The Colonial Garden Club of Marlborough holds its regular meetings on the second Wednesday of every month from September through June. There is no regular meeting in January. Unless noted otherwise, meetings are held at 7 pm in the Jaworek Elementary School at 444 Hosmer Street, Marlborough.

English Garden Tea & Yankee Swap
September 8, 2010, 7:00 pm

What do proper American women do at an old-fashioned English Tea Party? Why, have an old-fashioned Yankee swap! Join your fellow tea-totalers as we kick off the start of the 52nd year of the Colonial Garden Club. Enjoy club camaraderie as we renew the tradition of a fall perennial swap. Be sure to bring a tea cup, saucer, and spoon. Hats are optional but encouraged. Bring a perennial from your garden or bulbs for swapping. Delicious English tea sandwiches and desserts will be offered.

Additional September Events
8 GCFM Executive Board Meeting
11 Tower Hill Annual Fall Plant Sale 10am -3pm
15 Board Meeting @ President’s house
18 Garden site clean-up & mum planting
27 Central North District Coffee @ Great Brook Farm, Stow, 10:00

New England Heirloom and Native Plants
Four Centuries of Living History
October 13, 2010, 7:00 pm

In honor of Marlborough's 350th anniversary, we proudly host John Forti, a nationally recognized garden historian, for a lecture which gives a voice to the timeless plants which define our region. He will explore with us the critical role of heirloom and open-pollinated plants and how they enable a garden to foster a sense of time and place. John brushes off “antique” garden ideas which deserve a fresh look, helping his audience to apply this knowledge to their modern lives for a more sustainable future.

John Forti is the Curator of Historic Landscapes at Strawberry Banke Museum where, under his leadership, it has become one of America's “Top Ten Favorite Public Gardens.” John contributes to garden, lifestyle and food publications as well as making regular appearances on TV and radio shows. He is the recipient of the 2010 Award for Civic Improvement by the Garden Club of America.

Additional October Events
1-11 Topsfield Fair
3 Marlborough Heritage Festival 10 AM
6 CGFM Executive Board Meeting @ Espousal Ctr.
6 Board Meeting @ President’s house
15 Yearbooks due to Federation (3 copies)
16 V.T. Healing Garden 5K Perennial walk 10 AM
18-19 New England Regional Meeting – Vermont
21-24 Tower Hill Flower Show
26 CGFM Fall Conference “It’s Not Easy Being Green” Andover Country Club,
    Andover, MA

Pear Tree Boutique Workshop
November 10, 2010, 7:00 pm

Due to the overwhelming success of last year’s Boutique, we will once again be dedicating a meeting to “prep” for the Boutique.  We will be utilizing everyone’s time and talents for various work projects such as bow-making, pinecone painting, kissing ball form prep, and putting dried fruit on picks. These projects are very important as they will help to maximize the efficiency of the Boutique workshops, so everyone’s help is greatly appreciated! Please bring scissors, wire cutters, clippers, gloves, paint brushes, pine cones, dried flowers, a yard stick AND your calendar as we will have Boutique workshop sign-up sheets, as well as a sign-up for any greens you can contribute from your yard or property.

Additional November Events
3 GCFM Executive Board Meeting @ Espousal Ctr.
3 Board Meeting @ President’s house
15 Horticulture Morning, Espousal Center, Waltham
TBA Boutique workshop schedule
TBA Holiday project at the Senior Center
27-28 Festival of Trees – Marlborough Historical Society

The 32nd Annual Pear Tree Boutique
December 4, 2010
11:00 am to 1:00 pm
Whitcomb Middle School
Open to the Public

Now in its thirty-second year, the Pear Tree Boutique continues to be the club’s oldest and most prestigious fund-raiser. Members will be showcasing their original, hand-crafted holiday creations. The immense effort of members contributing to the Boutique helps support the club’s scholarship fund and city beautification programs. Numerous fresh and artificial greens workshops will be held the weeks prior.

Holiday Celebration
December 8, 2010
Wayside Inn, 1800 Ballroom, Sudbury, Massachusetts
Cocktails and Appetizers at 6:00 pm
Dinner at 7:00 pm

Once again we join together as friends and club members for our annual holiday dinner meeting. Enjoy seeing the historic Longfellow's Wayside Inn dressed for the holidays by some of our club members as well as members of other area garden clubs. Entertainment will leave us all feeling the joy of the season. We will also once again participate in Marlborough's Santa's Helper Program. We will adopt a local family to make their Christmas brighter.

