A bittersweet moment as the last blooms glow bravely before being tucked up for the winter. But there's always next year!

Doors will open at 12:30 on Monday, November 13, at Bnai Keshet, 99 S. Fullerton Ave. for a presentation by Dan Benarcik, Horticulturist at Chanticleer Gardens in Wayne, PA. Dan will present a program on the exciting world of container culture, as he offers a look at the breadth of container gardening styles and techniques. He’ll discuss different types of containers as well as some of his favorite plants. Dan has been at Chanticleer since 1993, where he has watched the garden evolve from its infancy. He has found Chanticleer to be a unique place where he has been able to merge his innate creativity with his passion for horticulture. He oversees the Courtyard Gardens, with an emphasis on tropical, sub-tropical and tender perennials for seasonal display. He says that his position at Chanticleer affords him the privilege of creating and maintaining the visitor’s first and last impressions of the garden. He also shares his knowledge as an international consultant, speaker, and writer. The Garden Club of Montclair's monthly program meetings are open to the public , so all are welcome. We ask only for a small donation. There will be a raffle, so please bring cash to buy your tickets!

Join us on Thursday, December 7 for a delightful day of Holiday shopping at Morris County Farms Nursery in Denville followed by lunch at the nearby Tabor Road Tavern. Buy all your flowering plants and greens, gifts and Holiday decor and enjoy 20% off your purchases. Depart at 9:30 am and return about 2:30 pm. Carpooling will be arranged. Please bring CASH for lunch. Sign up by contacting Karen Kadus by email or phone at 201-207-8792 no later than December 1.

Florence Leyssène and Debbie Moran held the second Flower Design workshop on Friday, October 27 to great enthusiasm and success. Approximately 15 club members ranging in experience from Advanced Plus to Provisional attended the workshop to put into practice concepts reviewed in the September first Flower Design workshop. Those concepts included the following: Principles of Design: Balance; Contrast; Dominance; Proportion; Scale; Rhythm. Elements of Design: Form; Color; Texture; Pattern; Size; Line; Light; Space. Several brave members brought their own “work in progress” floral designs so that they could benefit from detailed coaching from Florence and Debbie as well as lively input and Q&As from the group. A wide range of floral arrangement styles were showcased, ranging from Petite, Cascade, Traditional Line, Creative Line, Traditional S Curve and Traditional Mass arrangements. The final results modified by Florence and Debbie were deserving of blue ribbons indeed and truly spectacular! In addition to addressing design issues, Florence and Debbie displayed great patience in answering all sorts of questions from National Garden Club rules and definitions to mechanics and tricks for keeping plant material in place. By the end of the workshop and through their “experienced touches” they clearly demonstrated to the audience how a few adjustments following the principles and elements of design can turn great efforts in floral arranging into ribbon-worthy works of art! Ana Moore, one of our new provisional members who attended both workshops, said: “Florence and Debbie are excellent teachers and coaches! They are fun, patient, and bring a wealth of experience and talent! These two design workshops are all that anyone needs to jump into the monthly competitions, which include a starting category for Provisional members that is not judged and is absolutely no pressure." She also shared some tips for fellow Newbies: Make sure you read the instructions for the Provisional category in the MGC manual at least a week ahead so you don’t show up with the wrong type of design. “American Traditional Mass" is a thing! Invest in new Oasis and do not recycle old used Oasis you found in your basement! You don’t want a flop of your “focal point” Monday morning! Use the conditioning packet that comes with your flowers 24 hours before making the arrangement. Flower arranging on a Sunday night with petal-less flowers or presenting wilted flowers with no “focal point" to the judges is not fun! Give as much thought to your choice of “container” as you give to your choice of flowers. Yes, it’s a “container", not a “vase”! If you are interested in further sharpening your skills and winning those cherished ribbons please join Florence and Debbie on January 18 for their Point Scoring and Judges Comments Workshop. ―Ana Moore, Provisional. Florence Leyssène (l) and Debbie Moran share their knowledge and experience and, on the fly, modify works in progress to create the exquisite designs, below.

The Triangle Committee put their rainwear and wellies on and met early Monday morning to do the Fall clean up, schmooze, and enjoy playing in the dirt! Tulip bulb planting is scheduled for next Monday morning, November 6. We will meet on Church Street at 9:45 am bring your trowels. All prospective members are welcome.

Click here for the latest issue of Potpourri. Don't miss out on last month's fun and this month's plans. And click here for all back issues to 2016.

Click here for the National Garden Club's latest issue of "The National Gardener." We have three years' issues of this excellent magazine on our site, or you can go directly to the NGC site where they host issues back to 2011. They also have a very interesting blog.

