Dear ECD members,

I have recently been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Myathenias Gravis.  This on top of severe arthritis in my hips and back have severely limited my mobility.

Taking all this into consideration I have decided to take a sabbatical from my duties as your district director.  I hope to return to garden club once medication, surgery and therapy are established.

Meanwhile, Mary Bellrose, your Assistant Director, will be filling in to handle the Director duties.  Thank you all for your help and support during this past year.  I hope to see you all at convention in April.

Happy holidays,

Connie Lohse,

ECD Director, FGCM, CR, NGC Inc.

EAST CENTRAL DISTRICT - FGCM

87TH Annual District Meeting & Awards Luncheon

“Plant, Preserve and Protect Our Environment”

Thursday, October 20, 2022

Algonquin Golf Club    340 N. Berry Rd. 63122

      9:00 am  -   Set up for Market Place & Registration opens

      9:30 am  –  10:30 am The Market Place opens

                 10:30 am  –  12:30 pm – Business Meeting, Awards and a message from our State President – Linda Houston

               12:30 pm  –  Luncheon

       1:30 pm  -   Program

            No Denim, Please!

                    The lunch menu includes:

           Chicken breast topped with Roma tomatoes, fresh mozzarella & basil.

            Served along asparagus, Boursin-herb risotto and aged balsamic.

             Rolls and Butter.

            Platters of Homemade Cookies, Brownies and Blondies.

              Coffee, ice tea, and water.

           The price for our meeting and luncheon event will be $40.00 each.

         Please send your reservation and payment no later than Friday, October 06, 2022.

           Checks payable to: East Central District

       Mail your checks to our treasurer...

            Karen Halla

         314 Tulip Dr.

            Webster Groves, MO 63119

            Name:                                                                     

          Garden Club:                                                          

             Amount Paid:                                                          

             Food Allergies:                                                       

     By popular request we will have the ‘Market Place’ this year. 

Your club can get one table for $35 or two tables for $50. 

Tables are to be reserved and paid for prior to the opening of the market place. 

Reserve your club’s Market Place table no later than October 13, 2022. 

Contact:  Linda Frey, lcfrey@hotmail.com or 314-540-1962. 

                 All the money your club collects for sales stay with your club. 

     Your only cost is the fee for the table(s). 

Please mail the monies to:  Linda Frey, 5801 Pebble Oak Dr., St. Louis, MO 63128

             We need this information to be sure we have enough tables for all our fun events.

Calling All Members

ECD Fall Board Meeting

September 13, 2022

Moolah Shrine Center

12545 Fee Fee Rd

St. Louis, MO 63146

9:30 am Executive Board Meeting

10:30 am General Board Meeting

Light Refreshments will be Served

District Chairmen, please contact me as soon as possible if you plan to speak at

the meeting. Please remember there is a 3-minute time limit on all reports. If you

have a written report to submit, please send it to me as soon as you can so I can

enter it on the agenda. The final business item of the meeting will be a short

question and answer period for Club Presidents, Club members, and Executive

Board members to ask questions and get answers from other club members and

experienced officers of clubs. Please ask any questions you feel you need to about

any club related topic. Simple to complex. We are there to help all members.

East Central District July Newsletter

July 9, 2022

3008 Marchbanks Pl

St. Louis, MO 63129

Dear ECD Board of Directors, Chairpersons, Club Presidents, and all Club Members,

I hope you had a happy and safe 4th of July. I spent the evening with thee of my grandchildren watching a neighborhood display that was spectacular for a small display. I want to share some dates and deadlines with you that will be coming up quickly.

August 15 Bird Sanctuaries and Blue Bird Trails applications are due to the ECD District Chairman, Joyce Lehman, 13011 Old Farms Dr. St. Louis, MO 63146

August 31 Bird Sanctuaries and Blue Bird Trails applications are due to the State Chairman.

September 13 East Central District Business meeting. NOTE THE DATE CHANGE

September 15 Butterfly/Hummingbird Applications due to ECD Chairperson, CarolAnn Smith, 912 N Woodsmill Rd., Chesterfield Mo 63017.

