Evergreen Garden Club
Minutes of January 17, 2023
Attending: Jean Barquin, Louise Beale, Julia Bellinger, Cherry Bourque, Carol Cramer, Winkie Crigler, Jane Dana, Jane DeCell, Doris Dixon, Cathy Farrell, Betsy Forster, Mary Jane Glass, Kay Glenday, Jeannette Harper, Lynn Keith, Mary Frances Koltes, Betty Langhammer, Diana Luka-Hopson, Sarah Maner, Claire Marshall, Sally Marshall, Janet Nassim, Donna Roberts, Pam Selden, Laurene Sherlock, Jane Simchak, Anne Snodgrass, Susie Taylor, Ellen Thrasher, Susan Vanderver, Rosa Wallach, Xenia Wilkinson.
President Jane Dana welcomed everyone to the online Zoom meeting, especially new members Julia Bellinger and Sarah Maner. Since member Anne Williams has resigned, the club has an opening for another member. Nominations and supporting letters are due to Ellen Thrasher by March 1, and members can arrange to bring prospective members to the February 21 meeting.
Members of the grants committee this year are Ellen Thrasher, Mary Jane Glass, and Susie Taylor. They will be meeting soon to discuss this year’s grants, and they will present their recommendations at the April meeting. If you have ideas or suggestions for grant recipients, you should let them know.
The executive committee will meet soon to plan the anniversary luncheon in May. Jeannette Harper and Anne Snodgrass will make a presentation about the club’s history at that luncheon. If you have ideas or pictures, please get in touch with them.
A club member has a connection to an outstanding garden on the Eastern Shore. Jane asked if there was interest in visiting this garden and perhaps another in Easton sometime in the spring.
The business portion of the meeting having been concluded, the first of three members presented pictures of their new or reworked gardens. For Winkie Crigler, everything started when she inherited her grandmother’s (gorgeous) iron urn. She extended the area of the pool behind her house and a surrounding terrace to give the urn a proper setting. But the result behind and below the pool area was a very steep west-facing bank. Winkie and designer Barbara Katz installed several stone walls to create terraces on the bank. Winkie and friends have planted flowering shrubs and many peonies.
Doris Dixon moved to a new house shortly after covid came along. Her garden designer, Carol Funger of Here By Design (herebydesign.net) helped Doris plan an entirely new garden on all four sides of her house, and now, less than two years later, it is lovely. There are recurring circles in shapes of the lawn and trees. She sought a sense of flow and mystery, as well as four seasons of interest. By reorienting a back door to the house, she better integrated the house and garden.
Susie Taylor bought a new house in early winter 2020. After removing plants that were overgrown, dead, or diseased, very little remained in the back garden when she started putting in the new plants and hardscape in December 2021. Susie worked with the design firm Everett, Conroy and Landis, who sadly closed their business as of the end of 2022. Cornerstone Landscaping, whose principal is Pete Berggen, selected and installed the plants as well as hardscape and drainage, and they are very much in business. And they were terrific.
After living with her former garden for three decades, Susie challenged herself to make this new one a garden of native plants. Some of the resources she has used are visiting native plant nurseries, a field trip to Mount Cuba Center in Delaware, the blog Nuts For Natives, and Doug Tallamy’s books about the importance of native plants for all creatures.
Jane thanked Susan Vanderver for her technical help in arranging the Zoom meeting today. She reminded everyone that the February meeting will be at the home of Donna Roberts. The speaker will be Shari Wilson, of Nuts For Natives.