How Does Your Garden Grow? New member/member profiles ~
Our club has the honor of welcoming eight new members to our club this program year. It has been customary to offer them a personal spotlight in Cornwall Capers so that we might learn more about them as officers and committee leaders proceed to put them work! Since I left myself very little time to speak with each one, I created a quick questionnaire for them to fill out.
Last June our Tea On the Green 80th Anniversary was a very big success gaining public interest in our gardening activities. Jennie Keleman, a retired teacher attended this event and found the friendliness among our members a welcoming attraction. She mentioned that what attracted her the most that day was the array of gardening information members willingly shared. She found that her decision to join the Cornwall Garden Club would enable the opportunity for her to continue learning more about gardening and to pursue something worthwhile while helping her community. Originally from Central Valley, Jennie enjoys reading, knitting and bird watching. This year Jennie will be busy working with members under the direction of Michelle Farr in the Garden Therapy project. She is also on board with Lois Raymond as she helps with the beautification of Main Street Plantings.
A warm welcome is extended to Phyllis Lindenberger who also attended our Tea On the Green Event last year at the Cornwall library. Learning about flowers and the friendliness expressed by our members that day is what attracted her most. Like many of our members, Phyllis is a retired assistant teacher from Cornwall Schools and enjoys reading and painting, which I personally hope; she might find an opportunity to share some of her artwork with us. She is originally from Tarrytown, New York and is admiring the daffodils growing at her home in Cornwall. She is excited to learn more about flowers from our up-coming programs. You’ll find her busy helping Yolanda Behrens maintain the gazebo at Munger Cottage as well as watering, watering and watering the Main Street plantings with Lois Raymond committee members.
For another new member, while she always had an interest in flowers and gardens, Mary McGlinn figured that joining the Cornwall Garden Club could only enhance her active and interesting life. She lived in Monroe for 38 years, raised a family and taught fourth and fifth grade elementary school children. During the last three years, she settled into the town of Newburgh and met new friends with common interests through her participation at Sportsplex and other area activities. She also shared with me that she learned about our garden club while enjoying hikes with friend, Sally Wortman. In the early spring, her home was surrounded by daffodils, tulips and fragrant hyacinths. She tells me she currently has an abundance of annuals blooming and soon to be blooming annuals on her deck. Alongside her love for flowers and gardening, she enjoys travel, reading, music and theatre. Be sure to wave as you see her working this year with Helke Pavlacka and the Chadeayne Circle gang. She has also been assigned to be a part of the planning committee for the 2011-2012 programs. She sees herself growing and harvesting tomatoes in containers in her future with the help of our latest inspirational April program.
Many thanks go to Marge Krupa for sharing the Cornwall Garden Club to our newest member, Chic Kennedy. They worked together in the same elementary school while Chic worked as a secretary. Once again it was member friendliness that drew her attention to the club and also her love for flower arranging. She was raised in Garden City, LI where she met and married her husband. Traveling as a military wife became a part of life as she and her family lived and was stationed in various places until finally retiring in New Windsor. The spirit of travelling never leaves your blood, as she express how much she would love to experience a safari trip to Africa. She has a talent in a line of knit hats, and when she isn’t dreaming of going on safari, she travels to Texas where she visits her great-grandchildren! She’ll enjoy June’s program, “Walking Tour of Members’ Gardens” since she expressed an interest in seeing and learning how other neighbor gardens grow. There are daffodils, lilacs, roses, and bleeding hearts growing in her yard and of course, everyone’s uninvited visitor…weeds! I’m sure club members have tips and remedies for those!
For Carol Loggia, she finds that “a good sense of organization is one of the things that drew me to the club, as well as the down home friendliness of so many of the members; the light in their eyes as they discuss their favorite projects, be it gardening related or otherwise; and a generally positive, dynamic energy. The varied educational workshops & programs, as well as the program book as a handy reminder sealed the deal.”