October 20 ECD Annual Luncheon and Awards Meeting

October 31 Butterfly/Hummingbird Applications due to State Chairman.

             Youth Contest applications due to District Chair, Connie Lohse, 3008 Marchbanks Place, St. Louis, Mo 63129.

October 31 District and State dues to District and FGCM Treasurer. Use addresses on the form.

                     Garden Forum Winter issue deadline.

Please note that all the due dates are listed in the back of the Summer Garden Forum. ECD names and addresses of ECD Chairpersons are listed in the bright yellow, 2021-2023 Roster and Bylaws. Then say” Thank You” to Jackie Reynolds for spending hours on the Roster and By-laws

So where are the application forms for Bird Sanctuary and Hummingbirds/ Blue Bird Trail applications? Follow these directions to find all the forms online.

1.     Go to FGCMO.ORG

2.     Go to drop down bar at the top of the opening page

3.     Go to District Clubs

4.     Go down the page to District Web Site links

5.     Press East Central

6.     Press drop down menu

7.     Go to Resources and links

8.     Go to FGCM General Forms and press

9.     You will find 13 links to forms. Just press the one you need and download it.

10.  Then say “Thank YOU” to Linda Fry our ECD Secretary for setting up this page with all the links you may need in one convenient place.

So how does one nominate a person to be a “Brightest Bloom”? It’s easy! Make a list of the names of the club members you would like to nominate. Write a short paragraph about why each of them is being nominated and send the information to Betty Connelly, 4701 Glen Wesley Ct., Columbia MO 65203, or email:  bettyconnellywi@yahoo.com. I would also add each person’s address, club affiliation, and Club Presidents name and address. Brightest Blooms are recognized at the State Convention which is in St. Louis this year.

All information about all awards, certificates, scholarships, grants, can be found in the Garden Forum, and in the FGCM Garden Club Manual.

For the Love of Gardening,

Connie Lohse, ECD Director,

CR, FGCMO, NGC.INC

314-471-9365

Ecddirector.clohse@aol.com

East Central District

June 4, 2022

3008 Marchbanks Place

St. Louis, MO 63129

Dear ECD Board Members, Chairpersons, Club Presidents, and all Club Members:

Welcome to June! I hope your gardens are bursting with beautiful new growth and lovely spring flowers. All the rain we have had this past month has given my garden a boost. Not only to the blooming perennials but to the blooming weeds! Yikes! I must admit that some of the weeds are wildflowers, and they are pretty spectacular in themselves.

This past month has been very busy with Garden Club Activities. I attended the FGCMO Convention in St. Joseph Missouri early in May. What a quaint interesting town. I learned all about the Pony Express on our tour and visited some lovely and interesting gardens. The hotel and convention center were very nice and lots of club members from throughout Missouri attended. Clubs in ECD earned awards, and honors that will be distributed at the Annual Awards Banquet in October.

Several ECD clubs held very successful plant sales during the month of May. Earning funds for each clubs’ special projects and funding their community organizations. ECD clubs are holding in-person meetings and going on some great field trips.

We would like to welcome some new members into our ECD Garden Club fold of members.  Welcome to:

         Elizabeth Puff          Garden Appreciation

         Barbara Woodson   Fenton Garden Club

         Claire Patterson and Carole Prince   Concord Garden Club

         Elizabeth Epps         Daffy-dils Group 23 WGWGA

         Mary Bellrose          St. Louis County Garden Club

         Jackie Shim              Forget Me Not Garden Club

Including the new members listed in May we have welcomed 15 new members into the ECD. I encourage all our clubs to seek out new members and welcome them with open arms into your clubs. New members bring new ideas, new friendship, interesting gardens, diverse personalities, and new life into our clubs. During the convention Missouri clubs were honored for significant anniversaries. Clubs were recognized for 25, 30,40 50 and 80 years. These clubs try to continually invite new members to keep their clubs vibrant and fun. The topic of “aging out” came up at the convention.  Clubs are finding ways to change the structure of meetings by adding daytime and evening meetings, shortening business meetings, going to interesting places, enjoying a meal together, car-pooling to events, doing crafts and projects, inviting speakers. Clubs are utilizing the strengths of their own members to be presenters, going on garden tours of club member gardens.

