December Happenings

Jan13

December was truly a month of photo opportunities for members of EAGC. So many fun events gave us all time to put the stress of the holidays aside for a few hours to enjoy each others’ company.

Connie and Ann H. put together an outstanding Design Class in December, where members assembled holiday arrangements to last throughout the season. The resulting floral arrangements were stunning. Thirteen EAGC members and one guest gathered for the Holiday Flower Design Workshop using evergreens and blooms of roses, lilies, carnations and amaryllis in shades of red, white and a lovely shade of mauve. The theme for the workshop was taken from the Christmas carol, The Holly and the Rose, a beautiful carol that was sung by one of the club members before the workshop began.

Here are some of the lovely results.











This arrangement looks perfect in this member’s home.


Abbie-Jane’s arrangement became the centerpiece of her table.


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Susan C. hosted a festive Holiday Open House in December. Members were treated to a beautiful selection of appetizers and an opportunity to take in Sue’s spectacular Christmas decorations. What a relaxing break from the holiday rush!

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Our annual Holiday Luncheon, hosted by the Herb Committee, was better than ever — delicious food, lots of laughs, and an opportunity to wish all our special gardening friends happy holidays. Lynda B. outdid herself in organizing a wonderful afternoon for us.

The gift swap table was loaded with surprises.

Party Favors for each member.

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Our November General Meeting, in conjunction with the Hampton Garden Club, featured Andi Ross, who did a presentation on Hip-Hip Hydrangeas , Part 1. Andi shared a lot of helpful information about the identification and care of hydrangeas. Pat N. has provided a link to Andi’s handouts from that meeting. If you’d like a copy, click here.

Fall Happenings

Dec11

Your fall update of garden club activities is long overdue.  Here is a quick pictorial run-down of the happenings.

October and November were busy months when it comes to Promise Tree events. Members were offered interesting field trips, potted berry bushes, flowering plants, and even handmade fabric pumpkins donated by a Hampton Garden Club member. Here are some pictures to document the field trips:

Paula F reports that the November tour of the Mushroom Company in Tamworth was fascinating. Attendees learned that growing these strange looking fungi is a complicated process.




The October Promise Tree tour of the Woodman Museum in Dover surprised attendees – they agreed that the museum collections are so varied and eclectic that another day of touring would be needed to appreciate all it has to offer.




Nance J’s Civic Beautification volunteers spent a sunny but chilly morning taking care of fall clean-up at the bandstand in Exeter in late October. The bandstand was the beautiful, blooming centerpiece of the downtown again this summer, thanks to Nance and her crew.




While we’re talking about Civic Beautification, here are pictures of the team decorating the Exeter Historical Society a few weeks ago. Their efforts certainly help brighten the downtown for the holidays. According to Ann H, “The weather was wet and miserable but this hardy crew did a fabulous job. The Historical Society building looks quite festive for their holiday gathering.
Nance and Donna made a beautiful swag for the signpost out front and Bill C volunteered the manpower to climb a ladder in the rain and tie it up. Lee provided a generous amount of greens for the pots outdoors, our boxwood came from Jill F’s landscape, and red twig dogwood from Linda V’s gardens.” 



And now for the big reveal…




EAGC’s Awards Committee searched far and wide all summer to choose the winners of our annual Beautification Awards. These were presented at the October general meeting by co-chairs Anne C. and Mary-Jo. In addition to our traditional residential and commercial awards, a special Community Award was presented to Judy Sheldon for her lovely bed at the Exeter Library. Judy just happens to have been president of our club from 1992-93.  

The Residential Award was presented to Joe Fischer by Ann C.
The Commercial Award went to Graham Tire & Auto and Deshenes Landscape Service. Matt & Dan Deshenes gave small talk on the project.
Judy Sheldon explains her work at the Exeter Library site.




Just a reminder — minutes of the board and general meetings are compiled by our Recording Secretary Vicky and are available for viewing here or can be found under “Members Only”.

More Member Photos

Oct1

Nance J., Donna R., and Abbie-Jane have shared some photos of their gardens.  There’s no shortage of talented gardeners in our club, as these pictures prove!

Nance’s end-of-summer gardens:

Here are this year’s photos of  Abbie-Jane’s beds:

 

And from Donna, “Here is a cutting of my first rose. Her name is Marilyn Monroe.”

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.”

 

 

 

September Happenings

Sep21

Our season has started off with a bang — the September General Meeting was very well attended, with everyone happy to see each other and anxious to catch up on the summer’s news. Despite lots of conversation and a beautiful spread of refreshments, members were able to get down to business. Our new President, Susan C., updated us on club news and introduced the Committee Chairs, who briefly described their functions. The committees then met individually to lay out plans for the upcoming year.

Linda V. discusses Environment & Conservation’s 2018 Mini-Grant award winners at the September Meeting.

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One of the first exciting events of this season is a Field Trip to the Woodman Museum in Dover. This is a Promise Tree event offered by Johann. She has planned a trip to Dover that includes brunch at Harvey’s Bakery & Coffee Shop, followed by a tour of the Woodman Museum.

The date is Wednesday, October 10. A carpool will leave from the Stratham Public Library at 9:30 am. RSVP to Johann by Oct. 1.

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Lee has shared some lovely pictures of her summer garden. This is her celosia bed:

And here is her re-blooming iris:

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Environment & Conservation Chair, Linda V., provided members with some great posters of  our 2018 Mini-Grant Award Recipients at the September meeting. For those who couldn’t attend the meeting or didn’t get a chance to see the posters, visit the Mini-Grant page of the website to see some terrific photos of  the gardens our hard-earned grant money funded this year. Carol C., who volunteers at Seacoast Family Promise, also shared pictures of  the vegetable gardens that she helps SFP grow for the benefit of their clients. They had a very productive year, judging by the photos!

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For anyone who’s always wanted to learn about landscape design, the Landscape Design School of Massachusetts is offering a course on Oct. 25 & 26 in Lexington, MA. For more information about the class, check out their website here.

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