From Our President

March 1st was the first day of Meteorological Spring and the official First day of Spring is March 20th!!!!! We are almost there…

Those of you who are on the island know that it has been wicked windy and cold for the past month. A challenge if you want to travel. A challenge if you are hoping to get outside and wander the hundred of miles of trails across the island. Nancy Cabot wanders our trails in any weather and finds amazing treasures that she then turns into simply lovely arrangements. There is nothing like discovering a branch, dried flower, herb, or “weed” that, with a bit of positive thinking, can be turned into a happy arrangement. I have added my outdoor ‘volunteers’ to purchased tulips to create arrangements of winter dances with spring. Right now go explore your outdoor world, bring it home and create your own dance with spring. 

We can’t wait to see as many as possible for our first in person members meeting on March 18th at 12:30pm at our winter home, the “Wakeman Center”. The members from Oak Bluffs will be supplying delicious refreshments. If you are an Oak Bluffs member make sure to get in touch with Sarah Lolley to coordinate refreshments. 

If you have not had the chance to renew your membership you can do so online or in person on March 18th.

Happy Gardening inside and out!

The March Monthly Members Meeting

Feature Topic: Natural Neighbors Program with Rich Couse, BiodiversityWorks

March 18 12:30pm ET

The Wakeman Center, Vineyard Haven

Rich Couse, Program Director at BiodiversityWorks, will present an engaging talk on the Natural Neighbors program. With an extensive background in conservation biology and environmental sciences, Rich brings valuable expertise to this initiative, which focuses on fostering connections between people and local biodiversity. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from his deep knowledge and passion for preserving our natural world!

Lecture: The Natural Neighbors Program  

Natural Neighbors is a BiodiversityWorks program for individuals, neighborhood associations, and businesses. Staff will visit your property to learn about your interests in nature and to identify current and potential contributions to support the island’s biodiversity. Then, we’ll offer customized management recommendations to benefit plants, pollinators, and wildlife in your area. We’ll help you develop a stewardship plan compatible with your time and resources. 

Natural Neighbors is a partnership between BiodiversityWorks and the Village and Wilderness Project. It was launched in 2021 with support from the Martha’s Vineyard Vision Fellowship. 

Rich Couse, Natural Neighbors Program Director 

Rich is a conservation biologist and a firm believer that everything is connected through the ecological web of life. His goal is to create meaningful connections between people and nature through stewardship, research, education, and the arts. He has studied the effects of mercury poisoning in marsh nesting birds in Maine, the spatial ecology of Eastern hognose snakes on Cape Cod, protected piping plovers and least terns on Massachusetts beaches, and participated in research on the state-threatened frosted elfin-butterfly and the federally-endangered New England cottontail rabbit. He came to work with the MV Nature Conservancy in 2022 in their Stewardship department. He is an active in the MV Bird Club and is fascinated with the island’s biodiversity. 

Meeting Agenda

12:30-1:00 Social time with refreshments provided by Oak Bluffs

1:00:1:20 Welcome by Susie Wallo followed by committee reports and other business and announcements

1:20 Kathie Skinner, Educational Programs Chair will introduce our featured speaker, Rich Couse.

Where are we? Take a guess at where the above photos were taken. Answers will be posted in next month's newsletter. February photos are of Lagoon Pond, Tisbury and Aspen CO.

Send your mystery nature photos to News@marthasvineyardgardenclub.org to be include in a future newsletter.

Floral Design Update

Jayne Isford and Nancy Cabot

“The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size.” Quote by Gertrude S. Wister

We continue to have several activities on all things floral planned for our membership! For those of us on the Vineyard this past month, we were treated to a wild range of winter weather as the winds of February decided to make their presence known. We hope everyone is having a good winter season, wherever you may be!

Valentine’s Day Workshop

On Saturday, February 8th we had a wonderful gathering of 19 club members for our second annual Valentine’s Day Workshop. No better way to spend your day than with fellow garden club members, beautiful flowers from Morrice Florists, and instruction from Wiet Bacheller, Nancy Cabot, Karen Marinelli and Lynn Marquedant. And a bonus that we got our workshop completed before the snow. Here is the link to some photos for you to enjoy!

Blooming Art planning is well underway: Floral Designers needed!

Along with the rest of the 2025 Blooming Art Committee, we are busy planning for this year’s event. Recruitment for floral designers is well underway. We would love to have you join us as one of our floral designers this year for our club’s major fundraiser and we do need more designers. Contact Debbie Barrett, Nancy Cabot or Jayne Isford if you would like to join us or get more information! We will be offering our designers for the first time a workshop with Emily Coulter of Morrice Florists, a workshop with Nancy Cabot, and mentoring of small groups of designers by Wiet Bacheller. You can work on your own, with a partner or with an experienced designer as your mentor. Email floraldesign@marthasvineyardgardenclub.org to sign up!

Foraging Field Trip with Nancy and Nancy on Thursday, May 22nd at 1:00 p.m. Save the date on your calendars!

