Spring 2014 - The Garden Club of East Hampton

The Garden Club of East Hampton
Newsle8er
1914
Celebrating One Hundred Years
Spring 2014
2014
The Final Countdown to Our Forty-­‐‑First Annual Plant Sale and Silent Auction
Come One, Come All to the Big Tent!
Summer is all but upon us, so the Annual Plant Sale and Silent Auction cannot be far behind! This is, as everyone knows, our most important fundraiser of the year. It supports all of the good work that we do, which is why we need everyone to lend a hand or two! Here is our worker people wish list:
Thursday, May 22
We need lots of volunteers to set up tables and anything else that needs se8ing up.
Friday, May 23
At the party from six to eight, we need lots of assistance in keeping plates filled, glasses picked up, and generally keeping things looking pre8y.
Saturday, May 24
The following day, after the entire event has wrapped up, hopefully selling out everything, we break down tables and rentals. All hands are welcomed and needed.
Ruth Ann McSpadden and Gail Parker
Silent Auction Update
The 2014 Silent Auction is shaping up to be another great shopping opportunity, thanks to our members and local merchants and restaurants. This year we are trying something new: each item will be marked with a Buy It Now price. As on eBay, you may choose to purchase it immediately at the Buy It Now price, or bid on it in hopes of landing a bargain. We are planning to close the Silent Auction at 7:15 PM, so please be sure to do your shopping before then.
Look for artworks by Polly Bruckmann, Alice Connick, Alan Ryan, Jane Parkes, Lucy Cookson, and Durell Godfrey; a divine Running Zebra lamp from Eleine Bricken; an antique birdcage planted for summer, a rare yellow clivia grown and donated by Patsy Steffan; a wonderful selection of gardening books donated by Pat Robert and Maureen O’Leary; a set of fine hand tools for the garden; 2 cases of wine donated by Dede Booth; a stunning necklace designed by Angelika Walker; gift baskets; and other wonderful items.
We have two outstanding trips to offer this year: a private tour of Washington, DC’s Dumbarton Oaks museum and gardens (designed by Beatrix Farrand and considered her masterpiece) with an overnight stay at the nearby Georgetown home of GCEH member Jackie Quillen; and a two-­‐‑night stay in a director’s cabin at Stratford Hall Plantation, Stratford, Virginia, birthplace of Robert E. Lee and on the banks of the Potomac River, donated by Mary Jane Brock.
Many nurseries in town will be donating containers planted for summer, and various merchants and restaurants have donated gift certificates or fabulous merchandise from their shops. Of particular note are two donations: an elegant fern urn donated by Pennoyer Newman, valued at $750 and used at the White House, and a donation valued at almost $500 from J. McLaughlin in Bridgehampton: an Aiken tote bag in sunset stripe, a Mykonos scarf in coral and $250 gift certificate.
Julie Sakellariadis
It’s About Time
We have been hard at work planning for our important flower show, which will take place July 24th. The title for the show, It’s About Time, is the brain child of our own clever night owl, Penny Ross. Thank you, Penny!
In order to prepare and encourage members to enter the show, we thank Jenny Berkeley for arranging for 3 very helpful and inspiring demonstrations from experts in their field: one of Botanical Arts last summer, another of Contemporary Floral Design at the Christmas Meeting, and most recently, our talented Jenny gave a great workshop on Miniature Floral Design.
This is a GCA Flower Show, which means that entrants will be eligible for several prestigious Garden Club of America Awards, and we hope everyone will join in the fun by entering the show, volunteering to help, or best of all, both. After all, 2014 is the Centennial of the founding of our club, and it is our golden opportunity to honor the accomplishments of the distinguished women who paved the way for us and to celebrate the talents and interests of our current members as well as the role GCEH plays in our community today. We want to make sure that everyone understands that there are multiple ways to participate in the show. THERE IS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE. Please consider entering the flower show in one of several classes. There are still spaces open in Floral Design, Horticulture, and Photography. You can enter individually, or it can be great fun to enter with a friend. There are also many “back stage” jobs, so please be thinking of what you might like to do, before, during, or after the show such as se8ing up, taking down, taking pictures, housing one of the judges, assisting with hospitality, and many more.
We need to have you join us to make this the best flower show ever!! Please do get in touch with us now.
