The days are getting longer -
spring is almost here!
remember, clocks change to daylight Savings Time
Sunday, March 10th.
Upcoming Events:
March Meeting -
Speaker: John Harris
Please be sure to RSVP and put our March 14th meeting in your calendar.
Thursday March 14, 2024 -- 1:00 PM
NH Audubon
84 Silk Farm Rd, Concord
In 1947, Edwin Teale followed the progress of spring over four months from the Everglades to the summit of Mount Washington. His best selling book, North with the Spring, recounts the epic journey he and his wife, Nellie undertook. Author John Harris set out to retrace Teale’s route, stopping at unfamiliar wild places on the same calendar date on which Teale visited. Using Teale’s journal notes and photographs, Harris examined and compared changes in the flora, fauna, and lives of the people along the way. His account documents the losses, details the transformation, and celebrates the victories -- for surprisingly, a remarkable number of east coast refuges have grown wilder during the intervening years.
This event is presented by author John Harris and sponsored by the NH Humanities Council.
Questions? Please contact Linda Gilbert at lvgilbert@comcast.net.
April Meeting -
Speaker: Dr. Doug Tallamy
IMPORTANT! CHANGE OF VENUE!
Due to overwhelming response from members of the public, the venue for our April meeting has been changed to the Concord City Auditorium (The "Audi) . There is now room for all, but please do remember to RSVP.
In honor of our Centennial Year, Concord Garden Club is very proud to present a talk by Doug Tallamy -- author, renowned entomologist and wildlife ecologist, and
Co-Founder with Michelle Alfandari of HOMEGROWN NATIONAL PARK®. (HNP)
Learn more at HNPARK.org.
In this new presentation, Dr Tallamy will address questions about ecological landscaping including ecology and evolution, biodiversity, invasive species, insect declines, native and non-native plants, conservation and restoration, residential and city landscapes, urban issues, oak biology, keystone plants, monarchs, supporting wildlife at home, and more. His goal is to motivate people to help restore ecosystem function where they live, work, play, worship, and farm.
Dr. Tallamy is a professor in the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology at the University of Delaware, where he has authored 97 research publications and has taught insect-related courses for 40 years. Chief among his research goals is to better understand the many ways insects interact with plants and how such interactions determine the diversity of animal communities. Doug is also the author of Bringing Nature Home, Nature’s Best Hope, and The Nature of Oaks.
As a 100th anniversary initiative, Concord Garden Club's goal is, with your help, to put Concord on the Homegrown National Park map in a meaningful way. HNP is an initiative our Club is enthusiastically supporting throughout 2024 as a way to help local gardens become sustainable, and to support wildlife and diverse ecosystems. Along with the City of Concord, we'll also be providing opportunities to learn gardening techniques that support wildlife and diversity, which we hope will help us reach our goal of enrolling 100 Concord gardens with HNP during our 100th year!
This event will be held on
Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 6:45pm.
Doors will open at 6:30.
Concord City Auditorium
2 Prince Street,
Concord, NH
This event is open to the public, and all attendees must pre-register online.
Click here to rsvp.
Questions? Please contact Lauren Savage at lauren.Savage1971@gmail.com
SWAG!
Don't forget to show your Concord Garden Club pride and celebrate our centenary with some cool new gear! On offer are an Eddie Bauer softshell vest, a Port Authority sunhat and gardening apron, Nike baseball cap, and a Carhartt bag with pockets for your gardening tools -- all sporting our beautiful Concord Garden Club logo. They can be ordered directly from our special website here. The CGC will earn a small profit on each sale.
