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Fourth of July 2021 Recap

~ Becky Stoughton ~ Leave a comment

Happy 4th of July! The Amherst Garden Club was well represented with our standing float, consisting of 13 big flowers, a handmade parade banner, and the AGC’s new “anniversary edition” banner. Also adorning the “float” were 8 garden club members, holding a gardening tool and waving to passers-by.

Our efforts were well rewarded with the top award of “Best Overall” and the General Moses Nichols Perpetual Challenge Memorial Trophy (otherwise known as “the milk can”)! A huge thanks to all who participated to represent the club: Kathy Brundage, Becky Stoughton, Jeanne Johnson, Maureen Minner, Julie Hoag, Nancy Head, Diane Merrithew & Joan Poltack.

The flowers, which were made by Joan and Diane, incorporated in the center a gold ball ornament that was repurposed from the Civic Gardens 50th anniversary decorations this past winter. The petals were made from craft foam that was heated, shaped, cut, and glued, with the tips brushed with gold paint to relate to the 50th Anniversary. The banner, made by Diane, points out the anniversary and our years of beautifying Amherst. Participants all wore a specially made headpiece that reads “Gardening Superstar”, since the parade theme this year was America’s Superstars. The names of civic gardens were written on paper leaves that bordered the front of our display.

We’d also like to congratulate long-time ACG member and former president Anne Krantz for being named Amherst Citizen of the Year for 2021! The rain held off and we had a lot of fun. Happy 4th of July!

Our first ever online Plant Sale starts tomorrow!

~ Amherst Garden Club ~ 1 Comment

A spring tradition that was sadly missed in 2020 is back this year! Our club members have dug and potted our usual high quality, locally grown perennials. You will be able to purchase these plants through the online shop at AmherstGardenClub.org starting at 8:30 AM on Wednesday, April 28. Shop early for best selection! The sale will close on May 1 at 12:00 noon.

Payment will be made online during our sale hours. Plan to pick up your order curbside on Saturday, May 8 at Wilkins School. (You will be notified of your pick-up time prior to May 8.) Our plant sale helpers will be wearing masks and will load your car with your purchases — contact-free, no need to get out of your car. We do not deliver or ship.

Please check out our Garden Tools & Relics, Houseplants, Hanging Baskets, and Mother’s Day Baskets and consider a purchase. We missed our Plant Sale in 2020 and hope you might add one of these specialty items to your cart as a way of supporting our club. Proceeds from the Plant Sale go back to the community. The money we raise pays for town beautification projects and educational programs that are free and open to the public.

Important note: Please remember that the plants you are purchasing are in the beginning stages of growth and will not look like the colorful, flowery photos you see online. But their root systems are strong, and they have been cared for over the past few weeks while growing in the pots. They will eventually turn into plants that look like the photos on the site if you plant them within a week of picking up your order and water them daily. 

Looking forward to seeing you online!

The Amherst Garden Club

Holiday Magic Awards

Featured ~ Amherst Garden Club ~ Leave a comment

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,” thanks to all of you who participated in the Holiday Magic event sponsored by The Amherst Garden Club, as well as the neighborhoods/streets that came together to produce very creative holiday decorations!

Below are our winners along with a tour handout that you can print for heading out to check out the lights. We have grouped the participating houses into three areas in Amherst, so take a different route each night! You won’t want to miss any of it, but please slow down and drive responsibly, as some of these areas will have more cars than usual.

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This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is holiday-magic-tour.gif

Adding Compost to Civic Gardens

~ Amherst Garden Club ~ 1 Comment

This year as part of the fall cleanup of the club’s Civic Gardens, several of the teams decided to apply a top dressing of compost to improve soil fertility and improve the health of the gardens next season. In addition to adding important nutrients, the addition of the compost will improve the ability of the soil to absorb and hold water, which is increasingly important given recent droughts and the lack of irrigation at most of the gardens.

Happily, the day that was selected for delivery of the compost was sunny and warm for November, and we had a great turnout of volunteers. It was definitely an illustration of the concept that “many hands make light work.” Thank you to all of the volunteers, particularly Patty Healy Osborne and her husband Ken for letting us use their truck to transport the compost (3 yards in total) saving the club delivery costs.

Can’t wait to see the results!

You’re Invited! Webinar: Encouraging Wildlife Diversity in Designed Landscapes

~ Amherst Garden Club ~ Leave a comment

Presented by Matt Tarr

Join the Amherst Garden Club on Thursday, May 7 at 10:30 AM for this webinar.  The public is welcome and encouraged to attend.

Click to join:
https://unh.zoom.us/j/92173654172

Meeting ID: 921 7365 4172

To join by phone:
+1 312 626 6799 (US Toll)

A recorded version of the webinar will hopefully be available.

Matt Tarr, Wildlife State Specialist
Matt Tarr, Wildlife State Specialist

An abundance of wildlife is one of the best indicators of an ecologically well-designed landscape. By understanding how pollinators, birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians select their habitats during each season of the year, we can design landscapes that effectively attract and support a diversity of wildlife.

Matt will provide practical methods for designing ecologically complete landscapes that invite human interaction and transcend simple aesthetics through their functioning interconnected elements.

Join us for this webinar and learn how to encourage wildlife diversity in your own landscape.
Continue reading “You’re Invited! Webinar: Encouraging Wildlife Diversity in Designed Landscapes” →

The Courage and Tenacity of Trees

~ Amherst Garden Club ~ 1 Comment

Perhaps you forgot, with all that is going on, but today is Arbor Day (April 24).

In honor of the holiday, and fitting for the times, a garden club member wanted to share these images of trees that have persisted in spite of great challenges.

(Disclaimer: This set of photos has been making the rounds on the Internet; we can’t be certain that none were Photoshopped!)

1 of 28: A place of enchantment

Continue reading “The Courage and Tenacity of Trees” →

Monarch butterfly release!

~ Amherst Garden Club ~ Leave a comment

This morning Donna Miller taught the Amherst Garden Club all about the monarch butterfly’s life cycle and migration in her talk, Where Have All the Monarchs Gone? As a citizen scientist for Monarch Watch, Donna helps tag and track the butterflies during their fall migration.

Donna showed us how to tag a butterfly by placing a small, harmless sticker on its wing, and then she released it behind the Messiah Lutheran Church to begin its journey south.

¡Adiós, amigo!

Donna Miller releasing a monarch

Want to learn more about monarch butterflies? Check out Donna’s Monarch Butterfly Resource List.