For many years our club has decorated a tree for the Cleveland Botanical Garden’s holiday show, GLOW. This year, Affiliate Clubs chose between trees, dining tables, and doors. Our HGC Glow Girls chose to adorn a door. The Cleveland Botanical Garden event opened on November 21 and runs through January 3. Make a date to view our club’s creation and all the other wonderful decor on display. See cbgarden.org for more info about timed tickets and other details about the event.
The botanical garden wanted the designs to focus on the world of plants – greens, flowers, fruit, herbs, etc – that are a part of our Holiday traditions. Our club created a beautiful door design for the event, and it incorporated new ideas, reused items, borrowed pieces, the efforts of the Glow Girls, and member donations. Our design name is “YOU’RE BOTANICALLY WELCOMED!” We also included a sign that says “Be Welcomed Through a Hudson Door at the HUDSON HOME & GARDEN TOUR” as a reminder that the Tour will be back!
So how did the Glow Girls make it happen this year?
Mary Gallo wrapped a topiary star frame with fluffy white yarn and white and silver thread to provide the base for an unusual door “wreath”. Patty LaFontaine sprayed an assortment of pinecones and stiff ostrich fern fronds with a copper metallic paint to make them shine and stand out. Barb Earnhardt glycerined eucalyptus and spray painted and glittered Allium and Agapanthus seed heads and harvested milkweed pods then tied them shut with fishing line. Kathy Foley removed dead lights strings from the garland to be used, helped tie on the new lighting, and braided and wrapped the honeysuckle vine around the greens. Betty Kalish donated a critical need – how much harder it would’ve been without those cable ties! Kristina Dahlhausen and Luann Freedman fashioned beaded snowflakes to add a finishing, sparkling touch to our design. NancyRenner, Lois James, and Nancy Kolodgy were at the ready to help with any last minute crafting or artistic needs. JanLindstrom and Jane Thornton assisted Barb and hauled, loaded and unloaded tools, ladders, materials, and were the helping hands always needed the day-of and onsite.
Other Club members helped us too with important donations. Jen Baughman gave us many materials – garland, birch branches, ornaments, pinecones – that became part of our design. April and Charlie Walton donated Sahara dry foam and Oasis floral foam that were used in our mechanics (support structures). Jane Harrison donated curly willow and she and Grace Blower dried Hydrangea used in the design. Alice Caniglia donated Moneyplant seed heads. Friend of HGC Lis Hugh loaned her urn planters which were the right color and size to go with the scene.
About the materials; isn’t it wonderful to reuse, repurpose, share, make something new out of something old? The garland was someone else’s, once. Pinecones were used in the past too. The curly Willow, Money plant, Hydrangea and dried milkweed pods were saved from the Club’s Inspiration in Bloom design at Stan Hywet Hall this year. Eucalyptus and fern fronds destined for the compost pile got another life. The giant silvered dried Allium schubertii have been around many times, including being part of the decor in a past Garden Gathering! The pretty snowflakes will become a memory of this year’s event and are sure to be treasured.
Once again, we made a lovely contribution from our Club to our larger community to add beauty and joy to the upcoming Christmas holiday!
