August 10, 2014

Dear Club Members,

Welcome to the 2014-2015 garden club year! We hope that you all had a beautiful and happy summer.

We have just completed a wonderful garden tour and our major fundraiser. Thanks to all club members who participated in the tour. Special thanks to Jeanne Grandy and Margaret Pulito for co-chairing the tour committee and to all the committee members who worked for months organizing and preparing for the tour. We netted over $11,000 for our civic projects and community programs going forward.

Our club’s purpose is “to stimulate interest and creative activity in the art of gardening; to enhance the beauty of our community; to contribute to civic improvement; to work for the conservation of native plant and wildlife.” Our program committee, our horticultural study committee and our flower arranging study group are all working hard to design programs to stimulate both our interest and our creativity. Our civic programs all contribute to different aspects of civic improvement, while our conservation committee has been hard at work informing us about what we can do conserve our environment. Other committees work to make our community of gardeners, our club, a welcoming and vibrant space for visitors and newcomers, while offering us opportunities to share our talents and to learn from each other.

Thanks to all who have agreed to chair our committees. This year we have co-chairs for almost all the committees. The co-chairs will share the responsibilities of leading the committee and support each other.

Check out your website. The new and improved site is the work of Ann Painter and Madeleine Hexter. It is full of useful information. Be sure to check the master calendar frequently to keep up with committee activities. The website will soon have the details of the hospitality committee, including the duties of those serving at each meeting and the schedule of those providing food at each meeting.

Save the date. The Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut Awards Meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 29th at the Aqua Turf Country Club in Southington, CT. Those who attended last year had an enjoyable time and managed to come home with some nice awards! This year the meeting will include a standard flower show with the theme “A Bountiful Connecticut” presented by the Connecticut Judges Council. For those of us who are thinking about another standard flower show in the near future the show will give us food for thought.

If you enjoy the garden club as much as we do - bring a friend. Remember you each have one free guest pass. Make this the year that you use yours.

Joan Martin and Susan Petty-Bailer, Presidents

JUNIOR GARDENERS

Karen Rider and Liz Cloud are busy planning projects for the children at Hillcrest Area Neighborhood Outreach Center (HANOC) in West Hartford. The committee has been instrumental in teaching children the fundamentals of flower arranging, how to plant and maintain the center’s flower beds and how to create interesting and useful projects using seasonal flowers and vegetables. It’s a fun group, and who knows… somewhere down the line, these children may join a garden club and start the cycle all over again.

FLOWER ARRANGING STUDY GROUP Thursday, October 9th 2 – 4 Noah Webster House We welcome all new members to the first fall meeting of the FASG. You will learn the basic elements and principles of design while you create an arrangement to take home. There will be a demonstration of either a horizontal of vertical design at the beginning of the session and the committee of your WHGC friendly experts will assist you in your efforts. It’ll be a positive experience and everyone has a lot of fun.

A sign-up sheet will be passed at the first general meeting in September. You will receive a materials list at that time. We hope to see a lot of new faces on October 9 and, as always, ALL MEMBERS ARE INVITED. Francie and Marjorie

GARDEN THERAPY

Judy Joly will once again head up our very active Garden Therapy program. Whether you are helping out at West Hartford Health and Rehab, Plant Senior Housing or Hughes, you will always leave, knowing that you made a positive difference in the lives of some very special seniors.

They simply love having the opportunity to design a floral arrangement which will brighten up their personal space. Check the web site calendar for program dates and times. If you haven’t already signed up for this committee, it’s not too late – simply contact Judy for details.

Hospitality Schedule September 2014 Thru May 2015

Horticulture

Study

Group

For those of you who always wanted to know how…

• your neighbor managed to grow such gorgeous vegetables and breathtaking flowers

• to design that perfect flower bed or garden

• to create a winter holiday arrangement that actually lasts thru the holidays

• to revive a sickly plant or tree

• to prepare your soil for maximum growing results and so much more

Steve Kovack, Jr. and Suzanne Sayers are heading up this committee. Check our Web calendar for special events!

RIDE the GARDEN EXPRESS

You never have to miss a meeting! If you need a ride to a monthly meeting, call Chloe Horton. She is coordinating the "Garden Express" so that every member has an opportunity to attend our meetings. Her phone number is 860-523-4574 and her e-mail is hnutcracker@aol.com Please don't wait until the last minute to call; she needs time to make the arrangements.

Programs and Membership

A Winning Combination Check our web site for a listing of open programs scheduled for 2014 – 2015. If you know a friend who would particularly enjoy one or more of these events, why not encourage them to Save the Date and join in on the fun. They may even wish to join the West Hartford Garden Club! Patty Neidlinger & Ann Painter Head up our Membership Committee Margot Egan & Paige Falasco Are in charge of Programs

~

Flowers Always

make people better happier and more helpful;

