MAY 2022 NEWSLETTER
THYME TO GARDEN!
UNDER THE GROW LIGHTS!
 Fellow gardeners, we have turned the corner to a new season! With it are the early blooming flowers and the anticipation of what awaits us. We also welcome visitors, from the tiniest of pollinating insects to the humans who come to admire the spaces where we work.
Enjoying gardens with other people is one of the reasons why many join garden clubs. Many clubs will spend time together this season tending public plantings and visiting gardens. Working with experienced club members is one way for new gardeners to learn, whether it be containers in front of a post office or a garden around a Blue Star marker. Club plant sales are a great opportunity to obtain plants, interact with the public, and perhaps gain new members for our clubs.
A wonderful way to kick off the season in an exceptional garden is the unique educational program that Horticulture Chairman Katy Gannon-Janelle has arranged at Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens for May 23rd. Space is limited because of class sizes.
Medomak and St. Croix districts are having annual meetings in May. I am looking forward to meeting members at both gatherings.
Convention 2022, “Gardens for All Ages, on June 15-16, promises to be a wonderful gathering with a garden tour (which includes a school garden, an award-winning Siberian iris hybridizer, an estate garden, and other member gardens with special touches), a workshop on infusions, a nationally acclaimed speaker on gardening without kneeling, and a streamlined business meeting. A special program of floral designs interpreting pieces by GCFM member artists will inspire us. There will be raffle and silent auction items carefully selected by Stroudwater district clubs and vendors with garden items (think special plants) located in the gardens during the tour.
Back this season are three more gardens in the “Show and Grow” open garden series. We will admire the work of fellow members in three more parts of the state and have a chance to learn about gardening and about flowering arranging. District directors Ellen Jackson (Kennebec), Patty McGinty (St. Croix) and Carol Smith (Penobscot) have arranged with member gardeners Laura Boyette, Lynette Gaslin, and Stan and Deb Short for a special day in each garden. Dates to save are July 14 (rain date July 15) in Pittsfield, August 4 in Augusta and September 10 in Verona Island. Judges Council members Nancy Atwell and Carol Smith will be back with suggestions on combining garden grown (and possibly wild collected) plants into pleasing designs in recycled containers. The gardening presentations include maintenance, garden art and adaptations for aging gardeners.
When our next newsletter issue comes out, we will be welcoming several changes including a new website and webmaster and a new newsletter editor. We thank our Newsletter Editor Suzanne Bushnell for her many years of exceptional service and our hardworking Website Committee, Fran Moore, Suzanne Bushnell, Kathleen Marty, Nancy Atwell, Kathleen Marty, Judith Tarbox and Judy Stallworth who have tended our site for eight years.
Enjoy the exuberance of this spring, the flowering trees and special perennials that only make an appearance at this time of year. Cut a few to decorate your homes. Keep up with garden chores to set the stage for the entire growing season. Enjoy fellow garden club members in springtime projects. We have waited all winter for this! Harriet
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CONVENTION IS ALMOST HERE!
NOW is the time to register for Convention (June 15-16) if you haven’t already! The registration form is on the GCFM website and may be either completed online or by hand. The early registration deadline is May 30th. If you are planning on staying at the Sheraton Sable Oaks, use the link or phone number on the registration form to do so. The registration deadline to obtain our significantly discounted room rate is May 18th, so don’t delay!
The Gorham Garden Club is hosting this year’s garden tour, and there are six wonderful gardens to see. The Morin Garden (photo right) focuses on three-season bloom amongst the fieldstone walls and walkways avoiding pesticides and herbicides. Whimsical accents are tucked in unexpected places! The Smeltzer garden is inspired by “A Garden from a Hundred Packets of Seeds” by James Fenton. Paula has created a “Mad Hatters” version of  a four-square design. Kaye Hill’s Garden has been created in raised beds, with vegetables grown on the deck that are easy to access for summer meals. Treworgy Gardens features garden rooms on five acres, with paths meandering throughout the property. And last but by no means least, Cole Gardens (photo left) features spectacular blooming Siberian Irises hybridized by Dean Cole. In addition to more than 4,000 iris plants, there are vegetable and perennial gardens around the property.
