From the Staff and Board of Trustees of

 

When: Sunday December 21, 2014 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM

Where: Putnam Building of Elm Bank

Make the most of the shortest day of the year! Get outside, reflect on the beauty of winter, and take a walk along the Charles River. Mass Hort Educator, Katie Folts, will lead a walk on the trails at Elm Bank, identify plants and discuss how these plants have adapted to survive cold winters.

Walk Fee: Mass Hort Members $8,  Non-Members $12

Register Here

 

Please be dressed for the weather and prepared to walk on unpaved paths

     

On Saturday, November 29, while volunteering to present "Snow Village," I had the pleasure of seeing the most excited group of visitors I've ever observed at Elm Bank. People of all ages gasped in wonder when they entered the cottage where innumerable classic buildings, moving vehicles and dazzling lights are being shown. Our benefactors are Bill and Ellen Meagher of Needham, who have donated this beautiful artistry to the Society so that hundreds of people can enjoy it. It is the creation of Bill Meagher, who was having lunch at Faneuil Hall one day about twenty years ago and spotted some small-scale, authentically rendered edifices for sale at a nearby store called the Christmas Dove.

      

That day, he bought four models, with no intention to continue. But it is fortunate for us that the initial purchase grew into an idyllic world, sometimes showing scenes from other places and eras and sometimes familiar landmarks like Fenway Park and the Italianate garden at Elm Bank. Through the years, he found many treasures manufactured by Department 56, many of which were bought at Barbour Brothers in Natick. The enchanting amusement park was made by a company called Mr. Christmas. Bill started with an area called "Snow Village," which is guarded by a looming mountain, suggesting the glory of the West. He spread out across the land and finished in an area which he calls "Christmas in the City." All of the construction of stone walls and mountains was done by Bill himself.

  

Bill Meagher

   

The world to which we're transported remains in one magical season. Ellen Meagher says, "Bill is strictly a Christmas guy." Outside of "Snow village," though, he has many other interests.  After working as an accountant for Arthur Anderson, he has acted as a volunteer assistant football coach at Needham High School. He also plays golf and serves on the board of the Wellesley Historical Society. 

     

We're not the first people to have the privilege of admiring Bill's work.  For the past several years, he invited his neighbors to enjoy the sight of his trains laid out on two floors of the barn on his property. Then, about five years ago, he set up an exhibit at the Charles River Center.  The small frustration we experience at the knowledge that this year, we're seeing only about 40% of the collection is tempered by the promise that next year's show will be completely different.  And the best news is that, with additional hours to be announced later, the present display will be up even longer!

 

Horticulture exists as enrichment to our daily lives. We can learn about it in text books and in our own back yards. Like children who learn another language, those who engage with nature at a young age find a comfort level with gardening they can carry through life.  

 

When we ask a child to help clean up the garden or prune the shrubs, we are likely to get a blank stare; but when we engage the family in garden crafts, we are more apt to have fun creating some seasonal traditions together.  

 

As we walk in our gardens at this time of year, the bones of the landscape are evident. We can see where to prune, and where we could improve on plantings in the year ahead. A winter stroll gathering botanicals for holiday decorations is another way to see the landscape this season.

 

I bundle up and head out with clippers and the intention to find greens to fill my urns, window boxes, and doorways with the beauty of the season. Some days, I enjoy the solitary time in nature. Other days, I find great pleasure in turning a walk with friends and family into an opportunity to collect botanicals. In the process, we engage in conversation about the environment and plants we share in common. As we walk in the crisp air, we discover and collect "treasures" (nests, shells, seed pods, and fruits) to make wreaths into a celebration of place. 

 

Since ancient times, the wreath has symbolized the wheel of life, a reminder that we are always most engaged when we accept and celebrate the season at hand. When we make wreaths with loved ones, we bring nature indoors during the cold season, and create a token of our time together that brings a smile each time we enter that door.

 

After the holidays (Twelfth Night or January 6^th in my familial tradition), I move my wreaths to trees along the edge of the woods. The fruits, seeds and berries turn the wreaths into neighborhood bird feeders and places for nesting by spring. Similarly, I move my tree out into my yard, lights and all. To replace the ornaments that decorated the tree indoors, I take time with the kids over the holidays to make suet or bird seed encrusted cone ornaments that bring the tree to life outside my window, while the lights help illuminate the long winter nights. 

 

Perhaps this is the year you could take a walk in nature with family and friends. Make your own wreaths from the special things you gather and renew this ancient holiday tradition designed to engage us in the spirit of the season. 

 

 

 The Mass Hort staff is happy to welcome its most recent addition, Kayleigh Dowden, our new Event Manager. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Johnson and Wales University of Providence with a Bachelor of Science and a concentration in Meeting and Events Management. Her enthusiasm for working at Elm Bank is contagious, and she looks forward to working with people on some of their happiest days.  She is delighted to be among our stunning gardens and charming buildings.

     

Kayleigh hopes to bring a new, modern approach to the functions and events program at Mass Hort, and brings with her experience and a steady interest in the non-profit sector. Her favorite non-profit project was organizing the One Run For Boston in 2014. This relay race, involved 1200 runners, started in Hopkinton and ended at the Finish Line, and raised almost $500,000 that went to the One Fund for Marathon victims.

