President’s Message

My favorite month of the year is May. Every day there is another bulb opening, a plant emerging from the ground or a shrub blooming. This is when I feel that I must have every blooming shrub I see even though I know I don’t have enough sun or enough space to plant them. 

Our Club is blooming also.  We have our annual meeting on May 22 and will be celebrating with a ‘tea party’, using our teacups from years past along with the silver tea setting. While this is a custom that we no longer do, we thought one final tea party was in order.  Each member may take the teacup that they chose home with them after the meeting.  

Ticket sales for our Expo event are now open.  We are limited in the number of tickets we can sell, so I encourage you to get your ticket soon. All the tickets are purchased online.

I hope to see you at one of our many work events we are having this month and throughout the summer.  It takes many volunteers to keep our town beautiful. 

Happy Spring!

Vicki

Dues are Due by May 15!!!

A friendly reminder that you have the option to pay dues online at

camdengardenclub.org

Click on Membership and then Renewal.

It couldn’t be easier.

The cost remains the same at $50. Checks can also be mailed to PO Box 952, Camden, ME 04843

Thank you!

Contact for questions: Lucy Ebbert, Membership Chair, lebbert@gmail.com

Reminder

The Club is no longer printing a hard copy of the yearbook This information is available on the

Members Only Section of our website. Hard copies can be printed by clicking on Downloadable Members Directory.

The Hatchery Project

A new project has been “hatched.” The Club, under the leadership of Vice-President Jennifer Gromada, has reached out to The Hatchery, an innovation center at Camden Hills Regional High School. The Hatchery includes coursework, a maker space, community events, and the promotion of an innovative mindset. It is a think tank that redefines what a high school education can be and, ultimately, will be in helping make the world a better place.

The students are designing two sets of Adirondack chairs with an adjoining table for Bell Park, one of the Club’s civic gardens. The Town of Camden will be planting three shade trees and the Club will be adding some summer blooming bushes and mulch.

The Club is delighted to be working hand-in-hand with our high school students for the beautification of Camden.  The hope is that this is the first of many projects created with The Hatchery.

Upcoming Meeting and Events

Thursday May 8, 2025 - 7:45 am at the Merryspring parking lot for an 8:00 start. Rain Date -  Friday, May 9  

Soak in the freshness of an early spring morning while delighting in bird song and sightings. This 90 minute workshop will be conducted by Audubon Bird and Wild Life Specialist Gail Presley.  Gail will help you identify the birds by song, flight, shape, size and colors. 

Last year Gail helped us spot 14 different kinds of birds; Hermit Thrush, Red Eyed Vireo, Black Throated Green Warbler and a Great Crested Flycatcher for a few. Come quench your curiosity about the birds, grab a cup of coffee, take wing and meet me in the Merryspring parking lot.

BRING: Shoes suitable to get wet. Binoculars, if you have them (Gail has a few extra.) Bug Spray.

PLEASE RSVP to Karen Cease so I can tell the birds to show up. kbcease@aol.com  Thanks!

Thursday May 22, 2025: 9:00 am Heritage Tea followed by Business Meeting. Location: St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church, 33 Chestnut Street, Camden

There will be a tea service at the May meeting. We hold space for our traditions and remember that we stand on the shoulders of many who worked tirelessly for the philanthropies and beautification of Camden.

One of the long time members of the Club will say a few words about the history of teacups in Camden Garden Club. Each member may select a vintage cup and saucer to enjoy their tea and keep their selection as a special memory of the era. All past Presidents will be asked to stand for recognition. In addition, there will be a tea repast at each table with savories and sweets to enjoy during the meeting.                            

Tuesday, May 27 at 9:30 am 49 Megunticook St. Camden – Home of Allison Matlock. If you are interested in learning more about the culture of this stunning flower please join us. This gathering is a follow up to a group that met in the fall to share knowledge of how to winter over Dahlias.  For those who grow Dahlias and have tubers to share, please bring some along.

RSVP to Karen Cease so Allison will know how many folks to expect. kbcease@aol.com

For the past 76 years the Camden Garden Club has sponsored a Garden Tour.  This year, we are offering a unique variety of speakers and demonstrators with attention to sustainable local farming and growing our own food. The day will begin with a PechaKucha-style presentation featuring four local horticulturalists. PechaKucha is a Japanese-originated format where speakers address the audience using 20 slides, each displayed for 20 seconds, resulting in a concise 6-minute and 40-second presentation, emphasizing visual storytelling and brevity. 