In addition, the Gorham Middle School will be on the tour. Their garden focuses on “Harvest for Hunger” by providing interdisciplinary service learning about growing vegetables. They donated 1700 pounds of vegetables to the Gorham Food Pantry in 2021!
Our vendors this year will be placed in the gardens, selling hostas, daylilies, dwarf bearded iris rhizomes (not the Cole hybridized plants), clematis, succulents, and stained-glass garden ornaments, as well as the Gorham Garden Club plant sale. Bring your checkbook (not everyone takes credit cards) and plan to buy lots of plants for your garden! (Submitted by GCFM 2nd VP and Convention Chairman Karen Rea, Longfellow Garden Club)
ACTIONS BY THE GCFM BOARD
When the GCFM regular board meeting was scheduled for March 7, the officers had no idea that our website would be a pressing issue. We learned in late January that the software which runs it is obsolete and that we must make a change by June 30. Following much discussion and the involvement of board members beyond the Website Committee, a motion to stay with our current provider was tabled. In a special board meeting on April 1 the board voted to contract Links Web Design for a new site. Barb Dalton was appointed webmaster. (Submitted by GCFM President Harriet Robinson)
ST. CROIX DISTRICT PLANS ANNUAL MEETING FOR MAY 24TH
The Ellsworth Garden Club will host this year's St. Croix District Annual Meeting on Tuesday, May 24th. The location is St. Dunstan's Episcopal Church, 134 State Street in Ellsworth with registration beginning at 9:30 a.m. During the business meeting, current District Director Patty McGinty, of the Bucksport Garden Club, will turn over her job to new District Director Phyllis Mobraaten of the Bar Harbor Garden Club. After the business meeting, Colleen Teerling, Forest Entomologist at the Maine Forest Service Insect and Disease Lab, will talk about "Insect Threats to our Trees and What You Can Do." A buffet luncheon of sandwiches, wraps, salads and desserts will be served. The registration fee to attend is $30. After the meeting concludes, attendees will have the opportunity to tour the demonstration garden on the church grounds which is planted with native plants. The garden is a joint project of the Ellsworth Garden Club, the Master Gardener Volunteer Program and church members. (Information provided by Ellsworth Garden Club President Monica Moeller)
MEDOMAK DISTRICT ANNUAL MEETING TO BE HOSTED BY CAMDEN GARDEN CLUB
On Wednesday, May 25th, the Camden Garden Club will host this year’s meeting of the five clubs in the Medomak District with a luncheon and program at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Camden. The clubs, which take turns hosting in an alphabetical rotation, are the Bath Garden Club, Boothbay Region Garden Club, Camden Garden Club, Topsham Garden Club, and Garden Club of Wiscasset.
This year’s speaker will be former GCFM President Suzanne Bushnell whose topic is “Introducing Maine’s First Gold Star Families Memorial Marker and Garden.” Suzanne is also a former president of the Harpswell Garden Club, which created this first Gold Star marker in Maine. The marker honors the families of U.S. Armed Forces who died in battle or in support of certain military activities. National Garden Clubs (NGC) supports its member clubs who work with Gold Star Families to honor our fallen heroes. The event will have a red, white and blue theme in honor of the Gold Star Marker program and the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. (Submitted by Sherry Cobb of the Camden Garden Club)
MT. BLUE AREA GARDEN CLUB THE RECIPIENT OF UP TO $40,000 IN GRANT MONEY TO RESTORE A MONUMENT IN FARMINGTON
 Congratulations to the Mt. Blue Area Garden Club who recently were awarded a grant of up to $40,000, funded from money set aside in the American Rescue Plan Act for use in Franklin County, to restore a World War I Memorial in Farmington, also known as the Teague Memorial Project (photo at left). According to Marion Hutchinson, Treasurer of the Club, it took nine months of meetings with the county commissioners to reach the decision to support the Club's efforts to restore this monument.