Watch the video of our beauty who won the Montclair Foundation's annual scarecrow competition. And the $500 prize goes to Avis Campbell Gardens. Major kudos to Karen Fricke and her talented team of — alphabetically — Carol Callahan, Ellen Colton, Marie Donnelly, Karen DeLuca, Dorothy Meissner, Sheila Curry Oakes, Floss O’Sullivan, Fran Wong, and Marilyn Zaret.

The Garden Club has entered this year's Scarecrows in the Garden contest, at Van Vleck. Participation furthers our commitment to community outreach, and, as a bonus, the winner in each level wins $500 to donate to a charity of their choice. Go and see this year's entries! Our robust group of scarecrow makers (Carol Callahan, Ellen Colton, Sheila Curry Oakes, Karen DeLuca, Karen Fricke, Dorothy Meissner, and Marilyn Zaret) have spent the past few weeks designing and building our scarecrow, titled The Gilded Gardener: A Tribute to Amanda Van Vleck, although we feel comfortable enough now to refer to her as "Mandy." We will need your help — and the help of your family and friends — to vote for our scarecrow October 16 through 26. The link is not live yet, but click HERE from October 16 through 26 to VOTE! Winners will be announced October 28.

Flower Design Novice 1st - Karen Fricke 2nd - Kathy Bachmann Advanced 1st - Michele Tomasik 2nd with 90+ - Floss O'Sullivan 3rd - Tova Narrett HM - Carol Callahan Advanced Plus 1st -  Cynthia Corhan-Aitken 2nd with 90+ - Fran Ackerly 3rd with 90+ - Sarah Stransky See the 1st-place winners below. Kay Maclane Van Deusen Rose Award - Fran Ackerly Botanical Arts Section A - Arboreal 1st - Terri Breen 2nd - Kathy Backmann 3rd - Cynthia Corhan-Aitken HM - Susan Benner HM - Ana Lee HM - Sarah Olson HM - Michele Trevenen Section B - Decorated Pumpkin 1st - Cynthia Corhan-Aitken 2nd - Terri Breen 3rd - Floss O’Sullivan HM - Michele Tomasik HM - Karen Fricke See the 1st-place winners below.

Our first speaker of the year at our monthly program meeting was Jan Johnsen, landscape architect and author, who opened our eyes to the possibilities of using large and small rocks in our gardens. A riveting speaker, who has studied with Japanese and European gardening masters, she had us take a second look at stones and rocks from gravel to revealed outcrops to see the spirit hidden in these supposedly inanimate objects. This was our first meeting at Bnai Keshet, whose members made us welcome in their beautiful round auditorium filled with light streaming in through the exquisite windows. As usual, the Hospitality committee provided delicious refreshments and Charlene Connolly provided the glorious dahlias from her garden to decorate the table. Coming soon: photos and results of the October competitions. Above: (l) Jan Johnsen, (r) Dahlias light up the table. Below: Members in the auditorium at Bnai Keshet are enchanted by the beauty of stones.

On October 12 at the Flower Design 101 workshop, NGC accredited Master Flower Show Judges Florence Leyssène and Debbie Moran led members through the elements and principles of flower design. Before we even got to the flowers themselves we learned about the main prinicples (balance, contrast, rhythm, proportion, nd more) through thoughtfully made diagrams and fascinating examples (the different types of spheres was a great one). We also dove into a comparison of these elements and principles as they relate to traditional and creative design. The examples of each that they displayed were stunning! Members enjoyed identifying which principles were being used and where; finding any mistakes (nearly impossible!); and witnessing some bold manipulations with the clippers. We are so lucky that this is a two-part series as there is so much to learn and Florence and Debbie have a wealth of knowledge that could never fit into one workshop! Flower Design 102 on October 27 gives attendees the chance to put the principles into action. Thank you to all who attended and made this a wonderful event and a very special thanks to Celia Radek for helping to facilitate! — Allyn Young

Before the temperatures fall, the October Horticulture competition is another opportunity to display your garden’s bounty. Refer to the schedule here on the website or on page 35 of your Yearbook for the classes offered this month. We recommend that you also review the Horticulture Division Rules here on the website or on page 28 of the Yearbook as well. See a photo of a filled out card on this page. You will receive an entry number (in the red circle) when you register. And all speciments MUST be pre-registered with Karen Whitehaus. We are extending the pre-registration to Saturday, October 14 at noon. Looking forward to seeing what Mother Nature has blooming in your Fall garden!

We are excited to be making our move to Bnai Keshet at 99 South Fullerton Avenue on Monday for our upcoming program meetings and competitions ... and the doors will open at 12:30 instead of our recent times. It's a full calendar: Flower Design, Horticulture, and Botanical Arts Divisions will be exhibited, and award-winning design expert Jan Johnsen will share creative and practical ways you can use natural stone in the garden; from rock gardens to dry streams, and as benches, paths, and more.

