Garden Therapy at Mystic Manor

It's known as "Garden Therapy". Every month 8 or 10 members of The Mystic Garden Club visit Mystic Manor Nursing Home. Arms full of greens and flowers, we greeted the 20 or so residents that were assembled in the recreation room that morning. When we arrived the residents were enjoying their morning coffee while listening to the newspaper being read aloud. MGC members were filling baskets with florist foam and clipping the greens and flowers into sizes suitable for the containers.

After the morning news was over, the tables were covered with the old newspapers and the work began. Each resident received a basket to work on. Greens were distributed to the table for the basis of the bouquet.
Many of the residents are frail and some have difficulty pushing the stems into the florist foam. But every resident was intent and delighted in the color and shape of the bouquets as they evolved. Garden club members were there to supply helping hands but most residents took charge of their own creation. "I need a pink and a purple flower" I was told. So I hustled over to the table to find the desired colors. When I was admiring one woman's basket she told me she had gone to school for this. I tried to find out more but she was busy with her flowers. Another resident had both wrists wrapped and placed her stems with difficulty. But I learned that she had been in a Garden Club years ago and she had a definite sense of balance and desire to have her basket just so.


The time just flew by and the baskets took shape. It is amazing how a bunch of assorted greens and mixed flowers turns into 20 or more bouquets.

MGC Beautification Award

Each year the Mystic Garden Club presents a Beautification Award to the place or business that the club feels deserves recognition for the beautification they have brought to the community. This year the Award went to the Groton Transfer Station for their beautification which is named "Better Dumps and Gardens!" Below is a photo of the award being presented.

Pictured are Pam Arguelles, Gary Schneider and Karin Stuart.

Forcing Tulip Bulbs for Indoor Bloom

Submitted by Barbara Rousseau

1. Cover drainage hole of a 6” pot. Fill pot loosely with soil (one part loam, one part peat, one part sand).


2. Place bulbs flat side out, their tops even with the rim, then add soil to the rim. The first watering will settle soil enough to provide future watering space. Water several times to be sure soil is moist.


3. Store in a cool dark place at 35° to 50° F in a refrigerator, root cellar, unheated basement, garage or attic, or trench.


4. Label as to content, color, and date.


5. Write reminders on your day calendar to water and when to remove from storage to begin forcing period.


6. At the end of 14 to 15 weeks, bring indoors. For best results, give bulbs a temperature of 60° and direct sunlight. Rotate pot regularly for uniform growth and keep evenly moist. It takes 3 or 4 weeks for bulbs to bloom. When buds begin to color, remove from direct sun.


7. Bulbs planted on October 1st can be brought indoors around Christmas for bloom 3 or 4 weeks later, mid-October for February flowers, November for March and April flowers.

MGC October Meeting

The October meeting of the Mystic Garden Club was interesting and entertaining. As always the luncheon was tasty and a wonderful social event. It's a delight to mingle among friends you haven't seen for a while and catch up on their lives. We tried to move lunch along slightly by passing out the soup because our speaker was working on a time deadline.The speaker, Chippy Irvine, was excellent and shared a wonderful slideshow from her book "Shades of Country". The really surprising treat was the song she sang at the end of her presentation about receiving flowers. It was delightful and humorous and I only wish I could reproduce it.
Along with the normal business meeting we enjoyed some wonderful horticultural highlights. Barbara brought in an exotic, spectacular passion flower. I only had a camera phone with me but did my best to get a photograph.

My camera phone picture of Barbara's Passion Flower! How exotic

A better picture I found on the internet - Note Barbara's flower is just as exquisite.

We had a presentation on some great foliage plants for your gardens. Several varieties of persicaria, Red Dragon, Lance Corporal and Painter's Palette. They are low maintenance, shade tolerant, and not appetizing to deer.