During a March 15th meeting, the county commissioners reviewed several more proposals and requests for funding from various groups. The club approached the commissioners with members of the American Legion Post 28 and Christian Elkington, superintendent of RSU 9. RSU 9 has an interest in supporting the project through some of their programming, potentially reducing the costs. The Legion Post had not taken a formal vote on their support for the project but the general impression from members was that the post would be supportive in whatever way feasible. The Club told commissioners that decisions and plans for restoring the monument would be made by a group of stakeholders and invited a member of the commissioners' board to join the group. A motion was then made to give the Club an initial $20,000 for the project and after a progress report was given as the project progressed, up to an additional $20,000 could be made available to complete the project. (Information for this article submitted by Club Treasurer Marion Hutchinson)
NEWS FROM THE LONGFELLOW GARDEN CLUB
Longfellow Garden Club is wrapping up a great year! We were able to meet every month either by Zoom or in person. Members Shirley Helfrich and Beth Addison will be treating us to their presentation, “Gardens We Love” at our annual meeting. We are looking forward to our annual Plant and Pie Sale, May 21, 2022 from 9-11 a.m. at the Woodfords Congregational Church in Portland. This has become a favorite among many as we offer plants from the Longfellow Garden (behind the Longfellow House on Congress Street), members gardens, homemade pies and increasingly popular garden accessories. The planning committee is busy planning summer outings for July and August as well as monthly programs starting up again in September. Be sure to check out our website or Facebook page for ongoing events and activities! (Submitted by Longfellow Garden Club President Debbie Peck)
HARPSWELL TO WELCOME AWARD-WINNING FLORAL DESIGNER LEE LAPOINTE IN JUNE
 The Harpswell Garden Club has just completed its program schedule for the upcoming year and is pleased to announce they'll be hosting a well-known floral designer for their June meeting. Lee LaPointe, a summer resident of Boothbay, has agreed to travel to Harpswell on Thursday, June 23rd to demonstrate some of her incredible talents in floral design. Her program is entitled, "Do You See What I See." She is the former National Chair of the Garden Club of America's Flower Show Committee, an expert in Ikebana design, and has exhibited and judged floral arrangements both across the US and internationally. The program will be held at the Kellogg Church in Harpswell starting at 1:00 p.m.
The Club will also be hosting its Annual Meeting as a catered outdoor picnic on the grounds of the Harpswell Historic Park on Thursday, May 19th. The speaker will be Andrea Berry of the Wild Seed Project. (Submitted by Suzanne Bushnell, a member of the Harpswell Garden Club's Program Committee)
HARBOURSIDE GARDEN CLUB ANNOUNCES PLANT SALE PLANS
 Harbourside Garden Club will be holding their annual indoor plant sale on Saturday, May 28, 2022, at the Kittery Lions Club, 117 State Road (Rt. 1), Kittery, Maine, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. There will be perennial plants from members' gardens including groundcovers, herbs, small trees and shrubs, both sun and shade loving plants, houseplants and annuals. Raffle items include a hand-made quilt as well as donated container plants and gift cards. The White Elephant table always has some great bargains. Come early for the best selection. (Submitted by Joan Ganotis, Harbourside Garden Club Secretary)
RE-TREEING ELLSWORTH
For 2021 the Ellsworth Garden Club chose as its theme: Working for Tree-covery. The theme was chosen in the context of the impending release of the ten-year Green Plan for the City of Ellsworth in winter of 2021, and the plan’s recommendations for the development of a systematic, long-term urban forestry program for the community (see www.greenellsworth.org). As the initiating non-profit partner for the Green Plan along with the City planning department, the Garden Club is also committed to action to address Green Plan recommendations.
During 2021 the club joined with Green Ellsworth (the organization  behind the Green Plan) to further assess the state of Ellsworth’s current tree canopy, set in place a maintenance and management plan (none existed prior to 2021), activate community giving and engagement and undertake priority profile plantings and preparations for future plantings.
More specifically this involved a successful application to the federal Project Canopy Grant ($10,000) which enabled us to commission a Canopy Coverage Assessment of the City. It involved Club volunteers further extending our street tree survey into a large block of residential streets and updating our GIS street tree map accordingly. It also involved fundraising an additional $16,000 from private and business sources and another $4000 from the City of Ellsworth to support refurbishing and replanting crabapples and landscaping around Ellsworth’s City Hall and a pilot planting of eight maple trees on High Street.
