Scholarship News

It's that time of year again when we are asked to complete and submit our Annual Reports to The Federation to document our activities and accomplishments in the past year and become eligible for FGCCT awards.

The interactive forms for your 2015-2016 reports are posted on our website. Go to www.ctgardenclubs.org, Click the Club LogIn page, and click on "Click here for Annual Report Forms for 2015-2016" at the top of the page. You may type directly into the page and then print your completed form to send in to our FGCCT Office by the April 1st deadline.

Landscape Design Study School

Save the dates:  

March 22-24, 2016

 Location:  CAES, New Haven, CT

 Course includes 2 days of speakers March 22-23, and an optional exam on March 24.

 Course fee - $120 (includes lunch for both days)

 
This course is for the everyday gardener and for those who wish to provide input to projects in their community.  Courses may be taken in any order, March is Course II of IV.  Taking two course exams results in "Provisional Membership" and four exams obtains "Certification in Landscape Design."

The Brochure and Registration forms are available online at ctgardenclubs.org under "Education/Schools,"  or by contacting Susan Laursen at 203-425-2077,  [email protected].  

*  Susan Laursen

Landscape Design Study School Chair

Meet Susan Laursen

Susan Laursen, our Landscape Design Study School Chair, got into gardening "by osmosis." Her mother was the president of her garden club; her parents loved to be outside, planting trees and bushes, hiking, enjoying nature. "It was just a part of me," says Susan. Her grandfather and sister were also gardeners. "The gene is pretty strong in my family-we can't resist a good plant at the nursery," she laughs.

A native of Tennessee, Susan actually earned a degree in Agriculture from Penn State, but realized she "wasn't a farmer type or a research type." Her first job was in the quality control end of manufacturing operations. And she later consulted on information flow, helping companies become more efficient. It was when she was working in New Haven that she met her husband and they have a grown son and daughter.

Laursen says, "I just started doing my yard the way I felt like doing it and learned from my mistakes." She enjoyed the landscaping end of it most-appreciating "the angles and proportions." So she read books on the subject cover to cover and searched the internet for information. "I didn't want to go back to school; then I found (The Federation's) Landscape Design Study School seven or eight years ago. It was just perfect." She enjoys the field trips and making friends with mutual interests.

Susan worked professionally for a while as a landscape designer, "but I got too busy. Now I just do it for friends if they need help. It's a hobby." She is also active as a volunteer in other areas, including helping those with disabilities.

At home, Susan has renovated her garden to use fewer perennials. "They were too much work, so I dug them up and threw them in the woods. Now I'm being more thoughtful, putting the right shrub in the right place." She works on developing "destinations, little vignettes to draw your eye into the yard," she says.

When FGCCT needed a new Chair for LDSS, they turned to Susan. She is excited about the classes coming this month. UConn's John Alexopoulos will discuss Community Landscape Design Management using case studies from Connecticut. Also covered will be Plants and Structure in the Landscape and a special lecture on "Connecticut Landscapes: Nature, Art and History." Susan notes that the courses can be taken in any order and the exam is optional.

"I've really enjoyed the people in The Federation," says Susan, "it's fun to learn with people who are interested in the same things, and they are a very supportive and helpful group."

* Lynn Hyson
News Editor

2016 UCONN GARDEN CONFERENCE

A conference for the home gardener!

Friday, March 18, 2016 at UConn, Storrs, CT

NER DESIGN AWARDS

Our New England Region offers two awards for floral design, both created by former regional directors from Connecticut.  The first one, established in 2004, may be familiar to you.  It is THE DEANA J. MOZZOCHI CREATIVE DESIGN AWARD for the best Creative Design of the year exhibited by a NGC member in a Standard or Small Standard Flower Show, arrangers group, library, museum, gallery, etc.

A Traveling Sculpture and $50.00 is awarded annually to the winner.

THE MARIA J. NAHOM TABLE DESIGN AWARD was established in 2015 and is awarded to the best Table Design, any type of Table Design, exhibited in a Standard or Small Standard Flower Show.  A certificate and $75.00 will be awarded annually.   

The designs for both awards must have been created during the NER Awards year June 1st-May 31st.  A 4x6 photograph, or digital photograph, minus ribbons or people, must be sent to our Federation's Judges Council Chair by August 1st.  A panel of three Accredited Judges will select the state's winning exhibit, which will be sent to the New England Region Awards Chair by September 1st.  The NER Judges Council Chair and two other Accredited Judges will then select the NER winner, using the Scale of Points for Design listed in the current Handbook for Flower Shows.  

For applications contact our FGCCT Judges Council Chair Becky Paul @ [email protected].

* Maria Nahom

Former NER Director 2013-2015

Beyond Beginning Floral Design Workshops

 

Creative floral design...do you get it? You might be thinking, "I don't get it, but I am intrigued by it. I'd like to learn more, but I'm not creative."'   Well, look at the photo, ...this is me, Cathy Ritch, teaching a workshop on Creative Line Design using metal GUTTER GUARD. I have a BS in mathematics; my professional career was programming for IBM. How less creative can you be, unless you're an engineer?

