Garden Club celebrates with Garden Tea
On Tuesday, May 17, Dana Di Ricco Benjamin and Dr. Glenn Benjamin welcomed members and guests of the Clear Lake Trowel and Trellis Garden Club to their beautiful ranch in Upper Lake for the club's spring tea celebration. Attendees were treated to tours of our hosts' gardens of colorful blooms and eye-catching statues and their stateof-the-art horse barn that houses their award-winning Percherons.
As the tea started attendees were seated at tables under the ample shade of the large trees that dotted the freshly mown lawn. All of the nine tables were covered with crisp white tablecloths and set with the finest bone china and freshly polished silverware. Each table sported artfully arranged floral bouquets. In addition, because the event was a tea party, each table was further festooned with its own silver tea set. Women wore their “Sunday best” and several donned festive-looking hats that would have fit in quite nicely at a Churchill Downs racing event. Even the men in attendance seemed to be “styling” a bit in honor of the occasion.
No tea party would have been complete without the requisite little sandwiches (no crusts, please) and sweet treats commonly served at High Tea events, and garden club members extended their creative culinary cunning in making delicious dozens of each which were relished by all. To add even more flavor to the afternoon, at the end of the tea attendees caught a glimpse of Glenn and his “footman” in a white carriage pulled by a pair of snow white horses as they made their way toward the front of the house where they stopped. Of course, many hurried over to admire the horses more closely. Some even got to take a short ride in the carriage.
A short time later, festivities at the tea continued when Di Ricco presented the gathering with a huge cake which all shared in devouring with gusto as they participated in a gift exchange and final raffle.
Membership in the Clear Lake Trowel and Trellis Garden Club is open to all those who have an interest in gardening. We would like to share a cup of tea with you at our annual tea next spring, or during any of our monthly meetings. Please call club President Carol Dobush at 707 279-1169 for information. The club is a member of the Mendo-Lake District of the California Garden Club, Inc.-Pacific Region and National Garden Clubs, Inc.