Additionally, the club joined with another Green Ellsworth partner, Frenchman Bay Conservancy, to break ground for a Community Tree Nursery which has been designed to accommodate up to 500 trees at any one time. Located at the Conservancy’s Jordan Homestead Preserve, the nursery will facilitate less costly, more successful, and environmentally friendly tree plantings in the city. It was laid out with amendments, cover crops and fencing in 2021 in preparation for the planting of the first 80 trees this spring. Also involving Ellsworth Rotary and Downeast Trout Unlimited volunteers, the club will begin planting in the week between Earth Day and Arbor Day with the last of the trees being planted by Ellsworth Elementary School students on Arbor Day in keeping with the Arbor Day proclamation released by our Mayor.
This is just the first year in an ongoing plan to “re-cover” our city after the devastating effects of Dutch elm disease in Ellsworth and cultivate a team of volunteer forestry stewards to better manage our urban canopy. The club sees this as not only an enhancement of the City’s aesthetic and environmental assets but also a contribution to green infrastructure which will augment the city’s aging storm water system through greater retention and slower release of storm water, help to lessen the heat island effects of pavement and reduce our carbon footprint. (Submitted by Ellsworth Garden Club member Mary Blackstone)
NEWS FROM THE FOOTHILLS GARDEN CLUB
Foothills Garden Club co-sponsored the March lecture series at the McLaughlin Garden as a hybrid program. After a rough start, we learned how to have in person lectures available to people at home. The GCFM zoom account was appreciated for our programs. Based on its success, our club’s annual meeting was also a hybrid. Every year our annual meeting features a slide show of the gardens we visited the previous season. We have planned an active season in 2022 outside seeing gardens and being with each other. Members will also volunteer at the McLaughlin Garden. Volunteering is a year-round activity with some members working many hours and others helping out occasionally. (Submitted by Foothills Garden Club President Harriet Robinson)
NOT TOO LATE TO SIGN UP FOR NEXT SESSION OF FLORAL DESIGN WORKSHOPS
 Judges' Council has announced the next group of floral design workshops which will run from May to October 2022. The Registration forms were sent to all club presidents to share with their members. The form is also now available on the GCFM website's HOME page by clicking this link. The cost for members continues to be $50 if you sign up for all six classes, or, $10 per class if you sign up separately. Non-members of garden clubs can sign up as well but for a slightly increased cost. Your check should be made out to Judges' Council of Maine and sent to Linda Frinsko, 24 Mountview Road, Gorham, ME 04038. The completed form should be mailed to Marilyn Traiser, 25 Fiddlers Lane, Yarmouth, ME 04096. Remember to print off the correct form for the group of classes you're interested in. The next session begins May 11. The advanced group begins Session #8 and will be doing a cascade design with the theme "April Showers Bring May Flowers". The basic group will be starting Session #2 and learning to do a petite design using fresh and/or dried plant material. On June 8 the advanced class will be doing a still life design, and the basic class will be doing an angular design.
All workshops will be given in the auditorium in the Parish Hall of St. Mary’s Church, 43 Foreside Road (Rt. 88), Falmouth, ME, starting at 10:00 a.m. for the advanced class and 1:00 p.m. for the basic class. New students are always welcome! Complete descriptions of workshops and materials to bring will be emailed to you when your registration form and check are received. (Information submitted by Maine Judges' Council Chairman Marilyn Traiser, a member of the St. Mary's Garden Club; Photos submitted by Suzanne Bushnell from the April advanced class, a creative grouped mass design)
CENTRAL MAINE GARDEN CLUB RENOVATES NATIVE PLANT GARDEN
 The Central Maine Garden Club has been working on a renovation project of the Native Plant Garden begun back in 2008. Over the years the light conditions changed which created the need for a change. Before we could do anything, the trees were removed and all our planning was for not. We spent last year planning and rescuing what we could. By the end of summer, we had held several work parties and put the garden to bed for the winter. We are now anxiously waiting to see the results of our work. We are going to add more plants this year, labels to help visitors and the other finishing touches. We are now working with the Waterville Historical Society and the garden information can be found on the Redington Museum website. We are anxiously waiting to hear about a grant to aid us in creating a QR code and file of all the native plants requirements and how they help the wildlife in our area. This will be available to local schools, home schoolers and anyone who would like to visit and enjoy the gardens. (Submitted by Central Maine Garden Club member Cathy Ribbons)
BUCKSPORT GARDEN CLUB WELCOMES NEW MEMBERS
The Bucksport Garden Club opened the 2022 season with eight new members and an interesting program on the new Seed Lending Library called "Bucksprouts" at the Buck Library in town. It is the program originated by member, Terry VanPraet, in her coursework through the Master Gardener Volunteer program. Our new yearbook is dedicated to member Carol Buchanan, for her many contributions over the years. A delicious luncheon by the board members was served after the meeting.