 

Seventeen years ago when I joined Long Hill Garden Club in Trumbull, creative floral design was the furthest thing from my mind. I wanted to learn more about gardening, horticulture, and creating gardens around my house. I started using some of the flowers and plant material that I was growing outside, on the inside. Mostly, I made centerpieces for the dining room table. I started to use other things than flowers in my designs. A friend still talks about the design I made using greens from the yard and mushrooms (no flowers) I found growing on trees in the woods.

In our club, there are two wonderfully talented designers and judges. They are Emeritus judges now, but they continue to design and sometimes give programs for our club. From them I learned that there's more to design than centerpieces for your table. I think it was Evelyn Shapiro who introduced me to using discarded metal strapping (free of charge) from the pallets at Home Depot in floral designs. My club won a first place when I used them in a design at the Connecticut Flower Show for "Brunch at the Chrysler Building."

 

When Terry Stoleson insisted that someone in our design group enter the state flower show, or she'd stop critiquing our designs, I believed her. I went shopping at Home Depot, came home with PVC pipe which I sprayed silver, added dried alliums and wired ribbon and won a blue ribbon for 'The Stroll" at the Fabulous Fifties show in Hartford. I was hooked. I went to Flower Show Study School and became a judge, but more importantly, I joined Creative Arrangers of Connecticut.   My husband "doesn't get" my designs, but that's OK. What I'm doing is fun, it's creative, it's not too expensive (remember I'm shopping at Home Depot and foraging in the woods for material), it has expanded my vision and my interests, it has brought me new friends, and now it gives me the opportunity to teach what I've learned to others in the state.

 

Creative design workshops for Series 2 (10am-12:30pm) are:

April 29 --Flower Show-from concept to design including a workshop on Stretch Designs

June 10--Color-including a workshop on Capsule Table Design

July 8--The key to Creative Design, the Principles and Elements concentrating on Creative Line Mass Design

July 29--Create your own (bring your own components) for the Class:"Into the Woods," a creative design using all fresh materials.

 

 

If you have any questions, email Cathy Ritch at [email protected]. To register, send a check made out to FGCCT ($30 per class you wish to take, $5 for July 29) to Cathy Ritch, 11 Old Fire Rd, Trumbull, CT 06611. Include your name/email/garden club/phone number/class dates desired. Space is limited. E-mail confirmations will be provided. Overflow enrollments will be placed on a wait list with an option to Audit.

 

*Cathy Ritch

 

From the Office of FGCCT:

This is a reminder to all garden club treasurers that we have used a new format to deliver membership & dues information.  These were sent out in January via email to treasurers and  presidents.  If you didn't receive the information for your club membership, please contact Barbara at the FGCCT office, [email protected]  or ctgardenclubs.org.  The DEADLINE for returns is April 1, 2016.

EYE ON HORTICULTURE: The March Garden

With Spring right around the corner, I'm sure I'm not the only one itching to get out in the garden. With its lilting ephemerals, cheerful flowering fruit trees, and its overall perfect lushness, Spring is undoubtedly my favorite season. In addition to the visual beauty of this season another pleasing aspect to consider is fragrance. Hyacinths and of course many varieties of daffodils have pleasant aromas, but to me the following two shrubs are at the top of the list when it comes to spring fragrance.

Philadelphus lewisii , commonly known as Mock Orange, is native to the northwest United States. It is an old-fashioned shrub with an enticing orange blossom scent, hence the common name given to it when discovered by Merriweather Lewis.

In recent years a Canadian cultivar P. lewisii 'Blizzard' has been introduced. It is smaller, hardier, and more floriferous than the species. Growing to a height and width of 4 feet by 5 feet, it is a multi-stemmed deciduous shrub preferring full sun to part sun. It is adaptable to many soils and is quite drought tolerant. It benefits from a light pruning to keep it dense and full.

P. lewisii 'Blizzard' may not be the right plant for a foundation planting since once its flowers have faded it is rather non-descript. BUT OH, THE FLOWERS! In late May through early June, P. Lewisii 'Blizzard' is covered with pure white, pungently scented flowers. The orange blossom fragrance is heavenly. It is a gorgeous shrub in bloom and, because of its smaller size, fits nicely as a background shrub in a mixed border or as a border shrub on a property line. But, be sure to plant it where you will be likely to pass by and appreciate its wonderful aroma. You won't regret it and bees love it, too.

Viburnum carlesii, commonly known as Koreanspice Viburnum, is native to Korea and Japan and is one of the first shrubs to bloom here in Connecticut sometime around mid April. It is a medium size, low branching shrub that retains its rounded but gently spreading shape even at its mature size of 8 feet by 8 feet.
It is a slow grower, preferring full sun to part shade and well drained slightly acidic soil enriched with organic matter. But it is adaptable to poorer soils of various pHs and drought. The gray-green, slightly serrated oval shaped leaves have a dense pubescence on both the upper and lower sides. Fall color ranges from bronze to wine. The flowers bloom in spherical clusters, starting out as dark pink buds, then opening light pink and fading to white.

