Our member garden this month:
Nan Gustafson’s gardens have been evolving since they moved to Concord in 2006. She notes, over the years, our property has been transformed from mostly forest to a landscape with various outdoor spaces and gardens consisting of a combination of native and non-native trees, shrubs, perennials and groundcovers, which create diverse habitats attracting and supporting a variety of local wildlife throughout the seasons. Flowering Dogwood, River Birch, Serviceberry, Carolina Silverbell, Fringe Tree, Sourwood, Magnolia trees create a transition from the bordering tall White Pines and Oaks. Stone paths meander through woodland and sunny perennial gardens filled with a variety of blueberry, Viburnum, Andromeda, Magnolia, Hydrangea, Witch Hazel, Fothergilla, Lilac and Azalea. Nepeta, Iris, Columbine, Sedum, Rudbeckia, Chrysogonum, Agastache, Penstimum, Echinecia, Hellebore, Astilbe, Coral Bells, Geranium, Anemone, Trumpet Honeysuckle, Vancouveria, Tiarella, Bloodroot are some of the perennials we have growing. Deer have been a growing issue over the years and last year we finally succumbed and installed a permanent fence around the back portion of our property. It was exciting to see phlox, hydrangea, and lilies flowering without being chomped. We are looking forward to being able to incorporate new non-deer resistant plants in our gardens.
Letter From Our President:
Dear Members,
“Gardeners, I think, dream bigger dreams than emperors” – Mary Cantwell (American journalist and novelist.) I certainly do! Has anyone started planting seeds indoors? This is the time to start as spring is right around the corner!
Please note a change in time for the March 18th Spring Outreach Program -the new start time is 11:00 AM.
Sadly we were sorry to hear of the passing of long time members Ditie Platt and Dorrie Kehoe. Please see their information further down in
this newsletter.
Don’t forget to join in on our new Concord Garden Talks conversation link. To send an email to the listserv group, use
concord-garden-talk@googlegroups.com. Please see below for more information.
The website committee has been meeting once or twice a week to get our new site up and running. Stay tuned!
Field Trips and Educational opportunities:
Rhode Island Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc. NGC Design
Specialty Flower Show “Dearly Beloved”April 10 – 12, 2026, RI Convention Center, 1 Sabin Street, Providence, RI.
President Judy Gray says this year is particularly exciting and includes a Botanical Arts Division Section Artist Crafts, offering an opportunity to broaden our reach beyond floral designers and engage more members.
Along with some upcoming classes: See more info at their webstie
www.gcfm.orgFree Webinar – The Future of Beech Trees with Dr. Beth Brantley March 31, 2026 at 7:00 pm. Registration will be found shortly at the: GCFM Website (Note: limited to the first 100 participants.)
New England Garden Clubs Photo Club “Think Spring Newsletter” NEGC Newsletter Polly Brooks, Director, invites you to participate in the upcoming meetings titled “We Grow Gardens & Gardeners”. See the newsletter for the full schedule. GCFM FLOWER SHOW SCHOOL COURSE IV April 25, 28-30, 2026 Class location: Double Tree by Hilton, 11 Beaver Street, Milford, MA01757
Flower Show School is a comprehensive program that teaches all you need to know about judging, entering, competing, and chairing an NGC flower show. Registration: Send remittance with application to be received by the Registrar before March 23, 2026.
Flower Show Sch Course IV:
NGC GARDEN SCHOOL SERIES 12, COURSE 4 April 9, 10, 11, 2026 via ZOOM Hosted by GCFM!
Deadline for registration on April 1, 2026. Learn about gardening styles, pruning techniques, nativars, and more. Garden club members completing the series of four courses and passing exams gain the designation of NGC Gardening Consultant.
ENVIRONMENTAL SCHOOL
(New Chair Roxanna Champagneroxannachamp@cox.net) Environmental Schools are a fun practical and economical approach to obtain a basic environmental education. Local garden clubs, councils, districts, States or Regions sponsor a series of 4 courses of 10 hours each. These classes explore all aspects of the environment focusing on the interrelationships of plants, animals, insects and people. Each course includes a 2-hour field trip too. Tours may include natural areas, power or recycling plants, nature centers, sustainable architecture, or boat trips to explore aquatic eco-systems.