Mary Busch and Wendy Phillips
The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring
On a mid-­‐‑April morning, when the city had awakened with shock to an unexpected dumping of snow, my Cavalier spaniel Harry and I trudged along East 72nd Street. The temperature had not found its way above 29 degrees, ice coated the sidewalk, the sky was gray, and garbage decorated the curbs. It was the kind of day that made you think perhaps Spring would never come, after all. But suddenly, there it was! In one of those small, square-­‐‑fenced gardens, planted around a tree, I spied A SPRIG! A sprout! A tiny li8le green slip of a future flower that, against all odds, had pushed its way up above the soil to punctuate the post-­‐‑apocalyptic urban landscape. A brave li8le sprout, on whose slender back rested hope and optimism. If I had been that sprout, I might have poked my head up, taken one look around, and burrowed back into the ground to sleep ‘til June. But no, this sprig was thinking Spring!
A di8y from Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado sprang to my mind:
The flowers that bloom in the spring
Tra la
Have nothing to do with the case
I’ve got to take under my wing,
Tra la...
And that’s when I mean when I say, or I sing,
Oh, bother the flowers that bloom in the spring,
‘Oh, bother the flowers that bloom in the spring,
Tra la la la la,
Tra la la la la.
That song, in turn, brought me back to the Spring seasons of my childhood.
My three older sisters and I a8ended school in a place of enormous beauty, The Academy of Notre Dame—pronounced the French way—in the town of Villanova, Pennsylvania. The high school was housed in a large stone mansion that had been built in the 1890s by Lincoln Godfrey, a financier. Godfrey sold it in 1926 to Clarence Geist, owner of the Springfield Consolidated Water Company. Geist renamed the estate Launfal, after the poem, “The Vision of Launfal,” by Sir James Russell Lowell. Geist undertook a major renovation. He brought craftsmen from Italy to install hand-­‐‑
painted Italian tiles in the bathrooms. He enlisted an American sculptor to design the great hall, fireplaces, stone railings, fountains and statues in two lily ponds, the iron fence that surrounded the property, and the ornate iron gates that opened to the extravagantly large 30-­‐‑by-­‐‑70-­‐‑foot swimming pool, which had statuary fish that spouted water from their mouths. Frequent extravagant soirees were held at Launfal. So sumptuous was the property that it was used as the se8ing for one of my favorite movies, The Philadelphia Story, with Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. The pool where Hepburn’s character, Tracy Lord, swims was the pool on the grounds. The character’s wedding eve-­‐‑party was filmed on the terrace of the mansion. In 1943, Launfal experienced a rebirth. That was the year that the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur purchased 50 acres of the estate along with the 36-­‐‑room mansion, the pool, and a number of outbuildings. Launfal became a school. It would retain the mansion’s original crystal chandeliers, parquet floors, painted tiles, walnut paneling, and hand-­‐‑painted wallpapers, but still it was repurposed. The ballroom became the chapel, the billiard room a meeting room. The den was a religious studies space, the master bedroom a homeroom. Lunch was served at a large table in the dining room. Graduation ceremonies commenced at the top of the massive stairway that overlooked the Great Hall and proceeded down and out to the gorgeous large terrace, which was also the site of plays and opere8as, including The Mikado. The thirteen-­‐‑car garage re-­‐‑
emerged as a grade school. Many of the nuns were housed on the third floor of the mansion.
But when my sisters and I reminisce about Notre Dame, the talk often turns to what we remember most fondly of Spring there. Clarence Geist’s vision of Launfal led him to retain the services of a French landscape architect whom he charged with reinventing the grounds as—of course—Versailles. We sisters remember some things somewhat differently, but not in important ways. We all remember that from the terrace, the vista went on forever. But, too, the landscape was a study in geometry, and of symmetry and order. There were boxwood hedges, garden beds and planters, disciplined edgings, prolific use of stone, and sculptures. As Spring moved into Summer, there was a stunning burst of blossoms, a profusion of forsythia and dogwood, cherry trees and azaleas, tulips and daffodils, and magnolia trees.
The most eagerly awaited event of the year was The May Procession, an annual ritual that celebrated the Blessed Virgin Mary. We students would assemble on the terrace, in our white dresses, white socks, and Mary Janes, and proceed solemnly down a long, straight gravel path through an allee of flowering trees that formed a canopy over our heads. Visible through the trees were large formal lawns and the many beautiful French-­‐‑style side gardens. Daffodils were in full regalia.
