Looking Forward | Theme: Why Garden for Birds

February 25 – Tuesday – 1 pm – Dealing with Wildlife in your Backyard – A Speaker from Cooperative Extension – Blauvelt Library

March 13 – Friday – 1:00pm “How to Attract Birds to Your Garden” Susan Petro Program Planning Committee/ Distribute 2020 Program Books – New City Library

Soup’s On” January 15th at noon at Lorna’s

January 15, 2020 – The program year began with Soup’s On. Once again Lorna hosted our garden club members at her lovely home.  Soup’s On is a popular event and rightly so, members brought soup’s to be judged.  Each one was delicious.

Table and Stove pictures by Bebb

TThe member photos by Lorna

December 18th Holiday Party at Alayne Fitzpatrick’s Home

Alayne welcomed members to her lovely home.  Appetizers, main course, desserts and beverages were contributed by members.  Everything was very tasty and enjoyed by all.

A beautiful engraved vase was given to each of our outgoing officers Loretta, Celia and Joanne for their service to the garden club.

Tuesday, September 10th – 1 pm -Business Meeting and Craft Activity – How to harvest and preserve herbs, prepare herb infused vinegar

Janet CW prepared  the program for members.  It was a lot of work on her part but very well organized. We each got to make an herbal infused vinegar and the fragrance of the plants was wonderful. Members delighted in mixing herbs for their vinegar preparations.

Tuesday, August 27th 1 -5 pm – Annual Picnic – Nyack Boat Club

Club members brought appetizers, main courses as well as desserts to share. It was a lovely day where members enjoyed each other’s company and the beautiful view of the Hudson river.

Garden Hops – Monday July 29th at Loretta’s and Yolanda’s

Loretta’s Garden Hop

Yolanda’s Garden Hop

 

Wednesday, July 24th – Well Sweep Farm – Tour and Lunch

Loretta Tito wrote the following summary:

On a sunny, July 24, 14 members and friends carpooled to Well Sweep Farm, which could be called the “Land of Herbs”. Located in in Port Murray, NJ, they have a display of 34 basils, 71 lavenders, 46 rosemarys, 86 thymes, and 72 scented-leaf geranium varieties that they stock. Their grandson Patrick gave us a very informative tour of the gardens, encouraging us to taste the various herbs. He explained how he grows topiary plants and answered many of our questions.

We had a home-made lunch of quiche made with eggs from the chickens clucking nearby, arugula salad, pasta salad, all sprinkled with a variety of snipped herbs, fresh melon and home-made cake with iced tea.

After lunch we roamed the rows of organically grown plants and took many home with us, like, scented geraniums, lavender, Meyer lemon tree, bayleaf, poppy, phlox, rosemary, Tiarella, etc.

We learned that The International Herb Association has chosen ‘Anise Hyssop’, Agastache as the 2019 Herb of the Year.

A new book was mentioned. It was co-authored by their friend, Arthur O. Tucker and Susan Belsinger,“Grow Your Own Herbs: The 40 Best Culinary Varieties for Home Gardens.”
We had a wonderful time away on the farm; an inspiring day for gardeners.

Photos by Lorna

Friday, July 19th 1 pm – Horticulture Show/Business Meeting/ Suggestions for next year – VFW – Upper Nyack

 

Photos By Lorna

Thursday, June 20th to Friday, June 21 – Overnight Trip to the Newport Flower Show

Photos below by Bebb Stone

Dinner the First Night at the Black Pearl

Newport Mansion

Newport Mansion

Newport Mansion

Flower Show

Flower Show

Flower Show

Flower Show

                  Captions by Loretta Tito

Flower Show

Flower Show

Flower Show

Flower Show

 

June 17th – Monday – Visit Joy Macy’s Bluefield Farm with Bill Day, Beekeeper,690 Western Highway, Blauvelt – 1 pm

Bill Day talked about raising Honey Bees which we learned are not native to  North America. They are European.  He discussed the hives and showed us the honey combs. Bill also discussed a book  and passed it around for members. The topic was 100 plants that feed the bees.