Message from the President
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Greetings!
From our incredible flower show, Town Crier to Twitter, to the strange twist to life, COVID-19, we’ve had quite a year. We began with a bang, celebrating our town’s tercentennial in true LGC fashion, and ended with masks, social distancing, and caution. Despite the virus, we ended on just as strong a note as we began, proving our creativity and resilience. Activities continued in many ways, first with our new blog, then with small group workshops, a garden tour, virtual design sweeps, an expanded pollinator garden, especially thoughtful civic plantings, and a photography adventure.
There will be continued activities and an inspired program designed to fit the challenging times planned for next year. Stay tuned!
With the new club year, we also have the joy of welcoming a long-time friend of our club, Philip Samponaro, to Honorary membership.
Thank goodness for our little club, its friendships, and our gardens.
All the best and stay well,
REMINDER: There is no annual meeting this month - click
HERE
for details.
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If you haven't already paid your LGC Annual Dues, please remit by July 15th. Dues are $175. You may pay your dues by check - click
HERE
to download form or pay online through PayPal. If paying online, visit our
PayPal Webpage.
By check, mail to: Litchfield Garden Club, Sara K. Gault, Treasurer, PO Box 848, Litchfield, CT 06759
Thank you ~
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Committee Reports & Announcements
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This month, we welcome our new Provisionals: Cameron Bove, Crystal Carminati, and Susan Fearey. They are an outstanding group, and we look forward to introducing them to the membership. Congratulations to current Provisional Sue Rea who moves up to regular membership.
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Yes, our Conservation Committee has been happily working together for a year now. In our first two meetings we identified the projects that were of interest to each of you, and as you can see from our first year report, we have made amazing progress! Thank you to everyone on the committee for your support, friendship and great work. Once we can meet again, we can establish our second year projects together.
Bluebirds of Happiness
Our Bluebirds of Happiness project resulted in sales of 75 bluebird houses, and 35 of those were donated thanks to the generosity of our members. Within the Litchfield area, bluebirds now have 75 new bluebird nesting boxes, many of which are already filled with new little bird families.
Rain Garden
The Rain Garden has been established and planted at White Memorial and is working beautifully, managing the runoff from the field and road. The plantings are sending the water directly into the earth, avoiding all topsoil runoff into the pond - and a very large snapping turtle found our Rain Garden to be the perfect place to lay her eggs! The garden looks absolutely gorgeous!
Pollinator Garden
In one of our earlier workshops, in three groups, you designed this garden planting, one group for each season - Spring, Summer and Autumn. The Pollinator Garden is established now with Autumn blooming plants. We planted over 20 native plant species within three weeks, (around 500 plants and 1000 seed balls) that host many of our pollinators - bugs, bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds - an endless population that contributes to keeping our environment in balance.
Every Day Is Earth Day
The Coronavirus stopped all our plans for Earth Day, but it did not stop our celebrations! As it becomes safer and more feasible to gather in small groups, we will be relaunching some of our original plans. The first relaunch is the Every Day Is Earth Day 50th Anniversary tree planting on September 17, at Tapping Reeve House at 10.00am.
6th Grade Environmental Education Series Scholarship Program
Our amazing Environmental Education Series scholarship program, run by Carrie Szwed, White Memorial Conservation Center Education Director, has been held virtually, and the 4th and last program in the series was on April 30, 2020, where Carrie shared a guided hike at White Memorial for the 6th grade students. She has done an exemplary job given the challenging circumstances of not being able to be with the students in person. We look forward to supporting next year’s scholarship program!
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Although some museums have begun to open their doors, the Litchfield Historical Society is not yet open to the public. Fortunately for us, they have kindly agreed to allow me into the reading room to work on our archives as soon as they feel comfortable doing so.
In the meantime, I came across this LGC 2000 Newsletter article and thought the message appropriately timed. See below. I would like to add that if any of you are in possession of any archive-worthy material, please let me know. That would be great.