Next month on the 11th, the meeting will feature Lani Carlson, Maine AgrAbility Coordinator for the University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Farmington. She will be speaking on ways to garden more easily and efficiently as we age. May 24th is the St Croix District Annual Meeting sponsored by the Ellsworth Garden Club. We close out the month with our Spring Plant and Pie Sale on the 24th. It is always popular and well attended plus being a super fundraiser for the club. (Submitted by Bucksport Garden Club President Linda White)
EVERGREEN GARDEN CLUB ELECTS NEW OFFICERS
The Evergreen Garden Club held its Annual Meeting via Zoom on Tuesday, March 15th. At the meeting we elected a new slate of officers: President - Kathie Keane; Vice President - Joan Schlosstein; Secretary - Amy Jordan; Treasurer - Tiffany Shepherd. We also had a slideshow celebrating our many accomplishments in 2021.
Planning for our annual plant sale is in full gear and members are dividing and potting plants for the sale. Members are also providing raffle prizes. The plant sale helps us with expenses for the Mariners Memorial Park. The Raffle money will go towards our new Evergreen Fund with the Maine Community Foundation (https://www.mainecf.org/), which will hopefully help us with our ongoing expenses. Plant sale date is Saturday, May 21, weather permitting (May 22 rain date). It will be held outdoors from 10 a.m. until noon, at the old Deer Isle Elementary School (across from the Congregational Church, Route 15). Plants for sale will include perennials, vegetable seedlings, flower seedlings, fruit trees, herbs, and native plants.
We hold Mariners Mondays where member volunteers help us maintain Mariners Memorial Park, which is owned and maintained by the club since 1961. Recently we have been eliminating as many brown tail moth nests as possible and are also ‘rescuing’ apple trees that have been tangled by bittersweet and hidden by brush. So far just this year, members have provided well beyond fifty hours of service to the club.
Artifacts found by Dr. Bert Yankilun in the Park are now stored in an antique printer's drawer/letterpress tray (see photo) and will be on display for the public in different locales on the island. We continue to coordinate with Opera House Arts (https://www.operahousearts.org/) to provide Shakespeare in the Park, our Mariners Memorial Park, this coming summer. We’ve selected the location for the audience and for parking.
Besides our Facebook page, Evergreen Garden Club Groups, we have a blog for members who do not use Facebook which can be found at https://evergreengardenclubdeerisle.blogspot.com. (Submitted by Evergreen Garden Club member Toni Griskivich)
KENNEBEC VALLEY GARDEN CLUB HOSTS SUCCESSFUL ART IN BLOOM
 The Kennebec Valley Garden Club presented our 3rd Art in Bloom on Saturday, March 19th with our partners Friends of Lithgow and the Lithgow Library in Augusta. A dreary cool grey day drew in more attendees than ever! There were 15 flower arrangements that highlighted Maine lifestyles including blueberry picking, hiking, maple sugaring to celebrate Lithgow's 125th anniversary and support of Ukraine.
