January - Garden Club of Darien

Garden Club of Darien
Gardenclubofdarien.org
Monthly Newsletter
January 2012
F r o m t h e P r e s i d e n t ’s G a r d e n - C i n d y
The Winter Garden
I love to relax throughout
January and February after a
busy fall and Christmas season,
but there are a few chores to still keep
us busy.
Remember to feed the birds and keep
water in the bird bath. If possible, keep a
heater made for bird baths available when
the water is freezing. If you are really
eager, use your Christmas tree as a bird
feeder or use the branches to cover
tender outdoor plants.
Shake snow off the branches of
evergreens and shrubs. You can use a
broom in an upward motion. Light snow
won’t hurt them but if it becomes wet
and then frozen, the weight may snap off
branches.
Think about forcing forsythia, jasmine,
and quince.
Volume 3, Issue 5
Ryan
Save fireplace ashes for your iris and other
alkaline soil plants.
Keep dust off your house plants. Use water that is room temperature when misting
or watering. On cold nights, close the curtains between your plants and the window.
Make sure they have enough humidity, (put
them on a tray with moistened pebbles or
place a cup of water nearby. Watch for
insects!
This is a good time to get your garden tools
sharpened and oiled.
Consider using sawdust or sand instead of
salt on your walkways. This is also a great
time to look at structural elements in your
garden and plan for new ideas when spring
arrives. A good book is “The Elements of
Garden Design” by Joe Eck. Think about
patterns created by paths, walks, the shapes
of woody plants, shrubs and hedges. Also
think of architectural details such as arches,
steps, bridges, and statues. I hope you will
enjoy these pictures and plan some new
structural details for your garden that you
can enjoy year round!
GCD Calendar
Monday January 9th
Board Meeting at the home of
Cindy Ryan, 3 Harbor Road
Tuesday January 10th
Joint Membership Meeting with
the DCA at the DCA House, 9:30
coffee, 10:00 meeting
Wednesday January 18th
Begonia propagating workshop
hosted by and at the home of
Emily D’Andrea, 9 Hamilton
Lane, 10:00 am
Monday February 6th
Board Meeting at the Home of
Eileen Smith, 54 Stony Brook Rd.
Tuesday February 14th
Membership Meeting at the DCA
House, 9:30 coffee, 10:00 meeting
Hospitality—
Meeting Response
Audrey Cadwallader and Robin
Stineman
The meeting this month
is the Joint meeting with
the DCA at the DCA
house and will be held
Tuesday January 10th,
9:30 coffee, 10:00 meeting. Please RSVP to
Robin at [email protected], 203
655-8790.
February Newsletter Deadline
Monday January 23rd
Email to [email protected]
Garden Club of Darien
January Membership Meeting
2
January 2012
Provisionals
Ann Mckee and Sheryl Lincoln
Susie Brewer
On Tuesday, January 10 we'll meet with the DCA
gardeners and hear Sal Gilbertie, the country's largest supplier of herbs, speak on "Herbs from the
Ground Up. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow." He has a new book coming out that week on
that subject and we hope to able to have it for purchase hot off the presses! Mark your calendars now.
Provisionals Update
Our nine hardworking women are doing a number of things
this year. They have entered the Green Fingers show and
are busily growing all sorts of things, including 1200 bulbs, for
the flower show in March. Their organization and involvement is impressive and we look forward to seeing the final
creation.
The Provisional project this year is to put together a “Flower
Arranging Tool Bag,” which will be for sale at the January
Flower Arranging
meeting. Inside the bag are items like nippers, wire cutters,
wire, floral tape, picks and other useful things every arranger
Emily D’Andrea, Beth Crump, Lisa Brickman
needs. Look for them at their own table at the January 10
meeting. If there is interest and the bags sell out, orders will
be taken for more. The price for each bag hasn’t been deterThe traditional Outdoor Winter Pots Workshop was
hosted at Emily D'Andrea's home on Tuesday Dec 6. The mined yet. Whatever profit is made will be donated to a
finished product will bring a warm welcome to our front
charity chosen by the Provisionals.
doorsteps for many months to come. Thank you Emily!!! Finally, a trug is being developed, which will also be available
for sale. This is a large plastic bin with a rope threaded
through it – useful for pulling large plants, piles of debris or
Although we will not have a January 2012 competition we
anything else. More to come on those.
look forward to our competition in February, a 'Visual
Please make an effort to meet each person. They are all
Interpretation'. This will be a judged in-club competition
on Feb 14. Please think about participating and check the wonderful.
January newsletter for the details and artwork to be interpreted. We will also send an eblast with the artwork so
stay tuned and think about teaming up with someone.
GCA Christmas Tree
Many thanks to Susie Brewer for arranging the spectacular
centerpiece for the lovely Christmas Tea held at Gigi Garnett's. Just a friendly reminder of our very talented &
gracious members--Thanks Susie!
And, THANKS TO ALL of the helping hands in 2011 who
made Flower Arranging workshops a very rewarding experience for everyone.
Thanks to Susie Brewer’s wonderful stitching skills, this beautiful
ornament was the Garden Club of Darien’s contribution to the
GCA Christmas Tree, at headquarters in New York. Above is the
ornament as well as the tree. Thanks, Susie!