Invitation from The Amherst Garden Club
Thursday, March 7th - presentation at 10:30am
Messiah Lutheran Church
303 Route 101
Amherst, NH
Early Spring Treasures & Ephemerals - Speaker: Susan Kierstead
Amherst Garden Club welcomes longtime member Susan Kierstead for her presentation “Early Spring Treasures and Ephemerals”
Susan's passion for early blooming perennials, especially ephemerals, is sure to excite and inspire you to get some for your own garden. After the snow melts away, these hardy perennials break through the ground letting us know that Spring is here. Susan's idea of a good garden is to see no ground and to plant close, which she calls age proofing. Susan ran a small business called ‘Perennials From Susan’ for 40 years. She hopes to transfer her spring gardening excitement to you!
Membership News:
Concord Garden Club extends a warm welcome to new members Petronella Wilkey and Christine Miller. Please say hello when you see them at an upcoming meeting!
We are also sorry to report the death of our member, Sally Hatch. A donation is being made to the Club in her memory and her name will be added to the list of Memorial Members on our website.
Gardening in March
The following is excerpted from Margaret Roach's gardening website, "A Way to Garden". Margaret writes a gardening column for the New York Times and, like us, gardens in
Zone 5b.
Except in frost-free zones, there are really two March chores lists: one labeled, “If frozen…” and the other, “If thawed…” Many tasks are only to be started if and when the snow melts, the ground defrosts, and mud starts to drain off and dry. If and when. Don’t walk or work in soggy soil, or tread on sodden or frozen lawns unnecessarily. Love your soil, and protect it.
Plus: delaying cleanup a little bit is better for beneficial insects and spiders who are overwintering.
Rake debris carefully off beds that hold earliest bloomers first, like where bulbs are trying to push up through sodden leaves and such, or where triilliums and other ephemerals are growing. DELAY RAKING A FEW DAYS, to support beneficial insects. “Wait until after several 50-degree-Fahrenheit spring days to clean up again,” advised The Habitat Network (the former program from Cornell and the Nature Conservancy). Doug Tallamy agrees, but explains there is no one perfect moment that suits every creature out there, of course. Some overwintering insects, notably bees and certain butterflies and moths, are triggered by a steady stream of 50-degree days to get moving. Once they do, often after resting in leaf litter or under tree bark or even inside goldenrod galls, for example, they’re no longer as vulnerable to our spring-cleaning actions that might kill them, or move them away from their host plant.
Also target earliest bloomers like Euphorbia for immediate cutbacks. Nudge them to push anew from the base with a severe end-of-winter haircut. Even later bloomers that grow from dense, cushion-like crowns (as Sedum spectabile ‘Autumn Joy’ does) will be easier to clean up now than once they start to push.
Cut back evergreen or otherwise-persistent perennial foliage. Leaves of European ginger (Asarum europaeum), Helleborus, and Epimedium, for instance, will soon be replaced with a fresh flush. Yes, the plant will do just fine even if you leave it on, but many with early blooms are better viewed minus all the nasty old foliage.
Cut down ornamental grasses. Mice and other garden undesirables are thinking it’s the Maternity Ward in there, I fear, so off with their heads (the grasses’, that is), right by the base, ASAP.
Empty bird boxes. Bluebirds won’t accept a dirty box, and I always hope for at least one family a year. Wear a glove when you do this task; more than one nesting mouse has run up my arm in the process. Ugh.
Muck fallen leaves from water gardens. This annual ritual, accomplished gently and mindfully with endless swoops of a fish net, may dig up more than debris (like salamanders, wood frog eggs, tadpoles). I’ll get the filters and pumps running, too, once sub-freezing nights cease.
If you use mulch, order bulk mulch from a local source for delivery—skipping all those plastic bags, and all that fuel used trucking bark chips across the nation.
Community Information and
Volunteer Corner
CAPITOL CENTER FOR THE ARTS
You get to see shows for free! We're looking for more ushers to greet patrons with a smile and show them to their seats! As an usher, you may work at both venues: the Chubb Theatre at the CCA and the BNH Stage. Please contact Dawn Coutu with questions at dcoutu@ccanh.com or get started at https://www.ccanh.com/volunteer
GIBSON'S BOOKSTORE SPEAKER EVENT
Tuesday, March 12th, 2024, 6:30 pm at
Gibson's Bookstore,
45 South Main Street, Concord, NH.
No registration required.
