From the President
Christine Paxhia
On June 12th, we will have our closing meeting and my presidency will come to an end. It’s been an exciting two years.
As you all know by now, I am a particularly avid gardener… some might say addicted. During the last two years, we have had many wonderful and informative programs to help gardeners of all skill levels deepen their appreciation of the skills and techniques to help make their gardens healthier and more colorful.
I have always believed that many lifelong friendships are formed when we are working side by side in the dirt. I am pleased that we have undertaken many projects and have visited and helped with each other’s gardens. I treasure the many plants that I have acquired from my gardening friends and I smile when I see them flourish in my garden. I hope you have had similar experiences. And I hope that you have enjoyed our field trips to Newport and various garden centers.
Conservation of historic gardens is at the core of the Garden Club of America’s mission. There are few things that bring our heritage alive like the gardens that were originally designed and planted by Olmsted, (add other gardeners). Our Spalding Garden designed by Fletcher Steele is a rare gem. We are making steady progress on establishing a non-profit entity to support and sustain this amazing garden. Already, the Master Gardeners have pitched in to help us maintain and improve the Spalding.
Education is central to our mission. Grants to such organizations as our schools and the Eagle Scouts are helping our young people develop their love of gardening. Our new television show is bringing the gardening wisdom of our members to a new audience.
As I have trained to become a judge for garden photography, I have developed such respect for the many talented people that create the masterpieces that are exhibited at garden club shows across the country. I am pleased that a number of our members have recently become more active in photography.
Our club has so many talented flower arrangers!! I get excited when a see our experienced members mentoring newer members in creating flower designs and arrangements. Our holiday green sale is a great place for our members to learn new skills and make creations that beautify homes throughout Milton.
We have so much to be proud of yet much work remains for our incoming President Peggy Rusnock and her team…. The zone meeting is approaching. We must continue to develop new programs and activities to engender the enthusiasm of our membership. We need to consider how our club can become more active in supporting environmental initiatives that are “garden friendly”. For example, the plight of honeybees is especially important, not only to gardeners but also to the farmers that grow our food crops.
I’d like to close by thanking the members of the Executive Board who have been such great colleagues as we planned the future of our club. And I’d like to thank the members that volunteered their time and efforts to make our club so successful. I’ll see you all in the garden!!
Committee News
Photography Notes
By Georgia Lee
For those who would like to enter InstaSpring, our Spring Photography show, there's still time--you have until Memorial Day to enter your submissions. Please refer to the Show Schedule and make sure you follow the rules. Images must be cropped to square. You are encouraged to post directly to the MGC Instagram Account, but you must remember to include your name or initials (i.e. #Glee) or your account (@georgialeetuliptree) and to include the # of the category you're entering.
So far we have 96 submissions. We will gather all the submissions into a book at Closing Meeting and we will Print the Blue Ribbon Winners in all 7 categories and choose a Best In Show from among them.
Please feel free to reach out to Georgia with questions.
Conservation
By Becky Simonds
In March, Tucker Smith, Mary Keally and Becky Simonds met to discuss our conservation exhibit for the Zone 1 meeting in May 2018.Prior to the meeting Tucker and Becky met with other MGC members at the Dedham Hilton to look at the space we will have for the exhibit. At the meeting we discussed the space for the exhibit, the Spring CleanUp for the Native and Rain Gardens at the Trailside Museum (they are the subject of our conservation exhibit), garden improvement items and the budget for them. Next fall, members of the MGC Conservation Committee will gather information about the plants in these gardens, and members of the MGC Photography Committee will photograph the plants culminating in a website dedicated to these gardens.
Act on Neonicotinoids!
Neonicotinoids are manmade chemicals used in plant and seed production and they are exposing pollinators to neuro-disruptive insecticides. The pollen and nectar of treated plants contain “neonic” residues that can bring death to pollinators. Neonic residue can persist in plants and soil for months after application and has been found in woody plants up to six years after application. Milkweed neonic treated plants threaten monarch larvae. One or two bites of such a plant can kill the caterpillar. In early May. GCA President Anne Copenhaver sent a letter to Secretary Perdue in the US Dept. of Agriculture and to Scott Pruitt at the EPA asking that their agencies take action to prohibit seed and plants distributors from using neonicotinoids or at the least label plants that contain them so consumers can make an informed choice.
Sandy Robinson, President of Home Depot has pledged his support. Currently all the seeds they sell are neonic free and by 2018 the plants sold at Home Depot will be as well. I visited Home Depot in Quincy recently and saw not one Proven Winner pot! Proven Winner plants frequently have been treated with neoiocotinoids. Please read plant labels carefully and ask questions! Don’t buy plants treated with neonictinoids and spread the word!
Act to Save our Monuments and Parks!
