"Twigs and Things – Garden Architecture" - Camden Garden Club Meeting

On Thursday, August 26, Camden Garden Club will welcome Master Gardener Linda Redman to the American Legion Hall for a presentation entitled “Twigs and Things” beginning at 9:30 a.m.  The talk is free and open to the public and everyone attending will be required to wear a face mask and observe social distancing.  There is no seating available so attendees should also bring a chair.

Linda Redman hails from Bucksport and graduated from the University of Maine, Farmington.  She is an educator, avid gardener and photographer, and lover of the outdoors.  While volunteering at Brae Maple Farm in Union she learned the art of making twig fences from Master Gardener Sam Harris.  She expanded that experience by using twigs, not only for garden creations, but for other uses in the home.

The presentation will cover tools required, varieties of twig materials and basic construction techniques.  Linda will demonstrate how to turn bare branches into garden architectural features such as gates, fences, trellises and arbors.

Camden Garden Club is a member of the Garden Club Federation of Maine and National Garden Clubs, Inc.  Guests and prospective members are always welcome.  For more information about the club and its activities visit www.camdengardenclub.org or email camdengardenclub100@gmail.com.

Camden Shade Tree Program Applications Due April 15th

In partnership with the town of Camden and the Camden Garden Club, individual property owners are being offered the opportunity to have street trees professionally planted.  Those applicants selected will be asked to contribute $75.00 towards the cost of planting the tree and to accept the responsibility of watering it throughout the summer and fall.  The trees will be guaranteed for one year, provided they are properly watered.  The trees will be planted, staked and mulched during late May or early June and will be planted street-side in accordance with town specifications.  

The town Shade Tree Program was established primarily to replace town trees lost to age, infestation, disease and weather, and its origins can be traced to 1937 when the Garden Club voted to plant a tree on the Knowlton Street school ground.  Since then, the Club’s archives have documented more than 1,455 trees planted by Camden Garden Club programs.  The town’s “aggressive effort to plant successive generations of shade trees along its highways and byways” earned Camden the designation of Tree City USA from the National Arbor Day Foundation in 1997. 

Applications can be obtained by contacting Janice Esancy, Assistant Town Manager (207) 236-3353 or jesancy@camdenmaine.gov.  The deadline for submitting applications for this year’s program is April 15, 2021.

Seed Starting 101 - Camden Garden Club Winter Horticulture Series, February 23

The Camden Garden Club Winter Horticulture Series will conclude at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, February 23, 2021 with the topic Seed Starting 101. The Camden Public Library will host the program on Zoom and anyone wishing to attend should email jpierce@librarycamden.org to request a Zoom link.

Anne E. Perkins will discuss how home gardeners can successfully propagate plants from seeds and will demonstrate tips and techniques.  Perkins, a member of Camden Garden Club since 2010, is the owner of Headacre Farms in Owls Head.  She has been gardening since the age of four and has left a trail of gardens behind in places as varied as Florida and Alaska, as she followed her husband in his career. Settling back in Maine in 2001, she is now able to devote herself to full-time gardening and is enjoying every minute of it!

Camden Garden Club is a member of the Garden Club Federation of Maine and National Garden Clubs, Inc.  For more information about the club and its activities visit the club’s website www.camdengardenclub.org or contact camdengardenclub100@gmail.com .

Native Gardens of Blue Hill - Camden Garden Club Winter Horticulture Series, February 16

The Camden Garden Club Winter Horticulture Series continues at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, February 16, 2021 with guest speakers Avy Claire and Cathy Rees from Native Gardens of Blue Hill.  The Camden Public Library will host the program on Zoom and anyone wishing to attend should email jpierce@librarycamden.org to request a Zoom link.

Native Gardens of Blue Hill has undertaken the creation of a public garden to give a diverse group of gardeners, potential gardeners and non-gardeners, an opportunity to see how a garden made exclusively of native plants can benefit the local landscape.  In creating this garden they envisioned a process that teaches as the garden evolves and becomes an inspirational destination as it matures. The presentation will cover the use of native plants in the garden and how they function in the ecosystem.

Dealing with Garden Pests: An Integrated Approach for the Home Gardener - Camden Garden Club Winter Horticulture Series, February 9

The third session of the Camden Garden Club Winter Horticulture Series will take place at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, February 9, 2021.  The Camden Public Library will host the program on Zoom and anyone wishing to attend should email jpierce@librarycamden.org to request a Zoom link.

