November Newsletter
Concord Museum’s Family Trees Event, November 24- January 2
From the President
Dear Members:
It is with no small amount of astonishment I find myself writing to you in November, with the turkey ordered, clocks reset, spring bulbs planted, and firewood stacked and tarped by the back door. From here on the calendar, the promise of winter may feel ominous, but there is so much to do and our club is excitedly preparing for our most important and busiest season as a volunteer organization. Wendy McNally is our Community Outreach Chair, and her report to the board this month was almost enough to fill this entire newsletter! But there’s also November Program information and some Holiday Gathering news so please read all the way to the end.
Cans for Caring:(chaired by Ellen Whitney) Ellen has materials ordered and will be shopping for a few more items and is looking for arborvitae trimmings to supplement purchased materials. Anyone with some to offer, please reach out to Ellen. The workshop will take place at Ellen’s home. Ellen has been in touch with Meals on Wheels which expects delivery from the committee after December 6th.
Town Wreaths: Chaired by Pat Lescalleet-Lashley and is ready to go! Pat has all of her materials either ordered or at her home. Wreaths will be made in shifts at her home on November 29th.
Last year’s wreath: what does this year have in store?
Council on Aging Holiday Greens Workshop: A new event for us this year, and organized by Ellen Matheson. Ellen, Paula Casey and Rod Riedel will assist 15 seniors at the COA on December 9th in assembling a festive Holiday Coffee mug with various greens, decorations, and a candy cane.
Town Gardens: overseen by Beth Thut, the two main gardens were cleaned up and put to bed last week. Next year we will be adding the Veteran’s Park to the Town Gardens sign up list, which will relieve Sandra Conrad and Rod Reidel of the job they have managed exclusively since Garden Club adopted the site. We are still looking for two new chairs to start in the Spring of 2022. Please contact Wendy if you are interested in this available opportunity.
Spring Basket Workshop: Materials and Design Chairs Anne Hrabchak and Anne Umphrey will oversee this event, which takes place in March. The Communications Committee has four new members, Kelley Bothe, Dennis Fiori, Paula Casey and Sally Savelle, who will reach out to various churches, COA, Senior housing, etc., for names of recipients. Look for more news of this as spring approaches.
Ag Day: We did not participate in AG Day this year, as we did not have three Kitchen Gardens. We need to secure those gardens by February and the Committee could use a chair. This event will take place in September of 2022.
Concord Museum Family Trees: The beautiful book chosen for the tree theme is Welcome Flower Child, by Brigitte Baragar. The tree committee has nearly completed their flower and fairy decorations, and samples (pictured at the top of this post) are included in the bookstore preview display at the museum bookshop. Family Trees will open at the Concord Museum November 24th and runs through January 2,2022.
Jane Coutre, Susan Hurley, Joan Campbell, Mary Pope, Elizabeth Berk , Leslie Cheney. Not pictured, Chandler Woodland and yours truly
I want to take a moment here to draw special attention to the work at the Concord Museum of long-time Garden Club member Carol Haines who is retiring after 40 years. Family Trees is her brainchild, and she has worked tirelessly to make this a beloved town event. The Garden Club has participated in Family Trees since its beginning and there are a few members who have decorated our tree there every year. Carol will be fully fêted by the museum in the spring, but Family Trees is an important occasion to for us to reflect on her invaluable contributions to the community, and to express our appreciation.
November Zoom Program
The Program Committee wants to remind people that next week, on November 17 at 1 pm, we will host our second Zoom meeting. The title of November’s program is “Mount Desert Land and Garden Preserve, Behind the Scenes”. Cassie Banning, Director of Farm & Gardens for the Land & Garden Preserve, will lead us through a virtual exploration of three unique gardens on the coast of Maine: Asticou Azalea Garden, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Garden and Thuya Garden. We will learn about their history, garden maintenance and how you can visit today. If you have not done so yet, add your name to the sign up here in order to receive the Zoom invite on Tuesday.
Looking ahead to the new year, we will have a treat January 5, with a special presentation “Creating Natural Landscapes: Nature’s Best Hope” by Author and Professor, Douglas W. Tallamy. Thanks to Dennis Fiore, we are adding this program to our usual line-up. It will be in conjunction with our two neighboring garden clubs, Seeds and Weeds and the West Concord Green Thumbs.
Professor Tallamy is in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how the interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. His book Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens was awarded the 2008 Silver Medal by the Garden Writers’ Association. His latest book, co-authored with Rick Darke, is The Living Landscape. Prof. Tallamy founded Homegrown National Park, a grassroots call-to-action to re-generate biodiversity and ecosystem function by planting native plants and creating new ecological networks. He has been a recipient of the Garden Club of America Margaret Douglas Medal for Conservation and the Tom Dodd, Jr. Award of Excellence.
Holiday Gathering
A club-wide invitation will be sent out soon for our Holiday Gathering on December 8th at 11:30 am. Lauren Huyett and Hospitality Chairs Erika Rodriguez and Sarah Garland-Hoch will be preparing hot drinks and a light fare luncheon to be served in Lauren’s barn, open to the air but sheltered from some of what weather the first week of December can bring. We are happy to be offering an opportunity to get together that appeals to the broadest of comfort levels, and I want to thank everyone who took a moment to return the survey on the matter. In most years, the Holiday luncheon is our best attended event of the year, and I hope this one will be unexceptional in that regard. Cross your fingers and warm your toes for good weather on that day.
News to Use:
from The Spruce
Amaryllis may take 7 to 10 weeks to bloom once you start them on their journey, but paper whites only take 4-6 weeks. Paper whites started now will be blooming during the last weeks of December. Have you tried adding a splash of gin or vodka to your paper white water to keep them from getting too tall and flopping? I did the last year for the first time and it worked like a charm. Here’s an explanation of how and why that works.