Additional December Events
1 GCFM Executive Board Meeting @ Espousal Ctr.
3 “Home for the Holidays” – Downtown Marlboro 6 PM

Civic Plantings for the Four Seasons
February 9, 2011, 7:00 pm

Landscape designer Sally Muspratt will help us with the problem of making our civic spaces attractive during all four New England seasons. Not an easy task. Ms. Muspratt paid a visit to some of our gardens back in July 2010. She will present a general overview of the topic then give specific recommendations for improving a few of our already beautiful garden sites. Head gardeners and members, bring any questions or thoughts you may have about your specific site to the meeting.

Additional March Events
2 GCFM Executive Board Meeting @ Espousal Ctr.
2 Board Meeting @ President’s house
28 Morning of Horticulture @ Espousal Ctr.

“Honey Bees are Busy Bees”
Bee Sweet Honey from Lily Hill
March 9, 2011, 7:00 pm

Judith Eaton, our own garden club member, started harvesting honey in the summer of 2010 after having a beehive left on her property by the previous owner. Not knowing anything about beekeeping, she attended the Worcester County Beekeepers Association “Bee School” during the winter to learn about managing bees and harvesting honey. Within months the old rotting wood hives were transformed into a thriving honey bee hive. She will share with you her experiences through show and tell, pictures and words. Come learn about: honey bees (Apis Mellifica), beehive management, importance of bees, apitherapy and nutrition.

Additional March Events
2 GCFM Executive Board Meeting @ Espousal Ctr.
2 Budget Meeting @ President’s house
16-20 Boston Flower & Garden Show
28 Horticulture Morning @ Espousal Ctr.

Virginia Thurston Healing Garden and the
Annual Colonial Garden Club Budget Presentation
April 13, 2011, 7:00 pm

How do you make a budget presentation more exciting? “Road Trip!!!!” We will meet at the VTHG in Harvard, MA. Those of us who have not had the opportunity to visit the garden will be treated to a beautiful setting of lush gardens, ponds, grassy paths, fountains and lots of flowers. We will take away from this visit a reminder of the healing potential that our own gardens have to offer. Hostess committee will provide refreshments.

Additional April Events
6 GCFM Executive Board Meeting @ Espousal Ctr.
6 Final Budget meeting @ President’s house
11 Program/Speaker Forum, Andover Country Club
22-25 Art In Bloom, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
26 Central North & Central South District’s Annual Meeting
TBA Marlborough Art in Bloom
TBA Earth Day project at the Senior Centers

16th Annual Plant Sale
May 7, 2011
9 am to 12 Noon
Location: TBD

The 15th Annual Plant Sale was memorable for thunder, lightning, frigid winds and torrential downpours. Despite frozen fingers and chattering teeth, club members offered garden crafts, favorite plants, and cultivation advice to customers who braved the elements. Several patrons were as excited as if it had been 70° and sunny—literally, undampened good spirits!—and left with huge smiles and a load of leafy new friends.

Barring hail or a freak blizzard, we’re bound to have better weather in 2011! That means even more customers looking for classic perennials to fill out their garden schemes and passionate planthunters in search of choice new specimens. Getting a jump on your donation in summer and fall means more specimens—and more revenue—next spring.

MYTHS, LIES AND ALL THE LATEST DIRT
May 11, 2011, 7 pm

Do you put a layer of rocks or broken pottery in the bottom of your pots “for drainage”? Do you think that a lawn that has moss needs lime, or that bark mulch robs the soil of nitrogen? And how often have you been told to mist your houseplants to improve the humidity, or to divide perennials by scissoring two garden forks back and forth? Join C. L. Fornari, The Garden Lady, for some myth-busting advice.

This presentation looks at conventional beliefs about fertilization, mulching, planting and pass-along plants with an eye to current research, a time-saving approach to yard work and looking at our gardens from the plant’s point of view. Ms. Fornari is an expert on gardening and the host of Garden Line on WXTK radio, where she enthusiastically covers a variety of subjects from flowers and trees to turf with features like I love This Plant/I Hate This Plant and Green Thumbs Up/Green Thumbs Down.

Additional May Events
3 Program/Speaker Forum, Elm Bank, Wellesley
4 GCFM Executive Board Meeting @ Espousal Ctr.
21 Member planting at Beautification sites
25-30 NGC Convention, Atlanta, GA

Marlborough Country Club and Our Woodland Pocket Garden
Annual June Dinner
June 8, 2011

To celebrate the end of a busy year, club members will meet at Ghiloni Park before dinner for a stroll though our own Woodland Pocket garden. Dinner will follow at the Marlborough Country Club. Details will be available at our May meeting.

Additional June Events
1-7 National Garden Week
2 GCFM Annual Meeting @ Crowne Plaza, Natick
8 GCFM Executive Board Meeting @ Espousal Ctr. Waltham
15-19 WAFA Flower show, Seaport World Trade Center, Boston

NOTE: July and August events will be announced in the newsletter.
Stay tuned for listings of member Garden Tours.