Dealing with Garden Pests: An Integrated Approach for the Home Gardener will be presented  by John T. Pietroski, Manager of Pesticide Programs, Master Gardener Pesticide Educator and Manager of Pesticide Programs at the Maine Board of Pesticide Control in Augusta.  He will discuss the proper approach for home gardeners to apply when diagnosing plant pest problems and how to seek environmentally sound treatments for them.  Chronic misuse of pesticides by homeowners and gardeners is a growing problem that affects the environment around us.  Proper use and application, storage, and disposal of pesticides, as well as other tactics to deter garden pests, such as cultivation practices, timing of planting, etc. will also be discussed as ways to minimize pesticide usage. 

Identifying and Treating Plant Diseases in Midcoast Maine - Camden Garden Club Winter Horticulture Series, February 2

Camden Garden Club’s Winter Horticulture Series, hosted by Camden Public Library on Zoom, continues on Tuesday, February 2, at 9:30 a.m.  Please email jpierce@librarycamden.org to request a Zoom link to attend. 

Identifying and Treating Plant Diseases in Midcoast Maine will be presented by Dr. Alicyn Smart, DPM, plant pathologist, and Director of the Plant Disease Diagnostic Center at University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Orono.  Dr. Smart performs diagnostics on plants that are submitted to the Insect and Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab.  She identifies diseases present and provides recommendations for managing those diseases.  This service is available at no charge to Maine residents.  Through her work she pinpoints areas where research in plant pathology is needed, and carries out research to better aid in disease identification and management. 

Bulbs and Tuberous Plants - Camden Garden Club Winter Horticulture Series, January 26

Camden Garden Club’s Winter Horticulture Series, hosted by Camden Public Library on Zoom, continues on Tuesday, January 26, at 9:30 a.m.  Please email jpierce@librarycamden.org to request a Zoom link to attend. 

Jan Limmen, owner of Blue Tulip Landscaping, Tenants Harbor, ME will talk about bulbs and tuberous plants.  Jan is a landscaper and gardener who grew up in the Dutch horticultural industry.  Moving to the U.S. as a young man, he worked for nurseries in Maryland until his retirement, when he and his wife moved to Tenants Harbor.  Jan has private clients and sells his vegetables, plants and herbs at the Oceanview Grange Farmers Market in Port Clyde.

Celebrating 70 Years of a Holiday Tradition

Camden Garden Club has provided winter holiday cheer to the downtown lampposts for the past 70 years.  Beginning in 1950, evergreens and red berries filled the baskets. Over time the club experimented with real trees, artificial trees, pine cones, chestnuts, tinsel, strings of red and green lights and red plastic bows before settling on fresh balsam wreaths, strings of white lights and red velvet bows in 1971.

 Earlier this year, due to the health emergency, Camden Garden Club made the difficult but responsible decision to cancel its Garden & Home Tour scheduled for July.  A portion of the proceeds from this major fundraiser covers the cost of the annual holiday display.  In early September an email was sent to the membership suggesting that they could help their club budget by personally sponsoring one or more of the wreaths.  Participation was voluntary and the response was remarkable.  By October 21st enough money was raised to cover the cost of sixty plus wreaths.

 In the past, club members have gathered together in early November to create the large red velvet bows that embellish each wreath, but social distancing guidelines meant this year it would have to be done individually or in very small groups.  Once again this enthusiast bunch stepped up, divided the task and got it done.

At 8 am on November 18, the wreaths were delivered to the American Legion Hall parking lot and a small group of volunteer members and supporters got busy attaching a red velvet bow to each one - the final step before Camden town workers collect the wreaths and hang them on the lampposts.  As a cost saving measure this year the club voted to forego adding strings of white lights, just as they did between 1973 and 1979 during the energy crisis.  However, Camden’s new LED street lamps are expected to shine down brightly and create the traditional holiday magic for all to enjoy. 

Camden Garden Club is a member of the Garden Club Federation of Maine and National Garden Clubs, Inc.  For more information about the club and its activities visit the club’s website www.CamdenGardenClub.org or contact CamdenGardenClub100@gmail.com.

Honoring Our Veterans

On November 5, the Blue Star Memorial on Route 1 in Rockport was the focus of Camden Garden Club members Karen Cease, Jennifer Gromada, Cindy Grondahl and Vicki Mast.  The group weeded, pruned and cleared debris from the area surrounding the marker, then added a red, white and blue bow to the support post and 10 American flags at the base in honor of Veterans Day which falls on Wednesday, November 11, 2020.

