****Summer 2014****
President’s Message
Dear Members of the Garden Club:
I have just returned from our trip to the Vanderbilt
Mansion, and it seems to me that we are as fortunate as the Vanderbilts. We have friendship; we have loyalty; we
support each other in times of need.
Life does not get any better than that, even for the Vanderbilts. We are all so wealthy because we are a part
of this club.
Jayne
Annual Plant Sale
The new location at the Cornwall Town Hall for our Annual Plant sale held on Saturday,
May 10, proved to be a real winner. The
abundant parking, expansive lawn and convenient rest rooms helped to make the
transition from the Sands Ring Homestead a success.
That evening, club members met at Ilene Osinski’s house to
celebrate another successful plant sale – an event that has come to be as much
of a Cornwall community happening as a fund raiser for our club. Many thanks to all.
April Meeting
We kicked off our regular meetings for 2014 at the Cornwall
Presbyterian Church on April 24. Plant
Sale co-chairs Ilene Osinski and Andrea Hamburger provided an overview of the
upcoming annual plant sale. With the
sale moving to the grounds at Town Hall, it was important that all had an
understanding of how things would be organized.
Assignments for the sale were announced, and those in charge of specific
areas spoke about their location.
Ann Bloom and Mary Jane Gisselbrecht gave an introduction to
the structure of a National Garden Club Flower Show. If there is enough interest among club
members, perhaps we can hold our own show in the near future.
Horticultural talks on composting and succulents were
given. The design exhibits for the
meeting were based on “Double Delights,” with one side of the exhibit being
remarkably different than the other. As
ever, the creativity of our members was evident in the beautiful and original
designs they displayed.
June Meeting
A little bit of “Downton Abbey” seemed present during our
June meeting trip to the Vanderbilt Mansion Gardens in Hyde Park, a National
Historic Site. Our docent-guided tour of
the gardens took us back to the time when several greenhouses and expansive
terraced gardens graced the grounds at the Vanderbilt Mansion.
We visited the annual, perennial and rose gardens, complete
with their pergolas, statuary and water features. The plants on display are true to the time of
the Vanderbilts (1938), as are the color palettes used throughout the
gardens. The annuals included salvia,
zinnias and celosia.
The gardens are maintained by the all volunteer Vanderbilt
Garden Association. Approximately 100
people are members of the association, with about 60 of those being active
gardeners. Many of the others lend a
hand with administrative tasks.
As with gardens elsewhere in the Hudson Valley, this past
winter caused extensive damage to the Vanderbilt Gardens. Large sections of plumbago in the perennial
area had died off. And of course, deer
are a challenge for the gardeners. They
spray with “Deer Stopper,” but some chewing still takes place.
The work done by the association in restoring and caring for
the Vanderbilt Gardens is quite impressive.
Our thanks for their contributions to preserving our gardening
heritage.
After our tour, we met under the towering trees that shade
the lawns. We ate our lunches and
enjoyed dessert and beverages provided by the Hostess Committee. The June business meeting was held after
lunch. What a wonderful way to spend a
glorious June summer day - picnicking with friends on the lawn under century
old trees and thinking about an earlier time when life moved at a little less
hectic pace.
Main Street Beauty
The Main Street of Cornwall is all a bloom this summer
thanks to the hard work of Cornwall Garden Club members. Floral urns filled with geraniums, lobelia
and petunias decorate the core business area of town. Committee chairs Angela Calabro and Amy
Lawless organized the purchase, planting and delivery of the urns. Club members are assigned turns for watering
and caring for the plants.
The Cornwall community assisted us in the project through
their financial support. The Greater Cornwall
Chamber of Commerce donated $500 for the containers and plant material. Rich Massimi, owner of the Vails Gate
Cleaners and president of the Greater Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, generously
gave us $300 for a water cart to assist in keeping the urns thriving.
And perhaps many business owners have been inspired by our
project, as barrels and baskets of flowers seem to be more prevalent this
year. Main Street has never looked
better!
Community Beautification
After a long and cold winter, it is particularly inspiring
to see our community beautification projects in all their glory. Club members prepared the soil and planted in
late May. By Memorial Day, our gardens
were ready. Chadeayne Circle, Main
Street, Munger Cottage, the Fanning Monument and the Village Bandstand are
making are community a more beautiful place to live.
