Submitted By: Sara Wolf
Calusa Garden Club of Marco Island – Publicity Chairperson
On Monday, October 18, Calusa Garden Club members met at Linda Schwoeppe’s home for an educational workshop on orchid cultivation. Schwoeppe, who is the Horticulture Chairman for the club, is a member of Gulf Coast Orchid Society and has grown hundreds of orchids and displays them at her home. Schwoeppe presented the principles of caring for orchids and discussed the aspects of orchid care that differ from orchid variety to orchid variety. Some of the items that Schwoeppe instructed the members about were requirements of the orchids for light, water, what planting medium works best, and how to mount orchids on trees or pieces of bark. Members who attended were Marianne Foley, Susan Neustadt, Dorrie Madonna, Joan Husband, Annette Kuhn, Claudia Bruni, Eva Kubinsky, Laura Furlong, Monna Hormel, Linda Ariel, and Jenn Ferrier.
Earlier that day on Monday, October 18, members gathered for a hands-on workshop in floral design.
Lindy Kowalczyk, who is Floral Design Chairman for the Club, presented a workshop on grouped mass designs, both traditional and creative. Kowalczyk is a prominent local artist as well as a Florida Federation of Garden Clubs flower show judge. She instructed the club members on how to create a pleasing and artistic floral design by grouping many single blooms of the same flower (a “grouped mass”), then adding another group of many single blooms of a different flower, and maybe a third or fourth group of single flower blooms massed together, and then putting the masses in one design and adding greenery to set off the blooms. The photos show club member Jenn Ferrier and club President Susan Neustadt with their creative grouped mass floral designs.
Calusa Garden Club’s three primary focus areas are gardening education, floral design instruction, and protecting the environment. Workshops on these three areas are presented monthly throughout the year to educate members about various aspects of these disciplines and goals.
Calusa Garden Club of Marco Island is a member of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs. Membership is open to persons interested in horticulture, floral design and environmental matters residing 5 months or more in Collier County.
Calusa Garden Club of Marco Island meets the second Monday of each month, October through April at Wesley United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. If you are interested in membership, please contact the Garden Club at calusagardenclub@yahoo.com. For updates and information, please visit the Garden Club’s website, calusa.org, or visit the Club’s Facebook page Calusa Garden Club.
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The pictures of single Calusa Garden Club members with their Floral Designs were taken by Lindy Kowalczyk. The group picture of Calusa Garden Club members at the orchid workshop was taken by remote camera by Laura Furlong.