Safety Harbor Garden Club
General Meeting Minutes
April 20, 2020
After “meet and greet” and refreshments, the General meeting began at 10:00.
Leslie Zambito began the meeting by welcoming everyone and introducing guests and new Members.
Our current event, the Rainbow Garden at Folly Farm was discussed. As part of a grant to the City of
Safety Harbor for improvements at Folly, the Garden Club given $2000 for plants to develop and
enhance the gardens. A new garden was designed, The Rainbow Garden, located within the planting of
the rainbow eucalyptus trees. After many hours of research by Nancy McClellan and Leslie Zambito, with
the help of Marquette McManus of Wilcox Nursery, over 200 native plants were delivered to Folly. With
cardboard recycled from the Folly Farmers “Great Cardboard camping adventure”, sheet mulching was
done to the area with the help of the city providing many loads of mulch. On March 30, 2022 the plants
were placed and planted. We had over 20 volunteers planting the area. Plants are thriving.
Upcoming projects are plantings at Maddie Williams and Mullet Creek. The plan is to increase Wildlife
Corridors and educate the public.
Leslie stressed the importance of ongoing watering, especially through this dry season, requesting
volunteers to help with watering on Wednesday and Fridays. Folly Farmers will water on Mondays. A
sign-up sheet is to be emailed to members.
Plant sales are doing well. Sales are held every 2 nd Saturday. Everyone is invited to attend
The next general meeting will be May 18 at the Safety Harbor City Park. This will be the installation of
officers. There will be a silent auction. Reminder to members to bring an item to use in the auction. T-
shirts will be issued to all members in good standing. This means members paid and participating in at
least one Garden Club activity. A new item will be introduced: hats and aprons, to be sold at a minimal
cost.
Membership is approximately 70 paid members. There was a reminder to check the website,
safetyharborgardenclubsafestyharborflorida.com to check your demographics are accurate, as well as
your t-shirt size
Improvements to our Website and Facebook sites were explained by Judith Zaccaria. There have been
many viewings and “likes” on Facebook.
Finances are good at about $6000.
Jennifer Rothe, Hospitality Chairperson, thanked everyone who signed up for refreshment. They will
need extra help for big picnic May 18 th . The green way to replace disposables for more sustainable
serving pieces for refreshment is going well. There was a reminder to bring your own beverage
container.
Plant of the month presentation was given by Lee Sisco. The plant was Coral Plant, Jatropha multifida.
Pictures, care and propagation were discussed.
Fieldtrips were discussed by Cheryl Warth, Speaker’s Bureau and Field Trip chairperson. Sunken Gardens
was discussed with a raise of hands of who was interested. A scavenger hunt will be included. This is
planned as a June field trip.

Safety Harbor Garden Club
General Meeting Minutes
April 20, 2020
A mini trip is to be scheduled to Life Farm, an organic CSA farm on Sunset Blvd. Also mentioned is a trip
to Boyd Hill Park for a guided wildflower walk in the Fall
Speakers: September: Pruning with Marquette McManus of Wilcox Nursery, then later in the month a
hands-on pruning class at Folly. October: Container gardens using native plants. November: Perennials
for Pollinators with Theresa Badurek, Urban Horticulturist for Pinellas Extension. December: Holiday
party.
Cheryl Warth introduced our speaker, Liza Ryan. Liza is a Master Gardener, with a Bachelors in Biology
and Masters in Epidemiology. The topic today is Wildlife Corridors. She stressed the importance of
wildlife corridors to protect wildlife. Some animals like black bear and panthers travel many hundreds
of miles in their territory. They need safe space. Water and storm water protection discussed. She
discussed Doug Tallamy’s Books: Bringing Nature Home: How You Can Sustain Wildlife with Native
Plants and Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation Thant Starts in Your Yard. The talk
was well received with enthusiasm.
The meeting closed with the Plant Swap, chaired by Carol Zieres and Lee Sisco. Everyone is encouraged
to bring a labeled, non-invasive plant for the monthly Plant Swap.