Thank you,
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From the Archives...Memories ~
This dessert received raves at the LGC annual meeting luncheon held under a tent on a beautiful July day on President Tonja Curry's back lawn. The recipe's source was Gourmet's Best Desserts, but there is no doubt that the flavor was enhanced by the fresh-picked blueberries from Ronnie Schoelzel 's garden, augmented by a touch of raspberries. (The proportions used were 1 cup of raspberries to 4 cups of blueberries for each 1 1/2 cup mold.) The hostesses worked in Susan Magary 's kitchen to create this masterpiece.
SUMMER PUDDING
Fresh red currants are considered by some to be a crucial ingredient in summer puddings, reinforcing the flavor of the other fruits, in this case raspberries. In season from December through February, fresh currants are available in specialty produce markets. Any seasonal fruit could be used for this summer pudding as long as it provides enough juice to color the bread. Simply substitute about two quarts of blackberries, cherries, or a mixture of fruits, including red currants or, if you are lucky, loganberries.
- approximately 22 slices of very thin homemade-type white bread, crusts removed, buttered 3 pints raspberries
- 8 ounces (about 1 3/4 cups) red currants
- 3/4 cup sugar
- blueberries for garnish, if desired
- whipped cream as an accompaniment, if desired
Line the sides of the mold or bowl with overlapping slices of bread, trimming as necessary. Cut a round of bread to fit the bottom of the mold and press it into the bottom. The bread should completely cover the mold.
In a saucepan combine the raspberries, red currants, and sugar and cook the mixture over moderately high heat for 4 minutes. Transfer the fruit to the bread-lined mold with a slotted spoon, pour in the juice, and cover with a layer of bread. Cover the mold with a round of wax paper cut to fit the inside of the mold and put a plate that fits the inside of the mold on the wax paper. Weight the pudding and chill overnight.
Remove the weight, plate, and wax paper, run a thin knife around the edge of the mold to loosen it, and invert a large chilled serving plate over the mold. Invert the pudding onto the plate, garnish with the fresh blueberries, and serve with whipped cream.
Yield: 8-10 servings Equipment: 2-qt. mold or bowl; 2-3 lb. weight
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Once upon a time, the GCA scheduled an annual flower show alongside the Annual Meeting in May of 2021. Trina Honorine from Hortulus Garden Club in Greenwich and I went driving (in separate cars, of course!) all around the state to pass our small 3” pots of a charming perennial Alchemilla “Thriller”. I even met some ladies in Rhode Island since they too are in Zone ll. If you received one of those pots, hang on to it since it looks very likely that the show will be going virtual. If not, we can always share this lovely flowering perennial in a sweepstakes in our own club next spring.
As the world continued virtually, our gardens pushed through the gloom and imbalance of our daily lives to cheer us up at any moment. What a spring it was! It lasted forever until last week and then BOOM! – 90 degree days! This definitely challenges us gardeners. However, it hasn’t daunted us, as shown by the beautiful members’ gardens we saw in our tour this past week. For those who wanted more, we had a propagation workshop at Ronnie Schoelzel’s barn on Friday to learn about propagating rhizomatous begonias from cuttings as well as learning how to divide Agapanthus and Clivia after their normal bloom time. My Clivia didn’t hear the rules, so it was still trying to bloom. Sorry my friend.
It looks like we will not be having a horticulture sweepstakes this spring because we will still not be having a conventional meeting where we get to bring all the glory from our garden. So we are going to take a different route. We all have one gorgeous plant, one blue ribbon winner that could be a star! We are going to presume that in fact it is a blue ribbon winner. Would you please take a (good) photo of it, label it with the plant’s name and send it to me by July 11
th
? All of the pictures will be put together in a slide show for all to see, smile over (perhaps even drool over), and enjoy. It can be a specimen succulent, orchid or houseplant, a flowering perennial, shrub or tree. If the tree is too big, it could perhaps be just a bloom. These will not be judged blues, reds, yellows, or HM. Your names will be listed so any member can reach out to you to learn more about that wonderful entry. Don’t forget to send that photo by July 11
th
so that I can put it together for our summer enjoyment. Thank you everyone.
