The Garden Dirt
Fall 2008 


Message From Your New Board

“This season marks the beginning of a new era in Marblehead Garden Club governance. In lieu of a governance structure dictated by specific job titles and responsibilities (i.e. President, Vice President, etc.), we are trying out leadership and governance by an Executive Board, with sanity-checking and as-needed guidance from an Advisory Council. The Executive Board is Lynn Bragdon, Diane Christian, Anne Clark, Brigitte Lagoutte, Millie Loomis, Sarah Lynn, Stacy Sullivan (Chair), and Susan Stone. The Advisory Council consists of Liz Cleary, Day Gotchall, Alessandra Herman, Jody Howard, Kim Maxwell, and Kerry Zurn. It is the Club’s hope that by sharing the responsibilities and opportunities that come with membership, no single individual will feel overwhelmed, and nothing will slip through the proverbial cracks. That said, this is a new experiment for all involved. Please don’t hesitate to contact Board and Council members at any time with your suggestions and ideas. Better yet, feel free to throw your own hat into the ring at any time. It’s an open, very welcoming system—by design.

Wish us all luck! -- Your newly minted Executive Board and Advisory Council

Membership

Two of our upcoming winter meetings are designated “new member meetings,” where members are encouraged to bring and introduce potential newcomers. The December 3rd wreath-making (9:30am, St. Andrews) is always a good hands-on meeting guaranteed to be festive and fun. The February Lavender and Essential Oils meeting (10am, 170 Washington) will bring current and potential members to Provence and back. Please start to plan ahead and invite those guests! Be sure to let Lynn Bragdon know whom you will be bringing so they can be properly introduced. Also contact Lynn if you are interested in sponsoring a member.

Cookbook

Please keep those recipes coming to anyone on the committee (see our program booklet/directory for committee listings). Any recipe that is prepared for a meeting can be submitted for inclusion in the cookbook. We are still looking for an appropriate publisher to produce the unique format of our cookbook. We are also waiting for the amount of seed money we need to produce the first run.

Website

The website has finally been updated. The Christmas tree is gone and Matilda MGC member is in full glory. If you haven’t been on lately take look: http://www.orgsites.com/ma/marbleheadgardenclub/ This is only the beginning of the changes in store. There are plans to add photos of the Lee garden, study group findings, the fall issue of the Garden Dirt, program schedule, archives, recipes and a members-only section. Stay tuned…… MGC email changes have been made here as well. A MGC email account has been set up with gmail under (Jeremiah) J Lee. The email address is marbleheadgardenclub@gmail.com, and a link will be added to our website. There are groups set up for speedy emails to All Members, Sprouts, Advisory Council, and the Board. When sending emails with this system, be sure to list a return email address. Since each email goes out from J Lee you need to sign with your own name and return info, e.g. email address, phone. Contact a board member for further log-in information if you’d like to use MGC email. For security reasons, we cannot print the password here. --Lynn Bragdon

Field Trips

All suggestions for future field trips are open for discussion! If you have a place you go on a regular basis or would like to go to for the first time, there may be others in the club who would like to go, too! If we have a group of three or more, Day Gotschall and Wendy Hall will take it from there to coordinate the trip. How easy is that? Even though we are heading into the winter months, that doesn’t rule out potential winter excursions. We have one request for a field trip to Blanchette Gardens, which would be fun to do now or in the spring. Those interested in visiting this fabulous nursery should email/phone Day or Wendy and we will be happy to coordinate the trip at a mutually convenient time. -- Day Gotschall & Wendy Hall

Research Study Group: Period Planting Shrubs

During the next meeting we will be starting the final phase of the Period Planting Shrubs research group. We are looking for volunteers to input the written research on 4 or 5 shrubs into a Word document shrub worksheet. This can be done at home and shouldn’t take more than 2 hours in total. We want to make the research available online and to make copies for binders so that members can see what they can put in their own gardens and learn what is in the Lee Mansion Gardens.

Conservation:Invasive Plants

Invasive Plants are defined as by the Marblehead Conservancy (www.marbleheadconservancy.org) as “an alien species…with respect to a particular ecosystem, any species, including its seeds, eggs, spores, or other biological material capable of propagating that species, that is not native to that ecosystem.” The following is a list of some invasive plants in our area: Bittersweet, Multiflora rose, Purple loosestrife, Japanese Barberry, Roundleaf Greenbriar, Japanese Knotweed, Poison Ivy, Phragmite, Norway Maple, Garlic Mustard, Kudzu

Biodegradables

In thinking about conservation, it is important to utilize products that are biodegradable and non-toxic. The following two websites have environmentally safe, non-toxic products that work really well in your home. www.biobags.com: Biodegradable bags breakdown within 72 hours and can be placed right in your composter. www.melaleuca.com: This is one of many websites which offers clean, safe, biodegradable products that really clean. Offerings such as their Tea Tree Oil based products are making great inroads to being effective cleaners, but in a non-toxic, and biodegradable way. Made of natural ingredients, without chlorine, fillers, or aerosol propellants, these products are safer for your family, your home, and the environment. – Diane Christian

