RIPON — Suzanne Brashears is the guest speaker for the Wednesday, April 4, 10 a.m. meeting of the Ripon Garden Club at the American Legion Hall, 206 Stockton Ave.

Her program is dubbed “The Plant Peddler.”

 While attending Modesto Junior College, Brashears worked at Fisher’s Nursery in Ripon learning the foliage plant trade.  Doc Wait, her horticulture instructor, asked her to do a leaf collection for the textbook he was writing.  Those were the first 700 plants that she learned about.

After graduating with a degree in Ornamental Horticulture, she started a foliage plant business called The Plant Peddler. She used her winnings from exhibit premiums at the Stanislaus County Fair to buy the necessary licenses.   S

Brashears has maintained, leased, cared for and sold plants to homes and businesses since 1976.  She is a Master Gardener, member of The Living Desert and has belonged to California Horticulture Society and Modesto Garden Club for 40 years. 

“I am always looking for novel plants and love to grow and talk about them,” she said.

For more information, call Anita Floyd at 599-3359 or Michele Bartels at 599-2675.



Soroptimist of Ripon Golf Tournament May 7

The Soroptimist International of Ripon will have its 14th annual Golf Tournament on May 7, at Spring Creek Golf and Country Club. 

The format will be four person men, women or co-ed team, Texas scramble.  Registration will begin at 11  a.m. with tee-off at 12:30 p.m. There will be a hole-in-one contest, a putting contest, and a mystery hole, as well as a ball-drop contest with a maximum of 300 tickets sold for $10 each, with a $1,000 cash prize.  Non-golfers are encouraged to purchase tickets also. 

Tournament registration is $130 per golfer.  Registration includes lunch, green fee, cart, ‘tee bag’ gifts, course refreshments, and awards dinner following the golf game. 

Businesses sponsoring a foursome for $520 will receive a professionally printed sign placed on a tee box, or a business may sponsor for $100 and receive a sign on a tee box.  Registration can be made online at www.soroptimistripon.com, or by contacting Shirley Jorgensen at 254-2204, or Dawn Krebbs at 573-0770.

The golf tournament is an annual fund-raising event with proceeds used toward awards and scholarships, as well as for Color the Skies, Relay for Life, Children’s Hospital Central California, Campaign against domestic violence, and sex trafficking, and the annual Almond Blossom Queen Contest.



Senior Fellowship potluck on  Monday

The Senior Fellowship potluck dinner will be held at 6 p.m., Monday, March 26, at the Ripon Senior Center at 433 S. Wilma, Ripon. Please bring your own table service and bring either a hot dish, salad, or dessert, in a nice size portion.

Those who would like to come and are unable to make anything you are also welcome to come. They ask that you please contribute a donation and put it in the container on the table.

The program for the night will be special with Wanda Bristow, from San Jose. She will present a women’s play on the life of Mary Magdalene. The program will begin at 6:30 p.m. Bristow will tell how Jesus healed her seven demons, and how she became one of His most devoted followers. She will be accompanied in music and song by her daughter Linda.

Bristow holds a B.A. Degree in English with a minor in women’s history. For more information on Bristow’s programs email her at: herstory4u@Comcast.net.



Voices for the King in concert March 31

There will be a benefit concert featuring the vocal group “Voices for the King” and the instrumental group “Hallelujah Brass” on Saturday, March 31, at 7 p.m. at Zion United Reformed Church in Ripon (1220 Canal Blvd.)

Admission is free but there will be an offering taken to benefit Bethany Christian Services. “Voices for the King” is a talented all-male singing group. “Hallelujah Brass” is a community brass ensemble from various churches in the Modesto area.