We are thrilled to announce our second annual Foraging Field trip for our membership! The incredible duo of Nancy Cabot and Nancy Weaver will lead us on a foraging trip at Lucy Vincent Beach. Join these talented ladies as they help us appreciate the beauty and gifts of our island. This trip will be very helpful for our Blooming Art floral designers as they consider incorporating foraged materials into their designs. Guaranteed to be a fun and informative gathering! There will be no rain date.

Floral Design Workshop at the Oak Bluffs Library on Saturday, May 3rd!

We are honored to have been asked by the Friend of Oak Bluffs Library to provide a Floral Design workshop at the Oak Bluffs Library on Saturday, May 3rd. We love working with our community organizations! Nancy Cabot and Jayne Isford will guide participants through creating a floral arrangement just in time for Mother’s Day. We will need a few garden club members to assist us with this fun project. Contact Nancy or Jayne if you would like to help us. And thanks to FOBL and Garden Club board member Carol Goldstein for thinking of us!

If you have any ideas on Floral Design activities for the club, contact Nancy or Jayne. We welcome your suggestions and thoughts!

Mark Your Calendar for Upcoming Events

Conservation Committee News

Laurisa Rich & Kim McCarthy

Island-wide Proposed Leaf Blower Regulation  

March 22 Public Information Sessions 1:30 Tisbury Fire Station/ 3:00 Edgartown Library+Zoom

To address the growing problem of noise, emissions and air pollution, as well as health issues associated with gas powered leaf blowers, proposals that set day and time limits for leaf blower use and phase out gas leaf blowers by 2028 are on the path to town meetings across the island this spring.  

For more information and to view links to the leaf blower regulations proposed for your island town and the details for upcoming public information sessions click here to go to the Vineyard Conservation Society web site.

Join Us for Earth Day Event Planning

The Martha's Vineyard Garden Club will be joining other island organizations for Earth Day Fest 2025 on April 19. Join us in planning the Club's presence. Email conservation@marthasvineyardgardenclub.org to participate or learn more.

Constance Conservation Corner



Dear Constance,

So, what’s wrong with Roundup anyway? I adore my garden but hate to weed and would much rather spray! Please convince me.  

Signed,

Weary of Weeds

Dear Weary,

OK! Roundup is a Wizard at making weeds disappear ~ Poof! ~ along with your soil, microbes, beneficial insects and turtles ~ Oh My! (Here’s a waskally wabbit hole of convincing articles on the wicked waze of woundup) Besides Roundup’s grave threat to our planet biodiversity, humans too are in harm's way. Its active ingredient, glyphosate, is so widely used in our staple crops it is now found in our soils, our rain and our bodies. It is a probable carcinogen, an endocrine disruptor, does damage to our liver and kidneys and on and on. Though Roundup is still available in the US, glyphosate is banned in at least 33 countries. Monsanto, the maker of Roundup, has settled over 100,000 lawsuits and is slowly substituting glyphosate with other questionable ingredients. 

So whadawedo with our Whaskley weeds?!? Check out my favorite ideas on how to whack them before they become a dreaded midsummer chore. 

• Mulch: Either brown (leaves, needles, wood chips, straw, grass clippings, shredded newspaper) or green (weed carcasses, clover, trefoil, wild strawberry, sweet alyssum ) inhibits weeds, preserves moisture and feeds your soil! 
• Work smarter: A long-handled cultivating hoe, used often when weeds are young and easily interrupted, works wonders.
• Work together: There is likely a relative, friend or neighbor who wants to learn from you! Be their mentor, put them to work and share your bounty. The joys of gardening are amplified when shared…even weeding. 
• Welcome weeds: Some are highly nutritious and easy to harvest (chickweed, purslane, lamb quarters...), medicinal (comfrey, mullein, nettle, plantain...) or useful to your pollinators and beneficial insects. 

Hoping this helped with seeing new ways to weed and see weeds,

Constance

Send your eco-questions to “Constance” at conservation@marthasvineyardgardenclub.org

Greenhouse Committee

Anne Kushwala

Up-cycle your Plastic Plant Pots for Plant Sale

Remember to up-cycle your 4" pots to our club’s spring plant sale. The Greenhouse Crew will wash, sterilize and give the pots new life for use at the plant sale. Drop them off anytime at the MVGC Greenhouse at the Wakeman Center. Leave pots OUTSIDE the greenhouse. Other pot sizes welcome for future use.

Garden Club members have access to the 

Members Only Plant Sake Pre-sale 

(Spring date TBD) before the public sale Memorial Day Weekend: May 24 & 25, 2025

Perennials for the Plant Sale

This year we are asking members to think of us when they start gardening in the spring and donate divisions of perennials to our sale.

We will provide details on potting up and contributing your plantings in the future, as the ground thaws.

Bringing Blooms & Cheer to Windemere

Joan Eville



On February 12 Nancy Cabot, Joan Eville, and Jennifer Angell led a Valentine floral design and art activity with the residents of Windemere Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. The enthusiastic group attending thoroughly enjoyed making the Valentine arrangements. They also had fun enhancing their center pieces with tissue paper, ribbon and 💝 Valentine stickers. 

Martha's Vineyard Garden Club

PO Box 5061

57 David Avenue

Vineyard Haven, MA 02568