FUNDAMENTALS OF FLORAL DESIGN I and II
FUNdamentals of Floral Design I–Tuesday, March 10, 2026,10:00 to 11:30 am
FUNdamentals of Floral Design II – Wednesday, June 3, 2026, 10:00 to 11:30 am
A series of 2 classes to learn the elements and principles of design, flower show rules, and presentation of three designs to be critiqued.
Both classes take place at the Topsfield Fairground, Coolidge Hall 207 Boston Street, Topsfield MA.
FUNdamental Instructors: NGC Judges Pat Fleming and Suzanne McCance
Cost: $25 for one class, $40 for both. Checks made out to GCFM
Happy almost spring!
Holly Salemy
GCC President
February Garden Club Meeting:
During our February meeting; Lili Morss talked about the BIG IDEA…overall considerations for thinking about your landscape. Charity Trembley shared tips about gardening throughout the year…what happens when. Marty Wallace rounded out the meeting out by sharing how gardening supports the natural world. See some of the slides with ideas from the presentations.
Thank you Laurie O’Neill for the photos from the meeting!
Our Spring Outreach Workshop is this Wednesday:
Jenny Borden notes:
Our annual Spring Outreach Workshop is coming up this Wednesday March 18th at 11 AM, and we’d love to see more of you there. Please join your fellow members to create beautiful flower arrangements for local residents in need of Spring cheer!
The Spring Outreach Committee has gathered a list of 126 local residents who will receive one of our spring arrangements. It’s a wonderful opportunity to brighten someone’s day and connect with our community.
If you haven’t RSVP’d yet, please take a moment to do so — we truly need more membership participation this year.
Plant Sale Committee News:
By Jenny Sage
With under two months away, our committee is gearing up for this year’s Plant Sale on May 9th!
We are hoping for a slightly drier day and will be bringing back Mother’s Day bouquets, a complimentary Children’s Corner,
our beloved Tool Shed, have Ask the Expert volunteers on hand, and more! We can’t do it without you so please help in any way you can.
Here are 4 Ways to help!
1. Signing up to volunteer with sale preparations!
2. Donate your tools!
Now is the time to streamline your garden tools and donate the ones you no longer need to the Plant Sale Tool Shed. One gardener’s unused rake is another gardener’s treasure. It’s a great way to increase our revenue and clean out your closet. Email Joan Campbell (joancampbell74@gmail.com) and she’ll be happy to pick them up!
3. Prepare your plants! Each member is expected to donate 15 plants of their own to the sale (start thinking about what you plan to divide
when we finally see the ground). Mark your calendars, drop off dates this year will be May 5th and 6th at Amanda’s House at 839 Lowell Road.
A note on larger tree donations:We are happy to have these donations but this year they will be managed through the Club. All large items will then get transferred directly to the buyer, not to TriCon on the day of the sale.
4. Donate your quart size mason jars!
We are looking for 30 mason jars that will act as weights for signage on the plant tables at the sale. Please bring them to the April 15th
meeting.
New Member Highlight:
Kristen Tahirak-Bitterman has lived in Concord since 2020 with her husband Kevin and her two
daughters, Maia and Violet. Kristen graduated from Rutgers College with a Bachelor of Arts in
English Literature and Classical Studies. She spent over a decade in the world of women’s
fashion and retail, specializing in both buying and merchandising before transitioning to the
fulfilling role of a stay-at-home mom.
Driven by a passion for community and philanthropy, Kristen has been an active volunteer with
several local organizations since 2013. She served on the Board of Directors for Birthday
Wishes, a non-profit dedicated to supporting homeless children in New England and New York,
from 2018-2024. While her children attended the Nashoba Brooks School she served as the
Parent Board President. Kristen currently serves on the Board of Governors at the Concord
Museum.
Kristen enjoys traveling with her family, reading, antiquing, gardening and spending summers
on Nantucket.