An email was shared with club members about how to support legislation that is threatened to be removed protecting our newest monuments, parks and protected land. Send your email or letter today!
Neponset Program- Volunteers Needed!
On Monday, June 12we are scheduled to visit the 4th grade classrooms at Collicot Elementary School to share the Neponset Program. I am looking for four volunteers for each classroom visit- see schedule. To-date I have 2 volunteers. Please let me know if you can help out and for which times by sending me an email.
9:00-10:00- John Doyle - room 352 - 26 students
10:05-11:05- Chris Hodgkins - room 354 - 24 students
12:15-1:15- Brenda Rogers - room 344 - 20 students
1:20-2:20- Ronnie McManus - room 356 - 23 students
Revealing the Neponset River
Film Screening and Discussion- Volunteers Needed!
THURSDAY, JUNE 1
7-8:30PM
FULLER VILLAGE
1372 BRUSH HILL RD.
MILTON, MA 02186
Enjoy Milton Garden Club’saward-winning narrated video tourof the Neponset River,followed byinteresting discussionof the historyand futureof the river. This event is free and open to the public and is sponsored by the Milton Garden Club and the Neponset River Watershed Association. I am seeking MGC volunteers to help with this event. Please contact me if you can help.
After the film, members of the Milton Garden Club will discuss their education program, which encompasses two decades of classroom visits to 4th grades in the Milton Public Schools. The program introduces students to the Neponset River, including its history, geography, and wildlife and the role we all play as stewards of these natural resources.
Ian Cooke, Executive Director of the Watershed Association, will share an update on how far the river has come in the 50 years since the Association was founded, will outline some of the remaining challenges facing the river, and will facilitate a discussion with attendees about what they see as priorities for the future.
This program is for all ages and a great family venue. Light refreshments will be provided. Questions and RSVP to Becky Simonds
Blue Hills Gateway Native Plant Garden
By Beth Buckley and Mary Keally
In April, members of the garden club participated in the annual Mass Audubon State Wide Clean up at the Trailside Museum. Members led an educational clean up, with 15 community volunteers and 6 Master Gardeners in training, in the native plant and rain gardens. We have a new partnership with Master Gardeners, Becky and Tucker were able to have the Native and Rain gardens placed on the list of gardens, Master Gardeners can work in to maintain their certification. Becky and Judith created an interactive teaching table about leaf mulch and home compost. We also had a table of handouts, which included information on the rain garden, native plants suitable for our area and invasive species. Tucker and Becky assisted volunteers in a planting and dividing workshop as we divided and transplanted many of the smaller perennials, and moved a number of the larger trees and shrubs as we prepare for the installation of a small pathway into a seating area. Carol Stocker moved about the garden as she answered many gardening questions from our volunteers.
Within the next few months a the new seating area will be constructed, which will allow visitors a closer few of the plants in the garden, as well as a welcome place to rest outside of the museum entrance. The conservation exhibit for the zone show will highlight the use of native plants and sustainable gardening techniques, and the gardens will be included in the tour of gardens. We need help with this project, please let Mary Keally or Beth Buckley know if you would like to help.
Flower Arranging
By Meg Kasuba and Cat Malone
Please consider entering the Flower Show for our closing meeting! We still have spots left. You have been sent the schedule and we eagerly await your entry forms! Please send them to Cat Malone at . If you have any questions or need a gentle nudge please contact Carla at or at 617-875-0593. Deadline is May 31st. Let's do this!
Horticulture
By Jan DeAngelis
As we close out the year one bit of business remains. In preparation for Little Compton’s September Zone meeting plant exchange, we have been asked to grow several native plants from seed. I distributed seeds to several members last spring and if you were among those members, I would like to know if you had success growing them last summer and if they survived the winter to come up again this spring.If you would like to start these seeds now, Ruth Culleton and I have many more for you to grow.Please contact either one of us if you would like to give it a go. The plants are:
Lobelia cardinalis - Cardinal Flower (part shade)
Penstemon digitalis - Bearded Tongue (full sun)
Schizachyrium scoparium - Little Bluestem Grass (sun/part shade, dry areas)
Lupinus perennis - Perennial Lupine (full sun)
Symphyotrichum novae-angliae - New England Aster (full sun/part shade)
While cold stratification is usually recommended, last year around this time, I simply planted them in pots to get them started and had good results.
In addition, it is not too soon to begin thinking about our own plant exchange for our May 2018 Zone meeting. Please consider starting our Magnolia macrophylis seeds which can be obtained through Ruth Culleton and Christine Paxhia. Propagation information will be supplied.
HAPPY PLANTING!!!
