President's Letter November

"How silently they tumble down
And come to rest upon the ground
To lay a carpet, rich and rare,
Beneath the trees without a care,
Content to sleep, their work well done,
Colors gleaming in the sun.”

- Elsie N. Brady, Leaves

"If it is true that one of the greatest pleasures of gardening lies in looking forward, then the planning of next year's beds and borders must be one of the most agreeable occupations in the gardener's calendar. This should make October and November particularly pleasant months, for then we may begin to clear our borders, to cut down those sodden and untidy stalks, to dig up and increase our plants, and to move them to other positions where they will show up to greater effect. People who are not gardeners always say that the bare beds of winter are uninteresting; gardeners know better, and take even a certain pleasure in the neatness of the newly dug, bare, brown earth."
- Vita Sackville-West

Dear Fellow Garden Club-ers,

After hearing Jenny Rose Carey’s fascinating tales of “Ladies in the Landscape”, I thought I would include remarks by two other “ladies”, Elsie Brady and Vita Sackville-West, who took delight in the crisp days of autumn.

October and November are wonderful months to celebrate our own indomitable women and rejoice in their accomplishments. There were Federated and Garden Club of America awards for Betsy Nininger (National Garden Clubs’ First Place award for her Kitchen One & Kitchen Two Workshop Manual and the GCA Zone Flower Arrangement Achievement Award) and for Lucy Elliot (the GCA Katherine Pitney Award for Horticulture). As a tribute to her considerable skills, Vicki Arkins was elevated to the “Prospective Judge” level in the GCA Judging Program, and our club can now boast that we have three Master Gardeners, as Cordalie Benoit and Marty Dauwalder join Judi Freudenburg in this august, impressive group. Thanks to the hard work and meticulous documentation of Karyl Evans and our Garden History and Design Committee Roxana Laughlin’s garden was submitted and accepted into the Archives of American Gardens at the Smithsonian Institute. And, just this week, Cordalie Benoit represented us skillfully on the Faith Middleton Show, wowing NPR listeners with her facts and knowledge as she spread the word about our exciting Elm Tree Project.

What a spirited, unconquerable group we are!