President's Letter

Nature XXVII, Autumn

The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry's cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I'll put a trinket on.

~Emily Dickinson

The hours of sunlight are getting shorter and our gardens are winding down as we work our way towards Thanksgiving and joyous festivities with family and friends. Over the next few weeks we will see 40 million Americans traveling from home to home, tables laden with the summer’s harvest – with cranberries (one of the only 3 fruits that are entirely native to our North American soil) and with pumpkin pies (the largest of which was 2020 pounds and measured 12 feet long. Imagine the quantities of eggs and sugar, of salt and cinnamon, of pumpkin spice and pie crusts!)

These days I am thankful for tomato teas and bug-free succulents; for the glorious plantings at Phelps Triangle and all of you who have tended them so carefully; for Trees on the Green and Elm Trees and Street Trees – the entire urban canopy that transforms our neighborhoods, mitigates environmental health risks, delivers ecosystem services, and increases our community pride. I am pleased by the positive response that we received from GCA as they reviewed and accepted our Founder’s Fund Grant, and I am indebted to all of those individuals who worked so brilliantly, with such commitment and dedication, on preparing it.

I am grateful for mild autumn days that allow us all to work in our shirt-sleeves and follow a thoughtful garden design as we plant daffodils and tulips and hyacinths and crocuses. There is no need to rush; to break through frozen ground; to dig large, random holes; to scatter clumps of bulbs in among the snowflakes.

In sum, I am thrilled to be a member of the Garden Club and to work with so many talented, devoted, enthusiastic friends who share their knowledge, their skills, and their time cheerfully and eagerly. These are rare gifts.

I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving. Don a ‘trinket’, enjoy the traditions, and feast on the pie!

Then…please come on December 7^th to the Carriage House in Edgerton Park (9:30 am!) to work together on holiday arrangements. Bring your clippers, your evergreens, your gold-sprayed seedpods, and your ‘ways and means’ goodies! It is always great fun.

---Carol Ross