June Newsletter
From Ellen Whitney: A team of Master Gardeners led by John Althouse and Sandy Conrad maintain the Little Women Garden at Orchard House, along with Susan Ellsworth (a neighbor of mine and Orchard House’s) and me. A lot of garden club fingers in that soil!
Field Notes: GCC Trip to Elm Bank
In front of the Goddess Garden, pictured left to right: Kathy Venne, Andrea Meyers, Sarah Paino, Lisa MacDonnell, Nan Gustafson, Jenny Borden, Melinda Shumway, Maryrose Sykes, Joan Campbell, Kate Wharton, Lauren Huyett, Jane Rupley
From Maryrose Sykes: On May 31st, a small group visited The Garden at Elm Bank in Wellesley, led by a wonderful tour guide, Melissa! Passing an impressive carriage house where many wedding receptions are held, the group stood in the Trial Garden, installed by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, where different organizations, such as All-American Selections and Proven Winners, test new and unreleased varieties of annuals, perennials, and vegetables, to determine growing suitability in this region. The American Dahlia Society also has a garden for their testing. There was a discussion of pollinators and native bees in the Weezie’s Garden for Children, learning that male native bees do not have stingers. Club members proceeded to the Bressingham Garden, an English cottage garden, designed by Adrian Bloom of Bressingham, England. This garden does not use the traditional English cottage garden layout, as plants are clustered together in groups of odd numbers with winding grass pathways, and serves as a four-season garden.
Taking a completely different twist to landscape design, the group walked to the manor house and stood in the Olmstead Italiante Garden with its tall, hedged walls of American Purple Beech trees (installed in 2001) and a large fountain at the center, formerly a baptismal font. Members learned that the original owner of the house in the 1700’s collected elm trees and planted them along the banks of the nearby Charles River, a landscape decision that gave the property its name.
The visit at Elm Bank ended in Maple Grove, a large open space for picnics and events, and the Goddess Garden with large stone statues of Ceres (Goddess of Agriculture), Pomona (Goddess of Fruit) and Flora (Goddess of Flowers). Following the tour, the group had a delightful lunch at The Cottage in Wellesley. Such a beautiful, sunny day enjoyed by all!
Marvelous story in this week’s Concord Bridge about Shelley Morss
Just click here to read all about Shelley Morss, Walden Pond, and Don Henley
Bicentennial Bench FOUND!
Breaking news: Immediately after reading Laurie O’Neill’s story in the The Concord Bridge this week about Sandra Conrad’s quest to find all ten Garden Club Bicentennial Benches, Dominic Ingegneri reached out to a few Garden Club members to say he has been aware of the bench for years, sitting flush with the ground on Everett Street at the entrance of Everett Gardens. At the same time, another Bridge reader – Bill Watts – recognized in the story a familiar granite slab, and promptly took a shovel to the edge of the piece to find the distinctive 1776-1976 date carved into the side of the piece. Voila! Mystery solved. You can read the story here. Thanks to Lauris for passing our little story on the the community at large, and to Sandy for making headlines for our enduring Club.
Welcome new member Kathie Rose
I have lived in Sudbury for over 25 years before moving to Concord ( now 10 years!). I have 3 children and 4 grandchildren. My career years were spent working in Early Intervention helping children with delays reach their full potential. I also worked as a field advisor for graduate students at Simmons University.
I am excited to be part of the Concord Garden Club for both making new friends and learning about gardening. I look forward to participating in upcoming projects.
Time to Renew Your Membership
From President Lauren Huyett:
The Board of the Garden Club of Concord has voted for and unanimously approved the raising of the dues for the upcoming year, 2024-2025. They have not been increased for at least 20 years, so we felt it was time.
Our new dues for 2024-25 are:
100.00 for active and associate members (up from 80.00)
60.00 for sustainer and non-resident members (up from 50.00)
This change is already in place on our website. You can pay your dues by Venmo or by credit card. In addition, we will have the traditional basket for paper checks at the luncheon on Wednesday. See you all then!
Town Gardens Sign Up
The Town Gardens sign up is live. Maintaining our public garden beds is one of our required duties, and every member should find a time during the summer to take their turn at watering and weeding. A video introduction to how and where of garden duties can be found on the Member’s Resource page, or by clicking through this link.
In Memoriam: Susan Eckel
Family and friends will gather to remember Susan for her memorial service on Saturday, July 20, 2024, at 3:00 pm at the Trinitarian Congregational Church, 54 Walden Street, Concord. In the meantime, thank you to these following Garden Club members for sharing their remembrances of Susan.