Persicaria microcephala 'Red Dragon'

Persicaria microcephala 'Red Dragon'is a vigorous grower that trades one display of color for another as the season rolls along. A clump-forming perennial, 'Red Dragon' does well in combination plantings when mixed with annuals or perennials. It is an excellent product for a 1-gallon program. This new persicaria should be especially enticing to gardeners. It's a non-running form -- sterile so it's not seed invasive, non-stoloniferous so it's not root invasive.
Set off with red stems, this vigorous grower boasts spring leaves that are deep-burgundy with a plum or mint-colored chevron and a metallic sheen. Summer foliage becomes greener, accented by a red leaf margin and a red chevron on a red stem. While cooler areas are rewarded with better color in late summer, 'Red Dragon' is a splendid selection for any garden in the United States and Canada.
Small white flowers appear in early summer, but are insignificant.Height is 24 inches; width can run from 30 to 40 inches. Its growth rate is vigorous but the plant is not invasive. 'Red Dragon' tolerates most soils, including heavy clay. It is suitable for borders, beds, rockeries or as a container perennial.

October by Carol Connor

Carol Connor provided some Garden Club Photos from today - October 18, 2007
*** Note if you click on the photo it will popup an enlargement. Click on the back button to return to the blog.

Here is a pic from Adopt A Highway program, High St in Mystic. Notice new sign. We had 14 garbage pickers!

L to R Carol McBee, Carol Connor(chairwoman), Alice Butler & Bodil Meyer.
Zooming in to see the new Mystic Garden Club Sign!

Our fall has been so unseasonably warm that there are still many flowers blooming.


This beautiful morning glory is blooming in Barbara Rousseau's garden.

Barbara Rousseau checking her Passion flower buds. One has bloomed a few days ago & only was out 1 day. It is a spectacular bloom she said.

October Guest Speaker - Chippy Irvine

For our October Guest program we are having Chippy Irvine, the author of “Shades of Country: Designing a Life of Comfort.” The wonderful coffee table style book has something for everyone. She brings you country in many styles from cottage to grand country. The author’s own home is an example of an opulent country style.

“Regardless of your personal aesthetic, there's a style or shade of country that can work for you -- that's the premise of Irvine's latest book. She writes about dozens of real people's homes, including her own in upstate New York, which fall into six categories or chapters: Farmhouse (functional and familiar), Grand Country (stately and traditional), Cozy Cottage (nostalgia and sweet sentiment), Rusticators (romantic retreats), Clean and Simple (Shaker and Swedish country) and Urban Arcadia (eclectic, artistic and edgy). She saves the best for last -- fashion and design maven Marian McEvoy's stylish 1740 stone house on the Hudson River.”--Marge Colborn, The Detroit News

Bank Square Books will be attending the meeting with copies of “Shades of Country: Designing a Life of Comfort” for you to purchase and get autographed.

Chippy’s other books include

• Brunschwig & Fils UP CLose: From Grand Rooms to Your Rooms by Murray Douglas & Chippy Irvine
• Second Homes (American Design) by Chippy Irvine

2007 MGC Questionnaire Responses

The following is a summary of the results of the 2007 Mystic Garden Club Membership Questionnaire

By Barbara Ginsberg

Favorite Program

Carole King

Thames River Greenery Garden Rooms - Kevin Joeckel Herb Lady - Jodie Gilson

Peter Cummin

Hands On Demonstrations Holiday Decorating

Garden Design

Christmas

Garden Trips

Arnold Arboretum Back Bay Gardens Boscobel

Boston Flower Show

Bronx Botanical Gardens Brooklyn Botanical Gardens Carole King's gardens Chelsea

Clark Museum

Edith Wharton's house Elizabeth Park in June

Greenwich Garden Education Center Logees

Longwood Gardens and Winterthur Nursery crawl

Philadelphia Flower Show

Roger Williams Park Botanical Center Sod field

Sydney Eddison's garden Wild flower gardens White Flower Farm

Favorite Event

Garden Stroll- 32 votes

House Tour - 14 votes

Flower Show - 7 votes

Suggestions

Become more visible

Better wreaths

Better chairs

Better sound system

Better projector

Name tags in plastic casing

Name tags at Greens Sale workshops

Close Greens Sale at noon or 1 pm on Saturday

Pin on microphone for speaker

Maggie Jones for Hummingbird program

Judy Nickerson for a program

Start meeting between 12:15 and 12:30

Evening meetings

Younger members

Ice water with lemon in glasses at luncheon

Sponsors should know their duties

New member orientation and buddy system for 1 year

Involve new members to feel comfortable stepping up

Inform members of their responsibilities

Each member should be willing to chair a committee

Open and close member's gardens

More gardening activities

Growing rather than decorating and arranging

Don't be afraid to get your hands dirty

Field trips to improve horticulture knowledge

Work with other clubs for input

Going Green - Reusable Shopping Bags

It's not surprising that the plethora of plastic shopping bags is not good for the environment. I have been reusing my plastic bags whenever I go to a wholesale club but other than that they collect in my kitchen at a prodigious rate. So I decided to buy some reusable shopping bags. I have been very pleased with the bags I've received so I thought I'd share what I've found.

