President’s Message

Dear Gardening Friends,

As summer slips away, I find myself once again, walking through the gardens and making promises to my plants and myself; next year I will keep you better watered, next year I will fertilize the pots of annuals weekly, next year I will keep up with my gardening journal and take pictures each month to track progress of plants, etc.  The promises go on and on. 

Fortunately for me and all of us, our plants want to survive and often do so quite nicely on their own. Especially if they are native.  Amy’s talk at our last club meeting focused on the resiliency of native plants, especially during periods of drought. 

Speaking of the last Club meeting, there was time set aside to hear from our members regarding the Expo and a Garden Tour. We currently have 5 properties that have committed to a tour next year and we now have 2 cochairs to lead it if we decide to offer a Tour next summer.  Overwhelmingly we heard that the members do not want to quit having a tour and the idea of alternating between a Tour and an Expo was very appealing. This information will be taken back to the board in September. A final decision will be announced at the next Club meeting. As a side note, everyone was very articulate and thoughtful in their comments, and it was very exciting to see such enthusiasm and interest.

Be sure to put our Farewell to Summer party on your calendar.  More information follows this column.  Thank you to all of the Garden Gnomes for their work on the public spaces this summer.  We will be expanding this program next year. Have a wonderful month.

Vicki

Anchor Park at the Camden Public Landing

Two years ago the Town of Camden asked our Club to collaborate on a new shady park area at the Camden Public Landing. It is called "Anchor Park" and it is in the northeast corner of the Public Landing behind Lily Lupine & Fern. The idea is to make a pleasant shady area for community and visitors to sit and relax. 

We have already removed all the overgrown invasive bushes, and worked with the town to plant 3 large native  shade trees.  The High School built us two beautiful benches. The Public Works department will be exposing the bedrock on a sloped area soon.  

Now it is our turn to beautify the area.  On September 4, starting at 8 am, we will be spreading loam, grass seed and hay, and planting a few small bushes.  Members are encouraged to come and help and learn and be part of this exciting new project.  IF YOU CAN NOT PHYSICALLY GARDEN YOUR EXPERTISE WOULD BE HELPFUL. There are many new gardeners in our club.  

Please bring your gloves and a. rake if you can.  We  would GREATLY appreciate your help.  It will be fun too!  Questions?  Call or text Barb Ohland 207-975-6515

Public Works Lamppost Update.  Some of you might have noticed that some of the lamppost baskets are suffering.   It is NOT a water issue.  Some of the baskets got attacked by aphids.  We have been treating them and hopefully they will bounce back somewhat. At least one will not and has been removed.  

Activities, Meetings, Events

Thursday, September 4 - 8am Anchor Park at Camden Public Landing volunteer opportunity. Grooming underway (see above article)

Monday, September 8 - 9am Village Green Public Spaces volunteer opportunity. Please note due to the Labor Day Holiday on September 1, Village Green volunteers will meet on Monday, September 8. Tasks including late season weeding, grooming and deadheading. If enough folks show up, we will tend to other public spaces downtown.

Please dress for the weather and bring your gardening hand tools and water. Thanks to all. Please contact Laura Anthony lmtanthony505@gmail.com with any questions. 

Thursday, September 18 4pm-6pm “Farewell to Summer” celebration at the Camden Yacht Club Free to Members, Plus One $10 See invite above.

Thursday, September 25 9am General Membership Meeting with speaker Genie Everett, GCFM liaison to Horticulture Therapy and Wiscasset Garden Club member.

Genie will enlighten us about the burgeoning field of Horticultural Therapy and ways in which individual garden clubs can participate and aid in the cause.

St Thomas’ Episcopal Church, 33 Chestnut Street, Camden Coffee at 9am, Speaker at 9:30am followed by Business Meeting, All are welcome and free of charge.

Identifying, collecting and eating wild mushrooms is an intimidating prospect for the beginner. There are so many different mushrooms and some of them are devilishly difficult to tell apart. And some of them are poisonous, a few dangerously toxic. But there are a number of common mushrooms that are great edibles, easily identified and without toxic look a-likes. These foolproof mushrooms may provide you with all the mushrooms you ever want! Join mushrooming author and teacher Greg Marley for a talk devoted to some common “foolproof” mushrooms found in the Northeastern US. This talk will be especially valuable for someone who is just starting out or wants to learn mushrooming.

 Greg Marley has been studying, growing, collecting and

cooking and eating wild mushrooms for 50 years. He is a frequent speaker and lecturer and teaches mushroom identification and ecology to hundreds of new foragers.

Please RSVP to Karen Cease: kbcease@aol.com

Visit the Tenderwild Farm Tour Photo Gallery

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