She continues with her thoughtful introduction by saying, “I became acquainted with several neighbors in the garden club who encouraged me to join. The 2009 plant sale (again, great organization & friendliness) and the 2009 Tea (the educational program was fantastic) convinced me that this was a great group. I've lived in Cornwall-on-Hudson for almost 2 years now. I’ve been in New York for 20 years (came here to "pursue my art"). I grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, just outside of DC. I witnessed my mom's backyard roses, vegetables and composting and I journeyed out to Oregon for a year of living/working on an organic farm in my early 20's. (Go ahead; ask me how to milk a goat!) I've had a few scattered forays into gardening since then, most recently in my tiny yard on Duncan Avenue, to which I plan to add a few vegetables this year. Presently there is a shade garden in the front, including Hostas, astible, tulips, tiger lilies, pansies and perennial grasses (Deer Scram has kept them nibble-free so far this year). Much of this garden will be transplanted this year since the tree that provided the shade was removed. Since direct sunlight is now most plentiful in the front, I am planning vegetables there with companion plantings so that the front is both beautiful & utilitarian. I am also blessed with lots and lots of wild violets, perhaps partly because I transplanted many from the middle to the edges of my lawn last year. There's a compost pile in the back, some herbs, ferns and lots of potential. My day job is as a computer programmer at Finkelstein & Partners in Newburgh. I am also a licensed realtor and a student at The Studio & Forum of Scenic Arts, a Cornwall scene shop that paints many of Broadway's backdrops. I'm attracted to anything art and beauty related especially sculpture & watercolor and have some dabblings going on. I also like to walk down to the Hudson, hang out at Donahue Park & kayak out of there. I like waving at people & petting small dogs. I also like "jest settin'" on my front porch and I just might wave to you if you walk or drive by, especially if you are with your dog. Hope to learn more about composting and landscaping this year.” Carol has been assigned to help care for flowers by the Gazebo at Munger Cottage and around the village bandstand.
Having a good hairdresser is like having a good friend which is just how Pat Sandler first learned about The Garden Club. Living in Cornwall for about eight years, it became clear to Pat how much she wanted to be involved within an active group whose involvement in the community was obvious to see. Driving past the town plantings and the village flower beds, Pat was ready to acquaint herself by attending a monthly meeting as a guest. The welcoming traits by the members helped her to decide by the third meeting that this would be the place for her to express her desire to be more active in her neighborhood. Besides her interest in flowers and gardens, as a retired educator, she also had other common experiences that aligned with other garden club members. While spending time with her grandchildren is one her most favorite activities, she is also an avid reader, enjoys writing, cooking, baking and loves spending time outdoors hiking and power boating! She is looking forward to learning more about orchids, enjoys growing herbs and would also expand her knowledge of growing cacti. Pat will be tending to the watering and weeding at The Chadeayne Circle as well as help prepare programs for next year’s 2011 ~ 2012 yearbook.
Linda Gayton, another new member who was invited to join by her friend and fellow member, Dorothy is a self-employed Interior Designer who, for many years had a business on Main Street in Cornwall. She grew up in historical New Windsor and now resides and tends to her garden in a restored, pre-revolutionary home in the woods of Mountainville. Surrounding her home are sprouting Day Lilies, Lilac, ancient black walnut trees and other shrubs that have withstood the test of time. What drew Linda to our club was the positive energy, the creative projects she participated in and seeing the group working together. There was such a wealth of knowledge the club provided on plants, flowers, gardening and design that this became the deciding factor to becoming a member. Along with gardening, Linda enjoy home restoration and hiking. She will be working with the Chadeayne Circle group as well as help with the 2011 ~ 2012 program guide. With her eye for color and design, we will look forward to seeing her floral arrangement at the Holiday Party this year.
New member profile for Diann Metzkow coming soon!!
Arbor Day and Celebrating Award Winning Trees
On April 30th, a perfect spring day was once again the backdrop and setting for the annual gathering of garden club members, town officials, members of the Cornwall Conservation Advisory Committee and of course the Cornwall community both young and "young at heart" to celebrate the planting of trees for the Arbor Day celebration. The trees that were being celebrated on this day were twin sugar maples that were planted along the roadside leading to the American Legion Hall just behind the public library. These two trees join the row of maples that have been planted over the years to create an allee of life and shade. A poem was read by Cornwall Resident, Susan Glendening whose giant Sycamore won an award for biggest tree in the village of Cornwall. The afternoon was led by our club President, Andrea Hamburger who couldn’t think of a better time for us to consider planting a tree since so many had been lost or damaged by the recent heavy winter snow. Our town supervisor Kevin Quigley and deputy-supervisor Mary Beth Greene-Kraft announced the official Arbor Day proclamation and also offered encouragement to all that they too will personally plant trees so as to off-set the loss of so many trees damaged from the horrific winter storm. As the afternoon continued, much to my surprise, my attention was directed to the many residents and children who were waiting to receive a certificate honoring their award winning tree. The opportunity to submit a tree for consideration is available to anyone. In order for your tree to be awarded recognition, a formula has been set up and is determined by calculating three specific measurement requirements: Total Point Score = Height in feet + Trunk Circumference in inches + 1/4 Average Crown Spread in feet.Cornwall’s tree warden and landscape designer, Kate Goodspeed and Black Rock Forest Consortium’s director William Schuster were the prospective tree data collectors and certificate presenters that day for the Biggest Tree awards.This data is maintained by the Department of Environmental Conservation and a list of winning trees can be viewed on their website. Our Cornwall Garden Club hosts, Carol Drislane and Eileen Tulloch provided cool drinks and tasty refreshments to all who attended April's annual Arbor Day Celebration.
