2023-2024 — Cynthia Corhan-Aitken, Chair; Karen Fricke, Vice Chair
Our monthly program meetings moved to a beautiful new space in Bnai Keshet synagogue.
With so many new members joining our Club during Covid, we decided to start off the year with an overview of all that our Club has to offer. Our September program, “Swap & Share,” introduced members, new and old, to what each hardworking committee hopes to achieve in the upcoming year. We shared our treasures in a swap of design items and gently used garden tools at this evening event.
Award-winning landscape designer and author Jan Johnson, showed us in our October program, “The Spirit of Stonescaping,” how to use stone in the garden as a durable and sustainable landscape element, for rock gardens and dry streams, as benches, paths, and more.
November brought Dan Benarcik, horticulturist at Chanticleer Gardens, and an international consultant, speaker, and writer, who presented his program, “Pot with a Purpose,” about the exciting world of container gardening. He shared his knowledge about styles, techniques, types of containers, and favorite plants.
In the dreary month of January, Kelley Forsyth, the head horticulturist of Branch Brook Park, brightened our day with her program, “Color, Color Perception, and Colorful Plants,” as she helped us gain a deeper understanding of color perception and theory in order to create vibrant and seasonal outdoor spaces.
Brian Rombough, a licensed state tree expert and co-owner of American Tree Experts, Inc., a Montclair company owned and run by the Rombough family for three generations, spoke at our February program. His presentation, “Ask the Arborist,” explained how he diagnoses and corrects typical health issues in trees and shrubs and showed us how to look for distress in our own plants.
March brought Horatio Joyce, Director of Public Programs and Education at The Garden Conservancy, to speak to us on the topic, “Restoring, Rescuing, and Rehabilitating Our Nation’s Public Gardens.” He shared with us the story of The Garden Conservancy and their beloved program, Open Gardens.
Our April program focused on three of our own talented and creative members: Cynthia Corhan-Aitken, Tova Narrett, and Lauren Zodel, women who found their way to the glories of gardening after (or during!) careers in the garment industry. Each designer displayed a garment representing her niche in the industry, as well as a floral design, inspired by her garment. Each shared reflections on her career in the world of fashion, and ruminated on how she transferred that same creativity to the world of gardening and floral design. This evening program was accompanied by refreshments.
Monthly raffles brought in donations totaling $700.
2022-2023 — Susan van Inwegen, Chair; Ginny Demoreuille, Vice Chair
Our speaker programs began in October this year due to September's Arts & Flowers: A Design Specialty Flower Show.
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In October the delightful Marc Hachadourian, author and Curator at the New York Botanical Garden kicked off the season with a wonderful presentation on orchids.
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The passionate Deb Ellis, environmental activist, Master Gardener and founder and co-leader of the Essex County Chapter, Native Plant Society of New Jersey, followed in November with her aptly timed talk, "Fall and Winter in the Native Garden."
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Next, Master Gardener, local beekeeper and owner of Stately Hyland Apiaries, Eileen Hyland regaled us with information about bees and sold the tasty honey from her apiary.
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Our own Amy South, owner of Moss & More, spoke to us about houseplants at our March evening meeting. We were pleased that several beautiful items from her shop were raffled.
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Author and City Gardens Club of New York City member, Sydney LeBlanc led us on a wildly colorful and pictural tour of "The Secret Gardens of Santa Fe."
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In May, Deb Ellis opened her garden and spoke briefly about the spring beauties for biodiversity that lie within. We were fortunate to be able to host our programs live this year.
2021-2022 — Susan van Inwegen, Chair; Ginny Demoreuille, Vice Chair
We hoped to return to in-person meetings this year, but a resurgence in COVID-19 numbers caused us to turn to Zoom. Samir Dalal, September 's speaker, is the planning manager at the Philadelphia Landcare program. He oversees more than 12,000 previously empty lots in Philadelphia which have been turned into green spaces. These have drawn residents and pollinators, benefitting the community and the environment.
Our October speaker, Bruce Crawford, guest lecturer in the landscape architecture department at Rutgers, showed many commonly used plants, and then suggested interesting and lesser-known alternatives.
Steve Kristoph, nursery owner and adjunct professor of horticulture and landscape design at Rutgers, presented in November. Steve was a passionate speaker, and his talk, "Garden Getaways," caused us to start planning visits to the many wonderful gardens in the Northeast that he showcased.
Lindsey Taylor, January's speaker, is a floral designer who writes the column "Flower School" for The Wall Street Journal. Each column focuses on a floral design that she creates in response to a sculpture or painting. This talk was very well attended, with a lot of questions and discussion.
