The Lake Forest Garden Club met on the first Thursday of the month in the Lake Forest Country Club. After our cold snap, we were experiencing an Indian Summer and we were all in a festive mood and getting in the holiday spirit. The room looked great adorned with autumn leaves, baskets and the winter plants to put in the winners yards. The hostesses were B-Jay Goldi, Patty Kearney, Patricia Popp, Sharon Gintner and Marilyn Tomb. They did a wonderful job with the table arrangements and the big variety of delicious food for all to enjoy on our break.

Rebecca Trosclair introduced our speaker, Celeste Hinds a Master Gardener and Birder. She was speaking to us about birds and bushes in Baldwin County. Celeste is a wonderful and very experienced speaker and can speak on many subjects. She cannot cover it all in a short period and we would always welcome this funny and informative lady back to talk to us. We found out so much about the birds that visit the coast in migration as well as those that live here year round and much about their habits. Especially interesting was the information on hummingbirds and the fun stories of her experiences. At the end of her talk, Celeste gave out a list of favorite bushes to attract birds compiled by four Master Gardner’s. We thank Elaine Maxime for bringing us such a great speaker.

Ashley Furniture Store at Eastern Shore Centre asked our club to help sell raffle tickets for them with our club keeping all of the money brought in. The ladies who sat in front of the store on two Saturday mornings were Judy Baust, Anne Talton, Lura Kauffman, Dana Sawyer, Ann Pierce, Connie Haines and Martha Thomas. Some of the other ladies who sold tickets on their own were Wanda Jost, Dottie Zimmer, Linda Locklin and Elaine Maxime. Our heartfelt thanks to these ladies, their time consuming hard work and dedication to the Garden Club.

The Garden Club ladies have been busy with the semi-annual plant sale. We do all we can to help the Daphne High School Agriscience students with this sale. This is a big effort on our part that lasts two Saturdays and is done in the spring as well as the fall. The plant sale was a huge event that started in 1993 when there was no Home Depot or Lowe’s to provide plants to the residents in this area. Now that we have so much competition, we are thankful to all who still come to the DHS sale and support the students. It is so important to keep this sale going for years to come so that the students can learn and the department can grow. The founder and head of the effort to help the students was Kay Lahti who started this marriage of students and garden club ladies. We are sad to say that Kay passed away this summer and she is sorely missed. The students and Mr. Lance Harbison are planning a garden in her name visible between two of the school campus buildings. The garden club donated a huge fern and the students will build a planter for it to go into.

December 4 is our next meeting and is will be a fun day as not only do we have our Christmas Luncheon but Chef Andre Selz, C.C.C., C.E.C. from Café Malbis will be our speaker and maybe he will cook or demonstrate things for us to cook. Tasty treats! Plus our hostesses will bring desserts. Don’t eat for a few days before attending.

As you can see, we are a busy group that loves to have a good time. We hope you will check us out. Anyone living in Lake Forest is welcome to come and join us. Any of our members can bring guests so come look us over. The first Thursday of each month at 10 a.m. If you have any questions, call our president Connie Haines, 626-6979.