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Heroines of the Gardening World
I’d like to tip my hat the unsung heroines of the gardening world, the members of garden clubs around the region. Garden club members have recently been busy planting annual flowers at their local libraries, in the middle of roundabouts and in front of firehouses. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. The women (and occasionally men) of garden clubs are hardworking and generous. They provide their communities with much that we should all be grateful for.
Garden club planting at Cornish Library
If you are a new gardener, the best thing you can do is to join a garden club. The wealth of knowledge of the members is truly amazing. They know what grows in your town, and what does not. They know when the last frost will nip at the heels of your annuals and who in town has good compost for sale by the truckload. Not only that, garden club members love helping others, especially new gardeners.
The educational programs are a big draw for any club. Join the club (generally from $5 to $25 per year) and you get access to 6 or more speakers over the course of the year. Smaller clubs depend on local experts, but the bigger ones can afford to bring in outside experts and published authors. To me, the speaker programs are the core of the clubs. We all want to learn, and speakers can share information and often offer great slide shows.
This is the season when garden clubs are having their annual plant sales, another good money maker for the clubs – and less expensive plants for you, the gardener. One word of warning, however, some of these low-cost plants may harbor roots of invasive plants – and unknowingly introduce them to your garden.
Goutweed roots are long and white
Years ago I got goutweed (Aegopodium podagraria) mixed in with iris given to me and have never been able to rid myself of the pest. Once established, goutweed is practically impossible to get rid of – I generally recommend selling the house. Now when getting plants from plant sales I “bare root” them before planting. That means I wash all soil off the roots, removing anything that is not clearly a root from the desired plant. I do this in the driveway so that any invasive plant roots don’t get into my soil.
One of my favorite garden clubs is in Lyme, NH. It’s an informal club called the Lyme Gardeners – no dues, no officers, no pledge of allegiance at meetings. I contacted Anne Baird, who once invited me to speak to their group and made me a lifetime member. In an e-mail she described the club as follows:
“We visit around 16 Upper Valley gardens from May through September, with a focus on working, not show gardens. ‘Pardon My Garden’ allows host gardeners to ask for help with problems, talk about down- or up-sizing, and for visitors to share experience, knowledge, and enthusiasm.
Barerooting plant sale iris
“During the off-seasons, Lyme Gardeners has occasional potluck suppers, with special guests talking about anything from herbal medicines to winter gardens to favorite tools. Anyone in the Upper Valley with a passion for gardening, whether experienced, brand-new, or no longer active, is welcome at any Lyme Gardener event. Join Lyme Gardener’s listserv: lyme-gardeners@lists.valley.net.”
Many garden clubs offer garden tours of members’ gardens. Gardeners often spend weeks getting ready, pulling every weed, edging every bed. Some hire outside help to get their gardens ready. The “Pardon My Garden” events are different. Weeds are to be expected. Gardeners share what they are doing, but visitors do not expect Martha Stewart-like displays. I like that.
Garden clubs often offer scholarship monies to students in their towns. As a regular speaker at garden clubs I often must sit through the official meetings, including the treasurer’s reports. Some of these clubs raise substantial sums of money, and then share it with needy students, particularly to those with an interest in horticulture. Very nice.
My local garden club’s big fundraiser is a raffle at the Cornish Fair, held every year the third weekend of August. The club gets local merchants to donate to the raffle items and tickets are sold for a dollar a pop. To get you there, the Garden Club has a competition open to all for best flower arrangement, best potted plants, best miniature display, etc. My favorite category is “Best Smelling Flower As Judged By a Child”.
So join a club – or start an informal group like the Lyme Gardeners – so that you can learn from other gardeners. We can all learn from the victories and mistakes of others.
Henry can be reached by e-mail at henry.homeyer@comcast.net. His web site is www.Gardening-Guy.com.