Hilda Krus, February's speaker, is the Director of the Horticultural Society of New York's GreenHouse Program on Rikers Island. Incarcerated men and women receive horticultural therapy, classroom training, and year-round experience in the gardens. This program touches lives, provides rehabilitation, internships, and life and job skills to the participants.
In March we had our first live program of the year. We gathered in a large and well-lit space at Union Congregational Church. Jennifer Bakshi, owner of Urban Oasis Landscape Design, showed us how plantings can refresh a landscape when all the surrounding elements — building structure, driveway, porches, and other features of a home — work harmoniously together.
Our final program in April, held at Union Congregational Church, was a well-attended evening meeting. Local florist Anna Coy was an enthusiastic speaker, discussing her approach to floral design while creating one of her signature hand-tied bouquets, as well as an artful compote centerpiece, and a contemporary sculptural design.
2020-2021 — Charlene Connolly, Michele Trevenen Co-Chairs
Our Club embraced Zoom programs as the best way to keep Membership connected this year. With the assistance of our Committee and Zoom master Florence Leyssène, members were kept engaged with a variety of subjects from the world of gardening and flowers.
Our October Zoom program featured local aviary authority and world traveler Sandy Sorkin presenting “The Birds, the Bees, the Flowers and the Trees of London” facilitated by member and spouse Kathy Sorkin. After so many months confined to our homes, we were ready for a virtual tour of London’s gardens.
In November, we hosted an evening Zoom meeting featuring artist Chips (Hank) Feeley from his home in Vero Beach, Florida. Chips’s artistic talents, art history expertise, and hands-on approach educated Membership about the grand masters and their unique painting styles. We enjoyed Chips's engaging enthusiasm for his discipline.
Kathy Kauhl, head archivist of Essex County Parks, gave a historical tour of our county parks in her presentation, “Not Just Cherry Blossoms — the History of Gardens in Essex County Parks”. We gained an appreciation for the vision and planning of our county forefathers in the creation of our county park system.
A snowy February afternoon introduced us to Deb Ellis, founder of the New Jersey Native Plant Society, Essex County chapter. During her presentation, “Feeding Butterflies, Not Bambi: Deer Resistant Native Plants”, we learned best garden planning practices for the coming season.
In March, Linda Williams introduced us to the art of jewelry design using botanical specimens. Linda presented an overview of the techniques used to create one-of-a-kind pieces of jewelry from our garden’s bounty.
Our final Zoom program featured Marta McDowell, a favorite Garden Club speaker. Her presentation, “Emily Dickinson’s Gardening Life” included excerpts from her book about the famed American Poet. Marta shared interesting stories about Emily Dickinson and her gardening life in Amherst, MA. We received such a favorable response from our members that we expect the Club to plan a trip to the Dickinson Family homestead when we are able to travel again.
2019-2020 — Charlene Connolly, Michele Trevenen, Co-Chairs
The Program Committee scheduled a diverse and rich offering of presentations this past year. Our intention is always to capture the many and varied floral and gardening interests of our Membership. The programs were well attended with more than 60 members and their guests participating at each meeting. Although we hit the pause button in mid-March, we are excited to announce that our March and April 2020 speakers are now scheduled for the 2020-2021 programming year.
Our first Program Meeting on October 21st featured Althea Llewellyn, a Master Gardener who is a certified instructor in Square Foot Gardening. Althea shared her enthusiasm for gardening in a limited space as she demonstrated the principles of square foot gardening which, we learned, produces a bountiful yield of vegetables, flowers, and herbs.
The Garden Club returned to its home base, the United Way Building, on November 12, when we proudly introduced our first evening Program Meeting that welcomed over 110 members and guests. Coleen Christina Burke, author, designer, and historian, presented "Christmas with the First Ladies." Coleen served on the White House Holiday Decorating Team working under the guidance of Laura Bush and Michelle Obama. While sharing her experiences working with our nation's First Families, Coleen gave the audience an insider's view of how the White House occupants prepare for the December celebrations. The holiday spirit was embraced by all in attendance that evening.
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On February 24, the Garden Club returned to Van Vleck House & Gardens when Bruno Leyssène, husband of one of our own, shared his expertise as a perfumer with his program, "From Flowers to Fragrances." Bruno presented an overview of the many facets of the fragrance industry and how flowers, herbs, and spices are processed. We sampled fragrances while Bruno infused his presentation with interesting facts of how industry professionals develop the fragrances and scents for the products we use in our everyday lives.
We wish to extend a heartfelt thank you to our very able Program Committee members: Marie Donnelly, Susan Dumont, Debbie Fitzpatrick, Sue Lotz, Sydney Milliken, and Patricia Rodie for their willingness to help take attendance, set up, and reassemble the space for every Program. We thank Chuck Fischer, Executive Director of Van Vleck House & Gardens, for his assistance and guidance on using the space and the audio/visual equipment for Programs.