Tag Archive | garden

June Happenings

Jun8

Our club is enjoying a busy spring – and we have the photos to prove it! Let’s begin with the May General meeting, which featured Carol C’s comprehensive (and delicious) herb presentation. Along with three assistants, Carol used posters, books, plants, soup, dip, bread, and jelly to educate her audience. She shared recipes for Herb Butter, Potato Soup, Wendy’s May Jelly, Smoked Salmon and Chervil Pate; A Refined Little Salad (made with Bibb lettuce), and Cheese Dilly Bread. Carol also recommended a number of cookbooks.

The Design Committee displayed the charming results of their Tussie Mussie Workshop:

And here are the tussie mussies in the making:

Other business at the May meeting included the election of Officers and the approval of the budget for our 2022-2023 season. Announcements were made about the success of the yard sale, the Veterans Garden clean up, Veterans Garden water and maintenance schedule, and American Independence Museum gardens progress. Planning for our table at the Yuletide Fair in November was also undertaken, with sign-up sheets available for those projects as well as for a Mad Hatters party being hosted by Jill C and Jan C. All in all, a very busy meeting!

Lest you think that May was all fun and good food, we also have been putting substantial effort into our commnnity service projects. A team of members took on the Veterans Garden at Stratham Hill Park, doing a spring clean-up and preparing it for the summer season. As always, it remains a peaceful and beautiful spot for contemplation.

Plantings are continuing to be installed at the American Independence Museum in Exeter. More perennials were added and Karen W. and her husband are still working to perfect the drip watering system. More shrubs and perennials are still to be added, but the improvement in the gardens so far is dramatic.

Another EAGC community service is the awarding of a scholarship to a deserving Seacoast School of Technology student who will be pursuing a degree in a field related to horticulture. This spring we awarded a $1000 scholarship to Zachary Hodgman. He is an honors graduating senior from SST/Epping HS. Zachary will be attending Great Bay Community College this fall majoring in Environmental Science as a stepping stone to further his education. SST filmed the awards ceremony. You can see the presentation of our scholarship at the 1:04 point in the filming. Ann DeMarco of SST read our presentation comments: Seacoast School of Technology Scholarship Night – YouTube

Diversions:

The West Newbury (MA) Garden Club is sponsoring an Art in the Garden Tour, featuring gardens, artists, and musicians. Nine beautiful and inspired gardens located in West Newbury and Groveland will be on display with an art connection. Saturday, June 18th, 10 am – 4 pm. https://www.wngc.org/

Art in Bloom at the Ogunquit Art Museum. You don’t want to miss the artistic collaboration of our own Lee C. and Ann H. June 24-26 at the museum in Ogunquit. https://ogunquitmuseum.org/about-us/events/events-list/

Our favorite wandering photographer, Lynda B., has provided some photos of the gardens in her own back yard on Chestnut Street. Beautiful – and right in the heart of Exeter!

Thanks to our contributing photographers: Lynda B., Ann H., Linda S., and Patti S. These would be very lifeless Happenings without your photos!

April Happenings

Apr8

We’re still patiently waiting for warmer spring weather, but rumor has it that we will, indeed, experience sun and warmth sometime before the heat of summer kicks in. Fortunately our spring-blooming bulbs have ignored the chill and treated us to cheerful blooms to pull us out of post-winter doldrums. I don’t know about you, but they make me smile!

Pexels Gareth Willey
Pexels Adrian Jozefowicz

EAGC’s big news is our upcoming Indoor Yard Sale – on Saturday, April 30th. This will be our first opportunity in two years to raise funds for the club. We’ve missed out on the revenue from two yard sales and at least one election day bake sale. This is the revenue we’ve used in the past to fund our speakers, mini-grants and scholarships. Thanks to our Promise Tree and the Plant Auction, we’ve been able to sustain our club functions, but now it’s time to raise some money from non-members!

