Art en Fleurs 2019
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A Garden Club of America Flower Show
Harley-Davidson Museum
Milwaukee, WI
October 1-2, 2019

A MAJOR SUCCESS!
Many thanks for the incredible commitment of time, effort & energy from
Co-Chairs Alison Culver and Sara Murphy
and to . . .
Each GTGC participant who served as a committee chair or member;
to those who volunteered, clerked, entered stunning floral designs, otherworldly botanical arts, 
enviable horticulture cuttings, inspiring photos and cover-worthy plants;
and to all who supported Art en Fleurs with generous donations and patronage!

THANK YOU!​

Winner of the Betty Quadracci Garden Design Award - Dedi Knox

Mandevilla, Paulie McCown

Botanical Arts, Class 3: Buckle Up - Patty Grebe

Rex Begonia, Barb Anderson

Horticulture Class 104 (Plant owned for more than 5 years) Susie Kasten

Hydrangea, Polly Beal

Dahlia (grown from seed) - Hattie Purtell

Co-chair Alison Culver assessing the cut specimens…

Floral Design, Class 4: Blow Out - Margot Paddock

Art en Fleurs Signage by Gina Sisk and Deb Walker

New Member Challenge: Kristin Sheehan, Anne Noyes, Monnine Parnitzke, Linda Stolz

Computer Crew: Adrienne Widell, Robin Slater, Sarah Starrett

Hosta leaf “non-varigated” Kathy Palmer

Centerpieces aglow for the “Denim & Dazzle” preview party

AeF Schedule

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Art en Fleurs 2016

2016 AeF Winners from GTGC

​The New Member Challenge 2016

Class 106: Riding in Wisconsin (New Member Challenge)

The exhibit should represent one of the topographical areas of Wisconsin (lakes, prairies, woodland or dunes) and incorporate Harley-Davidson in an imaginative way.

Well, imagination is what it would take to incorporate lakes, Harley-Davidson (in the form of plants) – to be nurtured by a team – and then judged by really smart, experienced women!
Our team consisted of me as the team captain, simply because I had been in the Green Tree Garden Club the longest of the “new members,” Kathy Carr and Heidi Wurlitzer.

Immediately after the challenge was presented, I went off to a garden center and walked around in an overwhelmed daze that was occasionally interrupted by seeing other teams (prairie, dunes, woodlands) in a similar state. Needless to say, I was quite nervous and intimidated by the whole thing:
• How on earth do you bring Harley-Davidson and Wisconsin lakes together in plants?
• What are the judges looking for?
• Brilliantly talented and intelligent women from garden clubs in southeast Wisconsin would all see our planter.
Did I mention that there would be judges?!?

Like all teams, we gathered in July for the first time. This would also be the last time all three of us would be together. I had found a collection of plants that would be encountered near water and we came up with the idea of arranging them as you would view them leading down towards a lake: from tallest to shortest. We had a beautiful little corkscrew plant that easily represented the twisting, curving roads that a Harley-Davidson rider might take to arrive at one of our pristine lakes. We had a start!

The next three months were a series of emails, texts, phone calls and meetings at each of our homes, parking lots or designated spots to pass the planter around as each of us went on vacation, had a daughter get married, or just needed a break from plant sitting.

The workshop put on by Paulie McCown and Diane McGauran helped immeasurably. We didn’t know about things like top dressing and how to write up the cards needed to accompany the entry. We also consulted with Kathy Palmer, whose words of advice and creative eye are invaluable. We decided to top dress the plants that would be furthest from the water with moss, closer to the shore with small pebbles and finally, those at the water’s edge with sand. We also fussed over removing every dead leaf or part thereof and made sure the plants looked fresh.

Then we got lucky. The two plants that we had hoped might be in bloom were actually blooming. We really have no explanation for that. Perhaps Ray, our neighbor to the north, would have been able to force those blooms – but for us it was just good fortune.

After all the anxiety, it all worked out. Apparently, the judges liked our idea and awarded us the blue ribbon. Personally, I am grateful for the teamwork, for everything we learned about how to enter a show, and continue to stand in awe of the generous, intelligent women in our club who gladly share their talent and knowledge.

Floral Design, Class 6 “Friday Fish Fry”

Rana Holbrook and Judy Moon

Club Challenge - Garden of Abundance: 

Wendy Walcott, Jan Montgomery, Anne Vogel, Hattie Purtell, and contributions from many GTGC members​