December 2024

NEWSLETTER


Tewksbury

Garden Club

Tewksbury, MA, USA


tewksburygardenclub.com


tewksburygardenclub@gmail.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!

Take a look around town for the festive contributions made to many public areas this holiday season!

Thanks to the ACE Committee for decorating the Town Hall, Library and Senior Center pots, railings, and electronic sign in the center of town.


Wreaths were delivered to the food pantry, group homes, fire departments, police department and other municipal buildings. 36 wreaths were placed on lamp posts around town common.


TCG was mentioned at this year's Tree Lighting Ceremony at Town Hall as well.

Recent Meeting Highlights

We enjoyed a Felices Fiestas celebration at 3 Amigos Bar & Grill on December 11. We had fun, laughs and Mexican apps while participated in a Yankee Swap. Many wore an ugly holiday sweater and we all enjoyed each other's company!

Upcoming Meetings

January 8, 2025, 7pm at Tewksbury Senior Center (doors open at 6:30pm)

We welcome Jane Newhouse, founder of Newhouse Wildlife Rescue. NWR is a rehabilitation facility for injured and orphaned wildlife in Chelmsford. They are dedicated to providing the highest care to local wildlife from our surrounding area. NWR also educates the public on how to co-exist with the wild animals in our community.

Below is a list of what to bring:

  • Name Badge
  • Pennies for Pines
  • Food Pantry Items - Coffee and Tea (regular and decaf, instant and ground)
  • SPECIAL REQUEST - Bring a fleece blanket, without ribbons or strings, that can be cut and used for rehabbing wildlife

Literary Blooms Arrangements at the Tewksbury Public Library

December's "Holiday" themed bouquet created by our Elaine Alley.

Highlights from Committee Reports

Tree Walk Committee

Susan and Paul stopped by our Winter Tree Walk display on Pinnacle Trail. Check it out! Take a selfie!

Sunshine Committee


Ellie & Charlene reported that they visited wtih Roberta.


At our holiday celebration everyone received a hot cocoa gift from the committee to enjoy at home.

Garden Therapy

Festive holiday creations with our Garden Therapy teams. The one with the Santa is from Blaire House. The floral one is from Bayberry. Such wonderful creations for the residents' rooms.

at Blaire House

at Bayberry

Dine Out Nights

We made $50 at Wicked Cheesy, $120 at Mango's and $120 at Brothers last month!


Next up will be 3 Amigos on Wed, Jan 22 ... be on the lookout for the flyer.

Club Members in the News

Great picture in the Town Crier promoting our Wreath Sale


Horticulture Article


It's Winter, What Can I Do Now?

You might be thinking that winter is a time to take a break from thinking about plants and gardening, but there is still a lot to do. First, you need to think about the plants you have now – the ones in your home. Air in homes can become drier when the heat is on. Relative humidity for a home should be between 30-50%. Many people opt to use humidifiers to add moisture to the air. It’s beneficial for people, but also helpful for your plants. Some humidifiers even have a plant care setting. Tropical plants will especially appreciate extra humidity when the indoor air is dry. Providing adequate humidity can help prevent brown leaf tips.


Can you just mist your plants? Yes and no. Misting doesn’t add moisture to the air that can be extracted by the plant. Misting can also lead to fungus growth and disease if water collects on the plant.


Take time now to clean your plant leaves. Simply washing with water can remove dust and keep the leaves and the whole plant healthy.


Take a look at your plants and see which you can take cuttings from for the plant sale! This timing would give your cuttings enough time to form roots in time for the sale. Plants like pothos and spider plants root easily in water, while other plants like jade plants or holiday cactuses form a better root system when planted directly in soil.


This is also the time to plan your outdoor garden. Seed catalogs can be found online. Johnnys, Fedco, Wild Seed Project, and Native Plant trust all offer straight species native plant seeds and non-GMO vegetable seeds. Of course, you can also request a paper catalog from some sources and curl up with a cup of cocoa and your seed catalogs and dream of Spring.

Media for Me


Do you know there is a wealth of knowledge available to you online? Of course you do. But do you know about the valuable resources you can find by going to the Grow Native Massachusetts website?


Grow Native offers a program called Evenings with Experts. These are in-person or Zoom programs with nationally renowned speakers. Once the lecture happens, the presentation is made available on the Grow Native website under Great Resources, then Our Experts Videos. There are 2-4 programs per year starting in 2015.



Listen to Owen Wormser explain Meadowmaking for Beginners, or Dr Nick Dorian reveal The Secret Life of Native Bees, or Rebecca McMackin divulge The Language of Flowers: Understanding Pollination Ecology. Fire up your laptop on a cold winter night.

Federation News

The Federation is offering a Canva Zoom webinar on January 30 from 6-8 PM. Canva is a free-to-use online graphic design tool. Register at gcfm.org


We submitted an article to summarize our activities to the Mayflower publication and you can read that here.

Tewksbury Community Pantry Donations

Thank you for everyone's food pantry donations at this month's meeting! We donated 24 pounds of various toiletries. Great work, everyone!

Newsletter Submissions



Post committee updates on our Facebook member's page so we can pull content from there and images are easy to grab.


Submit all info/pictures for inclusion in future newsletters to tewksburygardenclub@gmail.com by the 27th each month.


Thanks for all you do, and for contributing to this publication!