First I bought a nice, light, reinforced roomy bag from Alchemy Goods. It is very surdy and lightweight and it is completely constructed with recycled materials. The bag is made of recycled banner material and the straps are used seat belts with the handle reinforced by used bicycle tires. The resulting bag is handsome, very strong and lightweight. Not inexpensive but I am very happy with it.

Now one bag will just not get me home from the grocery store. So I purchased a group of 5 nylon bags from EnviroSax They carry twice the amount of a typical plastic grocery bag and they are small and light enough to fit in a little sack in my glove compartment.

Now my major obstacle is just remembering to bring these into the stores! I have succeeded a few times so I'm hopeful I can be retrained. They are a pleasure to use - nice and strong and I'm not inundated with more plastic bags to litter our environment. So I heartily endorse both of these items.

Upcoming Events

Mystic and Noank Library
September 28 Authors and Hors d’oeuvres at 6:30

Denison Pequotsepos Nature
November 10 Silent Auction gala, DNPC major fund raiser

Mystic Arts Center
September 28-November 10 CT Women artists & photo show XXXXIX

Connecticut College Arboretum autumn 2007 Programs

• September 28-29-Mum and Pumpkin show
• October 11- The environment from a tree’s perspective (lecture/workshop)
• October 13- At home with herbs (A lecture/workshop)
• October 20 Annual fall Foliage Walk
• November 3 Bounty and Beauty in your yard (A Salt seminar)
• November 10 Annual Mamacoke Walk (A geology hike)
• November 17 Finding your way with maps (an Exploration)
• December 1 Creating holiday Wreaths (a workshop)
• December 7 Creating Holiday Ornaments (A workshop for children and adults)
• December 7 trimming a holiday tree 9 A celebratory event with Arboretum staff)
• Garden Education Center of Greenwich
• October 15 Ron Morgan! Celebrated Floral Designer at 10AM
• October 16 Ron Morgan master class 10 AM
• November 9 Jennifer Pfeiffer of Green: floral and events 10:30

Other Events

• October 13 unusual plants for woodland and rock gardens-North American
  Rock Garden Society, Ct. chapter meeting at Quackin’ Grass Nursery
• October 14 CT. Dahlia Society meets at Thomaston Bank, 985 Watertown Rd. Waterbury
• October 15 Growing Iris in CT. Ruth Bennett of the CT. Iris Society, Simsbury Garden Club

Did You Know?

The Mystic Garden Club will be celebrating 35 years, doing the annual “GREEN SALE”
The Lower Mystic cemetery depicts many chapters of our Country’s history. It is the final resting place of veterans from at least three wars. There are five veterans from the War of 1812, who helped to defend Mystic from British coastal raids. We are also honored to have 24 Civil War veterans in our burial place, including Medal of Honor recipient Capt. John Knight Bucklyn who is interred in the mausoleum. In addition, two Spanish-American War veterans are buried in the cemetery-Lucian O. Allen and William Lewis.
There are also two members of he California Gold rush buried there. Three young Mystic men, Charles Sisson, Thomas Wolfe and Ransford Ashby jr. came down with the gold rush fever and left together to search for gold. Failing to find riches, they embarked on a return steamer which landed on the Nicaraguan Isthmus. Ashby died of fever at Chagres, but Wolfe and Sisson returned to Mystic months later, in time to attend Ashby’s burial in lower Mystic. After a successful career as a sea captain, Sisson died in 1885 and was laid to rest not far from our Bradford Pear Tree. His stone bears a representation of a sailing ship.
The Mystic Garden Club has donated $1000 last year to the Lower Mystic Cemetery for mowing the grass there.