There are many ways to keep clubs from becoming stagnate. It costs nothing and builds friendship to honor a member at each meeting. Choose a Brightest Bloom and get that person some recognition. Put the spotlight on a club member. We all love recognition. Utilize the awards, citations, honors, and opportunities that the FGCMO offers.

In closing, check out the FGCMO-ECD site on the web. I have managed to locate all the Blue Star Memorials in the ECD area. There are pictures of a few of them on our site.

Remember treasurers need to send the new member forms to every name on the form so new members are afforded all the opportunities they get from being a member. The form will be attached.

For The Love of Gardening,

Connie Lohse, ECD Director, FGCMO, CR, NGC, INC.

Ecddirector.clohse@aol.com

314-471-9365

Memo from the Director of ECD

New Members

Hello Club Presidents, please respond accordingly to the information below. Thanks! Connie

• I mentioned in my most resent May newsletter that I am trying to send out Welcome cards to all new Club members in the East Central District. I listed the names of the new members and clubs of any new members that I have been made aware of in my most recent newsletter for May. I realized that club presidents and club treasurers may not know that there is a form that needs to be filled out for all new members that come into the clubs throughout the year.  The club treasurer should fill out the FGCM member additions, changes, and deletions form. Follow all the directions on the form and send the form and dues to all the people listed on the form. This form can be found on the FGCMO site under the heading of FORMS and here. (As an example of why this is important, Jackie Reynolds is the Circulation Manager for The Garden Forum.  Jackie uses the Rosters the Club Treasurers send into her in the fall as a database of all members that are to receive the Garden Forum. Part of members’ dues goes towards their subscription to The Garden Forum.)

• I am hopeful that all new members to our clubs receive all the benefits of being a club member in a timely

East Central District

 4/24/2022

3008 Marchbanks Place

St. Louis, Mo 63129

ECDDirector.clohse@aol.com                                                                                                                               

Dear Club Presidents and All Members of the ECD, 

 I am getting an early start on the May Newsletter because I will be in St. Joseph, MO enjoying the State Convention the first week in May. I hope to see many of you there. Please hunt me down while at the convention. I would love to spend some time chatting and getting to know you better. I am planning to take the tour of St. Joseph, Mo. I hope to see some ECD members on the tour.  As you know from receiving emails from Nan McCabe, State Membership Chair and past president, Nan is planning a celebration to honor clubs that have an anniversary this year or have had an anniversary in 21, and 2022. I wanted to congratulate the following ECD clubs that will be recognized.

·       Fenton Garden Club         2021 70th

·       Forsythia                         2020 80th

·       Garden Appreciation           2022 80th

·       Garden Guild                   2020 65th

·       Heather Heights              2020 50th

·       Mehlville Garden Club        2022 65th

·       Seven Pines Garden Club    2020   45th

·       St. Louis County Garden Club  2022   55th

·       Webster Groves #4         2021 85th

These anniversary milestones are remarkable and show just how important the Garden Clubs have been to their communities and how strong and vibrant they are today. Congratulations to all the clubs!

Speaking of Conventions and anniversaries, Kudos to Mary Officer, State Corresponding Secretary, ECD Convention Standing Chairman, for working so hard to secure dates for the State’s 90th Anniversary Convention to be held in St. Louis, MO in 2023! So, save the date for April 17 through 20th for 2023.

Some of you may remember the 2021 October Awards and Installations of Officers Banquet. I gave a short acceptance speech, and the theme was, “Just One”. During that speech I suggested if each of our 19 clubs in the ECD were to recruit just one new member that would be the equivalent of starting a brand-new club. Several of our clubs accepted the challenge and welcomed in the following new members.  Welcome to:

·       Kathy Sanders and Linn Smyth, Mehlville Garden Club

·       Nancy Helmer, Forsythia Garden Club

·       Elizabeth Puff and Anna Indelicato, Garden Appreciation

·       Jackie Shim, Forget Me Not

·       Diane Langeneckert and Carol Kirk, Oakcrest Garden Club

·       Taylor Feschbach and Barb Woodson, Fenton Garden Club

·       Donna McGauley, Oakville Garden Club

I am excited to welcome all of you into your respective clubs and the ECD, FGCMO, CR, and NGC, INC. (I was able to find new members names listed in the 2022-year books I received, and from the New Members Form that was sent to me by club presidents. Some were also listed on the rosters I received. If any clubs have welcomed in New Members that are not listed on this letter, please send me their names and addresses so I can send them a welcome card.)