We sang as we walked. I remember singing: “’Tis the month of our muh-­‐‑u-­‐‑
ther, the blessed and beautiful day…” I can still sing it today. My sister Pa8y remembers : “Bring flowers of the rarest, Bring flowers of the fairest…” ending with “Oh, Mary, we crown thee with blossoms today, Queen of the Angels and Queen of the May…” In kindergarten, Pa8y had the important task of holding aloft, on a white pillow, Mary’s crown of flowers. She remembers being very last in line, behind the tallest senior. As the procession commenced, the path divided, and we separated into two lines, walking on either side of very tall planters holding beautiful trailing flowers and greenery. When the two paths became one again, we arrived at the statue of Mary. A senior would place the crown on Mary’s head. Then back we would pace to the school, through that extraordinary landscape that would spoil us for all landscapes to come.
We loved the ritual, we loved knowing that it was a constant in our lives, and we loved ceremony. In our collective memory, it was always sunny, it never rained, and everyone was smiling. For us, that was Spring…
Gigi Mahon
Horticulture CommiOee Dahlia Workshop
Dahlias, dahlias, dahlias! Our commi8ee had a wonderful time mixing po8ing medium, filling planters, and planting a myriad of colorful dahlia tubers for our Dahlia Challenge Class in July.
Conservation CommiOee Update
We are delighted to announce that David Yarnold, CEO and President of the National Audubon Society is going to be our speaker at our August 4th Conservation Meeting. The meeting will take place August 4th at 10:30 at the Nature Conservancy Office. Members of our commi8ee heard Mr. Yarnold speak in Washington at the NAL meeting and were so impressed that we decided to ask him to come to East Hampton. Please be sure to put this date on your calendars.
Programs CommiOee Recap
In preparation for the July 24th Flower Show, the Programs commi8ee has featured speakers with judging expertise in specific categories of competition. For our Annual meeting in August, Jane Kilduff'ʹs Botanical Arts creations delighted our membership with her fanciful pieces of jewelry created solely out of dried plant materials. Jane presented her designs and answered questions about how she was able to craft her pieces of art and what the judges are looking for in competition. In December, Susan Detjens awed our members at the Christmas meeting with her Contemporary Floral Designs. Susan'ʹs imagination was on full display as she created holiday themed arrangements on-­‐‑the-­‐‑spot and presented many of her successful Contemporary designs throughout the years. In early May, our own in-­‐‑house GCA judge, Jenny Berkeley, showed our members the art of Miniature Floral Design with special tips and insight into creating arrangements for competition. Jenny'ʹs hands-­‐‑on workshop and demonstration provided for an informative, fun-­‐‑filled morning that put the finishing touches on our competition readiness!
Debbie Druker
Planting for Pollinators...Join in the Act
We all know about the birds and the bees! But more importantly, do you know about the hummingbirds, bees, bu8erflies, moths, and bats that are known as the top five pollinators. Why is this important? Well, of course, to pollinate the gorgeous flowers growing in all of our gardens for this summer’s GCEH Centennial Flower Show; but also, because our very existence is dependent on them. Insect-­‐‑pollinated crops grown in the United States are valued at an estimated $20 billion annually. This means approximately one out of every three mouthfuls of food that Americans consume comes from plants pollinated by pollinators.
Alarmingly, pollinators are being reduced at a staggering rate due to habitat loss, which includes urban sprawl and toxic pesticides. There has been plenty of news coverage. Remember last summer, the GCEH Conservation Commi8ee sent out a club-­‐‑wide email discouraging the use of pesticides with neonicotinoids because these toxic chemicals have been linked to colony collapse in bees. This winter, the Conservation Commi8ee started planning a new project called Planting for Pollinators … white clover for bees, milkweed for butterflies (the monarch caterpillar is dependant on this single plant for its survival).
To supply needed habitat for these important guests, our Commi8ee is working with a local Boy Scout troop and plans to plant host plants in some choice spots in the village. Please join the cause by planting in your home garden. Choose nectar plants that provide a succession of flowers in various colors and shapes to attract pollinators with different mouth and body size. Think natives such as milkweed ,
Asclepias incarnata, coneflower, Echinacea purpurea, Joe Pye weed, Eupatorium spp., ironweed, Vernonia spp., bee balm, Monarda spp., Salvia spp., and Aster spp., to name just a few. Also important, access to clean water, eliminate pesticides, avoid perfectly manicured lawns and leave some leaf litter with twigs for pollinators to thrive. Beverly Kazickas Sources: National Wildlife Federation, United States Department of Agriculture, and Pollinator Partnership
Time: The Garden’s Fourth Dimension There comes a day when the gardener is forced to acknowledge that the dreams, fantasies and thrills experienced in creating a garden occur less frequently as the garden, and gardener, mature with the passage of time. Time is the garden’s fourth dimension. It can be metaphysical as well as virtual.
