Open Garden of Marilyn & Peter Zaret Click here for address Sunday, July 17, 2022 3:00 to 7:00 Anderson Park’s first outdoor movie screening, "Dirty Dancing," seemed an appropriate day to partner with our Open Garden as Peter and I met in a ballroom class (albeit, a clean one). Join us at our circa 1750 home for our annual Open Garden Party this Sunday afternoon. Dance and movie fans are welcome to stay on until 7:00 when we move our party across the street where Montclair Film will entertain us with a dance demonstration and lesson followed by their featured film and let's all hope that nobody puts Baby in the corner. Friends and families welcome. *Seeking Open Garden Hosts for July and August. Please contact Marilyn's email. Technical Notes. If you would like to get these posts immediately in your personal inbox, click here. If you are a Garden Club member and haven't yet applied for access to restricted pages on this site — such as Potpourri and the Directory — fill out the simple form that pops up, You must be a member to be approved.

OPEN GARDEN of Florence Sinofsky and Bob Chapman Click here for their address 3:00 to 7:00 Sunday and Monday, July 10 and 11, 2022 Four years and five days ago, our gardeners brought forth a new program, under trees, conceived in horticulture, and dedicated to the proposition that all Open Gardens are created equal. And on that day, provisional Bob Chapman maintained his lovely two-acre oasis (see photos below) and invited us to share his labors encompassing stone pathways, architectural treasures and numerous plant species that thrived in the shade behind his 17th century Victorian home. It was there that he met Florence Sinofsky, who became his bride, leading to another Open Garden in August of 2019. Now they again welcome their fellow Club members, along with families and friends, to share the enduring love that blooms from nature and friendship. Please contact Marilyn (marzaret@comcast.net or phone: 973-820-1201.) for questions and advice about hosting your own Open Garden. All sizes, stages and styles are welcome as are former hosts.

The Garden Club BOUTIQUE is holding a GARAGE SALE, on WEDNESDAY, JULY 13 from 10 am-noon and 5-8pm at the home of Susan Benner (Click here for location.) Great opportunity for Designers to get ideas and materials for their Flower Show Designs. Brenda Bingham donated unique items to the Boutique . Please bring cash or check. Brenda Bingham has donated some great Design items. The Boutique has materials for design (wires/tapes/oasis). For those of you who are submitting Designs for the Flower Show you may find items to inspire you!.

Dear Avis friends, We are beyond fortunate to have our fearless leader AND her super-hero husband supporting us and all our garden goals. The annual July New Dawn rose pruning is complete thanks to the superhuman efforts of Maureen and Gary Sprong. Wow is all I can say. A huge project that is complete and makes our garden healthy and happy. Thank you Maureen and Gary! The garden looks fantastic, and now so does the wall. No need for a Sunday afternoon session tomorrow, but just know how mighty is our team and how appreciated is our Garden. People are always stopping by while we work to thank us and enjoy the fruits of our labor. May it ever be so! Love, Barbara M

It seemed so far away, but September is looming! Barbara and Cynthia and all their committee heads have been hard at work for months, planning and staffing for this big event in September. The Flower Show at Van Vleck House is an important undertaking, judged by outside state and national judges as well as our fellow citizens of Montclair. We ask every single one of our members to take part, not just designers, but volunteers on the many different committees from staging to refreshments. There is something for everyone to do! We now have a SPECIAL PAGE on the website for the Flower Show. (It's under "What We Do.") There you can find up-to-the-minute news, the contact information for all the Chairs, and everything you want to know about the rules and plans for exhibitors — subject of course to review. These pages are secured so that only our members can see them. If you have not yet signed up to access this area you will need to do so to see it. It’s not hard at all — instructions pop up when you try to access the page — but once it's done, it's done for ever. Call Sue Young at 917-364-9020 if you have any questions.

The sunny weather has finally arrived so please join us TOMORROW on Tuesday, June 14 in Avis Campbell Gardens! If you like to clip or dig, are a Provisional or member, please come to help celebrate our lovely Avis Campbell Garden’s 70th year on Tuesday, June 14 to Clip, Dig or Sip! We’ll start by each digging 70 weeds at 4 pm and then — our rewards! We’ll be doing some sipping, munching, and socializing until 6:30. Don’t forget to save the date:Tuesday, June 14, 4 – 6:30 pm.

We are pleased to announce that at the Garden Club of New Jersey Annual Meeting on June 9, The Garden Club of Montclair was awarded the Hanover Garden Club Trophy for our successful, innovative project, “The Garden Club of Montclair Website.” In addition, our club received the GCNJ Special Award for a Large Club focusing on Civic Beautification for 70 years through the TRIANGLE GARDENS. Thank you to all who have continued the leadership and work on these projects especially current chairs, Sue Young, Website Chair, and Susan Yu, Triangle Chair. It was a beautiful day event with over 175 GCNJ members present including our members, Florence Leyssene, Floss O’ It was a beautiful day for the event with over 175 GCNJ members present including our members, Florence Leyssene, Floss O’Sullivan, Cheryl Slutzky and Sarah Stransky who are pictured with GCNJ President, Cecelia Millea. An Annual Meeting entrance design honoring NGC President, Mary Warshauer by GCMtc Emeritus member, Brenda Bingham.

Four garden therapy committee members visited Oasis, A Haven for Women and Children on June 1 to work with women in the "Survive and Strive" group, where we planted six rooftop raised garden containers with colorful perennials and annuals (see photos below).. Oasis clients had varying degrees of gardening experience and totally took ownership of the beds. We explained which plants would attract pollinators, and which were hosts for the swallowtail butterflies and what to look for as caterpillars emerged and grew. We learned of some of the trauma that these women had experienced and left with high hopes of the women gaining solace as they visited and worked in the garden over the summer. GCM members were: Sheila Curry-Oakes, Michele Trevenan, Susan Dumont, Sarah Olson.