All appreciated Judy Mank's flute serenade throughout the event while our raffle choices helped fund our Barrow Scholarship fund for students focusing on environmental studies. Next year we hope to have more participation within the club and Lithgow library staff! (Submitted by Kennebec Valley Garden Club President Ellen Jackson)
HORTICULTURE CHAIRMAN'S COLUMN: SPRING HOPES ETERNAL WITH SPRING EPHERMERALS
 I hope everyone has been able to visit McLaughlin Garden for their beautiful display of spring ephemerals. They dot the slope behind the property in drifts, in purely poetic shapes and quantities. The hillside is perfect for many of these plants that love the well-drained soil, peppered with rocks left by glaciers and deciduous trees planted by the wind over decades. And they give us ideas for our own gardens.
Earlier this spring I was able to catch Corey Kotfila, Horticulturalist at McLaughlin Garden and Homestead to answer a few questions I had about these beautiful plants. He feels fairly confident that this season the spring ephemerals peak will be right on schedule, pretty much right now in fact, as you read this! Many of these plants, actually most, are natives. Making a splash, according to Kotfila, are Aquilegia canadensis (wild columbine), Dodecatheon meadia (shooting star), Mertensia virginica (Virginia bluebells), and Dicentra cucullaria (Dutchman's breeches).
For club members lucky enough to have gardens with similar conditions, I had asked him to call out particularly beauties that can be purchased locally. He says “Some less-common species suited for deciduous forest hillsides include Trillium spp., Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot), and Uvularia sessifolia (sessile bellwort). “I like to hear what plants an expert botanist prefers and why, so he shared his love for “Hepatica nobilis-- an anemone with a deep purple flower and three-lobed leaves. It's a relatively small plant but the longer you stare at it, the more incredible details you notice!” Doesn’t that just make you want to run over there and see it? Or maybe even better, get one or three for your own yard? For more inspiration head to the McLaughlin website for hours and think about planning a quick visit, either personally or with your club.
As for those of us with site conditions that don’t include rocky hillsides, there are still other choices out there. My own woodland garden is flat, damp, and acidic clay but manages some lovely ephemerals too. The best by far is the carpet of erythronium americanum, or trout lilies. Their Liliaceae family is easy to spot in the nodding yellow, bell-shaped blossoms. Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris), and the bloodroot mentioned above also thrive in my damp woodland. And while not a true ephemeral as its leaves persist and beautiful red berries appear late in summer, the Jack-in-the-pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) do add to the early woodland scene beautifully.
If you find your garden with a bloom gap between your early spring bulbs and your tulips or June peonies and iris, why not dip into the spring ephemerals, and enjoy their fleeting glory? You will find yourself anticipating their beauty all winter, as spring hopes eternal. (Submitted by GCFM Horticulture Chairman Katy Gannon-Janelle, member of the St. Mary's Garden Club)
REGISTRATION OPENS FOR THE NORTHERN NEW ENGLAND TRI-STATE SYMPOSIUM
The Northern New England Tri-State Symposium, scheduled for August 22-24, 2022, is now open for registration. The form can be found on the New England Garden Clubs website or by clicking this link. For those not familiar with what a symposium is, it's an in-depth course of study pertaining to design, horticulture, and allied subjects pertaining to flower shows. All flower show judges must periodically refresh their accreditation with course attendance at symposiums. Even if you're not a flower show judge, you can learn a lot about the fundamentals of flower show judging by attending a symposium.
This year's course instructors are Julia Clevett and Darlene Newell. Julia, originally from the United Kingdom, is now a resident of Virginia. She's a master flower show judge, an NGC design instructor, and currently serves as the NGC Symposium Chairman. Darlene is a resident of West Virginia, a master flower show judge, an NGC design instructor, and currently serves as the NGC Horticulture Instructors Chairman.
The symposium will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel in Manchester, NH. Room rates are $149 per night and reservations may be made by contacting the hotel at 603-625-1000. Remember to ask for the NEGC Symposium room rate when contacting the hotel.
"GATHER IN THE GARDEN" PHOTO CONTEST NOW OPEN TO ENTRIES
The NEGC Annual Meeting in October will feature a photography contest open to any member who'd like to show off their photography skills. To find out more details on how to enter and an explanation of the classes of photos, click this link to the registration form. Entries will be professionally judged and the winners will be featured at the meeting to be hosted in Nashua, NH by the New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs (see related article below about the Annual Meeting). Arabella Dane, coordinator of the NEGC Photography Group, will be receiving all entries starting May 1st till August 30th. Entries should be sent to her at arabella.dane@gmail.com.