Gardeners, spring is coming, and so is the planting season! If you haven't already planned your garden out for the growing season, now is the time to do your prep work. Author and gardener Jane Hawley Stevens comes to share her new book, The Celestial Garden, Growing Herbs, Vegetables, and Flowers According to the Moon and the Zodiac, full of insight, ideas, and inspiration in a highly practical guide to growing successfully in harmony with the moon, the Earth, and other planetary influences.
Planting by the moon is an age-old gardening tradition, but did you know that the cycles of the moon and the zodiac can be a powerful tool to improve your success with all kinds of gardening tasks? In The Celestial Garden, longtime gardener and herbalist Jane Hawley Stevens explains how the movement of the moon through the constellations of the zodiac provides a detailed calendar of optimal times for planting seeds, roots, and transplants, as well as for pruning, weeding, propagation, harvesting, and even starting new garden projects or throwing garden parties. While herbs are Stevens’s specialty, she loves growing all kinds of plants, and The Celestial Garden provides excellent gardening tips for every gardener, whether their passion is for vegetables, fruits, herbs, or flowers. At a deeper level, Stevens believes that gardening by the moon and learning about astrological cycles can help restore our elemental interconnection with Nature and the Earth.
Can't make this event? Order the book through Gibson's website, and leave your personalization/signing request in the order notes!
May Meeting -
Sanborn Mills Farm Tour
May 16, 2024, 10:00 AM
Sanborn Mills Farm, 7097 Sanborn Rd, Loudon, NH 03307, USA
Sanborn Mills Farm is a working farm with a mission to sustain and teach traditional farming and craft skills while stewarding its agricultural landscape for social, environmental, and economic benefits.
Their many gardens include the following: ornamental gardens, stream garden, meadow garden, sally (basket willow) garden, dye garden, teaching/ vegetable garden, kitchen garden, as well as annuals for cut flowers. They offer CSA programs for both produce and flowers.
Sanborn Mills Farm also has a grist mill and a saw mill, and they offer many wonderful workshops including Farm & Garden, Blacksmithing, Woodworking, Fiber Arts, and Historic Craft!
Their web site (https://www.sanbornmills.org) shows why our tour there should be very fun and interesting.
This tour will be held Thursday, May 16th 2024 at 10am. In case of inclement weather, the tour will be rescheduled to the following Thursday, May 23rd.
Members only, no guests
Registration closes May 10, 2024, 10:00 AM
Questions? Contact Ruth Perencevich at rperence@comcast.net.
June - CGC Annual Meeting
As a treat for our 100th Concord Garden Club Annual Meeting luncheon, Author and Humorist Neal Sanders will entertain us with his presentation “Garden is Murder”.
Neal speaks from a ‘husband’s point of view’ of gardening. His presentation is filled with humor and insight from someone who gardens less from an abiding love of horticulture than for the love of a spouse. Good horticultural advice is dispensed, bad advice is debunked. Our members will leave with a better appreciation of what is going on in the mind of their helpmates.
Neal will talk about….
· Why it is impossible to do just one thing in the garden
· Why so much gardening information on the internet is awful
· Why you should never compute the value of your labor in gardening
· Evidence that the wildlife in your garden have never seen a Disney film
· Why it requires digging three holes to plant something
· And much more…
Neal is also an author of 15 mystery themed books, a number of them centered around the bond of members of the Garden Club Gang but also another, stronger bond: each book centers on strong, independent women. Some of those women solve crimes. Some of them commit them. Some did both. Neal will be bringing copies of his books to the luncheon to sell. To review titles and synopsis of the titles, go to: The Hardington Press – The home of mystery writer Neal Sanders
Thursday, June 6 2024
11:30am-2:00pm
Kimball Jenkins Estate
Members Only -- RSVP here
Registration Closes May 10th
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