June Newsletter

Kate Wharton’s marvelous Josephine cake

Having whittled away the many events of the last few months, we now have only the Country Club Luncheon ahead of us before summer. It feels like the academic calendar schedule that drives so many of our life cycles in New England is drawing to that kind of conclusion. I hear of graduations and summer plans; many of us are already making packing lists or elsewhere altogether. How much time do you have to read a newsletter? I should get on with it, shouldn’t I? So with this sense of urgency, allow me to share the highlights of the past month.

 

The Plant Sale

After all the calls for plant donations, the begging for talliers, and as improbable as it always seems the week before, the plant sale surpassed last years’ numbers in donations and proceeds. Somehow it was all dropped off, priced, transported and presented in time for the sale on Saturday morning.

Patricia Waters, Melinda Shumway, Sally Savelle at drop off

Mother’s Day bouquets were assembled, arrangements were delivered from Bloom Floral Studio (thank you, Marta), and flats of salad sprouts and potted Basil arrived from Dominic Ingegneri (whose garden was featured on the Garden Tour in 2022) as his gift to the club.  

so many trips to transfer plants that morning . . . 

Plant Sale Chair, Sarah Beguelin during set-up

There were trees and rhodies, innumerable iris and hosta (maybe too many), and plenty of natives sprinkled throughout: about a thousand plant donations in all. Meanwhile, two groaning tables’ worth of irresistibles filled the pink Bake Sale tent. Front and center where it enjoyed many admirers was Kate Wharton’s Josephine Bonaparte cake (pictured at the top of this post and below) which was raffled at the end of the morning to the lucky winner, our own Patricia Waters!

Kate Wharton and her beautiful Josephine Bonaparte Cake

Sarah Garland-Hoch & Rachel Kramer

After foot traffic thinned out and finally concluded, Melinda Shumway’s son, Jack, delivered some of the more unwieldy items to their new owners (delivery fees were included in the prices), and Sandy Conrad swept up the 300 remainders to be splits as donations to the MCI Concord Garden Program and to the West Concord Green Thumbs for their own sale the following week. Thank you to Sandy for her thoughtfulness and follow through to increase the club’s reputation for good works. Additional thanks to Melinda’s friend Chris for his indefatigable credit card taking, facilitating almost two thirds of the morning’s proceeds.

 

Sarah Beguelin will share our final numbers at the luncheon. And with that in mind: please waterproof tag those mysterious donations for next year now so you will remember what color they will be when they bloom! A “Coral and pink Iris” is a much better seller than an “Iris”. Thank you!

Shortly after the plant sale, we received a thank you note from Barb Macintosh who is the Team Leader of the Prison Programs for Massachusetts Master Gardeners thanking the club for the donation of plants to is program. MCI Concord is one of the club’s regular Grant recipients. Barb’s note follows:

Dear Members of the Concord Garden Club;

On behalf of the Massachusetts Master Gardeners Association and the Pondville Correction

Center, and MCI Concord and Northeast Correctional Center, I’d like to thank you for your

donation of garden plants that will be planted at these facilities.

At NECC the plants will be utilized to beautify the administration building and visitors center. At

Pondville they will be utilized in the flower beds across from the vegetable gardens. At MCI

Concord they will be utilized to complete the Butterfly Garden that is outside the Visitors center.

The butterfly garden will provide a beautiful learning experience for visitors and inmates alike. It

will be especially appreciated by children vising their Dads.

We understand that prison is a difficult place to be. We also know that anything we do to make

this experience a teaching/learning experience will support our commitment to lower recidivism.

This gardening experience allows for that learning opportunity and training in something the

incarcerated can do upon release. As you can see, you are not only providing plants, you are

supporting the training and growth and development of those incarcerated and their families.

Thank you for this truly valued donation.

Barb McIntosh

Lifetime Master Gardener and Team Leader of the Prison Programs for Massachusetts Master Gardeners

 

Town Gardens Video

With summer ahead, most of the club’s energy now turns to keeping up the Town Gardens, both at Town Hall and at the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail.  Answering what seemed to be a need, a small collaboration occurred this month to bring about a video tutorial on how to take care of the gardens themselves. Included is information on where they are, where the hoses are located, what is expected of gardeners during their week. Producer Amanda von Weise, presenter Ellen Whitney, plus cameraman and editor – yours truly – all hope you all find this helpful, if not entertaining. The video is always available on the Town Gardens sign up, on the members’ resource page of this website, and linked here for immediate gratification. Enjoy!Click on the video above to view Ellen’s survey of the gardens

Field Trip to Bedrock Gardens

Yet another wonderful field trip organized by Holly Salemy and Andrea Meyers took a small band of curious members out of our usual orbit and up to the seacoast region of Southern New Hampshire to Bedrock Gardens in Lee. No less a garden celebrity than John Forti himself greeted us for our interpretive tour of the extensive grounds, naming plants and telling stories as we went through landscaped groves, past the magical water rill cutting through the meadows, past mature purple beech, katsura, new dawn redwood, large leaf magnolia and a fringe tree alleé. Unusual pairings and imaginative sculptures punctuated the tour, and we all learned the names of many new plants and added to our garden wish lists. After the morning, we enjoyed lunch at Popovers in Epping, and each of us took home at least of few of their eponymous pastries for “family members” the stories went. If you were not lucky enough to join us that day, any one of us would urge you to make time this summer for a visit, family friendly as the garden is, especially to children. We urge you ardently, as it may be all of our instant favorite garden so far! Thanks to Kate Wharton for telling us so all these years. When has she ever been wrong? Here’s a taste of the tour:

These framed prisms are a signature sculpture of co-founder Jill Rooney, and were also available in the gift shop.

Japanese Primula punctuated the Tea House waterfalls

Did you know there are several cultivars of New Dawn Redwood?

The White Parterre, close to the house, is one of the oldest sections at Bedrock Gardens

The Wiggle Waggle is a magical Oz-like feature, and unsupervised children might feel the need to jump in: Bring a change of clothes just in case. 

Sculptures throughout provide surprise, humor, inspiration, and something of a treasure hunt 

Hard to capture with a phone camera, many garden views compose structured vistas for visitors. 

Membership Dues are Due

Please pay your dues by July first. Here is the link to that page under member resources. You can make your membership payment without the Paypal fees directly if you prefer by using the Venmo app where our user name is Garden Club of Concord.

 

See you all Wednesday!