For the Love of Gardening,

Connie Lohse,, ECD Director, FGCMO, CR, NGC,INC.

East Central District

April 1, 2022

3008 Marchbanks Place

St. Louis, Mo. 633129

Dear Garden Club Presidents and Garden Tour Committee Members,

I had the privilege this past Wednesday afternoon to meet with the South Zone Garden Club volunteers for the 2023 Garden Tour. The committee met to determine if having a 2022 ECD Garden Tour was feasible. After discussion and looking through the necessary preparation needed the committee decided it would be best to plan the tour during 2022 and hold the tour in June of 2023. The dates are to be determined.

The South Zone was selected as the tour vicinity because East Central District has not had the opportunity to hold a tour in the South Zone. Representatives from eight clubs volunteered to be on the steering committee. Thanks to MaryRose LaMear, Carol Kirk, Darleen Rapp, Dot Gormley, Debbie Singleton, Mary Bellrose, Karen Halla, and Linda Chapman. I will be representing the Oakville Garden Club.  The committee will be meeting again on Wednesday, May 11 at 1:30 PM. If you would like to join us, you are welcome to come. The place is to be determined. It will be necessary to have many more volunteers join us as the date draws closer. We are inviting all ECD clubs to volunteer and to attend the tour.

We are tentatively naming this tour “The Homegrown Garden Tour” because we would like to visit gardens during the summer of 2022, that are maintained, designed, and enjoyed by club members instead of commercially landscaped gardens. The team will be visiting possible gardens to determine if the garden meets the criteria for a tour. The committee is following the Garden Tour Guide from the NGC website if you would like to look at it. The tour will be held on a Saturday between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm.

The past few years different types of gardens have become popular for homeowners to build. It would be interesting to possibly include a vegetable garden, or a raised garden bed. Maybe someone has developed a container garden on a patio. Gardens may be any size, or shape. They may have water features, be all native, or be a habitat or bird sanctuary. Garden art or fixtures are interesting also.

Prior to the tour volunteers will be helping the homeowner prepare for the tour by doing necessary odd jobs. The homeowner will be able to visit with guests while volunteers take care of the business end of the tour. But first we need gardens! Please consider volunteering your garden as a stop on the tour. We need a minimum of seven gardens on the tour. If you would like to volunteer your garden, please tell your representative or your club president. Or call me and I can add your garden to the list of gardens we must visit. If your club needs more information or to ask questions, I would be happy to come to a meeting and answer questions personally. Just email me or call me with a day, date, and time.

If you have questions or suggestions, please contact your representative, or let me know what your ideas are. We are so excited to plan this tour and bring all our club members from all over the East Central District together to enjoy a day of touring.

For The Love of Gardening,

Connie Lohse,

East Central District Director, FGCMO, CR, NGC

conniejlohse@aol.com

314-471-9365

Proclamation

East Central District

Gloria Whyte

Whereas      Volunteer service is an integral part of the ideals of the Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri and the East Central District.

Whereas      Gloria Whyte is a Lifetime Member of the Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri.

Whereas      Gloria Whyte is listed in the Book of Honor.

Whereas      Gloria Whyte has been a loyal member of the Farm Trails Garden Club for more than 20 years.

Whereas      Gloria Whyte has served as East Central District as Director for two years, 2019-2021.

Whereas      Gloria Whyte has served as the State Environmental Study School co-chair for National Garden Club.

Whereas      Gloria Whyte is currently serving as the State Recording Secretary of the Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri.

Now, Therefore,     I Constance J. Lohse, in appreciation of Gloria Whyte’s devotion to the East Central District of the Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri proclaim March 28, 2022, as Gloria Whyte Day.

