President's Letter
Sarah Dimling
Dear Friends,
I hope you all had a fun and relaxing summer! While it's officially fall, it feels more like summer right now than much of our actual summer.
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President's Letter September 2017
Sarah Dimling
Dear Friends,
I hope you are enjoying the last weeks of summer and your gardens are cooperating nicely! It’s been a lovely “Goldilocks” summer, not too hot and not too cold. I’m not nearly ready to gear up for cooler temperatures and I think most of us will agree it’s far more satisfying to dig in our gardens than to shovel snow.
Read MorePresident's Letter Summer 2017
Sarah Dimling
Dear Friends,
It’s hard to believe we are mid-way though summer and our Shaker Lakes Garden Club calendar year 2017 – 2018 has begun. We concluded the year with two lovely and well-attended events. Many thanks to Margaret Ransohoff for hosting the Annual Meeting luncheon and Judy Eakin for hosting the Provisional Tea.
Read MorePresident's Letter June 2017
Sarah Dimling
As I write, our beloved Cavs are midway through the 2017 NBA Eastern Conference finals. The prospect of a sequential NBA championship title has Clevelanders rallying together for this unprecedented and exhilarating potential victory.
Read MorePresident's Letter May 2017
Sarah Dimling
Dear Friends,
Hopefully our extreme changes in weather settles into a more predictable pattern as we head into the home stretch toward great gardening weather.
Read MorePresident's Letter April 2017
Sarah Dimling
Dear Friends,
Happy Spring Equinox 2017! This is the time of year I like to check my flower beds for signs of life, and it never fails to thrill me to see the first signs of green emerging from the soil. I was so pleased to welcome the green shoots until Mother Nature decided to treat us with her recent late winter blast. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that my favorite whimsical Allium schubertii survived the freeze.
Our February program featuring Patrick Blanc, leading expert on vertical gardens (INSERT LINK) was a huge hit. Approximately 300 people attended Patrick’s educational and fascinating presentation at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Please be sure to RSVP for our upcoming April 25th Member Meeting (INSERT LINK) featuring horticulturist and plant expert Penny Orr at the Chagrin Falls Township Hall.
Read MorePresident's Letter February 2017
Sarah Dimling
Dear Friends,
Our persistent atypical Cleveland weather theme is becoming increasingly apparent. Mother Nature seems to throw curve balls every time I sit down to write the monthly President’s Letter. We are expecting highs today near 60 degrees...a whopping 30 degrees above average. It looks like my boxwood may survive this winter after all.
Read MorePresident's Letter September 2016
Sarah Dimling
Dear Friends,
It’s hard to believe summer is coming to an end! With the temperature consistently hovering in the 90 degree range, teamed up with high humidity for the majority of the summer, perhaps the upcoming early days of fall will be a welcome respite. As I reflect on the past several months, I’m reminded that both the city of Cleveland and Shaker Lakes Garden Club have both been on a roll and still gathering steam. My attempt to draw parallels between our city and our club is twofold. First, to highlight major accomplishments AND secondly to help members navigate our beautifully re-designed website.
Read MorePresident's Letter Summer 2016
Sarah Dimling
Dear Friends,
Greetings from the eastern tip of the Upper Peninsula! What a perfect place to escape the hustle and bustle of every day life and bask in the beauty of pristine blue waters…which brings to mind “Sky Blossoms,” recently installed just in time for the Republican National Convention. Sky Blossoms celebrates the 100th anniversary of Shaker Lakes Garden Club and serves as a major landmark and public space in downtown Cleveland. We should be extremely proud of our generous gift of $100,000 which made this public art installation possible.
Read MorePresident's Letter June 2016
Robin Schachat
Dear Friends,
I am finding this very hard to swallow: I am writing my final President’s Letter to you all. It seems I had just begun, and now it is time to step aside. This summer you will hear from Sarah Dimling, and I wish her twice the joy that I have had in this job – and I have had a blast! Best of happiness to Sarah, from us all!
As you have I am sure heard, the June newsletter will be the final Newsletter which you receive in print format; the old, sea-green printing paper is gone for good, as is the Microsoft Publisher formula. In converting our Newsletter format to Mailchimp electronic delivery, e save trees while saving thousands of dollars for the club. We will finally be green. If you are among the ladies who are not computer users, however, don’t worry!
Read MorePresident's Letter May 2016
Robin Schachat
Dear Friends,
I am writing to you on Arbor Day – I hope you all, like me, are planting or planning plantings today! And I hope you all read the op-ed column in Cleveland.com from Clem Hamilton, Director of the Holden Arboretum and CBG, about restoring the tree canopy in “the Forest City”. In case you didn’t know before, Cleveland is not “The Big Apple” or “The City of Angels” or even “The City of Brotherly Love”. Cleveland’s nickname is “The Forest City”, but in recent decades we have lost almost all of the forests in the city and near suburbs. Our tree canopy has shrunk drastically, and we all suffer as a result.
Read MorePresident's Letter April 2016
Robin Schachat
Dear Friends,
It is not yet April; the Magnolia soulangeana is already in bloom, and my daylilies are 7” tall. Have we really dodged winter so successfully? And what does it mean for this growing season, you may ask? Suzy Hartford has submitted an article this month that attempts to answer that question.
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