The Lily Corner
By Joan Faulkner
We hope for great progress at the Lily Corner this year! Last fall, John Cronin and Therese Desmond helped expand the existing bed and John transplanted some of his prized lilies into the new garden space. Plans are to use the granite slab that is currently resting on the site and mount it to become a bench. “Hemerocallis Corner” will also be more deeply engraved onto the side of the granite. After the bench is in place, a new lily bed will also be created. The project is in the hands of John and Therese so we are still on hold with this, but we are hopeful, as some work has been done.
The plan also includes a plaque dedicating this corner to Martha Curtis, who many MGC members know was both an active member of the Conservation Committee. Martha (Marty) was instrumental in preserving much of the open space in Milton.
Unfortunately, torrential rain caused the cancellation of our planned Lily Corner Clean-up day, so we had to postpone the clean up to Sunday, May 7th. Thank you to Leslie Zimmer and Linda Palmer for their help that day. We weeded, spread compost, divided and transplanted a few lilies and some sedum. Unfortunately, after we started the transplanting, we discovered that the water pump, which was available to us at the Lily Corner, has been permanently turned off. Apparently, one of the neighbors was illegally using the water for their own property needs, so all must now suffer because of an immoral neighbor!
I will be needing help spreading some mulch and also weeding over the summer so please stay tuned for an ask on this. Please volunteer! Many hands make light work!
Thank you.
Perennial Sale
By Christine Paxhia
The early spring garden is one of my favorite visions. There is nothing like a beautiful Iris standing in her regal glory against other spring blooming flowers. The fragrant Lily of the Valley coupled with a waft of Lilac is olfactory heaven. It is also a busy time of year. Everything wakes up in the spring. And what spring would be complete without our perennial sale…
Our members begin preparing by digging, potting, shopping and tagging a wonderful collection of perennials. The most coveted plants always come from our members’ gardens
The Milton library lawn was filled with an abundant display of colorful perennials just in time for Mother’s Day. The residents of Milton have learned to line up early to get the best selection and they weren’t disappointed. After all, finding a native perennial from the garden of Carol Stocker is cool!
This year, the organized and talented duo of Anne Pride and Shelley Gallagher led the compost sale. The entire truckload of 700 bags of compost was sold out. With the help of a couple of high school students earning community service hours, we were able to load the black gold into customers’ cars.
The compost sale netted $3,063.00 - $439 more than 2016. The perennial sale netted $5,577.84 - $776.73 higher than 2016. Please accept my abundant thank you to all who helped make our sale so successful.
Visiting Gardens
By Carla Morey and Anne Gatnick
ROAD TRIP!
“Raising Spectacular Roses Organically and Without Chemicals"
Eric Eisenhauer, Master Gardener
Eric presented to our club in April and he graciously invited us to tour his magnificent Cohasset rose gardens.We will leave the morning ofThursday, June 29th by 9:30am.Carpools will be arranged.After our tour we will lunch at The Atlantic in Cohasset then return to Milton.Stay tuned for the details; we hope you can make it!
News and Events
Milton Garden Club Beautification Grant
By Beth Neville
A new garden surrounding the Pierce Middle School “Granite Sign”is almost complete. The planting project was paid for by a $650.00 grant from the Milton Garden Club and was installed by Milton DPW. The PTO requested the grant funds with the design assistance of Beth Neville. The shrubs will form a colorful, year-round backdrop for the granite sign. The 12 shrubs were chosen for low maintenance, drought resistance and hardiness. They include “Ivory Halo” dwarf Dogwood, “Blue Maid” Holly, “Lynwood Gold” Forsythia, “Gold Mop” Chamera pisifera, “Burkwood” Viburnum and “PJM” Rhododendron. With additional funds from the PTO the foreground will soon be planted with colorful perennials.To enhance the beauty of the garden the black poles supporting town advertising banners will be moved to the right of the garden where they will be visible from many streets.
NepRWA: “Celebrating 50 Years of People, Partners, and Progress”
Wed. June 7 at 6:30pm Four Points by Sheraton Norwood 1125 Boston-Providence Highway (Rte. 1)
Fifty years ago, local activists came together to protect their wetlands and waterways—thus the Neponset River Watershed Association was born.
Join us for this special 50th anniversary annual meeting as we explore the untold story of NepRWA and the people who have worked to make the river into the resource it is today.
Please RSVP by June 1
Events Calendar
Revealing the Neponset River: Thu. June 1, 7:00-8:30 pm @ Fuller Village.
NepRWA50th Anniversary Celebration: Wed. June 7, 6:30 pm @ Four Points by Sheraton Norwood.
Neponset Program at Collicot: Mon. June 12, 9:00 am – 2:20 pm.
Closing Meeting: Mon. June 12, 6:30 pm social, 7:15 pmProgram@ home of Meredith Hall, 41 Russel Street.
Visiting Gardens Trip to Cohasset garden of Eric Eisenhauer: Thu. June 29, 9:30.
Editor
Anke Herbert
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