they are sunshine, food and medicine to the sole

~Luther Burbank

"A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows." Doug Larson

Civic Projects

On Friday, May 23rd, the Civic Projects Committee was joined by then President Margaret Pulito, past President, Ellen Clarke, and relatively new Club member, Sharon Mulvey, to re-do the planter box near the athletic fields at Conard High School. Boxwoods had become way overgrown and a place to stash trash and other items ~ we found a whole orange in a brown paper bag! All planting materials were removed with the help of Conard grounds staff, and healthy specimens were divided for planting elsewhere. Existing Heuchera were saved and divided for re-planting as part of the new plan. Soil was loosened and enriched before adding new Red Twig Dogwood “Arctic Fire”(Fornus stolonifera ‘Farrow”), Crimson Fountain Grass ‘Rubrum” (Pennisetum Sataceum), Coral Bells ‘Silver Scrolls” (Heuchera), and Dusty Miller ‘Silver Dust”. Total cost for this project was only $ 111.95. The Committee is grateful to Ellen Clarke for help in design, Flower Power Nursery, each one who worked on this project, and to everyone in the Club for supporting our 2014 Garden Tour which raised the funds to enable this project and more. Newer Club members may be thinking: “so how did the Club become involved with Conard High?” Answer: the history of the WHGC involvement goes back many years. In 2001, with Heidi Williams as Civic Projects Chair, the Club worked with landscape architect, Chris Morehardt, to create and install a Japanese style garden in an open courtyard near the main entrance and the school’s front office. It was the fourth step in completing a two year, $5,000 + transformation of the facility after Conard had undergone extensive renovation 1997-1999, and was initiated when Ellen Clarke was actively involved with both the garden club and the PTO. The first three phases of the project included beds on either side of the front entrance and plantings on the front façade by the parking area, a raised bed and window wall garden in an exterior courtyard by the cafeteria, and beds on either side of the front entrance. Additional planting was done in 2003-2005, including the planter just refurbished.

NOTE: The Civic Projects Committee is smaller than in years past and serves more as a “planning” committee. Our first Fall meeting is FRIDAY, September 5th at 2 PM at Grandy’s. The committee welcomes the involvement of all Club members ~ you helped raise the funds! Kindly let either co-chair, Betty Payton or Jeanne Grandy, know of your interest in attending meetings or of digging in the dirt for our projects. Thank you! Submitted by Jeanne Grandy, Civic projects Co-Chair with Betty Payton PS: Civic Projects Chairs have been sorting through past project materials. If you have some you no longer wish to keep, please pass them along to Jeanne Grandy. Thanks!

West Hartford Garden Club

First Flower Arranging Challenge September 4, 2014

Several Club members will be presenting their floral arrangements and talking about their design process at our September 4 Club Meeting. (The deadline for signing up was August 15, 2014.) A surprise designer will comment on the arrangements.

Goal: Education and Fun, mostly Fun

Rules:

Primarily Fresh Seasonal Flowers Any Type of Container Welcome One Arrangement per Person Federated Arranging Rules Need Not Apply Designers Will Talk About their Arrangements For Questions, contact:

Joan Martin at joanmurray.martin@gmail.com

Or

Chloe Horton at hnutcracker@aol.com

Membership Committee

We look forward to seeing everyone at the Club meetings during the year ahead. With the start of the

new year each member has one “free pass” available. Use your free pass to bring a friend to a meeting. When you bring a guest, please remember to notify either Patty Neidlinger or Ann Painter and one of the hospitality chair persons so we can have a name tag and lunch ready for our guests.

The “Garden Express” will again be available if you need a ride to one of our Thursday meetings. If a ride is needed, call Chloe Horton before noon on the Tuesday before the meeting so she can make the necessary arrangements.

Over the summer we had several resignations. Donna Corio will pursue her interest in tapestry weaving with classes in NYC. Both Lila Ferrari and Sheila Levine have moved to Florida. We are sorry to see these members move on, but wish them the very best. As it stands now, we have a total of 105 members of which 55 are Active, 45 are Associate, 4 are Professional and 1 is an Honorary member.

This year, let’s make an extra effort to invite more guests and to warmly welcome all visitors to our meetings by greeting them, inviting them to the lunch table and letting them know how they may join if they are interested.

Patty Neidlinger and Ann Painter, Membership Committee Co-Chairs

ADDITIONAL SPECIAL EVENTS

Check our Web calendar for further information on special events held through the year

Butler McCook House & Amos Bull House (860) 247-8996 http://www.ctlandmarks.org/index.php?page=butler-mccook-house-garden

Elizabeth Park (860) 231-9443 http://www.elizabethpark.org/ Hill-Stead Museum (860) 677-4787 http://www.hillstead.org/ Noah Webster House (860) 521-5362 http://www.noahwebsterhouse.org/ Wadsworth Atheneum (860) 278-2670 http://www.thewadsworth.org/

Conservation Committee News

As you weed in your garden, the Conservation Committee wants to remind you that the Weed Wrench is available for Garden Club members to use to remove unwanted and invasive seedlings and small trees (less than a 4 inch caliper) from your garden, Weeding is one of the most important methods of water conservation because the more weeds you remove, the more water is available for the plants you do want in your garden. Plastic Cap Collection Continues: Thank you to the loyal committed club members who periodically drop a baggie of assorted lids on my door step. Carol Goff, the creative East Granby Art Teacher, who is collecting them for a mosaic, thanks us profusely. Standing in the below photo are Wesley and Hanna at the Kearneysville, WV library. The picture is worth a thousand words. It’s fun to enlarge the photo and read the labels Stay tuned for news of our new ventures for this Club Year as well as the return of a few popular reduce, Reuse, Recycle Sales. The Conservation Committee, Julie and Madeleine

O ur O ur O ur O ur P urpose P urpose P urpose P urpose

To stim ulate interest and creative activityTo stim ulate interest and creative activityTo stim ulate interest and creative activityTo stim ulate interest and creative activity

in the art of gardening;in the art of gardening;in the art of gardening;in the art of gardening;

To enhance the beauty of our com m unity;To enhance the beauty of our com m unity;To enhance the beauty of our com m unity;To enhance the beauty of our com m unity;

To contribute to civic im provem ent;To contribute to civic im provem ent;To contribute to civic im provem ent;To contribute to civic im provem ent;

TTTT o w ork for the conservationo w ork for the conservationo w ork for the conservationo w ork for the conservation

of native plants and w ildlifeof native plants and w ildlifeof native plants and w ildlifeof native plants and w ildlife

152 Wood Pond Road West Hartford, CT 06107