Meet The New President: Mariann Keenan
Happy summer, everyone! I hope you are staying safe and healthy and doing well during these difficult times. It is my privilege and honor to be your new club president for the next two years. I would like to recognize my predecessor, Nancy Englund, for her tenure of tireless and excellent work as president during which the club grew in the number of its programs, members and community outreach. Thank you, Nancy!
Laguna Beach Garden Club first came on my radar in February 2016. I arrived a little too late to bid on Valentine’s Day container gardens made by members, but in plenty of time to witness all the excitement. There was lots of laughter and activity as members claimed their prizes, as the event wound down and clean-up began. I asked for the March meeting date and joined at that meeting — and the rest is history!
Before finding our wonderful garden club, I had joined several cactus and succulent groups in the area. Yes, I am a bit obsessed with succulents; there is so much to learn. But these clubs, while fun and interesting, are not our Laguna Beach Garden Club. We are unique in having New Member Luncheons, Trips & Tours, Green Thumb Craft activities and Open Garden Happy Hours. Not to mention our robust series of guest speakers each month. And someone is always standing at the door welcoming members to every meeting.
Laguna Beach is one of my favorite places (and my husband’s too). So, after leaving Southern California in 1997 and moving more than a dozen times in a 35-year career in commercial insurance, it was an easy decision to move back here in 2012. My husband, Bob, and I bought a little house, remodeled it, and settled in. And for the first time in my adult life, there was time to explore the outdoor space and to tend a garden — my garden. I come from a long line of gardeners. My mother and my maternal grandmother were avid and excellent gardeners in Ohio. My grandmother grew all her own vegetables — several varieties of lettuce, cabbage, onions, garlic, beans, squash, and cucumbers — to make the best dill pickles ever. Both she and my mother grew beautiful flowers, including roses, peonies, daffodils, irises, and tulips. All my teachers delighted in hand-picked bouquets from our yard.
So, imagine my surprise and dismay when the plants in my own garden started to brown and yellow or rot or become overrun with bugs! Happily, before settling for a rock garden, I discovered succulents and fell in love. There are so many beautiful varieties, and I was in the right climate to grow them, so these plants thrived in my care.
Since I joined the club four years ago, I have eagerly attended every meeting and volunteered for everything — every event, every auction, every parade, every Gate & Garden Tour. It turns out this club is my cup of tea, the cat’s meow.
There are two big rewards of membership I want to share — wonderful benefits and gifts of our club:
- Friendships — They bloom when we garden with other members; help at meetings and events; go on trips and tours; participate in workshops; lend an ear or share a laugh — and so much more. These friendships can deepen as we share stories of our lives and dreams.
- Education – For the many ways we offer and support “Education in the Garden,” each of us can take pride. We provide scholarships to students pursuing horticulture and related fields; we support educational gardens at schools; we give free gardening advice and succulent cuttings at community events and our monthly plant table; and we present informative and engaging guest speakers at our monthly meetings. In closing, I send best wishes to you and your families. Be safe, be well, be happy, and keep on gardening and loving gardens and nature everywhere — especially in our beautiful town of Laguna Beach.
My focus as president will be “Education in the Garden” — supporting and providing gardening education for members and the community.
In closing, I send best wishes to you and your families. Be safe, be well, be happy, and keep on gardening and loving gardens and nature everywhere — especially in our beautiful town of Laguna Beach.