June Newsletter

More about Jeanne Hamilton’s arrangement for the Emerson Umbrella below

Annual Luncheon, June 18

Coming up this week is our annual gathering at the Concord Country Club on June 18th, starting at 11 am. As usual it represents the conclusion of our programming year and for so many of us a fond “see you in September”. This year’s luncheon also will see our president Lauren Huyett retire as president and current vice president Holly Salemy step into the role. The nominating committee is also recommending Pam Nelson to be our new vice president, and that Carol Hryniewicz become corresponding secretary, taking over from Sally Savelle who has been handling what is perhaps the most unsung job the club has to offer. Please join the Board in thanking Lauren Huyett for her gracious leadership, and Sally for keeping up with all poise and charm expected of a Garden Club via the postal service and our internet service provider for a full six years. These nominations for vacated executive committee roles will be voted on at the annual meeting, as well as the budget for the coming year. You should have received Rod Riedel’s proposal in your email this week, so give it a scan before the meeting. And remember that you can bring your membership dues check with you to the meeting!

Membership Dues

It’s time! check your category and pay as you wish in the following ways (or pay in person at the Annual Meeting):

Meeting Times Survey Results

Jenny Borden has a secret identity: she holds a degree in statistics! Who better then to compose and compile the results of our meeting times survey this month? Thank you, Jenny!

Jenny writes: Thank you to all those who responded to our membership survey about when to hold our monthly meeting! We had 58 responses and the majority of you preferred Wednesday above all other days and favored holding it in the morning (9am – 12pm) or midday (12-3pm).

Flowers for The Emerson Umbrella Open Studios in May

Jeanne Hamilton writes: I initially planned to use peonies and ranunculus for a spring garden combination of color and seasonal blooms and then became inspired at the flower market by the gnarly movement and fresh leaves of the large curly willow branches and started to see a tall, somewhat wild looking arrangement for the entrance to the Umbrella for their Open Studios weekend in early May. In addition to the pink and white peonies and ranunculus, the arrangement also contained chocolate lace Queen Ann’s lace, jasmine cascading down over the sides of the stone urn, green viburnum, pink and peach parrot tulips, fig branches, rainbow leucothoe, deep pink scabiosa and white bleeding hearts. 

Town Gardens

If you have yet to consider when you can weed and water one of our two town gardens, check the sign up for available weeks. And a reminder that there is a youtube video (embedded in the front page of member resources page, on the left) of what is expected and it will likely answer any questions you might have about the job. I’ll link it here too so you can refresh your memory. 

This and That

At the Chelsea Flower Show this year, David Austin promised a sensational new rose reveal, and boy did they deliver! 

I struggled to keep up with pulling up my plot of garlic mustard this year, so I was particularly taken with revelation that there are native plants that can out-compete the gnarly little thug, and that planting them very well might eradicate them in favor of something our native pollinators can thrive on! Read this from The Humane Gardener. There’s even a pdf too for your imminent nursery shopping trip.

I completely adore potter Frances Palmer. You might recognize her work if you don’t know her name. Anyway, I found her book Life in the Studio absolute tinder for creative impulses, so I was excited to hear she already has a new book: Life with Flowers. NYTimes garden editor Margaret Roach interviewed her for A Way to Garden podcast, and I thought you might like to put it in your queue. 

Back to the UK again (sorry, not sorry), did you see this NYTimes review of Flora in Contemporary Art & Culture at the Saatchi Gallery over the winter? It must been magical! Here’s the link to the show itself for more photos.