Tag Archive | photos

Mid-Summer Update

Area gardens are flourishing these days – thanks to copious rain and plenty of heat and humidity. We gardeners may not be coping quite as well, due to that same rain, heat and humidity. Early morning gardening seems to be advisable on these 90 degree days, and dealing with this summer’s very happy weeds is a challenge. Nonetheless, our community projects look wonderful. Our volunteers have managed to keep up with the weeding and deadheading despite the heat, and here are the results.

We finished off our 2022-23 garden club year in festive fashion again this year, with our Plant Auction and June Luncheon. Paige Curtis and her committee arranged for a lovely meal and setting, while Johann and her crew put together another fun and profitable plant auction. We have pictures!

Congratulations to one of our gardeners extraordinaire, Patti E, who earned a Certified Pollinator Garden designation. She posted on her Facebook page that the application strictly looked at the number and variety of native pollinator plants in her yard, which has encourage her to add even more natives. She’s seen “an amazing increase in the number of pollinators and birds here compared to the barren landscape that was here just 3 years ago.”

Another of our very talented gardeners, Becky M., was recognized in June by the Stratham Selectboard. The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance has honored Becky, a longtime member of the Town’s Heritage Commission and a community leader in historic preservation efforts, with its 2023 Elizabeth Durfee Hengen Award. The award recognizes Becky’s extensive contributions to preservation planning, advocacy, and education here in Stratham over more than two decades. Congratulations, Becky!

Upcoming:

Christmas in July? Plans are underway to begin preparing items for the November Yuletide Fair. Pat N. will be hosting amaryllis pot decorating workshops on July 24 and 26. Abbie-Jane A. is also planning another crafting workshop for this summer. Watch your email for more information on signing up. We want to complete as much of the preparation as possible before the busy holiday season begins.

The Piscataqua Garden Club will be hosting “The Business of Food Waste: Growing, Selling, Composting” on Thursday, July 20, at 10:30 AM at the York Harbor Reading Room on 491 York St., York Harbor, ME. Experts in sustainable food production, waste reduction/composting, and community food service will hold conversations on how to help reduce greenhouse gases through everyday actions. Open to the public. There is a non-member charge of $5.00 at the door.

Independence Day has gone by, but this arrangement by Lee C. deserves to be enjoyed after the fact.

December Happenings – Part Two

With the holidays behind us, most of us are probably enjoying the quiet time of January – reading a book, browsing seed catalogs, or just appreciating homes newly cleared of holiday decorations. (Apologies to Anne C., who is in the midst of moving to a new home and would no doubt love to be quietly reading a book.) Before we dive into the new garden club year, let’s wrap up 2022 with photos of our final holiday celebrations.

An especially large group of members celebrated the season, and each other, at our annual Holiday Luncheon at the Wentworth by the Sea Country Club. A social hour kicked off the fun, followed by a delicious meal and our customary gift exchange. Thanks go to Nancy D. for organizing the event, assisted by her talented Hospitality committee.

Susan C. prepared a holiday feast for members on December 16 – a Promise Tree event that Susan has been hosting for several years. Anyone who is familiar with Susan’s cooking skills knows that attendees were treated to a bounty of delicious food. And her holiday decorations alone are well worth the visit.

The speaker for our next general meeting, Wendy Snow Fogg, is from Misty Meadows Herb Garden in Lee, NH. She will present “Herbs to Support A Healthy Immune System.” As she explains, “In this time of mutating viruses, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and oh so much angst, our immune systems have taken a mighty wallop! But Mother Earth provides plants to help us regain our strength and, yes, even our confidence and hope.” We’ll be meeting as usual at 9:30 on Thursday, Jan. 19 in the Mogera Room of the Stratham Fire Department.

If you’d like to learn more about heirloom gardening, the Rye Driftwood Garden Club will be sponsoring John Fortis, Heirloom Gardener, who will be speaking about “Traditional Plants & Skills” on Tuesday, Jan. 17 at the Rye Congregational Church. More info can be found at https://www.ryenhgardenclub.org/.

