The Chatham Garden Club of Chatham, Massachusetts
On Tuesday, April 17, 1968, 29 women met to form the Garden Club of Chatham. From the start the Club helped to make the town bloom. Membership was at first limited to 50 people, and now our Club has 200 active and honorary members and 50 sustaining members.

In 2000, the Chatham Chamber of Commerce awarded its first Citizen of the Year award to our Club. Over the years, we labeled trees in Chase Park, gave away tree seedlings on Arbor Day, helped fund the Chatham Friends of Trees, and embarked on an ambitious project, the Kousa Dogwood Tree Beautification Program, aimed at lining Route 28 from Harwich to Shore Road with dogwood trees. The Club gave over 100 trees to the town and when the plantings were finished, the trees spread their snowy branches throughout the town and continue the show each June, adding to the beauty of this place.

Over the years, our members have worked hard and had lots of fun doing flower shows, tours of homes and gardens, the Christmastime Festival of Trees, the Garden Club Market at the Creative Arts Center's Annual August Festival, and a cookbook called Tea By the Sea. The golden welcome of dozens of daffodils we've planted throughout town are evidence of the work and fun our members have enjoyed over the years.

2008 - 2009 Programs

The Chatham Garden Club meets on the third Tuesday of the month at the Chatham Community Center, 702 Main Street at 12:30 p.m. for Friendship and Refreshments, and 1:00 to 2:30 for the Business Meeting and Program. We meet during the months of October, November, January, February, March, April, May and June. This year the February meeting will be the second week of the month because of school vacation. The December meeting is announced during the year.

NOVEMBER 18, 2008
Cranberries 101
Dawn Gates-Allen, Communication Manager with the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Association will present a slide presentation on Cranberries 101. Dawn is a 4th generation cranberry grower and with her family farms over 100 acres of cranberries. She will share with us the history of cranberry growing and where the industry is today in the global market and the local environment. In addition she will cover areas such as plant disease, bee monitoring for pollination, bog pest control, heat stress, plant nutrition and much more. She will be providing samples of cranberry juice and sweet dried cranberries for us during our social time.

Hostesses: Lillian Walsh and Carol Kolb
Centerpiece: Bette Hahner
Committee: Judy Buchanan, Dorothy Ripa, Karen Schwalm, Linda Smith
Food only: Stephanie Bartlett, Gigi Gerstle, Claire Kirby, Janet Marjollet, Dianne Semsel, Barbara Wahlquist, Edie Ward

JANUARY 20, 2009
Ikebana, the Tradition and Beyond
Be mesmerized by Hiroway McCarthy as she demonstrates her unique design of Ikebana floral arranging. She will be creating two Ikebana arrangements that will be raffled during the meeting. During her presentation she will also speak on the care and raising of orchids in the home. Hiroway learned Ikebana in the Ikenobo style in Japan. She has worked as a floral designer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Cooper Union, both in New York City. We are delighted to have her now living on the Cape and currently employed by the Chatham Bars Inn in Chatham.

Hostess: Lillian Walsh
Centerpiece: Norma Wagner
Committee: Mickey Bullock, Nancy Groves, Carol Knapp, Carol Wister
Food Only: Carol Englis, Mary Ann Gray, Pat Sachtleben, Clara Slockbower, Nancy Yeaw

FEBRUARY 10, 2009
How To Garden on Cape Cod
Tips to Help You Deal with Our Local Growing Conditions
Does the fog, salt air, wind, sand, rain, dampness and summer sun, have you and your garden down? Then you don't want to miss this program. Join Anne E. Firth as she guides us through what to do, how to do it and what plants work when and where. Anne is a Master Gardener and also teaches various horticultural topics at the Adult School in Sandwich. Often she serves as the guest host of "Gardening" a radio show on WXTK. Anne and her husband have owned "Landscapes & Designs" in Marstons Mills since 1984. Bring your questions and take home the answers from an expert in the field.

Hostess: Lillian Walsh
Centerpiece: Barbara Cotnam
Committee: Priscilla Dalrymple, Susan LaTour, Betty Magnusson, Ruth Steeger
Food Only: Tilda Bystrom, Judy Doe, Marty Koblish, Lois Schmeck

MARCH 17, 2009
Amazing Annuals
Need to fill in those bare spots in your garden or create a "wow" container? Then this program is for you. Join Jeanne Gillis, Director of Horticulture at Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich, who will excite and infuse us with her knowledge, enthusiasm and presentation style as she shows us how to use annuals effectively in a variety of settings.

Hostess: Lillian Walsh
Centerpiece: Karen Schwalm
Committee: Judy Buchanan, Helen King, Regina McDowell
Food Only: Mickey Bullock, Marcia Burns, Martha Gibson, Bette Hahne,r Babs Lidbeck, Rita McGill

APRIL 21, 2009
Rose Growing Basics
Cape Cod is an ideal climate to grow roses and who better to show and tell us how to do that but Irwin Ehrenreich, AKA, 'The Rose Man'. Even though Irwin lives in Barnstable, his "Rose Man Nursery & Emporium" is located in Carver, MA where he carries over 650 varieties of roses. His home gardens have over 500 roses, proving that we all should and can grow roses in our gardens. A retired surgeon, Irwin is a Master Gardener and an American Rose Society Consultant.

Hostess: Lillian Walsh
Centerpiece: Ellie Christie
Committee: Ann DePatie, Betsy Evans, MAry McLaughlin, Karen Voorhees
Food Only: Gigi Gerstle, Betty Magnusson, Eleanor Oakley, Betsey Stevens Judie Stolp

DUES ARE DUE!

MAY 19, 2009
Cooking From the Garden with Paul
A unique and wonderful program with Chef, lecturer, flower show judge and Horticultural Manager of the Tweeter Center, Paul Split. Paul, who lives in Bourne, will conjure up before our eyes, organic foods with aromas of tantalizing proportions and then serve them to us to savor, showing how we can enjoy the organic plants from our garden. He does all this with the ease and performance of a cross between Julia Childs and Emeril. Truly a program not to be missed. Please call Marty Koblish at 508-945-4253 by May 12th if you are attending this meeting, so that Paul can plan for enough food for all.

Hostess: Carol Kolb
Centerpiece: Lorraine Bolus
Committee: Joanne Donoghue, Eunice Geist, Betsey Stevens, Regina Townsend
Food Only: Nancy Beauchamp, Connie Bender, Carol Christophe, Jacquie Cotte, Nancy Dietz, Sally Herbst, and Emily Jostrand

WEAR YOUR SPRING HATS TO THIS MEETING!

JUNE 16, 2009
A Chatham Garden Club Garden Tour
Winding up another club year will be an "On Your Own" garden tour of three of our member's gardens. Between the hours of 11:30 AM and 2:00 PM, start with Ellie Christie's garden at 41 Court Street in North Chatham where you will not only see her gardens, but also be served appetizers. Continue on to Betsy Evans' gardens at 16 Old Salt Works Road, Chatham for sandwiches and then walk next door to Mary Ellen Sussman's gardens at 695 Fox Hill Road, where you will also be served dessert.

Hostess: Carol Kolb
Committee: Marie Becker, Sharon Cruickshank, Dianne Semsel, Norma Wagner
Food Only: Judy Buchanan, Pat Cass, Erica DeZitter, Beth Holden, Rita McGill, Evelyn Sneeden

 

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