Amy Easton: What a loss. Our family felt so highly of her. She made a difference as an outstanding educator and friend to so many students at The Alcott School. She was my son Cole’s first teacher in Concord when we moved here 20 years ago….He was quite nervous about starting 1st grade in a new school and new town. Ms. Eckel (Susan) quickly made him feel at ease asking about his former town and school and helped him feel connected in class. She came from the same town in CT I would later learn. Cole loved when she would “read really big picture books (2’x1′) from her rocking chair”. She had a knack for “reading” kids’ personalities too and was the catalyst for Cole and his best friend (to this day!) becoming buddies that year when she was sought out by another classmate’s mom who was concerned her son was not connecting well with other classmates. Susan immediately said she thought “the new boy”, Cole would be a good playmate and could see their personalities clicking. Boy was she correct! To this day both our families credit Ms. Eckel for seeing it before they did. I have never heard two friends laugh and have so much fun together as those two did and still do 20 years later.
Although we had not seen Susan since those formative years, we knew she battled cancer many years ago and came out on top. She was just a wonderful person who really made a lasting imprint on her student’s lives and those of their families. We send condolences and thanks to her family for sharing her. We will continue to think of her often and with high praise forever.
Betsy Spaulding: Susan Eckel had an effervescent personality and was loved by everyone. She was special and will be missed!!!
Elisa Woodward: Susan Eckel was a great friend and mentor to me for over 3 decades. I met Sue in the 1980’s when she taught the 4 year old class at Milldam Nursery School.
Her nursery school teaching years followed her full career teaching kindergarten at Alcott. Nothing phased Sue with 4 year olds. As a relatively new mother, that was not the case with me. One day I picked up my daughter, who was completely covered in green finger paint and delighted by it. When I thanked Sue for taking on this activity at school, she calmly said, “the more mess they make at 4, the less mess they’ll make at 14”. It was wonderful, apt advice which I valued then and many more times through the years. Sue took an interest in every child and throughout the years she always asked me about my children, by name. I miss her sparkle and her wisdom, and have been happy to share time with her in so many venues in Concord.
Sarah Beguelin: I first met Susan at TriCon church and then had the pleasure of knowing her at Alcott Elementary School and Garden Club. One day at church, many years ago when my children were very young, Susan asked me a question that I still remember to this day. She asked if I was Reggie Pierce’s sister. How the heck would she pull that out of thin air? Reg is my oldest brother and all of us Pierce’s have a distinct look, eyebrows and all, but I had been married for years, who would ever know me as Pierce? Susan had taught sailing as a young woman where we lived in Connecticut and she remembered my brother Reg as a little kid! How I will never know! What she did not know was that Reg went on to be a world class sailor, Around the World Races, 2 America’s Cup campaigns, still racing to this day. Susan Eckel was a true teacher and wonderful person who will be missed by all that knew her.
Light Fare
It’s Garden Tour season, friends! Concord seems to have shared a weekend with just about every Boston-suburb tour I can think of, so if you missed it? our local fix for peak peonies and roses has already happened! However, north of here, Portsmouth’s Pocket Garden Tour on the 21st is worth seeing (have lunch at Street or Hearth Market), and may I recommend the Stone Sphere Garden on the 15th in Pepperell, MA? If a car trip is too much to fit into your busy schedule, how about some virtual garden visits? Katie Ridder’s garden in Frederic Magazine. Enjoy the Mt Cuba Center website and perhaps sign up for some classes in Delaware. And you can always pop over the pond to the Bloomsbury infused gardens of Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant.
From Kate Wharton: a short tribute to the woman who helped King Charles develop his vision for Highgrove Gardens, the Marchioness of Salisbury.
Fighting Mosquitos the Pollinator Positive Way: This year, I’ve taken Doug Tallamy’s advice and made some Doom Buckets; that’s what the kids on TikTok are calling his recipe for putting a big dent in your mosquito population. As the video linked above describes, let some grass clippings moulder in a contractor bucket half full of water (dark plastic is best, the Lowe’s logo bucket is navy blue, just sayin’), cover with hardware cloth to keep leaves and critters out, and pop in a quarter of a mosquito dunk. Refresh a few times before frost. Meanwhile, I’ve found that running a Thermacell during al fresco dining keeps the stragglers away.
FYI: The Town of Concord has a dedicated bin at the landfill for invasive plants! See the town website for a list of what is considered to be invasive, and click through for more details. Residents can bring invasive plants to the Town Composting Site free of charge! Just bring your removed plants as they are to the Town Composting Site, and Public Works will dispose of them properly. The site is located at Walden Street (route 126), just across Route 2, on left before you reach Walden Pond. It is open for use every Saturday 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Do you have a garden to share? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a pop up day for club members who happen to be in town to get together for a garden stroll? Let Lauren know if you’re feeling lonely or generous with your own garden! Club members are so appreciative. No one cares about weeds anymore; in fact we love them! To be honest, they make us feel better about our own!