--Susan Stone

Wednesday, November 19, 6:30 p.m.
“Herbs for the Holidays” Rita Wollmering, The Herb Farmacy
170 Washington Street
Wish you could add your own special touches to the holidays and share your herbs at the same time? Come this evening and explore the pleasures of making many different kinds of hand-made goodies—from lotions to vinegars to delicious recipes. To allow Rita to order supplies please RSVP by Nov. 10.
Materials fee: $10 per person
Hostesses: Sue Bragdon, Jody Howard

Wednesday December 3, 9:30 a.m.
Annual Wreath-making Workshop
St. Andrews Church
Our favorite annual workshop is timed to have our doors decked out for the Christmas Walk weekend. Please bring your own wreath(s) and other decorative touches as well as your own ribbon, wire cutters and hot glue guns. Guests welcome. Hostesses: Lorna Hamilton, Corinne Schecter

Wednesday, January 21, 7 p.m.
Planning the Upcoming Year and Business Meeting
Claudette’ Taylor’s home,
7 Captain’s Walk Lane
Our third annual gathering to share a toast to 2009 as well as pool ideas for making MGC even better. Join us for a wonderful evening filled with friends, food and a feast of ideas for the new year!
Hostesses: Jill Dearborn, Connie Denault, Jean Howe, Claudette Taylor

Garden Advisory

Hello ladies! If you haven’t seen the gardens lately, they were spectacular this summer! First off, Anne and I would like to thank all of you for your time (and refreshments!) in the gardens. You know who you are and we couldn’t have accomplished what we did with out your help!. Many thanks! We had a very productive season. Kim, Millie, and company had the perennial boarder looking lovely all summer long. Brigitte and her crew of very hard working and dependable ladies did wonders in the woodland garden. Shrubs have been pruned and some new plantings added to please the eye of all visitors to the gardens.

Secondly, Alex Parker, Jean’s husband, has been taking bags of debris to the dump on Tuesday mornings for us for many years. A couple of weeks ago he informed us that he felt that this should be his last season. He will be sincerely missed by all of us! When you see Alex, don’t forget to thank him for all of his help and devotion to our club. We hope that he will still come and visit with us over the wall next summer.

Work in the garden is nearly finished for this season. After the first frost, Anne and I will be sending a group email to members, looking for help with wrapping the Boxwood in burlap for the winter. Please try and be there if possible! There will be plenty to do and many hands will get the job done quickly. It will also be fun: coffee and munchkin weather! See you in the garden! -- Beth & Anne

Woodland Garden

This year, the woodland garden (the lower part of the Lee Gardens) has been full of activities thanks to the enthusiasm of its team members: Wendy Hall, Fay Norred, Corinne Schecter, Susan Stone, and Brigitte. We also had the occasional supervision and contribution of Harriett Bull who patiently helped us identify some trees and advised us as to where to establish certain plants.

We have trimmed the lower branches of trees to open up the space, pulled out the weeds, and tried to organize and control the invasive plants--especially strawberries, anemones, bishop weeds, sweet woodruff, and violets. We also planted some ferns that Harriett so kindly gave us from her own garden: Christmas ferns, Uninterrupted ferns, and Maiden Hair ferns. Elise Tuve and Betsy Hundhal also offered us some plants from the Wildflower garden. Day Gotschall planted a Yellow Root plant which given to her by a neighbor.

We added some native plants: foxgloves, echinaceas, blue baptisia. We have moved some hostas, wild ginger, and turtleheads to make them more visible. Come and check out the work we have done! We welcome your suggestions. Our job is far from finished. Next spring we would like to add some asters, goldenrods, and other Native American plants. We would love to hear from any of you who have plants to share.

We could not have accomplished so much without the energy and hard work of our dedicated team. They have been truly marvelous. Thank you to all of you from the bottom of my heart! -- Brigitte

Archives

The year-end (Oct 2006-June 2008) ANNUAL REPORTS are still due to Alex Garfield as archivist (please cc Susan Stone) from the following committee heads: Recording, Nominating, Auditing, Cookbook, Archives, Horticulture, Hostesses, Garden Advisory, Plant Sale 2008. If you believe you have sent them in already- could you send along another copy? THANK YOU! -- Alex Garfield, beatriceg@comcast.net

Membership News

Please make the following changes in the Club Directory: Lorna Hamilton has a new email address: billham123@verizon.net

Nannie Seamans doesn’t have an email address anymore. Her address and phone number remain the same.

Mary Jane Williams resigned from the club in August. She and her husband moved to Cape Cod. We’ll miss her kindness, dedication and enthusiasm!

Please contact me if you have any change of address, phone number or email. Many thanks. -- Brigitte Lagoutte b.lagoutte@verizon.net