tour. The DCG has 45 assigned plots, 3 open plots, a small orchard, a shed run by solar power, a composting area, a Little Free Library, and a neighborhood produce donation box. Pollinator plants are spread around the garden, and extra produce is donated to the residents at Underwood Tower across the street.
City Sprouts was one of Omaha’s first community gardens founded in 1995. It is located at 40th and Sprague and is a nonprofit 503(c)(3) volunteer organization. Its mission is to “use urban agriculture as a platform to develop equitable food systems, provide educational opportunities, and build community” Shannon K., manager of the garden, gave an overview and tour of the garden.
Thanks to the Horticultural Committee for arranging this fun and educational event! And, of course, lunch together followed.
The August monthly meeting was held at Lauritzen Gardens. Members toured the just newly-opened Horticultural Center where plants are propagated and the garden’s orchid collection resides.
On July 23, 2024, three LGC members opened their gardens to fellow members. The weather and gardens were lovely. Thanks to Linda L., Joyce M., and Mary D. for their hospitality as well as to Jane K. for the delicious lunch!
Loveland Garden Club hosted GCA Scholar Eric Schwartz at Lauritzen Gardens. We spent an hour and a half hearing about his experience over the past two weeks in Nebraska. Not only did he interview many people for his project research, but he also tubed down the Niobrara, visited Fort Robinson, Toadstool National Park, saw a family of bison, and marveled at the variety of landscape. Eric is very interested in the relationship between people and plants, especially trees. His journalistic approach will result in an interesting monograph about the impact of the Prairie States Forest Project of the 1930’s on the American landscape and the people who lived near the forest shelterbelt.
What a privilege to be part of the GCA that provides these scholarships! This year there are 99 scholars. Take a look at their photos in the recent GCA Bulletin beginning on page 46. See if you can spot Eric on page 56.
Club Appreciation Award
In recognition of her inspiring and steadfast leadership, tireless volunteerism, humility, and invaluable contributions and commitment to Loveland Garden Club and GCA.