Gardening, or communing with nature in general, is certainly limited during these cold months. Watching our local birds compete for a turn at the birdfeeder is an entertaining diversion, for sure, but how about hand feeding-birds for a much more fulfilling adventure? Some of you may have cultivated such close relationships with your neighborhood birds that they’ll come to your hand for lunch, but most of us haven’t had that experience. It takes time, lots of patience, and an impressive tolerance for the cold to train birds to trust our good intentions, as we stand – stock still – in our freezing backyards hopefully offering a handful of birdseed.

Luckily, there’s another way. According to the Boston Globe, the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary in Topsfield, MA, is home to flocks of chickadees, titmice, and nuthatches tame enough to perch on any hand that offers a seed snack. The Innermost Trail, a short walk from the parking lot, is said to be the best place for successful hand-feeding. If you’re interested in experiencing some “hands-on” winter adventure, you can find more info about the sanctuary at https://www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/wildlife-sanctuaries/ipswich-river.

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December Happenings – Part One

We’ve only reached the midpoint of December, but there are so many events and pictures to share that I’ve decided to do two December Happenings, lest readers become exhausted by the fun photos of all of the holiday festivities of the month. It turns out that, although we’re all exceptional gardeners, we also specialize in enjoying each other’s company.

EAGC kicked off the month by serving as Grand Marshal of the famed Exeter Holiday Parade, held on December 3. Although the day was rainy and gloomy, Mother Nature smiled on us and the rain stopped just as we lined up for the parade. We donned our Dollar Store finery and led off a long parade to a surprisingly large crowd of very merry parade viewers. It turns out that un-Christmas-like weather doesn’t deter holiday fans.

Betsy’s annual Holiday Swap Shop Party was memorable as always. In fact, attendees agreed that this year Betsy outdid herself with her finely curated selection of swap shop “gifts.” If this year’s party were to have had a theme, it may well have been toilet-related. (In fact, that seemed to be the theme of her 2021 party as well.) Enjoy the treasures:

In addition to supplying all these stunning gifts, Betsy also had a spectacular spread of goodies, including lots and lots of her meticulously decorated cookies. A fun morning for all who attended – much laughter and many calories!

There’s much more to come. Watch for December Happenings – Part Two, available in your inbox in early January.

Thank you to my inveterate photographers, Ann H. and Patti Smith!

November Happenings

November may not be the best month to be a turkey, but it turned out to be a very good month to be a member of EAGC. Our participation in the Yuletide Fair, on Nov. 19, was a great success, not only for our bank balance but also for the fun and companionship enjoyed by all the members who participated in workshops and the fair itself. With a profit of around $1,100, we’re in great shape to fund another year of mini-grants, scholarships and speakers. And as evidenced by these pictures, a good time was had by all!

The floral arrangement workshop on the 18th was very well attended – so many arrangers and so much enthusiasm!

Several pinecone wreath workshops resulted in lots of very professional looking wreaths and candle rings.

And at the Fair, we had so much to display – live & dry arrangements, wreaths, tree ornaments, bulbs potted up and ready to sprout – all artfully arranged and attracting lots of interest.

After Thanksgiving, Jan C. organized her Civic Beautification committee to decorate the Exeter Historical Society for the holidays, as well as make a wreath for the door of Exeter’s Folsom Tavern. This year, Jan decided to go all natural with greens, red twigs, winterberry, orange slices and cranberries. The results were a festive change of pace.

Amidst all the holiday fair preparations, was our November general meeting featuring Jana Milbocker, who presented an inspiring slide show on “Artist Gardens in New England.” Everyone attending was impressed with the number of spectacular gardens within a day’s drive of the Seacoast. Our sales table was very popular at the meeting, as were Promise Tree activity sign-ups. In addition, Environment & Conservation addressed the theme of water by asking us to consider what our personal water usage is in a day’s time. Where in our household do we use the most water? (Hint – it’s not the kitchen or the laundry.)

At our next general meeting, on January 19, 2023(!), Herbalist Wendy Snow Fogg will talk to us about “Herbs to Support a Healthy Immune System.”

In the meantime, I wish all my garden club friends a very happy holiday season!
LuAnn

June Happenings

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!