We want to hear from you! We've just completed our annual luncheon which featured club awards, speeches from our officers, a lovely meal, and an opportunity to schmooze with each other and to shop from small business vendors. While it's still fresh in your minds we'd like to know how you felt about this meeting. This meeting is for you and it should reflect what you want in an annual meeting. Please click here to tell us your thoughts so we can figure them into next year's plans. This questionnaire is completely anonymous!

Due to reports of poor air quality and possible thunderstorms, tomorrow’s Open Garden (Friday, June 9) is cancelled. Please join us this Saturday, June 10 at the home of Karen Fricke (see address) from 3:00 to 6:00 and see how Cynthia Corhan-Aitken created this amazing garden in one year. Friends and families are welcome.

Dear Garden Club Members, You are cordially invited to a Mad Hatter (Clip, Sip N’Dip) Tea Party. It will be held on Thursday, June 22nd from 4pm-6:30pm at Avis Cambell Gardens. Please wear your most magical hat... big or small, size doesn't matter at all! There will be "Drink Me" potions (bring your favorite tea cup for extra fun), a Queen of Hearts garden hunt, croquet matches, and perhaps some rose painting (no actual roses will be hurt in the process). In addition to your hat, we ask that members bring an "Eat Me" treat, if you can. To help make sure we don't just have an abundance of cucumber sandwiches, we are asking everyone to CLICK HERE to sign up on the Google doc with your treat. If any one is having trouble with the Google doc, please feel free to email me, Lauren_Zodel@fitnyc.edu and I would be happy to add your treat to the list! In the event of rain on the 22nd, we will be holding a rain date of Wednesday, June 28th. Hope you can all attend! Some final thoughts from Alice in Wonderland: The Mad Hatter: "Have I gone mad?" Alice: "I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are."

Ten Club members were on hand to bring home the following awards presented at the GCNJ Annual Meeting on June 6, all honoring the Design Specialty Flower Show "Art & Flowers". Congratulations to the Club and everyone who had a hand in making the Flower Show happen. At left: All our awards from the Garden Club of New Jersey's 97th Annual Meeting At right: From National Garden Club: TOP AWARD Certificate of Merit for the Design Specialty Flower Show "Arts & Flowers" At left: From Garden Club of New Jersey MRS DAVID L GEORGE SILVER CUP presented for the finest judged Standard Flower Show of 2022-23 At right: GARDEN CLUB RFD TROPHY presented for the finest Standard Flower Show Schedule of of the year At left: DOROTHY M. SCHICK TROPHY presented for the greatest excellence in staging a Standard Flower Show At right: MYRA BROOKS MEMORIAL TROPHY FOR CREATIVITY IN FLOWER ARRANGING presented to Tova Narrett, winner of the Designer’s Choice Award in the highest rated Standard Flower Show of 2022-23 At left: PATRICIA GROSSI PETITE AWARD TROPHY presented to Celia Radek, winner of the Petite Award in the highest rated Standard Flower Show of 2022-23 At right: MRS REGINALD WILSON MEMORIAL AWARD presented to Michele Tomasik, winner of the Tricolor Award in the highest rated Standard Flower Show of 2022-23 Our members proudly display the recognition awarded to our Club for the wonderful Flower Show last autumn.

Open Garden of Karen Fricke Address Designer: Cynthia Corhan-Aitken Friday and Saturday /June 9 & 10, 2023 3:00 - 6:00 When Karen Fricke discovered Cynthia Corhan-Aitken’s website, Twig & Vine Design, she reached out to her a year before she and her husband made a bid on their New Jersey house. Before and after photos below give a hint of how this dynamic duo completely restored a shabby acre into a garden of beauty and recreation. Plus we gained Karen as a new member of our club.

There will soon be pictures of yesterday's luncheon and awards ceremony on this website, but members who did not attend might be interested in Sarah's inspiring and challenging speech The next two years will be very exciting! ____________________________________ "When I joined the garden club as a provisional five years ago, never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be standing here today as your incoming President. Back then, I really didn’t know that much about the club and it seemed to take me a while to truly understand how it worked and how to make it meaningful for me. Being in the garden club has been a wonderful journey, like watching a flower bud emerge and open to full flower. I have learned that this club is made up of an amazing group of talented, generous people who have become my friends. The more activities I attend and the better I get to know our members the more I realize the treasure trove I have stumbled upon. I thank all of you for giving me the honor of being your President. I want to thank Sarah Stransky for her hard work and skillful management of our club for the past year and for making my transition into this role as seamless as possible. "I offer my congratulations to our newly minted Active and Provisional members. We’re excited to have you! Given my experience as a “newbie,” a suggestion I would make to you is to get involved…really involved… with your chosen committees. The committees are the backbone of our club and by being active in them you will get meaningful work done or become educated, and better understand what the club can do for you all while having fun and making new friends! We want you to become a part of our community. "I have a few thoughts or goals that I’d like to share with you that are foremost in my mind about how our club can be even more meaningful to you and others. "Some of us are in the middle of our child-raising years with many demands on our time, some of us are entering the beginning of the second or third chapters of our lives…all of us, I think, want to make a difference somehow in this one life we have to live! How can we pay it forward? How can we make an impact? Many of our committees already do work that address this concept. More can address this purpose in the upcoming year. As you begin to formulate your committee plans for 2023-24, keep this in mind. As my new friend Pam Turre says, “If you’re not giving, you’re not living!” "Climate change and the environment are serious concerns. Our club is poised to be a leader for these causes in our own community and this is how we will stay relevant in our changing world. We must lead the charge, educating our members and the public. The same old same old is not okay anymore…change is needed. This means, for example (and don’t hate me for this), introducing more native plants into our Avis Campbell Garden, investigating what native plants might work in Triangle gardens, even pledging not to use Oasis anymore in our floral designs! We are resourceful and smart GC’ers who I know will come up with a game plan of transition that will benefit our planet. Trust me, our gardens and designs will still be beautiful…just a little different. I am challenging all of us to find a way to create an Act of Restorative Kindness to our earth. "My last goal is to integrate the Garden Club with the community in a bigger way. Whether it be more outreach to our schools, other non-profits, business districts, our parks, or the township, I’m looking to build synergistic relationships that elevate the profile of our club. I want people to know the good that the Garden Club does, the beauty it brings to others in the community through the artful use of plant material or the gorgeous Avis Campbell and Triangle gardens. Last week several of us attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new courtyard garden at Watchung School. This project, which our Youth Committee spearheaded and our own Cynthia Corhan-Aitkin designed, finally has been completed. It has been named the Connected Courtyard, a place where students connect with nature, each other, and the community and is home to 40 different native plant species. It was beautiful. For me, it serves as an example of exactly what I envision us continuing to pursue…building dynamic relationships between people of vision working toward a common good in the community. "Lastly, I know that none of my goals will be achieved if we aren’t having a whole lot of fun! Our social gatherings for open gardens, programs, and philanthropic activities build camaraderie and are healthy for our minds and souls. Let’s continue this spirit of sharing and learning and creating for ourselves and others in the name of doing good and having fun! Thank you. I look forward to serving you!"

We ae sad to announce the passing of another of our valued members. Jane has been a member of the Club since 1983. Her service will be held on June 3 at 10:00 AM at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in West Orange. Please read her obituary here. Please see her obituary HERE

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!