From the President:
Dear Ladies:
Autumn is here. The time changes November 3. Leaves are turning the vibrant colors of fall, if they haven’t been blown off the trees by strong winds and rain. While nature is putting itself away for the winter, we are just getting started. We’ll have a Dahlia dividing time after the frost come for real; wreath and centerpieces with Tina Read’s guidance in December, a holiday lunch in lieu of our cocktail party for a change of pace and committee meetings to flesh out the rest of the year. And best of all, the Greenhouse is OPEN! Cuttings are beginning to fill the bench and stock plants are coming in. Our year has begun.
Ruth Jolliffe
Above, Susan McLaren’s Coral Bark Maple
Calendar
October
Tuesday, Oct. 29 —10:30 a.m. Horticulture Committee will meet in the Coach House to plan projects for the year.
Wednesday, Oct. 30 —10 a.m. Debby Tinay and Happy Webb will demonstrate making cuttings from our boxwood collection.
November
Date TBD- Dahlia (and canna, gladioli) tuber exchange. Remember to dig and label your tubers about 2 weeks after hard frost. Stay tuned for the date of our tuber exchange, probably late in November.
Tuesday, Nov. 12 — 10:30 a.m, Executive Committee meets in the Coach House
Thursday, Nov. 21 —10:30 a.m. at the Mattapoisett Library. Regular monthly meeting will feature a screening of film about Piet Oudolf Details below. Coffee and goodies from 10 a.m. or after the screening. Head hostess is Tina Read.
Thursday, Nov. 21 —The Conservation Committee will meet immediately following the film at the Mattapoisett Library; approximately 45 mins.
December
Tuesday, Dec. 3 and Wednesday Dec. 4
— 9 a.m. Tina Read will host wreathmaking (Tuesday), Tapestry wreath and centerpieces (Wednesday) in the Coach House. Details below.
Tuesday, Dec. 10 — Holiday Luncheon for members. Details to follow.
Tuesday, Dec. 17 —10:30, Executive Committee meets in the Coach House.
Joan Underwood (daughter of Sue) explains Civic Garden to 4th graders during Backyard Botany, 2011.
A Fond Farewell and Thank You
Civic Garden makes room for the RJD’s return to its Historic Landscape
by Mary Schubert
For more than 30 years, a perennial garden has been part of the landscape at the Rotch Jones Duff House, designed, planted and lovingly tended by GCBB members. This fall, the garden was dug up and replaced with lawn as part of a plan to return the grounds to its historic 1880 configuration. Established in 1988, the first perennial garden was designed by Sue Underwood, a Harvard Landscape Architecture graduate and GCBB member. The Garden Club of Buzzards Bay’s original goal for the garden was to “enhance the grounds of the newly established Rotch- Jones- Duff House and Garden Museum.” The garden, with the club’s renowned boxwood collection, were the bones of a renovated RJD estate. Realizing that all three families were gardeners and maintained perennial gardens through-out the grounds, Sue selected plants that would reflect their historic plantings during the years of their custodianship. These included: red leaf barberry,
herbaceous peonies, moonbeam coreopsis, moonshine yarrow, lemon yellow day lilies, clematis, lavender, true dwarf boxwood, and little leaf boxwood, globe thistle, and Physostegia virginiana. Later renamed the “Civic Garden,” it has been refurbished several times, under the knowledgeable leadership of Sue Fairfax, Barbara Warburton, Helen DeGroot, Janet Sherwood, and Ruth Ann Walega to keep its appearance vibrant for the many visitors to the house and gardens. In each of these renewals, the mainstay plants were part of the historic scheme. The garden club membership funded, planted and cared for this garden until recent times, when the Rotch-Jones-Duff House Executive Board agreed to share in the summer costs, hiring a professional landscaper to keep the grounds presentable for the events being promoted by the house. (Left, a blaze of colors in 2004).
In 2010, The Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation did a survey of the property and proposed that the house and grounds return to around 1880, portraying the property as it would have appeared during the Jones’ residency. It was the commission’s suggestion that the Civic Garden should be removed since it was not there at that time.. Another recommendation of the report was the addition of the apple orchard, which was supported and implemented by the garden club as its Annual GCA Project in 2011. During the spring of this year the RJD approached the GCBB regarding its desire to move forward to the removal of the garden. This October became the opportune time for the GCBB to “partner up” and assist the RJD with this this historical restoration. In doing so, the garden club has, again, played an important role in the stewardship of this historic property. While this is a sad time for many of us who worked the soil, fertilized plants, and pulled weeds, we appreciate our partner’s quest to present itself at its historical best as it opens its gates to the public. As we say goodbye to our lovely garden, the GCBB and the RJD both send out a huge “Thank you” to the myriad of garden club members who volunteered throughout the years “to enhance the RJD grounds and offer a source of pleasure to the visiting public.”
