Garden Club’s Flower Show Celebrates Art, Flowers & Anniversaries

For March 7th and 8th, the Center for the Arts was buzzing with activity as Calusa Garden Club (CGC) members welcomed the community to its Standard Flower Show. The theme of CGC’s Standard Flower Show was “Art, Flowers and Anniversaries.” It was chosen to recognize CGC’s partnership with Marco Island Center for the Arts, which has provided CGC with a beautiful venue to hold its annual Flower Show. The Marco Island Center for the Arts also recently celebrated its 50th anniversary and the National Garden Clubs, Inc. will soon be celebrating its 100th anniversary. Gold and Platinum anniversaries are always a reason to celebrate! 

A Flower Show is a lot of work and requires months of preparation. For members of the Calusa Garden Club, it also represented their artistic creativity, and many were recognized for their floral designs and “green thumbs” in growing plants and flowers. For their hard work, ribbons and rosettes were proudly displayed next to the award-winning displays. 

Also included was a Youth Exhibit “Food in a Box” illustrating the gardening knowledge of Tommie Barfield’s Junior Gardeners using Earth Boxes to plant vegetables and herbs. An Educational Exhibit featured Marco’s Burrowing Owls and Gopher Tortoises “Celebrating Them for Years to Come” and “Sharing Your Homes with Burrowing Owls.” 

The Botanical Arts and Crafts was something new this year along with a display of fascinators, invitations and boutonnieres. Always a popular category was the Photography Exhibit displaying the talents of CGC members. 

The Ladies Fascinators featured a fascinator, smaller than a hat and without a crown or brim and contained dried and/or fresh plant material and displayed on a silver Styrofoam head. Also new this year was the category of the Gentlemen with Boutonnieres which is a floral decoration worn on a lapel or tuxedo or suit and must contain fresh or dried plant material. 

For the Calusa Garden Club, the Flower Show is an opportunity to spread the joys of gardening to the community. Flower Shows also offer training opportunities for its members interested in exhibiting and in becoming certified flower show judges. 

There is a “friendly” competitive nature to a Flower Show as members display their floral designs, horticultural specimens, educational exhibits, botanical arts and crafts and photography—all judged by nationally accredited judges. It is a near–impossible task for judges selecting which exhibits are most deserving of the ribbons and rosettes. 

For this year’s Flower Show, CGC member Connie Lowery paid tribute to a friend and a favorite member, Peggy Grass, who passed away last year and is dearly missed. Connie titled her design, “It’ll Be Fun” a favorite saying by Peggy. Peggy’s sparkle, kindness and enthusiasm were remembered by everyone during this year’s Flower Show. 

Calusa Garden Club meets the second Monday of the month, October through March at Wesley United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall, 350 S. Barfield Drive. Calusa Garden Club welcomes visitors interested in membership. For more information, please visit CGC’s website: www.calusa.org.