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Projects and Civic Beautification
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Dale and I want to thank Kristen Mahan-Kraut, Meredith Penfield, Rose Brooks, Sylvia Abbott, Jen Abbott-Tillou, Nan Skeie, Crystal Carminati, Nancy Post, Suzanne Blaicher, Rosamond Quay, Ellen Ebbs, Lynn Chapman, Susan Latos, Cameron Bove, Kate Jamison, Bippy Veerman, Polly Brooks, Catherine Oneglia, Marla Patternson, Joan Burgess and Kathy Thompson for signing up to water our three planters during the 2020 summer season. Thank you all!
We should be having a meeting sometime at the end of August, virtually or outside, to discuss plans for our upcoming projects for 2020-2021.
Thank you all for a wonderful first term in office, and stay well.
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On June 25
th twenty-six members and spouses enjoyed an afternoon of garden hopping. Fifteen ladies gathered to have lunch at either Joan Burgess’ or Nancy Post’s house and then continued on to visit the gardens of fellow members Anna Heys, Ina Williams (garden pictured), Sara Gault and President Annie Borzilleri. Special thanks to these ladies for sharing their gardens, especially in a drought!
It was a beautiful day and several requests were made to make this an annual event.
Visit the
website for images and complete write-ups of all the gardens. It will be worth your visit!
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From the Communications Desk
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Lots has been happening - visit the
Events/News
page on the website. There is news on the Visiting Gardens Tour, Hollister House and more. The
Blog page
is updated regularly - visit often.
Blog Posts
: How and what to post? Take a look at what has been posted already, and that may spark a thought. Entries are up to approx 200 words. Send your image(s), article and article title to
Joan Burgess
for posting. You may make comments directly on the Blog site - click the comments link and follow directions. You can also view comments from other members.
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Do you need help in logging into the GCA website? Each member has their own user name and password. Do you need the password for The Federated Garden Club of CT? Check with
Joan
if you need help.
Don't see something but want it posted or have a question - contact
Joan
.
Need LGC information - use our website! It's all there and easy to find.
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News and Upcoming Virtual Events
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Five members of the Photography Committee met at the Hollister House Garden in Washington CT on Wednesday, June 17th. Hollister House has scheduled special opening hours for artists and photographers on Wednesday mornings form 8:00am-12:00noon from June 3rd through August 26th. Plein air painters and photographers can be inspired by the romantic landscape in the beauty of early morning light.
Beautifully situated on a sloping, terraced site in the rolling hills of Litchfield County, Hollister House Garden is an American interpretation of such classic English gardens as Sissinghurst, Great Dixter and Hidcote, formal in its structure but informal and rather wild in its style of planting.
Visit our
WEBSITE
to read more about the Photography Committee visit to Hollister House.
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As reported by John McKenna | Jun 19, 2020 | News, Litchfield.bz: For decades, members of The Litchfield Garden Club have placed seasonal plantings in Litchfield’s three over-sized concrete planters.
In late May, the club’s projects and civic beautification committee co-chaired by Lynne Sherman and Dale Ryan began filling the containers. The urn at the intersection of Norfolk Road and North Street boasts an Alberta spruce spiral as its focal point surrounded by hidcote lavender and multi-color trailing nasturtiums. The planter on the corner of Meadow Street and West Street contains a mini Alberta spruce, victory purple vinca and portulacas in sundial white.
Read the full article
.
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Upcoming events from GCA
Next year, conferences that could only be offered to a few GCA club members in the past will be available to every club member at no cost. For these conferences, we are assembling a powerhouse of speakers who will share with you their lifelong accumulation of knowledge and wisdom. But, we don’t plan to just tell you or teach you; we plan to involve you in dynamic experiences that will offer you the opportunity to apply what you have heard.
Mark your calendars now, and
save these dates:
- September 22-23, 2020 ~ Shirley Meneice Horticulture Conference
- November 17-18, 2020 ~ Conservation Study Conference
- January 21, 2021 ~ Photography Conference ~ NEW!
- February 23-24, 2021 ~ National Affairs & Legislation Conference
- April 8, 2021 ~ Floral Design Conference ~ NEW!
- May 11-12, 2021 ~ GCA Annual Meeting
Further information on these events will follow.
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Litchfield Garden Club | PO Box 848, Litchfield CT 06759
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