Constance  J. Lohse

East Central District

Director, FGCMO, CR, NGC

March 3, 2022

3008 Marchbanks Place

St. Louis, Mo 63129

Dear Club Presidents, Members, Executive committee, Chairmen,

March has arrived and what beautiful weather we are enjoying. Some of us have been able to get outside and start cleaning up our garden beds and lawns. I have to say I am the happiest when I am working outside.

March 1 many club members, club presidents, chairmen, and the Executive Board met at the Moolah Shrine Center to hold our Welcome Aboard Meeting There were about 40 garden club members in attendance. We had a lovely table of light snacks and drinks all provided by our ECD Hospitality committee. All club presidents and chairmen and Executive Board received the new 2022 Roster. Thanks to Jackie Reynolds who put in many hours typing, printing, and assembling the rosters. Linda Frey, Recording Secretary will be sending out minutes of the meeting with links to the reports given by the chairmen and all other business information.

The program was presented by the Elected Board. The program consisted of an introduction to the FGCMO Garden Club Manual, The Garden Forum, A Printed Handbook for Presidents was given to each club. Linda Frey is not only the Recording Secretary, Linda has also volunteered to be the ECD assistant Web Master. Both Linda Frey and I have been mentored by Lauren Beck and Chuck Clark in the editing of the ECD website. We are in a constant state of improving and adding information to the site. If you go to the Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri site, click on clubs, then click on ECD you will be led to the ECD site. There is information about clubs, chairmen, letters from the Director, calendars, photos, and links to all forms and important information you will need to be aware of. Linda also spoke about other sites and opportunities for club members to explore.

Table talk, unfortunately, was cut short because we simply ran out of time. The questions we were able to discuss was about club programs, how they are chosen, and how are club members involved. Where club meeting are held and time and length of the meetings. All club members were intermingled to encourage socializing with other clubs and learning from each other.

It was wonderful to be back together and see our club members enjoying each other’s company.

I have been calling all club presidents in the South Zone to discuss the possibility of holding a South Zone Garden Tour in June of 2022. I have spoken to nearly everyone and left messages for others to return my call. I would like to have one member from each South Zone club to be a member of a committee to discuss the possibility of hosting a South Zone Tour. ECD has not been able to have a garden tour since 2015. If we decide to have a tour it will need to be in 2022 as the ECD is hosting the 90th Annual State Convention in 2023. A Flower Show will be part of the convention agenda. All our volunteer efforts will need to be focused on the convention next year. I would like to meet with the South Zone Garden Tour committee soon. If your club has a volunteer, please email me the name and contact information even if you already have done so. We need a minimum of ten volunteers.

I have been asked to poll our ECD clubs to find out if any clubs will be celebrating an anniversary this year. I am using the dates of federation in the current roster to determine anniversary dates. The past two state conventions were cancelled due to the pandemic. So, clubs being recognized will include those that have celebrated an anniversary since 2020. Please email me your clubs name and anniversary.

The State Convention this year will be held in St. Joseph, Missouri. You may have seen a recent article in the paper highlighting St. Joseph Missouri and the historical sights it has to offer. The tours being offered during the convention include all those sights and more! This is our first in person convention since 2020. We are looking forward to seeing many of you there. Clubs planning to send delegates for voting should send in their delegate form as soon as possible. All forms can be found on the FGCMO.org site.

I believe this is all the information I have for you today. I hope you enjoy this spring weather!

For The Love of Gardening

Connie Lohse, ECD Director

Ecddirector.clohse@aol.com

314-471-9365

NGC, CR, FGCMO, EC

2/5/22

3008 Marchbanks Place

St. Louis, Mo 63129

Dear ECD Members,

I apologize for sending a second amended newsletter to you. There were some errors and some confusing formatting. So, this is my second attempt at a newsletter.

I am so sorry our February 1 Welcome Aboard Meeting had to be rescheduled. As you may know, the Welcome Aboard Meeting has been rescheduled for March 1, 2022, unless there is another upsurge in the pandemic and in that case, we will have a zoom meeting. I will let you know in time to make plans.