This is our third Yard Sale and it will be similar to the previous two – we’ll be renting tables to vendors and managing several tables of our own. The main difference this year is that our members won’t be donating household goods, as in the past. This year we’re asking for baked goods and garden-related items (including plants) from members.

Johann, our Ways & Means chair, has worked out all the details for the sale and members should have received an informational email. The sale will be advertised online and in the local papers. Now is the time to sign up for a time slot to help on the day of the sale, to think about what you’ll be baking, and to sort through your gardening stash for any unwanted items you can donate. Please contact Johann to sign up or if you have any questions.

March’s general meeting featured Brian Burris, who owns Two Bees Produce, where he grows fresh, local hydroponic greens. He provided an interesting overview of growing hydroponically, using 90% less water and no pesticides or GMO’s. As a bonus, Brian passed out free sample products to attendees.

Brian Burris
Dianna helped with refreshments

Our April 21st speaker is humorist and mystery novelist Neal Sanders and his topic is “Gardening Will Kill You”. To assure us that he won’t be talking about man-eating plants swallowing hapless gardeners whole, he’s provided us with a little background about his topic:

Why should you never give a gardener a flower show ticket? Why is your perfect squirrel deterrent that animal’s dream-come-true amusement park ride? Why do rock walls keep growing long after they’re supposedly finished? These are the questions that keep Neal Sanders awake at night while downing Costco-size quantities of ibuprofen. As the spouse of an avid gardener with no ‘real’ responsibilities other than to dig holes and move rocks, Neal has lots of time to observe gardeners and their foibles.
Neal is the author of 13 mysteries, seven of which involve horticulture and several of those which use garden club settings. He writes the popular ‘The Principal Undergardener’ blog, which addresses gardening as a non-gardener who loves gardens. His talk is adapted from those essays. He and his wife, Betty, live in Medfield where, for the past three years, they have been creating a new garden from scratch.

Dates to Note:

The Portsmouth Garden Club has extended an invitation for our members to join them for a mini-conference on Star Island from Monday, Sept 12, through Wednesday, Sept. 14. The stay includes interesting activities, plus free time to enjoy the island. Also on the schedule – a Social Hour before dinner each night. All-inclusive rates range from $290 to $506. Registration is open now. For more info, click here.

A sure sign of spring: Wellington Gardens in Brentwood is holding their Spring Perennial Sale from Saturday, April 30 – May 5 (4″ perennials: $2.50) and their Annual 6-Pack Sale on Friday, May 6, until sold out (annual 6 Packs: $2.50).

Online registration is now open for all Garden Conservancy Open Days through May. Open Days are happening around the country on May 14 and 15. To check out the open gardens, go to https://www.gardenconservancy.org/events/all-events.

Speaker schedule of other local garden clubs:

April 19 – Julie Scaramella will speak about “Lavender – The History & Magic”. Rye Driftwood Garden Club, Rye Congregational Church, 580 Washington Road, Rye. 9:30-11:30 a.m. https://www.ryenhgardenclub.org/

April 20 – “Jaw Dropping, Traffic Stopping, Get Your Neighbors Talking Garden Containers” presented by Deborah Trickett, The Captured Garden. Portsmouth Garden Club, Urban Forestry Center, Portsmouth. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. https://www.portsmouthnhgardenclub.com/

May18 – Portsmouth Garden Club’s Literature In Bloom. Members discuss what inspired them to interpret a particular book cover they selected. Their Literature in Bloom arrangements will be on display at the Portsmouth Public Library for about two days following the meeting. Urban Forestry Center, Portsmouth. 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. https://www.portsmouthnhgardenclub.com/

A Comment on Comments:
At the bottom of this post, you’ll see the phrase Leave a comment. When you click on that phrase, a box will appear under the words Leave a Reply. This is where you can tell us all your thoughts about the Happenings you’ve just read. How are your spring bulbs doing? What did you think about the March speaker? Are you interested in the Star Island trip? Curious minds want to know!
Make your Happenings editor a happy camper – leave a reply!
Thanks, LuAnn

More September Happenings

Sep22

Donna R. obviously has green thumbs. And she’s a talented photographer too!

