Magic in May!

Posted on May 22, 2025May 22, 2025 by audrey

We had a great Plant Swap May meeting at Judy Cobb’s “The Old Place” yesterday in Coosa County! We can’t thank you enough for opening up your home and beautiful yards and lake to all of us Again this year! You and your husband go to great lengths to accommodate us and see that we all have a good time! Some came early and fished, and afterwards some tried their hand at Hatchet 🪓 Throwing, myself included, which I had never done and was terrible at🤣🤣. Beverly Williamson was my teacher and she was very good! We also had some visitors this year; ACES retirees Gay West and Elaine Densmore, ACES Chilton County’s Lucy Ellington and Jason Turner; spouses Lamar Giles, Anthony Baker, and Ellie Nichols, Shelby County members Elizabeth York and Susan Arvin, Lanell Baker’s son, David, and a couple of member’s friends/family members that I didn’t get their names, sorry 😢. Lots of pretty flowers were there for the picking and the Stealing! Again, thank you Judy and Mr. Cobb for all your hospitality❗️

March Tour-Wright’s Nursery

Posted on March 14, 2025March 14, 2025 by audrey

Several of the CCMGA members made a trip on February 7th to tour Wright’s Nursery in Plantersville, AL. They are a family-owned and family-operated wholesale business that grows annual spring and fall bedding plants, herbs, perennials and vegetable plants. They sell to independent retail garden centers in and around central and north Alabama. Their plants can be identified by the ‘Alabama Grown’ logo (that they have trademarked)on most of their tags.
The process of growing and getting bedding plants ready for the market is much more complicated than we know, but technology has made it much more efficient and profitable.
We saw all the trays and all the machinery involved in growing plants from seeds and cuttings from their own plants. Wright’s uses non-GMO seeds and many are organic certified. Their plants are grown using mostly OMRI, organic certified, listed materials while a few are non-organic.
We saw rows and rows of very uniform plants in the many greenhouses we toured. It was one of the most fascinating tours we’ve been on! Many thanks to our “Honorary Members” David and Martha Wright! After the tour we all went to Valley Grande in Maplesville for a great lunch!
Photos by Audrey Giles and Hugh Nichols

Fabulous February❗️

Posted on March 9, 2025March 9, 2025 by audrey

The February monthly meeting is always our Awards Ceremony. But the first order of business was our very own Lanell Baker(also Secretary) presenting a program on “Starting Plants From Seed”. It was very informative with lots of questions from the audience.
We have really enjoyed having Mr. and Mrs. Wright of Wright’s Nursery in Plantersville joining us in our meetings these last few months. They both have degrees in horticulture, so no Master Gardener course for them❗️We want them to go on meeting with us each month, so we awarded each one of them with our Honorary Member Certificate. So now they are part of us🥰❗️
Dianne Clapp was this month’s Premier Peach recipient, for her steadfastness and willingness to help. She was awarded a Certificate and a Peach Pin.
Our President, Skip Coulter, has added a very interesting part to our meetings. At the end he has a Question and Answer Quiz, (sometimes multiple choice)with half of us being the Annuals and half of us being the Perennials. You NEVER know what the questions will be. I think so far we are neck and neck for winning. And Skip always has a bag of candy or cookies for the winners.
Our program photos and Awards winners are below, with names and awards listed.
Photos by Audrey Giles