     

As she settles into the job, she intends to adjust her schedule so she can be available to the greatest number of potential clients at the best times of the day. Kayleigh will enjoy learning more about the foundations of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society and its commitment to horticultural excellence, and about Elm Bank's history so she can help our clients fully appreciate their time with us. 

 

For your special meeting or event, please contact Kayleigh:

Telephone: 617-933-4921

Email: kdowden@masshort.org

Kayleigh is looking forward to talking with you!

 

A gift of membership to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society is a gift of horticulture for the whole year! Your gift supports our teaching gardens and educational programs, and is a wonderful way to encourage a friend or relative's appreciation of gardening, horticulture and the environment.

 

For a full explanation of gift memberships and their many valuable benefits, click here. Order now and we'll send a festive holiday card with the membership, and a special note from you.

 

 Click here to order your gift membership today 

 or call 617-933-4961

  

 

Take advantage of our two 

special holiday offers:
 

Save $10 when you give the 

gift of membership to a new member!

 

OR

 

Buy in bulk for your employees, customers 

or garden club board members 

and save $20 off the price of each membership!

 

Individual Membership Gift Package

 (includes 10 Individual Gift Memberships) - $350 

 

Family Membership Gift Package

 (includes 10 Family Gift Memberships) - $700

 

Click here to purchase your bulk

Gift Membership Package Today

 

 or call 617-933-4961

 

 

 

Moving furniture from one house to another is a snap.  You call a moving company, you sign a check, and experts do the rest.  On the appointed time and day, your furniture shows up at your new home.

Moving plants is a little more difficult.  To be completely accurate, it is a lot more difficult.

Last July I wrote of our plans to downsize; to leave the beautiful house we have called home for fifteen years in favor of a smaller abode in which we can (attention euphemism police!) 'age in place gracefully.'  But this would be no ordinary home.  Its garden would be front and center in the planning process.

The house is now rising quite nicely on an acre and a half of land.  We optimistically think we'll have an occupancy permit some time in December.  Our current home is on the market and we are equally optimistic that the right buyer will walk through the door any day now.

In preparation for our move we spent more than a hundred hours this autumn digging up and dividing plants - in addition to the hours Betty spent during the spring and summer doing exactly the same thing.  More than a hundred hosta divisions went into one- and two-gallon pots as did numerous Siberian iris.  Plugs of ginger and ground covers found their way into quart-size pots.

Dividing plants has been underway for a full year

When we ran out of things to put plants in, we put out a plea to gardening friends who responded with an avalanche of pots - some of them gigantic.  Cuttings Betty made in the spring of climbing hydrangea had, by early October, formed strong root systems.  We now have an entire tub of climbing hydrangea, ready to cling to our new porch.  The largest containers became the home for grasses, peonies, epimedium and astilbe, all of which had migrated from their original planting sites and needed to be culled in order to restore order to the garden. 

By mid-October our portable garden - with pots spread out to allow leaves to soak up sun and water - had outgrown the fifteen-foot-by-forty-foot transplant bed and was spilling out into the walkways beyond.  We went to our neighbors and asked if they could take in the overflow.  When they agreed the potting continued. 

In the meantime, Betty created a dual tracking system for the plants.  Each pot bears a small wooden stick on which is written the name of the plant.  It also gets a second stick with nothing but a number on it.  In Betty's computer is a growing list of what numbers correspond to which cultivars of plants.

In late November we began transporting our plants to their new home.  A Bobcat was being used to fill the trench created to bring in our water and sewer.  I cajoled its driver into carving out an eighteen-inch-deep hole ten feet wide and thirty feet long.  Four truckloads of plants later - and even pushing round pots so tightly they became squares - I had to hand-dig a second plant repository.

The overflowing trench for new plants

Next came the loads of leaf mold and pine needles.  This is to provide additional insulation against the winter wind and temperatures.  Then came soil to fill in any holes between pots.  Then more leaves. 

You should keep in mind that, while we're lavishing this attention on our plants, we have not yet chosen colors for rooms in the actual house.

With the ground now beginning to freeze, the garden work at our current home is done.  We realize we are doing its next owners a huge favor:  for at least a year, there will be little need to do anything beyond routine garden maintenance.  Perennials will have room to stretch out their roots.  Shrubs will find less competition for light and nutrients.

Conversely, the work at our new home is just beginning.  All those plants now in their protective trenches need to find permanent homes come March or April.  The top two feet of our homesite's soil has been compacted into an oxygen-free brick by a succession of cranes, trucks and bulldozers.  It will need to be coaxed back into life through aeration and augmentation. 

And, of course, the contents of those trenches are just a small fraction of what will be needed to fill a new garden.  Come the spring of 2015, the real work begins.

________________________________________________________

Neal Sanders is the author of eight mysteries, several of which have horticultural themes.  They're available in bookstores and at Amazon.com.  His ninth, 'Murder in Negative Space' will be out in March 2015.