Regarding the pandemic and all the upheaval, it brings to planning in person events. I believe we may be entering a “new normal”. I also believe living through a pandemic has taught us how to navigate through difficult times. I feel it is important to plan functions, club meetings, and special events with the hopes of having them held face to face. However, I also believe it is crucial to be diligent and maintain a safe environment for everyone’s sake. Which makes it necessary for each member of the ECD to make some decisions regarding their own health and safety. If a function is planned to be held in person everyone must decide for themselves what protocols for safety, they will follow. If you don’t feel safe than please do not feel obligated to attend. If the state, county, and federal guidelines recommend that we are to be masked then we will ask everyone attending to be masked. We will do our best to provide social distancing during the event. If the pandemic seems to be reaching unsafe levels, I will provide a zoom option. Please make decisions based on your personal wellbeing.

The President’s Reports were due to me on February 1 as well as Yearbooks. The Yearbook Awards committee is planning to meet next week to look over the year books we have received. I never realized what a daunting task it is to choose one best yearbook. It has been a privilege for me to read your books and see what important goals each club has chosen. The club meetings are looking to be great fun as well as learning experiences. Congratulations to every club for its efforts to continue meeting, learning, and giving in so many ways.

The deadline for applications to attend the Environmental Studies School is February 25, 2022. Look in your Winter Garden Forum for an explanation of the school, and an application. I will be taking my second course on AIR this March. I can’t wait. I had no idea how interesting and important this course is. It is entirely provided on a zoom platform. I am very excited to be attending.

Besides looking at your Garden Forum for information you should try going to the FGCMO.ORG site. Look for clubs on the dropdown menu. Look at the ECD revamped page. Thanks to Lauren Beck our webmaster and Chuck Clark our past webmaster, Linda Frey, ECD Recording Secretary, and I have been mentored on how to edit the site. Linda has offered to be our very own assistant ECD webmaster for this page. If you have pictures, information, news, or suggestions please send them to Linda Frey at lcfrey@hotmail.com.

Our ECD chairmen are listed on the newly revamped site. You will notice that there are several chairmanships that are OPEN and have my name next to them. I cannot chair these committees and also be an effective director to you. Please look at the open chairmanships and consider helping with one. JUST ONE! That is all we are asking. There are so many of us in the ECD it should be easy to fill the chairmanships and not have the same people chairing multiple times.

The following Chairmanships are open:

Citations     Review the citation applications and send to the Citations State Chairman for approval.

ECD Flower Show     Stimulate interest in Standard and Small Standard Flower Shows. Send all completed evaluation forms to the State Chairman. Provide advice or direct clubs to the appropriate source for guidance.

ECD Garden Tour      Encourage Garden tours, provide leadership, chair meetings and send appropriate evaluation forms to the State Chairman.

Horticulture     Provide a report about horticulture of your choice to the membership at the two required ECD meetings held each year.

Hospitality      Assume responsibility for the decorations and favors at required ECD meetings and assist the Convention Hospitality chairperson.

Properties     Store properties for flower shows and keep a running record of where properties are and who has borrowed the property.

Protocol      Be responsible for courtesies and proper order of procedure for seating arrangements, receiving lines, installations, and guests of honor. Provide support for hospitality chairs for the convention.

Ways and Means      Have merchandise available to club members during the three required meetings held each year that will go towards financial support for the ECD. Work with the State ways and means chairman to provide Garden Club Manuals and other items from the FGCMO and NGC. Keep financial records and submit those revenues and records to the treasurer.

Youth Contests      Provide information regarding youth contests, scholarships, deadlines and send completed applications in a timely manner to the State Chairman.

Club Presidents please be aware of the February Membership Monday zoom meeting being hosted by the NGC. I have attended the past two meetings and have learned some great tips and taken suggestions for improvement for our clubs. You must register. It is February 14 at 1:00 CST. Several invitations have been sent to presidents regarding this opportunity. (Btw, THERE ARE PRIZES!)

I apologize for the length of this letter. Please call or email me with any suggestions or concerns, bright ideas, or to just talk.

For The Love of Gardening,

Connie Lohse

ECD Director, FGCMO, CR, NGC, INC.

Ecddirector.connielohse@aol.com

314-471-9365