 

Organic Beefsteaks — “We had a nice year of tomatoes. “

Organic Carrots

Garlic — “We planted in the fall and harvested them in July. Twenty five huge organic bulbs that made us very excited.”

“Our first attempt at onions brought us a small happy harvest.”

 

Organic Squash — “We thought we would attempt these this year. We have had quite a harvest.”

“When I came to the first meeting you had the speaker from Fuller Gardens. After his talk I decided to try and grow a rose bush. Here is one of the first 7 roses that it keeps producing. I’m very excited about being able to nurture this rose.”

 

“Some of the sunflowers growing in our gardens.”

“I enjoy putting together the window boxes.”

“The mom built a nest on the hose so we had to water from another source until the birds left the nest. We had two other nests in our shrubs and you couldn’t go near them or the mother would aim and dive for your head!!”

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And from Linda V, “My helianthus and Joe Pye weed are still going strong.”

 

 

 

More July-August Happenings

Aug18

Butterfly Place Field Trip

Five members enjoyed a wonderful field trip to the Butterfly Place in Westford, MA  on August 9. Linda V took pictures so we can all enjoy the beauty. Can you identify any of these butterflies?

 

If you can’t identify this next butterfly, you haven’t been attending our meetings!

Susan & Betsy V:

Jann & Jill:

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August Summer Meeting

The twenty-five members who attended our August 16 Meeting/Luncheon enjoyed sharing this summer’s gardening experiences (too hot & humid!), loads of delicious food, and had the opportunity to get acquainted with some our new members. As you can see by the pictures, there was no shortage of eats or laughs. Thanks to Nance J for photographing the fun and to Susan for providing her beautiful home.

 

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Meet our New Members

We are so pleased to welcome these gardeners, who have joined us in the past few months:

Ginny Bulmer from Rye

Barbara Herron from Exeter

Jennifer Howard from Stratham

Mary Jo Reynolds from Stratham

Donna Richardson from Dover

Ginny Tremberth from Stratham

Be sure to introduce yourself to them at the September General Meeting!

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Make sure you’ve marked your calendars for our season kick-off General Meeting. We’ll be gathering at the Stratham Municipal Center between 9 and 9:30 on Thursday, Sept. 20. Find out what’s in store for the next nine months and pick up your hot-off-the-press 2018-19 Yearbook.

July – August Happenings

Aug7

Today’s high temperature calls for that time-honored question: “Is it hot enough for you?” Or maybe I could ask, “Is it hot here, or is it just me?” 

Dianna braved the heat to take a few pictures of her gorgeous garden and has shared them with us.

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​Dianna comments,  “The ‘rock wall’ flower bed contains many flowers from our EAGC auctions, which makes it one of my favorite beds. The big blue pot is from Betsy, aka Swap Shop, bleeding hearts from Susan, beautiful red Japanese maple from Nancy P, evening primrose from Nance, spotted leaf plant from Carole, Canadian ginger from Connie, etc.”

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LuAnn also has a few shots from her garden:

LuAnn says, “This is my favorite shade of pink. They really brighten up a garden. These phlox are a hybrid – so very little mildew.”

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​“Every year, this hydrangea produces at least 3 colors of blooms. This year is a bonus year for blooms, but they’re mostly on the lower part of the plant and none is on its north or west side.” 

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Here’s a new Promise Tree leaf that sounds really tempting! This is from Edie:

Tired of weeding your garden? For a $20 donation to the Promise Tree, I will weed your garden for 2 hours. To call me to schedule a time, click here: Edie

Lee’s offer of  Iris bulbs is still available too. She’ll have them available at the Meeting/Lunch on the 16th at Susan’s home.

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Speaking of the August Meeting/Lunch – it’s at noon on Thursday, August 16th, at Susan’s beautiful home. If you haven’t already, please call her to let her know you’re coming and what dish you’ll be bringing.  As an added bonus — we’ll have a chance to get acquainted with some of our newest members!