Arbor Day
On a windy Friday, Arbor Day, April 25, Cornwall Garden Club
members and others met at the Cornwall-on-Hudson riverfront at Donahue
Park. We planted a willow tree to
replace one of the massive trees felled by recent storms.
With so many trees lost to last winter’s cold and snow, it
is wonderful to see that the magnolia tree we planted for last year’s Arbor Day
at the Sands Ring Homestead survived the challenging winter. Let’s hope our new willow thrives as
well.
District
X News
The annual Spring Board Meeting and Luncheon for District
X, Federated Garden Clubs of New York State, Inc., took place on April 9. The event was held at the Bear Mountain Inn
and was sponsored by the Clarkstown Garden Club.
The day began with the annual district meeting that
was followed by the luncheon. At the
meeting, District Director Jane Madis urged members to plant gardens and
preserve habitat that would support Monarch butterflies on their long
migration.
Jeanne Nelson, floral designer extraordinaire, presented
a program titled “Awaking to the Glorious Colors of Spring.” Jeanne artfully used a wide variety of spring
blooms to create beautiful floral creations.
Jeanne’s designs were raffled off to lucky attendees at the conclusion
of the program. (Special note – Jeanne
will be the presenter for our Cornwall Garden Club August 21 meeting. Plan to be there.)
Many Cornwall Garden Club members attended the
luncheon which was filled with camaraderie and learning. It was delightful to see the Bear Mountain
Inn open and hosting events.
Coleus
When one thinks of a garden, images of flowers in bloom come
to mind. Yet sometimes a plant is
treasured for its non-flowering contributions to the garden. Coleus – an old fashioned favorite enjoying
new fashioned popularity – is such a plant.
It is the great diversity of leaf color that makes coleus such a valued part of the garden. With leaves of red, pink, chartreuse, maroon, orange, white and yellow in numerous patterns and shapes, the coleus is the perfect addition to the summer garden. In addition to color differences, coleus come in assorted heights, so be sure to plant a variety that, when mature, will be at the height you need.
Coleus, also called Painted Nettle, is a member of the
family Lamiaceae. Its Latin name is Solenostemon scutellarioides. Coleus do best in light shade and can be
overwintered as a house plant in a location that provides several hours of
bright light each day.
Plants can be purchased at garden supply stores or started
from seeds or cuttings. Pinching the
plants back periodically avoids legginess and encourages bushiness as does
pinching off flower buds as soon as they appear. The coleus flower is unimpressive and is best
removed to encourage leaf growth.
It’s not too late in the season to add a few coleus to your
summer garden. Their magnificent foliage
- but not their flowers - will reward you until first frost.
Information from www.thegardenhelper.com
and www.gardening.cornell.edu.
Upcoming Events
Mark your calendar for the following upcoming events.
July 15 – July meeting.
“Succulents and the Savvy Gardener” presented by Master Gardener Barbara
Wexler-Hall at Munger Cottage, 183 Main Street, Cornwall, at 7 p.m. Members are asked to bring a small container
to plant a succulent. Soil and a plant
will provided for each member at the meeting
August 21 – August meeting. “Inspiring Table Designs” presented by Jeanne
Nelson at the Storm King Engine Company, 233 Hudson Street, Cornwall-on-Hudson,
at 6:30 p.m. Jeanne is a Master Flower
Show Judge and former President of the Central Atlantic Region, National Garden
Club, and Director and Treasurer of the National Flower Arrangers. Learn how to improve your arranging
skills.
September 18 – “Backyard Stewardship” presented by Lisa Rittweger,
Master Gardener, at the Cornwall Public Library at 1 p.m. The program will explore ways to improve
energy efficiency, make our yards healthier and sustain the ecosystem.
And a special “Save the Date” for our October meeting – our
trip to the New York Botanical Garden on October 16. Meet the bus at the DeCicco’s Market parking
lot at 9 a.m. We’ll return at approximately
5 p.m.
Photos by Margaret Vatter and Andrea Hamburger
CELEBRATE SUMMER!
