Author: Becky Stoughton

Upcoming Programs in Nashua

~ Becky Stoughton ~ Leave a comment

The Nashua Public Library is offering several free upcoming programs of potential interest to ACG members and the local community. Details can be found at the links below:

  • loonsSuccesses of Loons in NH – Wednesday, January 18, 2017 at 7 pm in the Nashua Public Library Theater (presented by Harry Vogel of the Loon Center in Moultonborough)
  • roger_swainWipe Out Weeds and Swap Some Seeds – Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 7 pm in the Nashua Public Library Theater (presented by Roger Swain, former host of The Victory Garden)

2016 Plant Sale Inventory Announced!

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20140519-133429-48869853.jpgThe plants have been dug, divided, potted, and nurtured by relatively warm weather and wonderful rain showers.  This year we have a very wide selection of appealing plants.  Tomorrow, May 7, from 8:30-1 at Wilkins School in Amherst, NH, they are available for you to take home and lovingly plant into your own garden.  If you’d like a glimpse at what will be available, download and peruse this year’s inventory list, now available on our Plant Sale web page.  And remember; we’ll be accepting credit cards this year for your convenience as well!

Boutique Items Available at AGC Plant Sale

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One of the added attractions at the upcoming Amherst Garden Club Plant Sale on May 7 is the Boutique Table, at which club members display and sell their craftwork.  Below is a peak at this year’s offerings, so you can plan your shopping!  Be sure to stop by the Boutique Table to check out these great items, many of which are perfect for Mother’s Day. (See our Plant Sale page for more details.)

Handmade Cards – (Dawn Burke)

Creative handmade cards for life’s events:  birthdays, weddings, graduation, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and more. A hand crafted card is a unique and special way to mark an occasion and show you care.

Handmade scarves, hats, headbands and accessories (Michelle deLongchamp)

Knitted and woven scarves make a wonderful gift for your Mom for Mother’s Day, birthdays or any occasion, or how about “Liberty of England” floral prints used in scarves, headbands, hats and accessories. They are one-of-a-kind handmade items in beautiful yarns and floral cotton patterns!

 Jewelry (Diane Merrithew)

MerrithewUnique pendants have been handcrafted from paint, metal, wire, and paper. Perfect as a gift.

Sun Catchers (Pam Newhouse)

Capture the gift of light! Create a unique work of art. Design your own : using real glass pieces.

Unique handcrafted items (Joan Poltack)

PoltackUnique handcrafted items with floral or garden themes make wonderful gifts for Mother’s Day, birthdays, or for yourself. You’ll find delightful fairy houses and gardens, tiny quilled garden gnomes and other figures, tatted bracelets, and more.\

Floral Photo Cards (Marti Warren)

These lovely floral photos have all been taken in local gardens and presented in a blank 5X7 notecard, to send a message to a gardener or special friend. Fine quality paper and exceptional photos make these a very desirable item.

Jewelry (Barbara Beck)
BeckOne of kind fused and dichroic glass pendants and accessories made in a kiln.  These make beautiful and unique gifts for Mother’s Day, hostess gifts or just to treat yourself!  Dichroic glass reflects light so the items can change color/tone in different lighting conditions and seem to sparkle.

Painting (Mary Salmon)

On display and for sale will be one of Mary’s paintings.

Jewelry (Crystal Chen)

ChenCrystal has been designing detailed crafts for over 40 years. She takes great pride in paying careful attention to designing unique jewelry pieces that are versatile. These pieces are great for work, play, and travel.

2016 AGC Plant Sale Vendors Announced

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The following vendors will be showcasing their wares at the upcoming AGC Plant Sale, to be held on May 7.  For details see the Plant Sale page on our web site.

Amherst Garden Center – Amherst, NH – Large Hanging baskets, specialty annuals, shrubs, fruit trees

Mason Hollow – Mason, NH – Hostas, Special Perennials

A Touch of Glass – Lyndeborough, NH – Vintage glass garden sculptures

Stone Gate Farm & Flowers – Greenfield, NH – Perennials, trees, shrubs, exotic conifers

Fox Den Farm – New Boston, NH – Seedlings/starter plants- heirloom tomatoes, hanging baskets

Trembly Gardens LLC – Milford NH – Annuals, vegetable plants, herbs, hanging baskets

King Street Vineyards – Milford, NH – Fruit producing plants

Borostyan Originals – Milford, NH – Wind chimes, garden tool boxes, wine bottle holders, desk sets, copper water fountains

Enchanted Harvest- Greenfield, NH – Herbs

Author Gordon Russell – “Watching Great Meadow” – June 2

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If your soul becomes nourished by your surroundings, and you find peace with every breath of fresh air you take, than you must come to hear Gordon Russell speak of his beloved Meadow on June 2 at 7:30 pm at the Francestown Library

Gordon is an exceptional storyteller and speaker, seemingly born ready to entertain and inform audiences. Since Gordon and his wife Barbara moved into their home overlooking Great Meadow in New Boston, New Hampshire, Gordon has become its unofficial steward. His observational skills, and deep understanding of nature enable him to see all of its patterns and see the way these patterns are disturbed by our changing climate.
His journal entries depict not only lively stories of wildlife, but also Great Meadow’s loss. Troubling changes are woven throughout tales of relationships between geese, epic bird of prey battles, and the inspiring engineering talents of the beaver. Watching Great Meadow will appeal to all New Englanders who appreciate our beautiful habitats, and especially resonate with environmental activists, nature enthusiasts, and the curious.

