OPEN GARDEN TOMORROW!! George Long Address 3:00 to 6:00 pm Stroll through the garden rooms designed by painter and graphic artist George Long who attended local classes to learn the basics of gardening, then turned his plot into a tapestry of 300 unusual and rare plants including a diverse collection of hostas, ornamental grasses and 17 varieties of Japanese maples. (See George's address.) Then wrap up the afternoon with Gentle Yoga in Avis Campbell with D from 5:00 to 6:00.

Open Garden of Imke and Benek Oster Address 4:00 to 6:00 Friday, May 19, 2023 Sometimes the blooms dictate the theme and Imke invites us to her garden TOMORROW where she and her husband spent six years restoring beauty to an overgrown and neglected acre bordering Tony’s Brook. Replacing invasive bamboo and dying trees with retaining walls and beautiful plants has been a labor of love and your suggestions are welcome as this oasis in the geographical center of Montclair continues to evolve.

On April 25, six GC members met with 13 residents at Freedom Village, a 55+ subsidized housing community in Paterson, to plant windowsill herb gardens for the resident's apartments. It was fun chatting with these residents and sharing recipes. Our herb selection consisted of parsley, chives, thyme, cilantro and oregano....yummy! — Sarah Olson

Six GC members visited Oasis on May 10 for a repeat planting session of their rooftop container gardens. This year we added more annuals and herbs to the assortment — dill, parsley, basil, chives, cilantro, thyme. Many of the perennials we planted last year were about to bust out in bloom which was wonderful to see. It was clear that the seven women we worked with had gardened back in their home countries and although we weren't always able to communicate in English the language of plants united us all with a great morning in the garden! — Sarah Olson

A month to remember, with some extraordinarily creative designs. All the winners — indeed, all the exhibitors — should be so proud of themselves! The photos, below, show the winners and the honorable mentions. Run your mouse over the images to see the names. Because the photos are of different proportions, you may want to click on the arrows at the right-hand corner of these thumbnails to see the designs in their full glory. And, once again, thank you so much, Floss, for all your hard work capturing and organizing these designs as photographs. They allow us to create a pictorial record for us that will last as long as the internet is with us. And of course equal thanks as always to Fran Ackerly, Karen Whitehaus, and Michele Trevenen and their committees for setting up and wrangling the monthly profusion of gorgeousness and growth created and displayed by our members.. FLOWER DESIGN Class 1: Crescent for Provisionals Class 2: Freedom of Style Using Foliage Class 3: Underwater Design Note: HM: Susan Benner (no picture) BOTANICAL ARTS: ARTISTIC CRAFTS Class 4: A Hat BOTANICAL ARTS PHOTOGRAPHY - Winter Interest Class 1A 1. Sheila Oakes (shown) 2. Cheryl Slutzky 3. Sarah Olson HM Suzy Straten HM Karen DeLuca HM Carol Callahan HM Sarah Stransky Class 1B 1. Lauren Zodel (shown) 2. Michele Tomasik 3. Floss O'Sullivan HM Barbara Baletti HM Karen DeLuca HM Denise Silverman HM Michele Trevenen Class 1C 1. Debbie Moran (shown) 2. Lauren Zodel HM Betty Murphy HM Karen DeLuca HM Lauren Zodel HM Cheryl Slutzky HM Carol Callahan HORTICULTURE Class 1 Narcissi 1. Celia Radek 1. Maureen Sprong 1. Celia Radek 2. Celia Radek 2. Jacoba Coes HM Maureen Sprong HM Denise Silverman HM Imke Oster HM Maureen Sprong Class 3 Hellebores 1. Celia Radek 1. Denise Silverman 2. Denise Silverman 3. Sarah Olson 3. Imke Oster Class 4 Any Other Flowering Bulbs, Corms, Tubers 1. Denise Silverman 1. Denise Silverman 2. Celia Radek Class 5 Flowering Branches 1. Imke Oster

In two days, on Monday afternoon between 4 pm and 6 pm, Deb Ellis, Master Gardener and co-founder of the Native Plant Society of NJ, welcomes us to her home where her favorites, Spring ephemerals — flowers that grow, bloom, and sleep in June — will surround us. Her jewel box of a garden hosts over 100 species of native plants. Neighbor John Suskewich, also a member of the NPSNJ, lives right across the street with his menagerie of thriving specimens collected over the many years that he was the Book Manager at the NYBotanical Garden Shop. All that’s missing, and sorely missed, is their former friend and neighbor, Fran Liscio.