It is a pretty shrub in and out of bloom, but add in the extremely fragrant clove-like scent which carries for quite a distance and it ranks as my all time favorite flowering shrub. I can't get enough of it. I find the scent invigorating and, at that time of the year, invigoration is a good thing in the garden. This shrub has no serious insect or disease problems. Since it responds well to pruning (right after flowering), it can be used anywhere as an entryway, foundation, hedge or specimen planting. If forced to say something negative about this shrub it would be that we can't claim it as a native.

Local nurseries will be selling these shrubs in the spring at the time of their bloom, so keep your eyes (and your nostrils) open. I'm betting you'll smell them before you see them.

I once read that the sense of smell will invoke memory better than any of the other senses. Plant one of these two shrubs where you're sure to catch a whiff and surely they will invoke some fond memories for you.  

* Liz Rinaldi
Horticulture Chair

Update: Native Oak Project

The Manchester Garden Club planted a white oak at Robertson Skate Park.  

 

From Left to right are Manchester Garden Club members Mary Ann Sartor,Dru Shearer, Lynda Brown, Deb Flower and Lauren Pliska, Chair.

 

* Barbara Deysson

State Project Chair

 

SAVE THE DATE

Gardening Study School is scheduled for this September 13 through  September 15 at CAES in New Haven.

GSS Chair Wanted

Gardening Study School is being organized for September 2016 with the help of a lot of volunteers for the various jobs.  However, we are still without a chair, so anyone interested should please contact me.  We need someone with organizational skills, computer savvy (especially EXCEL) and willingness to serve on the Board.  

* Mary Sullivan, Chair

Gardening Consultants Council

[email protected]

203-881-1620

Looking for Candidates for the Following Open Federation Board Positions:

The Nominating Committee is actively searching to fill a number of

Federation Board positions as follows:

1.  Civic Development

2.  Environmental Concerns/Conservation Chair

3.  Newsletter Editor

4.  Tours Coordinator

5.  Website Director (Webmaster)

If interested, please contact me before March 14th.

* Ronnie Schoelzel

Nominating Committee Chair

[email protected]

YOUTH PROGRAMS

Update: The Frightened Frog

The Long Hill Garden Club has been having a lot of fun with the National Garden Clubs' book, The Frightened Frog. They have developed a modified lesson plan and have given a program to all third grade library classes in two elementary schools.  Programs will be given in at least one other school this year.  

The book will be featured in a children's story hour at the local town library in April.  The club has also offered to give the program as a class at the local Nature Center.  Everyone who has worked with the book and the lesson plan has truly enjoyed it. Please be sure to let me know how your club is using the book.

* Ann Germano
Youth Chair

Youth Program of the Month:

World Gardening Makes Donation to Global Partners and the Monarch Butterfly Project 

   

amazing migrations on Earth. Over the course of two months, they travel 1,200 to 2,800 miles, procreating and dying in an effort to get their offspring to their summer breeding areas in Canada and the United States. The reduction of these breeding areas is due to the decrease of the common milkweed because of herbicide use and land use change. 

The deforestation and forest degradation in overwintering sites in Mexico is the second threat to their existence. Our second donation of $1000 is being sent to the World Wildlife Federation for the reforestation project in Mexico. The WWF is fully committed to the preservation of forest habitat in Mexico and works with the Mexican government and local communities to insure the habitat remains protected and sustainably managed. There are now 10 tree nurseries that are producing 1.5 native trees every year for the reforestation of local areas that provide the vital Monarch hibernation areas. They also focus on habitat protection by patrolling for illegal logging and fires, as well as promoting sustainable ecotourism. 

Thanks to your local garden club's donations we are able to make an impact in the world for humanity and the environment. The World Gardening Fund can only be used for such purposes and thanks to your generosity we still have approximately $2,000 for the future. I am so proud of our endeavors over the past four years. Keep up the excellent work for our world and its inhabitants!

* Dottie Fox 

World Gardening Chairman

 

Second Life for Show Flowers

Flowers that designers left for the Quality Control Team to refresh designs at the 2016 Connecticut Flower Show got a second life this year.  Rather than being discarded as trash, the QC Team placed them in boxes provided by Trish Manfredi (Country Gardeners of Glastonbury) at the show's end Sunday evening.  Trish took them home, re-cut and refreshed them, and organized them by color.   Kris Urbanik and Claire Lind of the Glastonbury Garden Club, along with Trish, created 20 centerpieces Monday afternoon for Tuesday's senior citizen lunch at the Glastonbury Senior Center.  Peter and Trish Manfredi then delivered them to the Senior Center.

Buckets of leftover flowers.

Finished designs for Glastonbury Senior Center.

* Trish Manfredi