Flowers for the Arboretum, others

Mathis Winkler

BALBOA PENINSULA -- As a little girl, Ginny Connolly began her

gardening career by dealing with the snakes and worms her mother

despised.

She didn’t mind the creatures and kept going. As this year’s president

of the Little Garden Club of Newport Beach, Connolly joined 36 fellow

members and hundreds of visitors for a plant sale Thursday.

Net proceeds from the sale will benefit organizations such as Newport

Beach’s environmental nature center, ReLeaf Costa Mesa, the UC Irvine

Arboretum and the Catalina Conservancy. That’s in line with the club’s

mission to promote projects and programs of horticultural stewardship,

which add to the beauty and health of the community.

Taking in as much as $10,000 in previous years, club members have

donated up to $8,000 as a result, Connolly said. The group has existed

since 1985 and is kept small intentionally to allow for meetings at

members’ homes.

For the sale, each member is required to grow and donate at least two

plants, prized at $40, said Barbara MacDonald, who belongs to the club.

With dozens of pots filling the oceanfront garden of Judy Banning, a

club member, the almost exclusively female guests could choose from

arrangements such as potted strawberries, woven baskets with planted

Brussels sprouts, and marigold or miniature roses.

As neon orange stickers rapidly appeared on pots, signifying that they

had been sold, visitors settled down to food and wine at tables in the

garden and out on the beach.

Clutching two tags for thyme and chives plants she had already bought,

Newport Beach resident Mary Ann Huntsman said that as an avid gardener,

she’d simply come to enjoy the day.

Her friend Anne Hoover hadn’t been able to pick out anything so far.

“I’ve been talking to people,” she said, laughing. “But I’m sure I

will.”