The April entries from members and provisionals continued the dramatic increase in numbers of entries this year as well as the quality of those creations. The Botanical Arts section has taken off, and we are looking forward to the new committee next year. Clearly we are pretty much the best and most exciting garden club in the country. We should also thank the committees who enabled this abundance of beauty. Not only Flower Design and Horticulture, but the well-attended Workshops with their excellent teachers, especially Florence Leyssène and Debbie Moran among many others, and the equally well-attended Programs with their inspirational lecturers. And how can we not mention Hospitality? They are present from early in the morning until the last person is leaving Union Cong. They feed and water the judges and members like the delicate flowers that they and we are, Thank you Michele and Betty, for everything you do. See the results of the April entries, below. FLOWER DESIGN Class 1: Hogarth Curve for Provisionals Class 2: Freedom of Style Using some Tropicals Class 3: Transparency Design BOTANICAL ARTS - ARTISTIC CRAFTS Class 4: Jewelry BOTANICAL ARTS - PHOTOGRAPHY Class 2A 1. Sarah Olson 2. Barb Baletti Class 2B 1. Floss O'Sullivan 2. Suzy Straten 3. Sheila Curry Oakes HORTICULTURE Class 1: Muscari and Class 2: Narcissi Class 3: Tulipa, Class 4: Other flowering bulbs, corms and tubers, Class 5: Flowering perennials Class 6: Flowering branches and of course Susan Dumont's lovely centerpiece for the tea table.

Hats off to the hardworking Triangle committee and friends. They pull up dead tulips one day, then fill Church Street with blooms only a few days later..

In response to the SOS from the Montclair Ambulance Unit's Kristen Ryan, our Civic Beautification Committee jumped to the rescue of two forlorn plastic urns outside the old former firehouse building on Walnut Street on Saturday. In the pouring rain, Marie Donnelly, Wendy Stahl, Kathryn Bachmann, and Sarah Stransky worked their magic to turn them into proud and colorful additions to the Walnut Street Fair.

Shop till you drop at J.McLaughlin on Thursday, May 25 from 2:30 to 5:30. Bring your friends, and 15% of whatever you buy will go back to the Garden Club of Montclair. J.McLaughlin 219 Bellevue Avenue

All members, provisionals, and their guests are invited to our annual Awards Ceremony and Luncheon on May 24. Click here for the invitation with full details, and click here to buy your ticket directly online.

Well .... the best laid plans — right? Despite what our Garden Club Calendar says ... we cannot wait until May 15 to lift the bulbs on Church Street. Especially after the weekend rain and wind, all of our tulips are "DONE" two weeks before we had planned! So this is a call out to the Triangle Gardens committee and provisionals to please join us at the Triangle on Church Street on THURSDAY MORNING MAY 4 AT 10:00 to lift the spent bulbs and get the beds ready for the late Spring/ Summer plantings. THAT'S THIS WEEK! We will have the paper bags ready — just bring trowels, spades and gloves that you have. We hope to get the planting done on Friday morning, May 12 — It does seem to be easier when we do the lifting on one day and the planting on another. We realize it is short notice, but please let me know if you can be there on the 4th. Susan Yu, our outgoing chair joins me in sending THANKS ! Best, Betty

If you missed the informative, well-attended workshop last week, but would like to participate in the 2023-24 Club Horticulture project “Growing Zinnias from Seed”, contact Karen Whitehaus to receive a package of “Cut and Come Again Zinnia,” Zinnia elegans ‘Bordeaux’. Zinnias are low maintenance, heat and drought resistant, pollinator magnets, and can be sown directly in your garden or in a pot on the deck. Plant the seeds, nurture the blooms over the summer, and enter the Horticulture competition in September where your efforts will have the opportunity to be honored with the Estelle Leibrecht Horticulture Award, first presented by the Club in 1970. Information on entering the competition will be available soon. Contact Karen by May 4: There are only 12 spots remaining!

For the annual luncheon, we're putting together a slideshow of members doing everything that they do. We want to include everyone, so if you have some great pictures — close-ups, groups — showing people planting, laughing, learning, celebrating, please email Sue Young and she'll set up a place where you can easily download your best shots. Preferably current, but they can be from any time, anywhere, like this one from the 2021 Holiday Party, taken by Susan Yu. But they MUST be as big as possible. Small pix cannot be blown up on a big screen: large pix can always be made smaller.

