President's Message
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| floral arrangement by Niamh Maddock |
Holidays are fast
approaching and Barrington Garden Club has got your entertainment covered!
Sue Redden will delight us all this Tuesday
with her program Holiday Tables and Techniques. You will be inspired and come
away with many fun ideas for your own festive holiday decorations. Sue’s lovely
arrangements will be raffled off at the end of the program.
With the gardens put to bed
for the season we turn our attention to decorating the town hall and veterans
home to ensure good cheer throughout the community.
My favorite event is always
the greens luncheon which is the best meal I have all year. Our talented
members know how to throw a party and they really know how to cook!!!
I can’t wait to celebrate
the season with you all and as always would love for you to include your
friends in any of our upcoming programs. I wish the happiest of
holidays to you and your families,
Blakely
The Greens Workshop is coming- you’ll be there, right? (It’s November 27th, 9:30 at the Methodist Church) Don’t forget to bring any evergreen cuttings you might have from your yard.
November
13th
Meeting: Festive Tables and Designs for the Holidays
14th Junior Garden Club Meeting
15th
Project: Hanging Garlands at 2:00
27th
Workshop: Greens Workshop and Garden Therapy Luncheon
29th
Project: Decorate RI Veterans Home
December
3rd
Project: Echo Lake Cleanup
4th
Workshop: BCS Boxwood Trees
5th
Junior Garden Club Meeting
6th RIFGC Board Meeting and Holiday
Luncheon
We had a great meeting on Oct 19 at "Wildflower Florist"! Kathy Luther couldn't have been more welcoming. She had 'cake pops' for the girls from the next door bakery and the shop all set up for us to 'invade'!
Kathy had cute ceramic gourds set up at each 'station' complete with oasis,
buckets of flowers & scissors for each
girl. Typically, even though Kathy took her time explaining the process, the
girls were finished their arrangements by 4:45!! Kathy also shared some ideas
for holiday other centerpieces. All 8 girls had a fantastic time. Many thanks
to Kathy for her expertise and generosity.
NERGC Symposium
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| floral design by Sue Redden |
Last month Barrington was very well
represented at the New England Region of Garden Clubs Symposium held in
Providence. Darcy Scott and Adelaide Clifford were terrific at manning the
registration desk; Sue Redden ran the entire show without a smidgen of mishap;
De Feldman did the table designs for the NE Regional Annual dinner meeting and
did an exhibit for student judging; Sue also did an exhibit for student
judging. I did an exhibit for the lecture on exhibition tables and served as
proctor for the exam. Congratulations to all!
The Evironment with Bea Greene
BARRINGTON PASSES REUSABLE CHECKOUT BAG INITIATIVE
On
Monday, October 1, 2012, The Barrington Town Council passed Ordinance 2012-7,
intended to “improve the environment in Barrington and the health, safety, and
welfare of its residents by encouraging the use of reusable checkout bags and
banning the use of single-use plastic bags for retail checkout of goods. Retail
establishments are encouraged to make reusable bags available for sale.”
WHO/WHAT...
Checkout
bags are defined as any plastic Carryout Bag dispensed at point of sale.
WHEN...
The
Reusable Checkout bag initiative will take effect on January 1, 2013 and expire
on January 31, 2015 unless renewed. At that time, the Barrington Business
Association and the Conservation Commission will both submit reports reviewing
the effects of the ordinance.
WHERE...
Plastic
checkout bags will no longer be available at the point of checkout at
Barrington sales establishments, which include retail stores, farmers’ markets,
flea markets and restaurants.
EXCEPT...
Plastic
barrier bags are allowed and are defined as bags used for vegetables &
fruits, fresh or frozen foods, unwrapped bakery goods, flowers & plants,
small hardware items, Dry-cleaned items, and items larger than 28”x36”.
To view the Ordinance, go to ClerkBase.
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| photograph by Katy Wardlaw |
We had a lovely outing to Greenvale Vineyards, in
Portsmouth, RI and lunch following our tour.
The day was sunny, cool and fall foliage was delightful.
Charlotte Sornborger was our "knowing the way" driver for Katy
Wardlaw, Patricia Mundy and Cindy Johnson. Our tour was conducted by Maggie
Harnett who gave us a walking tour then very informative wine tasting.