Five years ago, former Camden Garden Club President Ann Vanosdol brought the unkempt appearance of the marker to the attention of the club.  At that point, she and her husband Ron, an Air Force veteran with 32 years of active and reserve service, began a major cleanup effort and have cared for the memorial every year since. The Vanosdols currently have one grandson in the Navy and one in the Air Force making the significance of the memorial personal.   The garden club is grateful to them for their dedication to this project and the example they have set for the new caretakers.

The National Council of State Garden Clubs, now known as National Garden Clubs Inc. started the Blue Star Memorial Highways program to pay tribute to the U.S. armed forces in 1945.  The system covers thousands of miles across the United States.  The Blue Star was adopted because it had become a patriotic symbol on flags and banners during World War II.  There are currently 30 markers in Maine including one at the Knox Museum in Thomaston.  The Rockport marker was installed by the Glen Cove Garden Club on February 6, 1967. 

Camden Garden Club is a member of the Garden Club Federation of Maine and National Garden Clubs, Inc.  For more information about the club and its activities visit the club’s website www.camdengardenclub.org or contact camdengardenclub100@gmail.com .

New Trees Planted at Montessori School

The town Shade Tree Program is a partnership between Camden Garden Club, the town of Camden, and Camden residents.  It was established primarily to replace trees lost to age, infestation, disease and weather and its origins can be traced to 1937 when the Garden Club voted to plant a tree on the Knowlton Street school ground.  Since then, the Club’s archives have documented at least 1,460 trees planted by Camden Garden Club programs.  The town’s “aggressive effort to plant successive generations of shade trees along its highways and byways” earned Camden the designation of Tree City USA from the National Arbor Day Foundation in 1997. 

On October 15, Camden Garden Club President Debra Stokes, Tree Program Chair Ruth Ellison, and Club members Karen Cease and Priscilla Granston met with Camden’s Assistant Town Manager Janice Esancy to celebrate the recent planting of two Sugar Maples at the Children’s House Montessori School on Elm Street. 

Sugar Maples have a dense crown of leaves which turn various shades of gold to scarlet in fall.  Three to five-lobed leaves appear after the greenish yellow flowers of spring.  The trees were supplied by Plants Unlimited and planted by Ames Landscape & Earthwork Services, Inc. and should provide shade for generations of students in the years ahead.

Camden Garden Club is a member of the Garden Club Federation of Maine and National Garden Clubs, Inc.  For more information about the club and its activities visit the club’s website www.camdengardenclub.org or contact camdengardenclub100@gmail.com .

Camden Garden Club Tidies Public Landing

On April 29, a small group of Camden Garden Club members, dressed appropriately with face covers and gardening gloves, met at the Public Landing and went to work clearing weeds and debris from the Chamber of Commerce planters and the parking lot flower beds.  The workers included club co-presidents Karen Cease and Ceil King, Debra Stokes, Mary Kay Hayes, Sherry Cobb and Susan Reider.  They were joined by two employees from the 16 Bay View hotel. The team received many positive comments for their efforts from people out social distancing while enjoying the sunshine.

 The club will soon be filling the chamber planters with colorful annuals, as they do every year, and the hotel has committed to mulching and maintaining the areas beneath the rose and lilac hedges for the remainder of the season.  By the time summer arrives the landing will have an abundance of flowers and foliage for all to enjoy.

 “The Camden Garden Club is committed to contributing to the beauty of public spaces in Camden, and we’ll continue to find opportunities to do so in these challenging times,” said Club Co-President Karen Cease. “We hope to inspire our friends and neighbors to join us in celebrating our town and appreciating how fortunate we are to call it home.” 

The 73rd Annual Camden Garden & Home Tour has been Cancelled

Facing historic challenges with the current health emergency and unknown future impact, the Camden Garden Club was aware that the safety and health its members, homeowners, local residents and visitors from away was a top priority in determining how to proceed with this year’s planned events. 

The very difficult decision to cancel the 73nd Annual Garden & Home Tour, scheduled for July 16, 2020, was made at its April board meeting.