Garden Club of Darien
3
January 2012
Horticulture
Pleasure Through Plants
Debbie Bussey and Debby McLean Kearney
Susan Doelp and Pam Elliott
Par Competition in January
On December 7th at the Senior Center, Pleasure Through
Plants Committee members Pam Clark, Susan Doelp
and Charkey Armstrong welcomed a bumper crop of 16 participants! Festive "holiday greens" arrangements of white flowers, mini ornaments and bows were made to classic holiday
tunes and lively discussions. Special thanks to Joanne Shakley
for getting the greens and to Pam Clark for buying many of the
supplies, decorations and containers. Our surprise celebrity
guest visitor GCD President, Cindy Ryan also enjoyed helping
and chatting with the ladies! Instructions were given for basic
arranging and clipping of the greens. One participant confided
that this would be her home's only holiday decoration this year
due to financial constraints. She was so happy and thanked us
repeatedly at the end of our session. A couple of the ladies
planned to give their arrangements to friends who are homeBegonia propagating workshop
bound. This time as the ladies arrived, we issued name tags
On Wednesday, January 18th at 10:00am Emily D'Andrea will (first names only) and it was a great ice breaker. By now, many
host a begonia propagating workshop at her home. There will of the ladies are repeat customers and are really looking forward to our next visit on January 4th with our team:
be a small charge to cover costs. Please bring your own pot
(s) (Emily suggests clay). Maximum 20 people; RSVP to Deb- Susan Shriner, Sheryl Lincoln and Sally Banks.
[email protected].
Christmas gaiety was at an all time high on December 6 at
Elderhouse's temporary location in Norwalk. As festive music
played, 11 ladies, plus one gentleman, laughed and chatted while
Looking ahead to our February in-club competition creating arrangements of greens, red and white flowers, and
mini ornaments. The arrangements were placed in ceramic conStreptocarpella saxorum
tainers shaped like Santa Boots and garnished with candy canes.
These are the plant plugs we passed out to all in September:
Garden Club of Darien members Pam Elliot, Carol Caulfield
Finally ready for show! Entries must be in a 6” round green
pot and groomed for show as per the above. Limit one entry and Margaret Smith circulated to facilitate and offer guidance.
per person. Entries must be in place by 9:00am for judging.
The resulting creations were admired by all, amidst excited
Since the Greenfingers show in March has an unlimited Strep- shared details of where delighted artocarpella class, our in-club competition is a great way to re- rangers planned to display them. Merry
ceive early feedback from GCA judges on your potential
Christmas!
Greenfingers entry.
We hope you will enter our joint par competition with the
DCA Garden Club at our meeting in January. "Par" is a class
in which entries are judged against perfection rather than
against each other. A par class may include anything that
grows – container-grown plants, bulbs, vegetables, terrarium,
parent and child, bonsai, etc. An entry must be of special interest and must have been owned by the exhibitor for at least
6 months (source: GCA Yellow Book). The entry should be
in a clean pot with compatible saucer, dead leaves should be
removed and the entry must be free from insects. Limit one
entry per person. Entries must be in place at the DCA no
later than 9:00am for judging. Just as a reminder, Hort entry
cards are available on the GCD website.
This festive tea table arrangement by Susie Brewer rang in the
holidays at our Christmas Tea.
Garden Club of Darien
4
Photography
Conservation
Danielle Granath and Tracy Drippé
Susan Balloch, Gigi Garnett and Margaret Smith
Congratulations to Amy Cholnoky for winning 3rd
place in The Garden Club of America's online photography
contest in FOCUS in the "Landscape with a man-made feature—Color" category. What an honor for Amy and our
club. She makes us all proud. It was a ‘Peoples Choice’
contest. Members nationwide voted for their favorites and
you'll see why Amy's photo was chosen. Participants were
asked to include a description and Amy's is included below.
January 2012
Conservation is using our club newsletter to highlight some of
the many important conservation based organizations and opportunities in our community. Garden Club of Darien's own
Linda Goodyear provides a valuable service by heading up possibly the most important conservation group of all - The Green
Team. Everyone should know about The Green Team, because
it serves as an umbrella group for approximately 21 conservation
based organizations and interested parties (Garden Club of
Nikon D50 with telephoto lens
“This photo was shot in Torres del Paine National Park in Darien is one). The Green Team creates a vehicle for information exchange, allowing the groups to meet, keep each other
southern Chile. It was late afternoon, with wonderful
informed, and work together on environmental issues which
golden light. Despite the magnificence of the Torres, it
would have been just another photograph without the gen- impact each other and our community. The mission is to help
tleman in his red shirt, standing at the turn of the path. The bring a healthy and safe lifestyle to Darien.
path leads us to him, and then on to the mountains beyond.
I liked the contrasts - of the rustic wooden boardwalk with The Green Team meets every other month and representatives
the soft grasses, of the impact of the red shirt with all the from each of the different organizations give updates each time,
so all conservation groups are aware of what the other local
other naturalistic hues. The shape of the glacier carved
groups are doing and what issues in town may be relevant. Memmountains and the aquamarine color of the lake lend an
bers learn much from each other and are able to support each
otherworldly air to the landscape, and that fellow in his
khaki shorts and bright red shirt bring us right back down other and share information.
to earth.”
Our first contest of the year is in February and the theme
is "Coastal Connecticut." Entries should be delivered to
me the day before or brought to the meeting by 9AM
sharp, with a completed entry card. These may be found
on the GCD website. Entries should be matted on white
or off white and mattes should not be bigger than 11x14.
Plant material should be included, and please identify it if
you can. Let me know if you have an entry and I'll save you
a spot! [email protected]
On December 6th, five members of the Photography Committee traveled to the Katonah Museum of Art to view the
current "New York, New York!" exhibit.
Several prominent photographers and important Impressionists were presented, and the group definitely felt inspired to create fabulous future photographs based on the
viewing! We also had a chance to see the creative Tree
Figure sculptures, ranging in height from 17 to 27 feet; they
are not to be missed!
Many thanks to Clare Hare and Susan Massamillo for organizing our first outing of the year!