From the President:
Dear Ladies:
Time has whizzed by. It seems only a few weeks since the last What’s Ahead. Here come May and June and busy months they are. The Greenhouse is brimming with greenery in all shades, just begging to be purchased on May 11. The Greenhouse committee is working daily to keep every plant at its peak. I hope you have all 
signed up for the preparations from Wednesday, May 8 onward – setting up and transporting to St. Mary’s, and helping at the sale itself. Now also is the time to dig up those perennials that need dividing, label them and bring them into St. Mary’s on Thursday, May 9. We have a week to recover after the Plant Sale before the GCA Annual Meeting Post Trip ladies arrive on Monday and Tuesday, May 20 and 21 to visit the lovely offerings of our South Coast. They will visit three of our gardens, tour the RJD & gardens, visit the Whaling Museum, and trek around Allen’s Pond. There is lots to show them. June 20 is our Annual Meeting at Susan Sargent’s house, where we wrap up the business of our year, but one more date is ahead of us. On July 18 we will tour five Mattapoisett gardens. Ruth Ann Walega, Laura McLean, and her neighbors, Mike & Cynthia Esposito, and yours truly, will open their gardens for us all to see. More on that later. In the meantime, in the busy days ahead, remember to stop and smell the flowers, listen to the joyful chirps of the birds, and enjoy the bright delicate shimmer of spring-green trees.
—Ruth Jolliffe
Calendar
May
Thursday, May 2 — 10 a.m. The GCA Post Trip Committee will meet in the Coach House to continue to finalize details for the Annual Meeting event. **See below.
Wednesday May 8 to Saturday May 11 — PLANT SALE. Please sign up on the GCBB website. Help is still needed.
Wednesday May 8 –From 9 a.m. Set up at St. Mary’s, Dartmouth St.
Thursday, May 9 – From 9 a.m., members deliver perennials to St. Mary’s. Remember anything from your garden is pure profit! Labels and smaller containers best.
Friday, May 10 – Move all Greenhouse plants to St. Mary’s beginning at 9 a.m.
Saturday, May 11 – 8:30- TO 12:30, PLANT SALE, opens to the public at 9 a.m.
Tuesday, May 14 – 9 a.m., Greenhouse Clean Up.
Friday, May 17 to Sunday, May 19 – GCA Annual Meeting in Boston
Monday and Tuesday, May 20 and 21 – GCA Annual Meeting Post Trip to South Coast. **See schedule below.
Saturday and Sunday, May 25 and 26 – 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sakonnet Gardens, West Main Road, Little Compton, R.I. 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tour of gardens and plant sale by specialty growers. Not a general club activity,www.sakonnetgarden.com.
June
Friday, June 7 – 4 p.m., Garden History and Design meets, location TBD. Nan Sinton, chair.
Tuesday, June 18 – 10 a.m. Executive Committee meets in the Coach House
Thursday, June 20 – 10:30 GCBB Annual Meeting at Susan Sargent’s, 90 Allens
Neck Road, Dartmouth. Luncheon, Awards, etc.
Upcoming
Dates TBA —Flower arranging workshops, late June and late July at Carolyn Willard’s. Led by Tina Read and Sally Lutz.
Thursday, July 18 —Summer meeting highlights five Mattapoisett gardens.
Time to Divide Perennials
Two reasons to divide your perennials are first, regular division means healthy and vigorous plants that are longer lasting and secondly, more plants to bring to the GCBB plant sale or fill in elsewhere in your garden. The rule of thumb for dividing is every 4 to 6 years. A garden fork is ideal for lifting the plants out then divide into clumps with 3 to 5 healthy shoots in each. Pot up and bring to St Mary’s on Thursday May 9.
New at the plant sale this year is a table of pollinators and an area for white plants that will turn into a moonlight garden when the sun does down. If you have not signed up, there is still time as there are still some areas where we need help.
