2023-2024 — Marilyn Zaret, Moderator
Open Gardens began its seventh year with a waiting list of excited volunteer hosts, all non-members, anxious to show off their spring blooms. Yet dozens of our Garden Club members were otherwise engaged with Art in Bloom, channeling their inner gardeners to create floral interpretations from Montclair Museum’s art collection. Consequently, we look forward to those potential hosts inviting us on any summer or fall day of their choosing.
Over 40 events have built a large community of fellow gardeners, and we continue to be rewarded by invitations from our friends outside the Club. During the 2023-2024 season, these included Deb Ellis, John Suskewich, George Long, and Patty Sullivan. From our membership, first-timer Imke Oster charmed us with pink and purple blooms and yellow ducklings. In June we saw the first stages of Cynthia Corhan-Aitken’s landscape design at Karen Fricke’s garden and how beautifully her plans develop over several years when we visited Cynthia’s home later that season. Tova Narrett treated us to daffodil designs at her new home and I chose the sunset hours for my August party.
Early May of 2024 brought rainy weather, yet Brigitte Padberg welcomed guests to her one-woman terraced monument that towers over her home. She personally led every climber to the summit where so many of us viewed the Manhattan skyline three years ago. During the last weekend of May, Susan Straten tested the instant Open Garden with one day’s notice and nearly two dozen spontaneous guests showed it can be done.
As the friends we include continue to expand our program and our members shift to casual gatherings, we look forward to a wonderfully relaxed year in 2024-2025, where all kinds of gardens are welcome.
2022-2023 — Marilyn Zaret, Moderator
Open Gardens branched out in unexpected ways by including non-member hosts, on-site tutorials, and a house and studio tour for over a dozen garden events this past year.
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Tova Narrett opened the season at her new home with her fourth year of daffodil glory. One of her guests, George Long, shared his Japanese style garden and was delighted by the inquiries about his extensive collection of rare plants.
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Deb Ellis, who heads the local native plant society, gave a tutorial in her back yard. Neighbor John Suskewich showed us his wild ensemble of specimens collected during his thirty years at New York Botanical Garden.
Four days after lmke Oster's favorite tree peaked in pink blooms we had guests enjoying desserts on the deck while ducklings played in the grass. Karen Fricke stunned us with the one-year renovation of her house and garden, courtesy of Cynthia Corhan-Aitken of Twig & Vine Design. Karen's quilting studio, the core of her creativity, capped a wonderful Open Garden experience.
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We had our first Nopened (non-member) Garden at Carol Mahoney's beautiful Beatrix Cottage Fantasy, followed by Patty Sullivan's Walk on the Wildwood Side showplace of her personal projects that included a rustic archway, bluestone patio, and lily pond fountain.
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Bob Chapman and Florence Sinofsky generously hosted their third event at their Shangri-La in the Shade last July. Peter and I hosted an Anderson Park outdoor movie event, but the real show was the
25-foot-high rustic arch designed by Chuck Baum and enhanced by forty-foot bamboo supports thanks to Susan Yu's donation.
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The real WOW factor of 2022 took place pre-Halloween at Maureen Sprong's where dozens of dahlias reached their peak. The converted garage, (another Chuck Baum influence), provided the perfect perch for lemonade in that beautiful Victorian style venue.
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We have celebrated over 30 Open Garden events to the delight of our hosts and hundreds of their garden guests. The seed has been planted and all are welcome to showcase their own treasured gardens.
2021-2022 — Marilyn Zaret, Moderator
"You are at your very best when things are [at their] worst," a quote from the movie "Starman," describes our Garden Club during the past two years. Always an engaging place to share ideas, nurture friendships and celebrate beauty, this group had to suddenly shift all programs to a virtual world. Open Gardens became our safe and social gathering place. As the pandemic caused travel plans and cultural events to shut down, we saw a significant rise in attendance from those who were happily grounded, at least for our garden parties.
Cheryl Slutzky joined Provisionals Virginia Woo and Anna Lee in treating their neighborhood to July's Fernwood Avenue Stroll. Brigitte Padberg surprised us with a terraced rock mountain that she had assembled by hand over 20 years and Deborah Hirsch's 1880 Victorian Craftsman home staged a fairy tale setting with Cynthia Corhan-Aitken's expertise. Our Members met Provisional Kathryn Bachmann when she showcased her family's COVID-19 project — a new raised swimming pool — where we watched a video of the process on an outdoor television. September wrapped the season as I shared my own COVID-19 project, a 25-foot-high rustic archway, designed by Chuck Baum and made possible by Susan Yu's bamboo stalks.
Now in transition as pandemic warnings are waning and schedules fill up, Open Gardens will continue to adapt and welcome all formats and ideas to accommodate past and future hosts from our amazing Garden Club, along with their families and friends.
2020-2021 — Marilyn Zaret, Moderator
If there ever was a challenge to the Open Gardens Program, it was the summer of 2020. While our Club’s programs and meetings continued through Zoom technology, it looked like doom for our special garden parties.
However, this challenge was met in mid-July when Florence Leyssène offered her garden to reunite our members. Masked guests poured in and stayed for hours to admire this botanical paradise, and to look over the photos of her thirty year process.
October was my chance to embrace a Halloween theme in my own garden featuring costumed mannequins. We even invited families to join us from nearby Anderson Park. With an Opener and Closer, the summer of 2020 was a memorable one.
Travel bans continued in 2021 and attendance increased as many newcomers joined the faithful regulars. In early May, Brigitte Padberg opened her garden to share her personal monument of multiple terraces and paths composed of the rocks she rearranged on her steep hill 30 years ago. Lucky climbers were treated to a Manhattan skyline view.
Tova Narrett hosted her third party in four years with a Victorian venue of white blossoms while her daffodil field went dormant. In June we entered through a white picket fence to the fairy tale scene of Deborah Hirsch’s 1870 Gothic Carpenter home. With the help of Cynthia Corhan-Aiken, this cottage garden was transformed into a year round charmer and had over 60 delighted guests.
This program has survived and thrived during this past year with its 20th Open Garden event and exceptionally high attendance as the pandemic winds down. I am overwhelmed by success and grateful to the hosts and the hundreds of exceptional people who came together during the challenges of 2020 and 2021.
2019-2020 — Marilyn Zaret, Moderator
Open Gardens, an idea born from the pleas of our Membership to see the magic behind our fellow gardeners' workshops, celebrated its second successful year with eight beautiful venues open during the warm months.
Open Gardens provides a platform of creativity by and for our members. All are encouraged to share their personal spaces and vision. Yet it seemed natural to branch out and include our neighbors, families, and friends. Gardens of all sizes and styles were showcased to crowds that ranged from 20 to 50 per event, likely reaching hundreds of exuberant guests through the season.
Several gracious hosts found the experience so gratifying that half of those from the previous year signed up for an encore. In fact, some were invited to participate in the 2019 Van Vleck "Roses to Rock Gardens" tour which made the experience even more precious to our Club to have first dibs.
As moderator, I've opened my own garden and will do so again. I have found the greatest joy in the Club's response to this simple idea, particularly with the gracious hosts whom I regard as my revolving committee: Tova Narrett, Nancy Stroud, Maureen Sprong, Cynthia Corhan-Aitken, Barbara Meyer, Denise Silverman, Karen and Larry Whitehaus, Victoria Herrera, Stacie Gray, Sarah Olson, and Bob Chapman, who met Florence Sinofsky at his own Open Garden event, only to co-host again, his new wife at his side.