River Falls Garden Club Minutes
October 6, 2003

President Anne K called the meeting to order.

There were no corrections or additions to the minutes. The minutes will stand as printed in the newsletter.

Treasurer's Report
Mae reported the Club with has a net worth of $7589.05, with $3901.01 in the Heritage Park CD, and $3679.04 in checking, savings, petty cash and stamps.

Since June, the club received income of $95, including $82 in interest earned and $13 in guest fees.

Expenses were $3019, with $2884 in plant sale splits (primarily UWRF).  The remaining expenses of $135 were speaker fees ($85), June/September newsletter production ($15), plant sale postage ($31) and a $4 Floralife donation to the library.

Mae passed out a summary of the 2003 budget. Some of the funds are still unspent. The members need to start thinking about what to spend the money on next year. Should we do new things that benefit the community or do some of the same things as in the past? If any one has ideas on how to spend the club funds, email, call or bring suggestions to Mae at the next meeting.

A suggestion was made that at the next plant sale, the club should have a big sign that shows how the sale benefits the community.

Old Business
Plant Sale plants
The club needs volunteers to compile a list of plants that were popular and those that we returned to UWRF at the next sale to help determine which plants are better sellers.

Margaret S had suggestions for plant sale plants, many Proven Winners (which can be viewed at www.provenwinners.com). Proven Winner plants from the spring collection include:
Infinity varieties of New Guinea Impatients, Laguna Sky Blue Lobelli, Million Bells varieties of PinkCalibrachoa hybrid, Fireworks Collection of Pelargonium zonal, Superbell and Supertunia Mini varieties of Calibrachoa, Supertunia varieties of Petunia hybrid, and Temari varieties of Verbena hybrid. Other suggestions from Margaret include: Heaven Scent Nicotiana, Verbena Bonariensis, Matthiola Bicornis, Heliotropa, Baby's Breath (Red Cloud, Pink Fairy), Zebrina Mulva, Nigella Loveina Mist, Larkspur, Cosmos, and Star White Little Zinnia.

(After the meeting, Kim K showed the club examples of the Proven Winners' web site.)

A member noted that although UWRF has asked for suggestions, they might not grow what we suggest.

It was noted that the millet and other grasses were very popular at the sale. A suggestion was made that the annuals should have more variety of color.

Any members (and all the officers) who want to compile a list of plant suggestions for UWRF should arrive at 6:30 before the next meeting.

Kim K will email Dr. Terry Ferris to let her know that the club will have a list of suggestion in early November and can then email the list to Dr. Ferris once it is complete.

Coordinating Speakers
Since Margaret will no longer be organizing the speakers, we need to have volunteers to do this task. Also the club needs to suggest topics. Anne K passed around a notepad for people to jot down ideas for topics. Since we can always count on Dr. Ferris, Dr. Smith and Diana Alfuth as speakers, that really only leaves about six or seven other speakers per year. Susan R volunteered to give a talk on composting, which was enthusiastically received by the members.

As there was no other new or old business, a motion was made to end the meeting, motion accepted. End of meeting.