Keynote speakers are authors Barbara Damrosch and Nancy Harmon Jenkins, followed by horticultural demonstrations and a tour of David Kibbe’s Old Souls Farm in Camden. The farm is a small-scale, ecologically-minded space focusing on regenerative practices, seasonal crops, and community connection. Tickets at $40, may be purchased on the Club’s website: www.camdengardenclub.org.

Last Chance to Celebrate 100 years of Camden Lampposts

The Lamppost Sponsorship Campaign will close May 20. The final total lampposts sponsored could be announced as soon as the May 22 General Meeting. This third-year initiative has been more challenging, but through the diligence of the Lamppost Committee and Club members, the sponsorship continues to have robust community supporters. Barbara Ohland, as Public Spaces Co-Chair, has secured all new baskets which will be positioned lower on the lampposts and offer fuller foliage. This year, the baskets will feature hardy Supertunias. A personalized recognition of sponsorship will be placed above the flowers. There will be a notable sight line improvement. It is not too late to sponsor a lamppost. Remember, you can dedicate your lamppost to a special person in your life or your family. Go to: camdengardenclub.org/shop/sponsor-a-lamppost  

One big change in 2025 is the Village Green team will now meet on the first Monday of the month from May through October. Our first gathering will be Monday, May 5 at 9:00 am. Join us as we gather with gardening friends to beautify the historic Village Green.

The Public Spaces Committee has launched a new volunteer program - Garden Gnomes - to allow members more flexibility in scheduling and the choice of gardens to maintain. Members are signing up now for a specific public spaces garden for a two-week period over the growing season. Siign up individually or team up with a member or two, Routine maintenance includes weeding, trimming, watering, and other light labor tasks.

Additional information and sign-up sheets will be available at the May meeting. Please reach out to Laura Anthony lmtanthony505@gmail.com  or Barb Ohland barbohland@gmail.com

In Barbara’s new book, A Life in the Garden, she shares her wisdom about the beguiling process of growing food. This is a no-nonsense approach to growing produce as a part of gardening life. The book is charmingly anecdotal as it lures the reader with garden tales. 

Is Growing Your Own Food as Difficult as It Seems?

Barbara says, "You don’t have to work as hard as everybody tells you. You have to work when you garden." Who can resist the taste of a fresh tomato to say nothing of flash freezing tomato puree in addition to corn and beans?  Barbara recommends staggering planting to spread out the growth cycle instead of having it come all at once and take over your life.

What Will You Learn from Her New Book? She mixes practical advice on starting seeds, fostering fertile soil, designing efficient garden layouts, and more, with personal anecdotes from her decades running Four Season Farm with her husband, Eliot Coleman.

Who is Her Audience? Well known for her 1988 book on flower and vegetable gardening, her followers are new gardeners who want to get started and seasoned gardeners who have followed her advice for years. Together with her husband, she filmed several seasons of the show Gardening Naturally on The Learning Channel. The program is just as relevant now as it was then, perhaps, more so. There is a new generation to include in growing food. 

Is A Life in the Garden a memoir based on her column in The Washington Post?

To quote Barbara, "I like to think I put it into a giant Cuisinart and churned it up, then picked out the best things, whether for the information or because they were the funniest or the most unusual.”

What Does She Say about Year-Round Gardening?

"It’s not that difficult to do a cold frame or a little greenhouse that will allow you to grow cold-hardy crops over the winter."  Barbara recommends staggering planting to spread out the growth cycle instead of having it come all at once and take over your life.

You won’t want to miss hearing Barbara Damrosch in person on July 17. She is the Club’s 2025 Garden Expo keynote speaker, along with her long-time friend Nancy Harmon Jenkins, who will be interviewed next month. Both speakers will be signing books during the Expo. Left Bank Books will provide books for you to buy or bring your well-loved copies of their many books.

Our mission is to develop and preserve our environment by beautifying the community, enhancing public spaces, offering educational programs, and practicing resource conservation.