• To educate our members in horticulture, floral design, and environmental protection.
• To establish and maintain botanical gardens in the City of Marco Island.
• To educate the community, newcomers and residents to the unique sub-tropical growing conditions of Marco Island.
• To increase knowledge of the enviroment and how to protect it.
• To work for the beautification of Marco Island.
• To further horticultural education and conservation in local schools.
• To provide all members with basic knowledge and skills in floral design and horticulture.
• To stimulate members’ interests and participation in the educational efforts of the club and its fellowship activities.
• To support and further the objectives of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs through District IX.

Welcome to Calusa.org, the website of the Calusa Garden Club of Marco Island.  Please visit this website
to learn more about our garden club, read our blog, see our photos, and keep track of our activities
through the Event Calendar or Event List.

Summer of 2023 brings hot weather, a few thunderstorms, and a good time to plant in our garden beds
or replenish plants that were damaged by Hurricane Ian but not replaced during our dry winter season.
Now is the time to refresh!

I hope our members take time to relax and refresh themselves this summer!  Then you can come to our
fall meeting ready for a year of positive and enjoyable events and activities with your fellow members.
All members should feel free to contact me with your ideas, suggestions, and observations to help make
our 2023-2024 garden club year a big success!

Our officers and committee chairmen are spending these few summer months planning our activities for
2023-2024 garden club year. We look forward to our fall Calusa Garden Club meetings beginning
Monday, October 9, 2023 at 10:30 at Rose Hall of the Marco Island Library.

Between now and then, we are planning our full calendar of activities including speakers for meetings,
gadabout trips, horticulture workshops, floral design workshops, and environmental activities in
addition to planning our workdays to care for Marco Island memorial markers, our Calusa Park Butterfly
Garden, and our Leigh Plummer Park shade garden.  Our gardening-related fundraising activities will also
be part of our program year for 2023-2025.  Plans are underway to expand our activities through a new
online CGC Marketplace and Calusa Garden Club Consulting. Both endeavors will infuse the Marco
Island community with gardening merchandise and personalized gardening and landscaping advice.

Kind regards and happy gardening,
Kimberly Korb Porter
President
Calusa Garden Club of Marco Island

Our Calusa Garden Club derives its name from the Calusa Indians who lived in Key Marco and other parts of southwest Florida. Archaeological finds indicate that the Calusas populated this area for over 5000 years.

The Calusas were tall, statuesque people, both brave and skillful. Key Marco provided them a rich harvest from the sea and the land. Freedom from the pressures of searching for food gave them the opportunity to experiment with new technologies, ceremonialism and artistic expression.

The forest provided game and fowl for food, and woods for building and carving materials such as utensils, canoes and religious items. Palms and vines provided fiber for ropes and nets as well as being made into breechcloths for the men.  Women wore apron-like garments of Spanish moss.

The sea offered a constant harvest of fish and a shimmering highway to distant places. Shell mounds and earthworks were used in ceremonial and religious rites.

An archaeological expedition to Key Marco in 1895-6 was sponsored by Dr. William Pepper of the University of Pennsylvania and Mrs. Phoebe Hearst. It is famous for its significant and exotic discoveries.

Excavated from the preservative coastal muck at the north end of the island were such finely crafted artifacts as fishing nets, shafted tools, painted wooden masks, tablets, amulets and carved wooden bowls and figurines, the most famous being the Key Marco Cat.

Today, the proud Calusa no longer exist. In the 17th and 18th centuries they died in great numbers from disease and in battle with the Spaniards, and later with the English and other Indian peoples. It is thought some survivors might have migrated to Cuba.

Blue Zones Project is a community-wide well-being improvement initiative to help make healthy choices easier for everyone in Southwest Florida and right here on Marco Island.  The Calusa Garden Club is a participating member organiaztion for the Blue Zones Project.

The Blue Zones Project encourages changes to our community that lead to healthier options that contribute to huge benefits for all of us: lowered healthcare costs, improved productivity, and ultimately, a higher quality of life.

Link Below to the Blue Zones Personal Pledge and to SW Florida’s Blue Zones Website.