April 2021 Newsletter
Beautiful spring arrangement by Michelle McArdle
Dear Members,
To date, April has not lived up to its designation by T.S. Eliot as the “cruelest month” as it has been filled with many sunny days, albeit several cold nights. It may still hold some surprises for gardeners with a late frost, but the only thing required at this point to make it a perfect month would be some welcome April showers to ease how dry it has been.
The etymology of the word April is varied, but the one I chose for our purpose is from the Latin, aperire, meaning “to open,” as it fully describes the emergent buds on flowers and trees preparing for their annual return.
Michelle has done a wonderful job of showing this in her arrangement of tulips, warm reddish-orange roses, limonium perezii, and, finally, a nod to our upcoming presentation, white hydrangea.
As we all emerge into the days of longer daylight, warmth, and hope on the horizon for the end of the pandemic, I hope you are all finding a source of renewal in the garden.
Sandra
Photo by Annie Spratt Unsplash.com
Hip Hip Hydrangeas! Zoom presentation April 14th at 1 p.m.
What are the many secrets to selecting, planting and pruning these enduringly popular shrubs? Find the answers to all these questions and more from our speaker, Andi Ross.
Andi is an ecological landscape designer, horticulturist, master gardener, and garden coach.
Sign up here for Wednesday’s program:https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0d4aacaa29a31-gcczoom3
Please note: the deadline for signing up for this program is Monday, April 12th.
A Zoom link will be sent Tuesday, April 13th. Please check your junk/spam folder first before contacting me on the day of the program. I receive no bounce backs from the emails to indicate a problem. If that fails, please contact me mailto:psbp@comcast.net
Virtual Plant Sale and Pop Up Shop is coming!!
The 2021 Virtual Plant Sale is right around the corner! Please mark your calendars with the dates below. Donation slips will be emailed to members soon. Along with plants for sale, we will also have fresh Mother’s Day arrangements, gift baskets, and our notecards. Additionally, we will have a very special item for sale….our own Garden Club of Concord tea towel with our lady slipper!
A SignUp Genius has been created that allows members to purchase plants and gifts, as well as sign up for drop off and pick up times all in one place. All details regarding the sale will be included in the SUG. Please keep an eye out for the donation slip and the SUG in your email box.
Questions: contact Chair, Jen Lannan at
Plant Sale 2021 Schedule
| Donation slips emailed | Monday 4/19 |
| Donation slips due back | Friday 4/23 |
| Plant Sale Sign Up opens | Monday 4/26 |
| Plant Sale Sign Up closes | Monday 5/3 |
| Donation drop-off times | Wednesday 5/5 |
| 9-12&3-5 | |
| Purchase pick-up times | Friday 5/7 9-12 |
| Saturday 5/8 9-12 |
Location for drop-off and pick-up: Amanda von Weise’s, 839 Lowell Rd.
Committee News
Community Outreach
Arbor Day is April 3oth this year. Although it is still uncertain if we can hold our usual ceremony for the tree planting, we are working with the town to select a tree and location. This is an important contribution the club makes to beautifying the town and has been a tradition for decades.
Art in Bloom
Above, our “masked arrangers” Ellen Whitney and Pam Nelson with their inspiration, “Woman in a Fur Hat.”
Art in Bloom will be entirely virtual this spring. GCC’s arrangement for “Woman in a Fur Hat” will be included in the “Women Artists” tour. Tickets for the pre-recorded virtual tours (free to members, $10 for non-members) will be available starting on April 15 at:
https://www.mfa.org/event/special-event/art-in-bloom
View these 45-minute recorded tours any time over the Art in Bloom weekend. Presented by a team of art and floral guides, each video features 9 works from the MFA collection alongside the floral designs that the art inspired.
On sale April 15, free for members, $10 for nonmembers, $24 for all 3 tours. Recorded Guided Tours can be viewed Friday, April 30–Monday, May 3.
Please contact club member Nicole Kelly, AIB Chair, with any questions:mailto:the6kellys6@gmail.com
Town Gardens
Grape Hyacinth at the Town House. Photo by Ellen Whitney
The gardens fared well through the winter. Keep an eye out for emerging bulbs, with bountiful daffodils, grape hyacinth and allium especially at the West Concord garden.
Spring clean-up of the West Concord garden will take place on Thursday, April 15 at 10am with a rain date of Friday, April 16 10am. (Kate and Beth will be cleaning the Town House garden themselves.)
Please consider lending a hand! To sign up:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0d4aacaa29a31-spring
Thank you Beth Thut and Kate Chartener for once again leading the charge on the gardens so ably through the summer!
Sign Up Genius for weekly garden maintenance opportunities will be out next month.
A new addition to our community gardens is the Veterans Memorial at the Milldam. In collaboration with the group that renovated the small park several years ago, GCC will be providing annuals for the large planter as well as mulching and caring for existing plantings. Signing up will be included as part of Town Garden maintenance.
Horticulture
Spring ephemerals tour at John Althouse’s garden:
Club members, left to right, Kate Wharton, Wilhelmina van der Wansem, Carolyn Gouchoe, Julia Farwell-Clay, and Pam Nelson enjoyed a tour of member John Althouse’s early spring garden.
There is still time to sign up for a tour here:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60b0e4ba9ab2baafa7-tour
If the tour whets your appetite for more, view this wonderful program on spring ephemerals provided by Grow Native Massachusetts, a fantastic non-profit organization;
From the garden corner
Oh no, it’s back!!!
Alliaria petiolata, Garlic Mustard
Originally brought from Europe in the 1800s for herbal uses and erosion control, Garlic, or Wild Mustard has become an invasive, destructive nuisance! It spreads its seeds in the wind and as shown above, a first-year plant emerges well before native species, thereby blocking their sunlight and nutrients.
Control requires vigilance and persistence. Try to pull the plant before it sets seed. Pulling is not difficult, but works best after it rains (do a rain dance here) as it helps to get all or most of the long tap root.
Don’t put them in compost! Bag and dispose of them in the trash.
April is national poetry month
What goes better with gardening in spring than poetry? Gaining Ground is celebrating poetry month with a Poem Walk through the grounds.
During the winter, the Concord Free Public Library collected poems from people of all ages. They can be read as you walk through the garden and learn about the farm.
To learn more: https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/concord-journal/2021/04/05/gaining-ground-celebrates-national-poetry-month-poem-walk/7089356002/
If you cannot visit Gaining Ground, think of a favorite poem while in the garden. Mine might be Frost’s “Two Tramps in Mud Time” for its meditation on weather, work and the interplay of vocation and avocation.
Until next time, happy gardening!