Starla Kramer

The monthly meeting of the Sun Lakes Garden Club on Feb. 20 will feature Francesca Claverie Cantu. Ms. Claverie Cantu is a conservationist and Native Plant Program Manager at Borderlands Nursery & Seed. She hails from an alfalfa farm in Calexico, Calif., where her family has strong roots on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Francesca started working with native plants at the University of California Davis Arboretum while in college. In 2012 she moved to Patagonia for an internship with the Native Seeds/SEARCH and shortly after started the nursery, now known as Borderlands Nursery & Seed. Francesca is an elected Town Council member for the Town of Patagonia, Ariz.

Members may order seeds or plants from the website BorderlandPlants.org, and Francesca will deliver them to the meeting.

Meetings are held every month (including summer) on the third Tuesday. Attendees gather at 9:30 a.m. to socialize and enjoy refreshments and coffee. During this first half hour, we greet the guests, check out gardening books from our reference library, and purchase raffle tickets.

There is also a “Free Stuff” table to review where members donate citrus, herbs, or plants for other members. The meeting is called to order at 10 a.m. The meeting ends at approximately 11:45 a.m., and members and guests often go across the street to the Sun Lakes Country Club for lunch afterward.

Check out our monthly newsletters and membership options to join the club on our website SunLakesGardenClub.com.

The meeting location is the Chapel Center (house next door to Sun Lakes All Faiths Community Church and across the street from Sun Lakes Country Club), at 9230 E. Sun Lakes Blvd. N., in Sun Lakes.

For questions, call Starla Kramer, president, at 480-540-8080 or Barbara Kiley, VP and speaker coordinator, at 813-390-2710.