Lunch followed at Sweet Berry Farm, just down the road. I'm
sure both places we went to are traditional yearly destinations to a great many
families. Both places offered a love of the land, great scenery and personal
interests and exploration for all.
Purchases were made both at the vineyards and the farm for
lingering memories of a great outing sponsored by the Garden Club.
Sincerely, Cindy Johnson
By Toni Gruber
Pruning is a practice that takes
practice! So… while you are “practicing
“, here are a few suggestions:
Most
important on this subject are the 3 Ds – dead, diseased & damaged. Remove any branches that suffer from a “D”
situation as soon as possible. Cut them
at their point of origin. Also, remove branches that are crossing the path of a
more desirable branch.
Some plants that benefit from pruning
in the fall & winter are Butterfly bushes (Buddleia), Rose of Sharon
(Hibiscus syriacus), and 2 types of hydrangeas (H. arborescens [ ’Annabelle’ or
“Snowball types”] and H. paniculata [PeeGee types]). It’s important to identify your hydrangea
before pruning. The 2 types mentioned both bloom white; and, more importantly,
bloom on new wood. If your hydrangea blooms on old branches, you’ll have to
wait ‘til after it blooms in the spring or summer. Otherwise, you’ll lose a season’s
blossoms. But, if you have an
‘Annabelle’, you can cut it back within a few inches of the ground now. And, paniculatas can be pruned in fall,
winter, or early spring. And, the
Butterfly bushes & Rose of Sharon can be cut back drastically, even to a
foot or two above ground, if desired.
Renewal pruning is sometimes helpful in rejuvenating older trees &
shrubs & bushes. In late autumn or winter, cut the older branches down by
about two-thirds of the plant’s height.
When pruning trees in the fall, it’s a good idea to wait ‘til they drop
their leaves & are dormant. Then the structure is more evident. And, it’s
also easier to see any signs of disease or insects. (Hope not!)
A word of caution before you
get too enthusiastic & busy “practicing” – Do NOT prune any of your
spring-flowering shrubs now! They form next year’s blossoms during late spring
& early summer, and should not be given any haircuts until AFTER they’ve
bloomed. These include lilac, spirea, azalea, & forsythia. Speaking of
forsythia…its blooming signals the best time to prune roses. So, wait ‘til then
to “practice” on your roses!
With Sandi Tinyk
A few considerations for winter reading, holiday gifts,
or lazy days on trips to warmer climates
One Writer’s Garden: Eudora
Welty’s Home Place by Jane Roy Brown: Even in her
earliest short stories, Eudora Welty (1909–2001) wove images of flowers and
gardens into her descriptions of people and places. These influences originated
in Welty’s passionate connection to her home garden in Jackson, Mississippi.
Her story unfolds during the rise of home gardening as an American pastime in
the 1920s, when women viewed it as a means of self-improvement.
Nature
Wars: the incredible story of how wildlife comebacks turned backyards into battlegrounds by Jim Sterba:
If your arborvitae look like lollipops, if your herb garden is the main feature
on the rabbit’s salad bar, or, worse yet, if you’ve hit a deer or dealt with a
bear, this brand-new book is for you. Just published by Random House, it is an
amazing account of how, through well-meaning efforts, we have created a
disaster. We are justifiably proud of successes in reducing extinction of many
species. Ever-growing wildlife populations resulting from our efforts in
conservation and environmental issues are only part of the story. At the same time, we have severely reduced
their habitat, causing them to take up residence in your backyard. Added to
this is the economic impact of wildlife damage to crops, landscaping and
infrastructure, the cost of which is $28 billion per year, with $1.5 billion
from crashes caused by deer, moose and other wildlife. Do we have too much of a good thing?
The
Language of Flowers by Vanessa
Diffenbaugh: This best-selling debut novel chronicles the attempts of a
homeless 18-year-old former foster child to make a life for herself in San
Francisco. Emotionally scarred from a series of living arrangements, she is
unable to trust, love, or even to express herself with words, resulting in her
reliance on the Victorian language of flowers to communicate: dahlias for
"dignity"; rhododendron for "beware." This knowledge of an obscure language soon
lands her a job selling flowers, where she meets a man who not only speaks her
language, but also holds a crucial key to her past, enabling her to come to
grips with a devastating childhood and to learn to trust. I loved this
book!