NEGC ANNUAL MEETING REGISTRATION FORM IS NOW AVAILABLE ON NEGC WEBSITE
The New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs (NHFGC) is hosting the New England Garden Clubs, Inc., 6th Annual Meeting on October 18 – 19, 2022 (Tuesday and Wednesday) in Nashua at the Event Center/Courtyard Marriott. The Registration Form is now available by going to the New England Garden Clubs website at www.newenglandgc.org. Click on the MEETINGS tab to find the Registration Form which also includes the schedule of events. Besides a fashion show, the New Hampshire Federation has two excellent presenters lined up to both entertain and educate you. Arabella Dane will be coordinating a fabulous photography exhibit of members' photos. And Amy Cordello with Pleasant View Gardens (home of the famous Proven Winners cultivars) will introduce attendees to new Proven Winners plants to be introduced next spring. Come enjoy a few days in Southern NH amid the beautiful October foliage and take in all that the area has to offer. We hope to see many NEGC members attending. (Submitted by the New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs)
NOT TOO LATE TO JOIN THE NEGC PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP
If you're interested in fine tuning your photography skills, no matter if you use your smartphone camera, a point and shoot camera, or an expensive camera with an interchangeable lens, it's not too late to join the NEGC Photography Group. Send your name and email address to Arabella Dane by clicking this link to her email address. She will add your name to the growing list of members (now at 600) who have joined the photography group and enjoy learning from professionals in the field of photography! In March,105 members signed up to hear a webinar hosted by Molly Isaacs who gave tips on everything from backlighting a subject before taking the photo, to discovering better angles to take a photo. The tentative date for the next photography webinar is August 16th. The speaker will be Colleen Miniuk, an award-winning photographer and author from Arizona. Her topic will be the Joys and Challenges of Macro and Close-up Photography. To read the newest issue of the NEGC Photography Group's newsletter, click this link.
UPCOMING EVENTS YOU DON'T WANT TO FORGET!!
Memorial Day is May 30th. If your club maintains either a Gold Star or Blue Star marker and garden, don't forget to put a decorative wreath or other symbolic arrangement near your marker! The week of June 5-11 is National Garden Week. The National Garden Clubs (NGC) provides a free poster you can download from their website to mark this occasion. Click this link to take you to their information page about National Garden Week where you'll also see a link to their poster and ideas about how to celebrate the occasion. It's a great way to promote your club at your local library, garden center, or other places where the poster might be seen by people interested in gardening. And speaking of promoting your club to increase membership -- if you're having a plant sale or garden tour, don't forget to display information on how to join your club! Finally, you can see upcoming plant sales and garden tours by going to our website's interactive calendar by clicking this link. If you haven't provided information about these types of events, you'll need to do so quickly by emailing the information to info@mainegardenclubs.org.
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is my last issue as your newsletter editor. I have held this volunteer position since March of 2015 -- much longer than I ever expected to serve in one job! Thanks to all of you who've contributed to the success of this newsletter. Without your news, we would never know what is occurring around our Federation. Carmen Weatherbie of the Longfellow Garden Club will now assume the role of your newsletter editor. She can be reached at cweatherbie@maine.rr.com. I'm sure she'll want to get your news by mid-June for the July issue. Sincerely, Suzanne Bushnell
IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER
* May 9 GCFM Board Meeting by Zoom
* May 11 Floral Design Workshops, Falmouth
* May 16-20 NGC Convention, Orlando, FL
* May 18 Deadline for GCFM Hotel Reservations
* May 30 Deadline for Early Convention Registrations
* May 30 Memorial Day
* June 5-11 National Garden Week
* June 8 Floral Design Workshops, Falmouth
* June 15-16 GCFM Convention, Sheraton Sable Oaks, Portland
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Cordially,
Harriet Robinson
President
president@mainegardenclubs.org
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