June 26, 1925- March 9, 2023 Elizabeth Skinner Smith (Liz), 97, passed away on March 9, 2023. Born June 26, 1925 in St. Louis, MO to Celeste MacMillan and Walter Rumsey Skinner, she was a longtime resident of Montclair, NJ and lived in Maplewood, NJ at the time of her death. Liz attended Mary Institute in St. Louis (1943), Pine Manor Junior College in Boston (1945) and Washington University in St. Louis (1947). After college she married Wyot David Woods and moved to Montclair, NJ where she lovingly raised three children. In 1973, Liz married John Heyward Smith. An accomplished gardener, Liz attended the New York Botanical Garden for Landscape Design from 1975-1978 and started a successful business, Landscape Concepts, with two Montclair friends. She retired after 21 years in 1999. Liz was also active in many volunteer activities late into life: She was on the board of The Garden Club of Montclair and theJunior League of Montclair-Newark as well as President of St. Luke’s Church Women. She headed the Buildings and Grounds Committee at St. Luke’s, which she served on for 25 years. Likewise, she headed the Resident Buildings and Grounds Committee and served on the Resident Executive Committee of Winchester Gardens, where she lived the past 20 years. Liz was also proud to be a founding and longtime member of Futures Ltd., a prosperous investment group of women in Montclair. Her interests included competitive tennis and paddle tennis with several club championships to her credit, bridge, needlepoint, and reading. She adored her family and friends and had a warm contagious laugh. Liz is predeceased by her beloved husband of 40 years, John Smith. She is also predeceased by her first husband, Wyot Woods, her daughter Cynthia Woods, and her stepdaughter, Patricia Karamanos. She is survived by her son and daughter, David Woods of Stamford, CT, and Susan Woods Day of Chapel Hill, NC and two stepsons, Garrett Smith of New York City and Douglas Smith of Portland, OR as well as seven grandchildren, Wyot, Nicholas and Jack Woods of Greenwich, CT, Andrew Day of Chapel Hill, NC, Katharine Day of Washington, DC,John and Benjamin Karamanos of Portland, OR and four great grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM on April 29 at St. Luke’s Church, 73 S. Fullerton Ave, Montclair, NJ. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be given to the Winchester Gardens Scholarship Fund (333 Elmwood Ave, Maplewood, NJ 07040) or to the St. Luke’s Memorial Trust Fund (73 S. Fullerton Ave, Montclair, NJ, 07042).

Garden Club provisional Déja Santana has kindly offered to provide some gentle yoga sessions — for members only — in Avis on May 7 at 1:30pm (raindate May 13 at 10am) and May 21 at 5:00pm (raindate June 3 at 10 am). Her invitation to us reads: "Join D (aka Déja, RYT-200) in Avis Campbell for Gentle Spring Yoga Flows this May! The intentional flows will focus on grounding, breath, and flower bathing." Please note that since this is not an official Garden Club event, you will need to sign a waiver before participating. There is no cost, but limited spaces, so sign up soon! Bring your own mat and be at one with the garden. Any questions, please email Déja.

Not necessarily news, because it happens every year, but Wendy Stahl took these pictures of Avis yesterday.

Close to 70 members and friends attended this month's program meeting at Union Congregational Church today, where Sydney LeBlanc showed photos of the eclectic, artistic, and surprising gardens of Santa Fe. And, as always, our members displayed some breathtaking designs, covering the gamut of floral design, horticultural spring flowers and branches and exquisite entries in the new botanical arts categories. Winners will be shown in a later post, as will the winners from the March competitions. We all gathered for tea and many delicious goodies made by our members at the end of the lecture, and the picture below shows Susan Dumont's charming centerpiece on the groaning board. Truly we met our goals of education, beautification, and fellowship today.

Open Garden of Tova and Zach Narrett 2:00 to 5:00, THIS Sunday, April 16. (See Tova's address) Our Daffodil Girl has transformed the front yard within a year of her move to Lloyd Road. Moss rolls over the terraced stones surrounded by sweeps of scarlet leucothoe and a thousand daffodils. Check out the back yard where the NYC skyline made this home a dream for this former fashion designer. Families and friends are welcome. (Contact Marilyn if you want to host an Open Garden.)

For the first time in three years, we will host our annual awards meeting and luncheon on May 24 at the Montclair Golf Club. Click here to buy tickets and donate, and to get full information.