If you’ve lived in the same place for 30, 40 or even 50 plus years, your lives have changed: the children, and even the grandchildren are grown. The play areas are begging to be redesigned to meet today’s uses. Deer have ruined many of our properties, and they need to be reconceptualized.
If you live in a wooded area or planted trees in the early years, you may have a lot more shade now and your original plantings are no longer flourishing. Conifer privacy screens may have passed their sell-­‐‑by date: white pines probably lost their bo8om branches, the blue spruce are looking pathetic. Do them and yourself a favor and put them out of their misery.
All trees and shrubs have a life-­‐‑span, just as we do. Some of the oldest European beeches, popular here from the early days of the summer colony, are nearing the end of their lives and will need to be replaced. Our hurricanes and high winds fell trees in our gardens on a regular basis.
Shrubs, particularly if they haven’t been pruned regularly, become leggy and ungainly over the years. Sometimes it’s possible to do a renovation pruning, but often they are beyond salvation.
Keep in mind that when you selected the trees and shrubs you had a vision of how they would look. Sentimentality has no place in the garden, if you want it to be vibrant and beautiful. You may delude yourself into remembering how the plant should look or used to look, but others will only perceive a flaw.
And then, there is the problem of crowding and overcrowding. Almost no one gets this right. I remember visiting Harold Epstein, one of the greatest American gardeners of the second half of the 20th century. Harold proudly showed the plantings leading to the entrance of his house: He had put them in when he bought the house in the 1930s and they still fit perfectly in the l990s.
But there aren’t many like him. Some years later, I visited the garden of a retired doctor in his 80s who had a magnificent collection of dwarf conifers. Each year he would call in his helpers to move some of the trees – a few feet here, a few there – to keep them perfectly spaced and allow them to remain perfectly shaped.
That kind of discipline is what’s required to maintain woody plants over time. Some may remember the Montgomery Conifer Collection at the New York Botanical Garden. It did not receive the maintenance it needed, and only a fraction did not get the chain saw chop during the garden’s renovation. I was at that time redesigning my own garden, and it’s not an exaggeration to say many nights were spent tossing and turning as I tried to visualize how the trees I wanted would grow over the next 10 to 20 years, or more. How large would they become and how far apart should they be planted? I was intent on ge8ing it right, the way Harold had. There was no room in the long-­‐‑
term garden budget for moving, or so I thought.
That didn’t last even five years. Plants are moved and given away. It seems as though 15 years after the original planting the process is only accelerating. Today by far the largest portion of my garden budget goes to maintaining, moving and pruning the trees and shrubs.
Pleasure in the garden has not diminished over time, but it is definitely different.
Abby Jane Brody
The editors would like to acknowledge Kay Gibson, who has so freely shared her exceptional artistic talents with our club. Her grace and ability are inspirational. The original watercolors in this newsle>er are hers.
Admissions CommiOee Report
After many years at the helm, Martha Murray resigned as the head of the Admissions Commi8ee at last August'ʹs annual meeting. Many thanks to Martha for her service! Ann Roberts and Pa8i McGrath have agreed to continue on the commi8ee, while Gail Cooke, who is head of Membership, Kay Gibson, Katy Graham, and Lorraine Tuohy have agreed to join. With only a few open slots in the membership, we have admi8ed two wonderful Provisionals: Jeannemarie Koch and Dede Booth to date. Both ladies live full time in East Hampton and are already active in our community. Please welcome them at our next function.
Kristine Kennedy
Millstone Garden
Rachel’s Garden
Mimi Meehan’s Native Plant Garden
The Nature Trail
As the Centennial Excitement Builds,
And Mrs. Woodhouse Prepares…
The Question Is:
Have you Saved and Signed?
Well, It’s About Time!
Save the Date, Thursday, July 24
For a special set of events called
Mrs. Woodhouse Presents...
Honoring our Founding President, Mrs. Lorenzo E. (Mary) Woodhouse
Sign Up! For It’s About Time!
A GCA Flower Show, presented by The Garden Club of East Hampton,
and being held at Mulford Farm
That Very Same Evening, on the same grounds,
GCEH will be Hosting a very special, festive,
good old-fashioned Garden Party, with lots of Wonderful Surprises,
which we will try NOT to reveal ‘til then!