This demonstration workshop is the first of a two-part series focusing on the elements and principles of design. Topics for discussion and demonstration include: color, form, texture, balance, proportion, and scale as they apply to floral art and design. Join Florence Leyssène and Debbie Moran, NGC accredited Master Flower Show Judges. Open to all levels. RSVP to Celia Radek. October 13, 60 S. Fullerton Avenue, 10 am - noon.

Wendy Stahl stands proudly next to our new composter at Avis. Many, many thanks to the Northeast Earth Coalition whose generous gift is going to provide our beautiful garden with health and happiness for many years to come. Thank you, Wendy, for making this happen!

Students from the Montclair Cooperative School visited ACG today and learned about dahlias, the Fibonacci Sequence, and the wonders of composting. Dahlias are apparently the best example of Fibonacci-ness in the plant world. Always learning!

As summer draws to its end, the Avis stalwarts gathered together on September 21 to start cleaning up the beds and lift a glass to another beautiful year as the last blooms of Avis Campbell Gardens seduce the bees and butterflies for one last feast. See photos, below, of a late summer evening in the garden and our celebration of another year of richness and plenty.

At the first program meeting of the season, Members flooded Union Congregational Church with well over 160 horticulture entries in 26 classes divided between six different sections. Three of our annual awards are pictured here with their new ribbons, and below. Deborah Hirsch was awarded the Barbara Meyer Rose Award for her delicate and fragrant "Desdemona" roses. The judges couldn't help but give these beauties "Best in Show." Celia Radek won not one but two awards: the Amy Hatrack Herb Award for her collection of five herbs, and the Estelle Liebrecht Horticulture Award for her perfect, perky, pink zinnia, grown from seed distributed this spring. See also the winners of firsts in all the classes below and, below those, a selection of photos showing the wide variety of beautiful plants and flowers exhibited with such pride and enthusiasm by our Members. SECTION A: Flowering Annuals Class 1: Dahlia - Celia Radek Class 2: Salvia-Sue Straten Class 3: Tagetes (Marigold) - Cynthia Corhan-Aitken Class 4: Zinnia elegans 'Pumila Bordeaux'- *Eligible for the Estelle Liebrecht Horticulture Award - Celia Radek Class 5: Any other worthy named specimen - Sarah Olson: Ageratum; Sarah Olson: Ping-Pong Purple; Celia Radek: Cleome; Sue Straten: Impatient Daisy; Michele Trevenen: Lantana SECTION B: Annuals Grown for Foliage Class 6: Caladium - Terry Breen; Michele Trevenen-Miss Muffet Class 7: Plectranthus scutellarioides (Coleus) -Karen Whitehaus, Terri Breen Class 8: Strobilanthes (Persian Shield) N/A Class 9: Any other worthy named specimen - Michele Trevenen - Elephant Ear SECTION C: Flowering Perennial Class 10: Aster - Debbie Moran Class 11: Rosa - *Eligible for the Barbara Meyer Rose Award -Deb Hirsch-David Austin Rose "Desdemona" Class12: Sedum - Debbie Moran-Sedum cauticom; Sue Straten- Stonecrop Class 13: Any other worthy named specimen - Cynthia Corhan-Aitken- Turtlehead, Rose of Sharon and Hydrangea; Sarah Olson - I, Jacoba Coes - Goldenrod and Veronica. Cheryl Sutzsky - SECTION D: Perennials Grown for Foliage Class 14: Fern - Debbie Moran Class 15: Heuchera - Debbie Moran Class 16: Hosta - Maria Matesanz Class 17: Any other worthy named specimen - Asparagus Fern, Sarah Olson SECTION E: Herbs. Eligible for the Amy Hatrack Herb Award* Class 18: Ocimum (basil) N/A Class 19: Rosemarinus (rosemary) Debbie Moran Class 20: Salvia (sage) Kathy Bachman Class 21: Thymus (thyme) Debbie Moran Class 22: Collection of 5 herbs,- Kathy Bachman Amy Hatrack Herb Award- Celia Radek SECTION F: Vegetables Class 23: Capsicum (pepper) - Sarah Olson; Celia Radek Class 24: Cucurbita (squash) - N/A Class 25: Solanum lycopersicum (tomato) - Kathy Bachman Class 26: Any other worthy named specimen: Genie Temmler - carrot

The District 2 Fall meeting will be at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum Nov 18th at 1.30pm where participants will be instructed and create a Williamsburg centerpiece. Cost $50 (please see flyer). All are welcome. The Frelinghuysen needs the number of participants to order the materials. Please RSVP Sarah J. Olson by Sept 21 — next Thursday! We can put together carpools once we know who's going. Hope to see you there!