—Ruth Furman and Cheryl Gamsby
GCA Annual Meeting, Post Trip
Editor’s Note: As someone who has lucky enough to attend a Garden Club of America national meeting or two over my years in the club, I am amazed at the work and planning that goes into every aspect, as the clubs from each zone strive to showcase the treasures and issues of their region. This year is Zone I’s turn and GCBB, under the direction of Ruth Furmanand Ellen Christie, is in charge the Post Trip. We will host 31 people for two days. If you have not volunteered, please do so by signing up on the website. GCBB members are hosting dinners for 10-‐12, arranging flowers, being docents at the RJD, acting as greeters and drivers. And volunteering in Boston as clerks, judges, horticulture organizers, ushering national awards winners or just being a body to direct people to workshops, Olower shows, boutiques etc. I have included a condensed version of the Post Trip schedule to illustrate the scope of the event. Carolyn Willard
Post Trip Schedule
Monday, May 20
9:30 a.m. —Guests arrive from Boston at Fairfield Inn and Suites, New Bedford
10:00 a.m. —Pick up by GCBB drivers and drive to Mattapoisett. Half of the group goes to Ruth Jolliffe’s and half to Ruth Ann Walega’s and then switches locations.
Noon — Drive to Fran Levin’s for box lunch and tour of gardens, led by Fran, Nan Sinton and Al Walker. .
2:30 p.m. —Depart Levin garden and arrive at RJD, with tours of the gardens and house; refreshments under the tent.
4:00 p.m. —Return to hotel and check in
5:45 p.m. —Depart hotel for dinners at GCBB members’ homes. Anne Almy, Tina Read, Lisa Mellgard, Holly McDonough and Ruth Jolliffe are graciously hosting.
9:30 p.m.—Return to hotel
Tuesday, May 21
9:30 a.m. — After breakfast in hotel, guests walk to the New Bedford Whaling Museum for one-hour docent led tour.
Noon — After walking back to the hotel, guests depart for lunch at the Bayside Restaurant in Westport and a docent-led tour of Allen’s Pond Audubon Society location.
3:30 — Return to the hotel and depart for Boston at 4 p.m.
Volunteer Drivers for GCA Post-Trip
Many thanks to everyone who has volunteered to drive our guests for one or more of the activities associated with the GCA Post-Trip to the South Coast on May 20 1. We appreciate your help and couldn’t do it without you! A week or so before the event, we’ll send out detailed instructions to all drivers confirming dates, times, places, people, etc. as well as directions to your destinations. If you have any questions in the meantime, please let us know.
—Susan McLaren and Margaret Forbush,Transportation Committee
Horticulture
For the GCA Annual Meeting in Boston this year (May 17-19), you can enter cut specimens in the flower show and possibly be a winner. The Flower Show schedule is on our GCBB website. Entry classes include: flowering perennials, bulbs and tubers, trees or shrubs in bloom, etc. Check what looks good in your garden in May and consider entering the show. It’s fun and easy, and we will arrange transport of entries to Boston; you do not need to take them yourself. Please contact Susan McLaren for details if interested. Our Hort Committee will also be submitting entries in the challenge class for container grown native plants and a New England Native Terrain Container Garden, which is a essentially a garden in a large wooden box featuring native plants from our local area.
Flower Arranging Workshops
Tina Read, Sally Lutz and Carolyn Willard will hold two flower arranging workshops this summer, probably in late June and late July. If there is a topic you’d particularly like covered, please let us know. Small arrangements, connecting containers, mass design or the traditional are all possible topics.
Daffodil Show at Tower Hill .
The 2019 Seven States Daffodil Show will take place on Thursday, May 9th at the Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Boylston, Massachusetts. There are classes for horticulture, floral design and photography. For information and schedule please contact David James at drjames52@gmail.com
Sometimes, you just have to look to the sky and wonder where the sun went!
Ruth Jolliffe with the club at the Arnold Arboretum.