To the LVGC NOMA Flower Team

CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR FABULOUS ARRANGEMENTS!

Special thanks to Renee Lehon for designing the arrangements and ordering the flowers!

Our arrangement even made the newspaper! See top left of picture in 5-24-11 Times -Picayune METRO section, p. 2, of article on the opening of the new NOMA exhibit of Madeleine Albright's pins.

Alice Lowry

More great photos from installation luncheon

News from Kelly & Jolanta

Ladies,

Thanks to all who were able to attend the installation luncheon held Friday, May 6th at Ralph's on the Park. It was a perfect setting with wonderful weather and delicious food. Thanks so much to Joni for organizing this lovely event.

Our newly installed board for the 2011-2012 year is as follows:

Kelly Alfortish & Jolanta Tipler - Co-Presidents;

Beth Juge - 1st Vice President;

Yvonne McCulla - 2nd Vice President;

Susan McArdle - Treasurer;

Laurie Bernard - Corresponding Secretary;

Jennifer Warden - Recording Secretary;

Therese Kessels - Parliamentaria;

Joni Diaz - Ex-Officio
Please be sure to have all new memberships/renewals into Yvonne McCulla (66 Flamingo St.) by June 30th to be included in the directory.

Looking forward to a great year,

Kelly and Jolanta

More Mudbug Photos!!

Lake Vista Garden Club's Mudbugs in the Garden

We had a wonderful time at the Lake Vista Garden Club's Mudbugs in the Garden crawfish boil. The weather could not have been more ideal, and the crawfish from Cajun Seafood were perfectly spiced. Garden Club members young and old enjoyed the generosity of the McCullas and the beauty of Floral Park. This event could not have been possible without the hard work of Committee Chair Ginger Lacour and her team: Amy Smith, Lorri Murray, and Mary Costelloe. Hopefully this will become an annual spring tradition.

April Meeting Photos and Notes

Thanks to everyone who attended yesterday's meeting at Yvonne McCulla's absolutely gorgeous home. Along with Yvonne, Head Hostess Lynn Long and her hard-working team comprised of Anne McSweeney, Cindy Moll, JoAnn Stevens, Marian Blanchard, and Ann Christenberry all did a wonderful job to provide our members with a first class luncheon. Attached are Susan Bennett's photos (thank you, Susan!) The committee photo includes (from left to right): myself, Anne McSweeney, Lynn Long, Cindy Moll, JoAnn Stevens, Yvonne McCulla, Marian Blanchard, Ann Christenberry.

Thanks to Karen Smith's informative report, our group learned interesting facts about the numerous crows in our neighborhood. Michele Bravo's Horticultural report always inspires us to get out in the garden! Our speaker Kenny Rabalais from the Plant Gallery delighted everyone with his beautiful plants and amusing stories.

Lastly, and most importantly, we accomplished the nominations and confirmations of our incoming officers for next year. Our new officers are:

Co-Presidents Jolanta Tipler and Kelly Alfortish
1st Vice President (programs) Beth Juge
2nd Vice President (membership) Yvonne McCulla
Treasurer Susan McArdle
Recording Secretary Jennifer Warden
Corresponding Secretary Laurie Bernard
Parliamentarian Therese Kessels

I know that we'll have a great new year ahead with our wonderful new Board! Please send in your $30 dues to Yvonne McCulla as soon as possible to avoid the summertime payment crunch. Also, if you are planning to attend the Ralph's on the Park ($38) luncheon on May 6th, you can make out one check for $68 payable to LVGC.

I've enjoyed my 2 year term as President. I especially want to thank the Board Members, Committee Heads, Hostesses and all those who helped make the past two years memorable. I've enjoyed getting to know so many of you on a more personal level. Lake Vista is such a beautiful and special neighborhood, and I'm happy to have all of you as my friends.


See you in the parks and lanes,

Joni

Lake Vista Garden Club at Art In Bloom

LVGC received an Honorable Mention at last week's Art In Bloom competition. Our committee had a great time working on the arrangement as we interpreted Albert Gleize's painting On A Sailboat. If you are not familiar with the painting, it is the cubist style painting with colors of blue, cream, tan, and black. Many thanks to the team: Joel Myers, Renee Lehon, Patti Garcia, Elaine Mintz and Lisa Lachin.

The following beautiful photographs of our arrangement as well as other interesting pieces were taken by Joel Myers at the museum last week. As Joel pointed out, the pictures make more sense after reading the judges' opinions. If you've never been to NOMA for Art In Bloom, you should definitely try to attend next year. This event is spectacular and should not be missed!

Secret Garden Award - March

March Garden of the Month Awards

The March Garden of the Month was awarded to Donna and Matt Colosino. Theirs is a new house and young garden at 1 Lark. They were thrilled as they have been working so hard on creating their interesting garden.

Le Petit Jardin is at 22 Tern and belongs to Lois and Brup Bacher. Ms Bacher was delighted
but did say that it is her daughter Leslie Kramer who keeps up the garden!

Vonni Contreary, a Garden of the Month committee member, came up with the great idea for a new occasional garden award for a "Secret Garden." This came about due to the fact that the GOM committee wishes to recognize some of the incredibly beautiful gardens that are basically inaccessible because they are behind hidden gates or fences, often because of having a pool, but nonetheless more than worthy of recognition.

Our first Secret Garden has been awarded to Alice Lowry at 22 Tern. The moment the committee opened the huge white gate on Tern they knew the Garden Club must somehow create an award for this incredibly beautiful but at the same time very secret garden. Congratulations, Alice!