Louis Caldarella is a born and bred New Yorker who came to Concord 33 years ago and, after becoming addicted to walks in Great Meadows and the Estabrook Woods, never left. He has devoted the last two decades of his life to working with struggling learners: Louis is currently the fourth-grade learning specialist at Shady Hill School in Cambridge and has a private tutoring practice. After graduating from Harvard with a degree in English, his picaresque career has included dealing rare books in London and Boston, selling antiques in Cambridge, and training people at the town gym in Concord. Eventually getting a master’s degree in Education, he has worked with students from as near as next door and as far as Rwanda.
Locally, Louis serves on Concord’s Historic Districts Commission and Concord Art’s board of directors. He shares a home on Hubbard Street with his husband John Dilworth, where they enjoy gardening, cooking, and much dog-sitting for friends and neighbors- when he’s not at his office on Middle Street which he shares with two therapy cats, Quince and Raspberry (pictured).
Field Trip to Lyman Estate:
Notes by Maryrose Sykes
On February 27, 2026, a group traveled to Waltham,MA to tour the Lyman Estate Greenhouses, a bit of respite from the cold winter days. We were guided by horticulturist Lynn Ackerman, the greenhouse manager for 37 years. The Lyman Estate was built by wealthy Boston merchant Theodore Lyman with a series of greenhouses, looking to Europe for design inspiration. The family used the property as a summer residence for 150 years, growing to about 400 acres at its peak. It stayed in the family for four generations, until the 1950’s when Historic New England acquired the property and preserved the estate. There are still some family members remaining today, with Stephen Parsons as one of the most recognized at age 103 years old.
Left to right, front: Erika Rodriguez, Pam Nelson, Joan Campbell, Maryrose Sykes, Nan Gustafson,
Left to right, back: Monique Halleck, Elise Woodward, Sarah Paino, Barbara Kohler, Suzanne Broxson
The rich, rustic greenhouses are among the oldest operating in the United States and mostly have southern exposure, except for the nursery sales greenhouse where the public can purchase plants, garden supplies and gifts. We admired a hanging pitcher plant from Thailand, a primulina (native to Asia), and an oversized yellow blooming chrysanthemum while visiting the sales greenhouse.
The 1804 Grape House (greenhouse) is thriving today with rare orchids, citrus trees and tropical plants; there are exotic fruits, such as oranges, pineapples, bananas and figs. An extensive Black Hamburg grape vine is housed in this greenhouse, acquired from the Royal greenhouses at Hampton Court in England. Also, there is the original white grape called Green Muscat of Alexandria. These grapes have a very special rich, sweet taste compared to other grapes. You can’t miss the gorgeous pink Bougainvillea surrounded by begonias and a wall with exotic succulents and jade plants. Ground beds were built to help support various plant root systems, while an impressive 14-inch brick wall helps radiate sun within the greenhouse.
The Camellia House (greenhouse) was built around 1820 for the cultivation of camellias native to China, Japan and Korea, including Camellia japonica and Camellia reticulata. These plants like a shady environment with cool temperatures and humid conditions. Many of these camellias are more than 100 years old, and were in full bloom during our visit. It was such a delight admiring the camellia’s with different shapes and shades of colors – bright red, soft pink, and variegated white & pink. We learned that black and green tea both originate from the Camellia sinensi plant. This greenhouse also has a stunning collection of rare orchids. Some of the orchids come from Australia (ie: dendrobium) and require cool and dry conditions in the winter.
Several years ago, many of the plants in the greenhouses began exhibiting signs of distress and growth problems. The greenhouse manager discovered that the ph level of the town’s water had grown to a level of 8, as opposed to the more acceptable level of 6.5. It was determined that the change in the town water’s ph level, which was likely raised to help preserve the aging town water infrastructure, was ultimately the cause of the impairment of plant growth. In an effort to save the plants, the greenhouse manager determined that a different water source was required for the plants and developed a system of using rain water and sterile water to keep the plants hydrated. Even horticulturists can be unexpectedly challenged when gardening in a more “controlled” environment as a greenhouse.