The
White Garden: A Novel of Virginia Woolf by Stephanie Barron: I suggested this book a while back and
still feel it is worth a look. A literary mystery set 60 years after the death
of Virginia Woolf at Sissinghurt Castle, the gardens of which were created by
Woolf’s lover, Vita Sackville-West.
The
Lost Gardens of Heligan by Tim Smit: A handsomely illustrated record of the discovery & revival of a
magnificent Victorian estate, hailed by The Times of London as the garden
restoration of the century. Featuring 200 color photographs, this award-winning
book was a #1 best seller in Britain.
The Brother Gardeners: Botany,
Empire and the Birth of an Obsession by Andrea Wulf: Philadelphian John Bartram sent two boxes of plants and
seeds from the American colonies, addressed to a London cloth merchant. Most of
these plants had never before been grown in British soil, but in time the
magnificent and colorful American trees, evergreens, and shrubs would transform
the English landscape and garden forever. The book recounts the 18th century
work of six men from different countries that transformed botany, landscape and
our growing passion for gardening.
Other
possibilities:
Garden to Vase: Growing and Using
Your Own Cut Flowers by Linda Beutler;
The Life and Art of a Garden
Designer (about Nora Lindsey) by Allyson Hayward;
The
Walled Garden (focus is Great Maytham Hall in Kent, the inspiration for The
Secret Garden) by Leslie Geddes Brown
Happy Reading!
With Sara Drogin
One of the most wondrous
autumnal sights is that of Canada geese, flying in V-formation across a clear
azure sky. Their cacophonous honking heralds their passage, causing us to look
upward and admire the vision. Occasionally a lone goose passes above,
generating curiosity at its solitary state. And sometimes in the dark of night,
we hear a squadron of geese flying overhead and wonder if it is on a nonstop
passage to warmer climes.
The V-formation is aerodynamically sound and
constantly shifting: the lead bird often cedes its position to another, or some
birds create a second, smaller V. This formation allows the geese to fly over
1,500 miles in 24 hours when the wind is favorable. Despite the swift flight
and ever-changing pattern, these birds travel in family groups, the parents
flying with their young and breaking off into family units as they land.
Indeed, scientists contend that these geese possess
strong family bonds, with a pair often mating for life. The female lays 4-7
eggs and is solely responsible for their incubation, while the male dutifully
guards the nest for the 25-30 day stretch, attacking any intruder. However,
after hatching, the goslings become the wards of all the adult geese,
clustering in “crèches” that are protected by the adults. I recall seeing a
gaggle of four adults and many goslings waddling down Middle Highway last
summer, headed, I guessed, for Volpe’s Pond. Many of these goslings will enjoy
long lives since Canada geese live for upwards of 24 years.
Typically, these large, handsome water birds spent
the summer in northern North America and flew south to Mexico or the southern
U.S. during the winter. Although some geese still make the journey south --perhaps
the ones we see high up in the blue-- Canada geese have become unwelcome year-round
residents in many parts of the country. Here in Barrington we see them on the
high-school playing fields and country-club golf course throughout the winter.
Their abundant droppings --50 geese produce two-and-a-half tons of excrement in
a year’s time!-- have caused communities to undertake measures to rid
themselves of these birds. You might have seen the dog chasing them on the
country-club grounds, or you might recall the coyote cut-outs on the high-school
fields several years back. Some
municipalities addle the goose eggs or destroy their nests, and many states
permit regulated hunting of the Canada goose. (The bird can be legally hunted
in Rhode Island during September, with a limit of 15 bagged per day.) A few
desperate communities capture the birds from mid-June through July when they’re
molting and can’t fly. These birds are most often slaughtered, and their
processed meat is donated to food banks.
It
is interesting to note that Canada geese were considered endangered at the turn
of the last century, but intense wildlife protection policies that began in the
1950s proved highly successful. Today these geese are found in every Canadian
province and contiguous U.S. state at some point during the year, or, as we’ve
noted, all year. Attractive as these birds are, their proliferation on our open
spaces is proof of the old adage: You can sometimes have too much of a good
thing.
Our Barrington Beach cleanup was a great success with a nice turnout and plenty of trash to pick up. You never quite know what you will find as evidenced here in the photograph of Sandy Jones and Joan Haas. Please note that the next cleanup has been changed to Monday December 3rd at 1:00. We will be working around the Echo Lake area and there is parking at Susan Hoagland’s house at 9 South Lake Drive. Please contact Alison Townsend 247-1946 with any questions.