For the first time in three years, the Montclair Art Museum held its biannual fundraising luncheon on May 19 for the Art in Bloom exhibition. The honoree was community activist and contributor to so many Montclair and other organizations, our good friend and Garden Club member Betty Murphy. Below, see pictures in no particular order of this wonderful event, featuring a presentation by the extraordinary floral artist Francoise Weeks who traveled from Oregon to demonstrate her unique woodland and flower wearable creations

Quick! Get yourselves up to the Montclair Art Museum before Sunday to see our members' inspiring interpretations of the Museum's works of art, both temporary and permanent. Below, just a few random snapshots of some of the awe-inspiring creations. More -- better photos, and all of them -- will be available on the Museum site and elsewhere in the weeks to come. And, at right, the lovely Amy South in front of her lovely flower wall.

Please join us Wednesday, May 25th, 2022 at 1:30 pm for The Annual Awards Celebration and Installation of our new President and Officers. Masks are required. The meeting will be held at Union Congregational Church Parish Hall 176 Cooper Ave Upper Montclair NJ 07043 Refreshments only will be served.

Garden Therapy's program of delivering floral arrangements to the nurses at Mountainside Hospital has come to a seasonal end. Our Mountainside coordinator shared that the nurses really appreciated all of our efforts. Deliveries began in October and continued monthly through May. We will take a break over the summer. Thank you to all of our talented and generous designers who's efforts enhanced the moods of our indispensable nurses."

Margaret Kenrick became a Provisional of the Garden Club of Montclair in 1972 and remained an active member for 44 years until 2016. Margaret’s passion was Flower Design and she served as a Flower Design consultant for all levels regularly throughout her membership. She was a Master Gardener and National Accredited Landscape Design School graduate. She won the Betty B. Merriam Silver Bowl for the Standard Flower Show in 2009 and the Tilll Beatty Allis Award for Flower Design and Flower Education. “Magrit” as she was known to friends, was a passionate Flower Designer, and worked on many Flower Shows. In 1995 she became Horticulture co-chair and in 2010-2011 she took a leadership role as Garden Therapy Chair For two years she led her committee to visit Senior Care, Montclair Manor, Gates, Van Dyke and Little Nursing Home to play games and brighten residents’ lives. Other than that, Magrit maintained her steady contributions to the world of Flower Design. She was a mentor to new members each year at the Crane House when we decorated for holidays and was a strict adherer to the authentic materials of the time. But that did not keep her from being one of the friendliest and funniest of members to work with. She did chair the Perennial Gardens (as they were known at the time), but primarily was a solid, ever-present member who served where she was needed. Respectfully submitted, Deborah Hirsch

The annual meeting was held again at Avis on May 25 -- another beautiful day, full of beautiful people and beautiful flowers. See some of the pictures below (click on any one to view them at a larger size). Thank you Claire Stepleton and Victoria Herrera, as always for your wonderful photos. Stay tuned for the list of awardees (which will also show on our awards page which shows all awards going back to 1987.).

Garden Therapy delivered one hundred May Day floral arrangements to Canterbury Rehab Center in Cedar Grove on Friday, April 29. Sixteen club members assembled the designs using spring colored blooms, and numerous other members generously supplied greens to fill out the arrangements. See more photos, below.

... from an ordinary Tuesday at Avis Campbell Gardens. Thank you, Wendy Stahl.

Do not miss this month's jammed Potpourri, the last one of this season. And thanks to Claire Stepleton and Karen Whitehaus for their work on Potpourri this year. (And of course to Claire for all the magnificent photographs she has shared with us over the years.) Read: Florence Leyssène's farewell to her three-year tenure as President of our club; Barbara Baletti's salute to Florence; Avis Campbell Garden's birthday; Results of the April Floral Design and Horticultural competitions; Three workshops heralding spring; News about this summer's Open Gardens; and much, much more.

The last Design Competition of the 2021-2022 year will be on April 25th at the Union Congregational Church. This is a Multi-RythmicDesign, Allotted space 24" W x 18" D. Staging panel and underlay required. See Handbook for Flower Shows, page 75. Designs may be dropped off between 9:15 am and 10:00 am, Please enter through the East door on the far left of the building. If you are not attending the evening Program meeting, please arrange to pick up your design between 1:00 and 1:30 pm. You must register at fackerly1@gmail.com no later than Wednesday, April 20 to reserve a space for your design. Masks must be worn.

Eleanor Roosevelt receives a May basket in 1938. Garden Therapy will be making their "May Day" basket arrangements for Canterbury Rehab Center in Cedar Grove this year on Friday, April 29 at 10am in the Garden Club club room on S. Fullerton St. We could use a few more volunteers for this activity. Sign up here if you would like to join us: We will also be needing some "greens" such as boxwood, ilex, or other small leaved shrubs so if you're trimming back your bushes close to our event date, please save those clippings and contact Sarah or Susan so we can arrange a pick-up or drop-off. It'll help us stretch our dollars further. Sarah Olson (sarahjolson@comcast.net) or Susan Dumont (susancdumont@gmail.com).

Come one, come all, for an EVENING program meeting on Monday, April 25, another “first” for the 2021-2022 year! Anna Coy, the owner of Blooms in Hand in Verona, a floral design studio that specializes in unique hand-tied European bouquets, will discuss her approach to floral design while demonstrating techniques for creating three different designs. Enjoy watching Anna create one of her signature hand-tied bouquets, as well as an artful compote centerpiece and a modern sculptural design. This special evening will be held at Union Congregational Church, 176 Cooper Ave.. The reception will be at 6:00 (changed from 6:30) and the program will be at 7:00.