Editor’s Note: Plants from the Civic Garden were dug and saved before the work began. Physostegias (Obedient Plant) and Artemisia are still available to be planted up and dug in at members’ houses. Under the Olmsted Center plan, our Boxwood Collection will be allowed to remain as it.
From Program
Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf
The November 21 meeting at the Mattapoisett Library features a screen of “Five Seasons: The Gardens of Piet Oudolf. At the age of 75, Dutch garden designer Piet Oudolf is the most famous landscape gardener in the world today, especially well-known in the United States for his plantings that transformed the derelict High Line elevated railroad in New York City into a hugely popular park. This award-winning recent film about Oudolf’s life and work shows him at home at his garden and design studio in eastern Holland, visits a few natural American landscapes that have inspired him, and explores his process as he creates a meadow garden at a gallery and artist’s colony in England. It has consistently received excellent reviews and will be of great interest to all members of the Garden Club.
—Libby Eustis
Wreath Making and Centerpieces Dec. 3 and 4
Tina Read will share her wreath and flower arranging expertise, provide goodies, music and good cheer for those who would like to make holiday arrangements on Dec. 3 and 4 at 9:15 in the Coach House. We will have cut greens on hand but also bring your own. To sign up contact Tina (tparkerread@gmail.com) or Carolyn Willard (carolynwillard@comcast.com).
For wreaths on Dec. 3:
Bring an undecorated wreath of your choice.
Clippers
We will have: Wire picks, cones. ribbon.
Variety of greens. Holly. Eucalyptus. Pods. Berries etc.
Come and you can create your own decorated wreath.
For Tapestry Wreaths or Centerpieces Wednesday December 4:
Tapestry Wreath and or Holiday centerpiece of greens and flowers.
For Tapestry Wreath:
Bring
Clippers and several sprigs of your favorite greens. Tapestry wreaths contain four to five evergreens in a pattern. The wire base is wrapped with water-soaked sphagnum moss. (Left, Holly McDonough displays her 2018 Tapestry). . Favorite greens. ( boxwood, white pine, balsam, arborvitae, camicyprius, yew, andromeda, skimmia, berried juniper, cedar, any evergreens. We will supply wreath frame, wrapping, moss, and instruction.
For Centerpiece:
We will supply a container, oasis, and an example to follow. You can bring your own container of course.
If you wish to add flowers. Good ones are: White roses, white orchids, carnations, star of Bethlehem, tulips, narcissus, calla Green hypericum berries, green mums, orchids, Red ilex, red carnations, red roses, red amaryllis, Bring any flowers you wish. We will have helpful ideas!,
New Members
We have three new members, all of them transferring from other GCA clubs.
Sue Daylor
A new Affiliate member, Sue has recently relocated to Westport from Milton. She and her husband, Bob, have renovated an old farmhouse along the East Branch of the Westport River and are happily living on the SouthCoast full-time. With renovations finally complete, they are now focusing on landscaping their property. Sue maintains her membership in the Milton Garden Club (MGC), where she has been a member since 2002. During that time, she held multiple club leadership positions, and was Chair of the 2015 GCA Zone 1 Flower Show, for which she was recognized with GCA’s Medal of Honor. Sue enjoys both hort and flower arranging and over the years has been the recipient of several flower show awards. She also received a GCA Club Appreciation Award and MGC’s Magnolia Award. She’s participated in Art in Bloom twice as a flower arranger, and for many years was on the flower arranging team for Milton’s Forbes House Museum, as well as the Eustis Estate. In addition to Sue’s membership with MGC and now GCBB, she is also a member of the Jr. League of Boston Garden Club, a Federated Club. Sue is retired, having spent her career as a marketing/communications partner with TRO, one of Boston’s largest architectural firms, and subsequently as founder of her own marketing consulting practice. Sue has five grown children in a blended family, all of whom are living in New England. She enjoys competitive rowing on the Westport River and volunteers with the Buzzards Bay Coalition, the New Bedford Cultural Council and SquashBusters, a squash program for inner city kids of Providence.
Caroline Wehner
Caroline Wehner moved to Westport from Virginia in July. As an active member of a GCA affiliated garden club in Virginia, she served as a Vice President. She wanted to continue her affiliation with a garden club so she reached out to the Garden Club of Buzzards Bay; to be considered for active membership. Caroline is married to William Wehner, they met while working in Boston 35 years age. Caroline has been interested in gardening for
many years. Her home in Roanoke VA was featured in a magazine article about landscaping; SW VA Living, Fall 2019, pp 26-28. This article may be of interest for two reasons; it lists key questions to consider for landscaping and mentions the designer who has re-located to South Egremont, MA Caroline’s claim to fame is her two year old grandson, Westley, who lives with his parents in Dartmouth. Recently, Westley announced that he expects to be a big brother.