President of the Russell Farm and Forest Conservation Foundation, GORDON RUSSELL taught environmental studies in public schools in New Hampshire and Massachusetts before retiring in 1978. He has spent years mentoring college interns majoring in environmentalism and conservation, and received many awards for his volunteerism and five decades of conservation work in land and water protection. Russell and his wife, Barbara, live in New Boston, New Hampshire, on the edge of the Great Meadow marsh.

“This is an important, compelling, and heartfelt book. Gordon Russell’s keen observations of his beloved Great Meadow is a chronicle of wild characters and natural dramas you might never know existed. But osprey, bullfrogs, and hummingbirds are our neighbors, too. Watching Great Meadow is a clarion call to appreciate and protect them, written with sensitivity and style.”—Sy Montgomery, author of The Soul of an Octopus. Hancock, NH.

For more information, visit the Francestown Library events page at http://bit.ly/1SDDqcE.

Hidden Gardens of Beacon Hill – May 19

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On Thursday, May 19, 2016, the gates open to 10 enchanting hidden gardens.  Discover vertical gardens, charming fountains, a magnificent Japanese red maple and a quaint potting shed. Best of all, experience Beacon Hill at its best. Dine on Charles Street and visit our first ever “Pop-Up” shop hosted by the Beacon Hill Business Association.  A curated selection of items with spring, style and you in mind will be conveniently located in one spot.

Click here to purchase tickets at advance price of $45 and visit BeaconHillGardenClub.org for complete tour information.

Don’t Miss Annual Plant Sale – May 7 – 8:30 am – 1 pm

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The Amherst Garden Club Plant Sale is an annual event, always the Saturday before Mother’s Day at Wilkins Elementary School in Amherst, NH. Over 2500 locally grown perennials are lovingly dug and potted by the members of the club.  Friendly knowledgeable club members will be available to answer questions.  Stop by the Raffle Table and check out the garden-related items you might win.  There are delicious homemade items at the Baked Goods Table.  A dozen vendors are invited to sell their garden-related products.  There will be hanging baskets, vegetable plants, annuals, herbs, a great variety of hosta plants, day lilies and specialty perennials all offered by the wonderful vendors. There will be tents of gently used garden books, used garden tools and relics, and a club boutique of lovely items for Mom. Kids may pot a special plant for Mom at the Kid’s Potting Table.

Proceeds from the Plant Sale benefit community projects, scholarships for local high school students, and club members class fees for  horticulture endeavors.  Plant list for the 2016 plants may be posted on the website and blog before the event depending on time!! There will be a handout at the sale. NEW THIS YEAR – CREDIT CARDS may be used! Perennials for the most part will be $6.00 a pot with a few individually priced.

Vintage Tools Tent Staff
Hooper Girls at Plant Central

AGC May Programs

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The Amherst Garden Club has two terrific programs on May 5; one in the morning, and one in the evening. Details below and on our website. Please join us for either or both!

May 5 at 9:00-11:00 am
Messiah Lutheran Church (Rte. 101) in Amherst, New Hampshire.
“Ikebana” presented by Antoinette Drouart

Antoinette Drouart received formal training and certificates from the Ikebana Sogetsu School headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, and is an Ikebana Sogetsu Sensei. Her artistic interests, combined with her love of flowers and their therapeutic values, have led her to study and teach the art of Japanese flower arrangement design, known as Ikebana. She has designed and arranged many floral displays in Tokyo, New York City, Boston and Paris. A member of Ikebana International, Sogetsu Boston Branch, the Orchid Society, and the Nashua Garden Club, Antoinette is now specializing in Japanese flower arrangements for display in New Hampshire.   Ms, Drouart will be doing two classic arrangements, one low and one high, and then will demonstrate a free style arrangement.  A short history of Ikebana will be given, and she will provide the meaning of the flowers she uses while she works.  There will be a door prize following the meeting.

May 5 at 7:00-8:30pm
Parkhurst Place (11 Veteran’s Road, Amherst NH)
“Container Gardening and Small Spaces with Vegetables” by Margaret Hagen from the UNH Extension Service

 Are you interested in growing vegetables but think you lack sufficient space?  If so, come hear Margaret Hagen, Food and Agricultural Field Specialist with the UNH Extension Service and a favorite speaker of many Amherst gardeners, talk on “Growing Vegetables in Small Spaces and Containers”.  Ms. Hagen is a specialist in raising vegetables starting with amending and fertilizing the soil to harvesting the vegetables and preparing the garden for the following year.  She is knowledgeable about coping with insects and weeds and gardening intensively in small places, and has gained extensive experience in sharing practical horticultural information with the general public through lectures, workshops, a weekly garden column, and the Master Gardener program. Aided by Anne Krantz of the Amherst Garden Club, Ms. Hagen has also been instrumental  in helping the women at the Women’s Prison in Goffstown plant and nurture vegetables that can be used in food preparation in the prison kitchen.  This is the fourth year for the garden.

“Big Trees” Program in Nashua April 6

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If you want to learn about the state’s biggest trees then be sure to go to the presentation sponsored by the Nashua Garden Club at the First Baptist Church 121 Manchester St. Nashua on April 6th  at 7 PM.  Kevin Martin will be showing and discussing these trees as described in his new book “Big Trees of New Hampshire”. You will hear how he got involved with finding the trees, how lumber from similar trees is used in his boat-building work, and how wildlife will use these impressive parts of our landscape.

The discussion will cover trees on public land in all parts of the state and where they are located so you can go see them for yourself. City tours of Portsmouth, Nashua and Concord are also described. Books will be available after the presentation for those interested.

Contact the Nashua Garden Club at nashuagardenclub@gmail.com or Kevin at kevinmartin16@comcast.net, or 603 679-5153.