The Camden Garden Club began hosting flower shows and open garden days as early as 1940 to raise funds for town projects the club would undertake.  In 1944 it was decided that these events would be discontinued for the duration of the war.  The Camden Herald reported “The Garden Club treasury was depleted because of the Flower Shows and Open Houses being discontinued…  In spite of their problems, however, they managed to fill the flower baskets on the lamp posts with red geraniums for the summer season.”

The Holiday Wreaths in Camden

Because of a devoted team of Camden Garden Club members, husbands and friends, the town lamp posts are bedecked in dazzling holiday greenery again this year.  Early on November 20th the group gathered at the American Legion Hall in Camden where 98 unadorned balsam wreaths awaited them. 

The organization’s tradition of decorating the town from Thanksgiving through January began 69 years ago.  Originally baskets held evergreens and red berries, then for a few years, small decorated trees.  During the energy crisis in the 1970s the club decided to forego lights and use tinsel.  As might have been expected, the tinsel idea lasted only one year. The velvety red bows and twinkling white lights, carefully and expertly wired onto the wreaths by this year’s team, have been the preferred embellishment since the 1990s.  Thanks to the Camden Garden Club, the town is aglow with the spirit of the season for all to enjoy!

Scholars Honored by Camden Garden Club

Lucas Fischer and Emma McGurren were honored as this year’s scholarship recipients by Camden Garden Club at their annual luncheon held on June 13 at the Samoset Resort.  Lucas, a 2019 graduate of Camden Hills Regional High School will attend Yale University in the fall to study Economics and Ecology.  Emma, a CHRHS alum, attends Clark University majoring in Global Environmental Studies.  Scholarship Chair Priscilla Granston and committee member Fran Moore presented the awards. Lucas and Emma each took a moment to explain their future plans and goals to the members.  The Camden Garden Club’s Scholarship Program was established in 1984 and to date, over 130 scholarships have been awarded to students majoring in horticulture related subjects.    

The luncheon also provided an opportunity to recognize individual club members who have made an outstanding contribution to the organization over the past twelve months.  Judy McGuirk and Elizabeth Moran were congratulated by Co-Presidents Karen Cease and Ceil King and thanked by all for their extraordinary efforts this year. 

Camden Garden Club Announces New Board Members

The May 23rd meeting of the Camden Garden Club was a busy one.  Many snowbird members were welcomed back, the in-house Plants for Scholars sale offered an opportunity to purchase plants and garden related items to benefit the scholarship program and, during the business portion of the meeting, the new slate of officers and chairpersons was announced and voted on.  Co-Presidents Karen Cease and Ceil King welcomed the following new Board members for 2019-2020: Awards, Lynn Snider; Birds & Conservation, Debra Stokes; Programs, Anne Perkins; Hospitality, Sara Wilds; Membership, Molly Foster; Publicity, Stephanie Mathews; Scholarship, Priscilla Granston; Tour, Susan Reider; Trees, Ruth Ellison; Village Green, Barbara McNulty and Sherry James; Wreaths, Mary Winchell; and Yearbook, Judy McGuirk and Maryann Kline.

On May 20, the history and accomplishments of Camden Garden Club’s Tree Program were on display at the Camden Public Library during the Tree City USA awards ceremony.  Facts and photos gathered by member Judy McGuirk cited the number of trees planted since the program’s inception in the 1920s to combat insects threatening the town’s Elm trees.  The garden club was represented by Karen Cease and Priscilla Granston in the group recognized for their considerable contributions by this year’s award recipient, Nancy Caudle-Johnson.

“Container Gardens” - Camden Garden Club Winter Horticulture Series 2019

February 12, 2019

Speaker: Liz Stanley, UMaine Extension

“Container Gardens - Flowers, Herbs and Vegetables” was the topic of the presentation of the Camden Garden Club’s 2019 Winter Horticulture Series in the Picker Room, Camden Public Library on Tuesday, February 12 at 10:00 a.m.

Attendees learned about growing in containers and raised beds for beauty, convenience and accessibility. Liz Stanley coordinates home and school gardening programs for UMaine Extension where her motto is "no gardening question is too weird.”  She covered design, plants, growing mediums, and fertility.

Camden Garden Club is a member of the Garden Club Federation of Maine and National Garden Clubs, Inc.  The weekly Winter Horticulture Series is free and open to the public and will continue on Tuesdays throughout February.  Guests and prospective members are always welcome.  For more information about the club and its activities visit the club’s website www.camdengardenclub.org.  or email them at camdengardenclub100@gmail.com .