We all appreciated our tour of the Lyman Estate Greenhouses. Such a fabulous sunny winter day with an opportunity to briefly escape to a warm tropical environment! After our tour, we had lunch at The Tack Room in Lincoln for an enjoyable lunch together.
It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of two recent passings:
Edited from Aphroditie’s Obituary: Aphroditie E. Platte, age 91, of Naples, Florida and Concord passed away peacefully on March 3rd. Her career took many paths, initially she was a medical assistant during her young life in Boston, she worked at Brigham and Women’s and Mass General Hospitals. She and her husband then settled in Concord where they lived for the next 40+ years. After a few years working at Emerson Hospital, ‘Ditie’ stepped away from medicine to raise her family and started her own floral events company, D-Designs. She was a member of the Concord Garden Club, where she served on the Hospitality Committee and Board.
Matt Bonner shared: My mom, Dorrie Kehoe passed away 1937-2026. She was fiercely bright & literate, a great friend & advocate, a devoted grandmother and happiest with gardening gloves and a trowel; or maybe a fire, a glass of wine, and a good book. For those of you around Concord MA, we’ll have a memorial gathering in later spring or early summer.
Arbor Day, Garden Tour Dates and Garden Lectures to add to your calendars in and around town:
Arbor Day:Friday April 24th at 11:00 AM (exact location TBD)
The Garden Club of Concord donates a tree every year and the town kindly installs it for us. This year the tree will be planted in West Concord. Please come and celebrate this wonderful international day with us. National Arbor Day was originally proposed by J. Sterling Morton in Nebraska in 1872. We hope the tree will be another Sourwood (similarly to the one we put one in front of the Armory last year) Refreshments will be served!
The Concord Museum Garden Tour: June 5/6
The Rockport Garden Tour: June 27
MFA Events: Art in Bloom Dates: May 1 – May 3
Garden at Elm Bank Events:
Setting Up your Garden: Early Season Prep: March 14; 10-11:30 am
Seasonal Pruning: Early Spring: April 11; 10-11:30 am OR 12-1:30 pm
Hands-On Workshop, Hand-Tied Bouquets: April 11; 10-11:30 am ET
Creating a Meadowscape at Home (Virtual): April 13; 6 pm – 8 pm ET, find more information and access to the virtual event at Mass Horticultural Society (masshort.org)
Currier Museum of Art Events:
Bloom: A Floral Palate: March 12 – March 25th in Manchester, New Hampshire
You’re invited to the Concord Garden Talk Email Listserv Group!
If you are new to email listservs, they are essentially a shared space where people can
communicate with each other over a shared interest.
Important to note: All members of our Garden Club will be included (unless you choose to opt out – see more on that below!). Members can send an email to the listserv with their gardening questions, tips and tricks, share pictures, and more. Others can reply, and this creates a threaded conversation that’s easy to follow. It’s also a great resource to refer to, as you can look back at all past email discussions and search for topics.
A few example discussion topics could be:
“Where do you buy your spring bulbs? Looking for recommendations!”
“Does anyone know how and when to prune their clematis?”
“Weston Nurseries had an excellent selection of pollinator native plants – go
check it out!”
“Anyone interested in taking a drive to Western Mass to check out the (add interest here)
gardens?”
Now, for some specifics on how to participate or not participate.
All members will be signed up for Concord Garden Talk
listserv. Here is how you access the listserv:
1. To send an email to the listserv group, use
concord-garden-
talk@googlegroups.com
2. To reply to an email, simply use the above email address and all members of the
listserv group will receive your reply.
3. The listserv gives Club members an opportunity to read and archive the
community emails and participate in discussions.
If you wish to opt out of the emails, below are your options. To have either implemented,
contact the listserv moderator, Julia Farwell-Clay, juliafarwellclay@gmail.com.
Unsubscribe from emails:
- You remain a member but won’t get group messages in your inbox.
- Useful if you want occasional access to the group’s discussions but don’t
- want notifications about member posts in your inbox.
- Leave the listserv group: You are removed as a member and lose access to the listserv content.
Please let us know of any questions, and we’re looking forward to being able to connect
with each other about gardening.
