Warren Garden Club

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and safe Labor Day. Thank you, Carol Ayers, for maintaining and decorating the garden at the entryway to Thomas Stewart Park in Stewartsville.

We had spectacular weather for our final summer meeting of the year. Thank you so much to the Spann Family for sharing Heron Run Farm with our members for our annual picnic. The setting was magical, the food was over the top and the friendship and smiles were heartwarming.

One of the special benefits from creating an in-town garden is that the gardener gets to see the reactions and hear the comments of the people who are walking by on their way into town. The Warren Garden Club's August 2024 Civic Beautification Award was presented to Kelly Shelton and Joseph Irwin who have lived at 172 Belvidere Ave. in Washington Borough since 1998. They have created a jewel-like garden in the space between the sidewalk and the front porch of their home. The small "pocket garden", anchored by a hydrangea bush and an ornamental maple tree, is filled with blooming annual and perennial plantings. Presently in bloom are verbena, dahlia, snapdragon, coneflower, portulaca, strawflower, petunia, coleus and marigold plants. Although the garden is mulched, weeds will still pop up. Help with weeding comes from daughter, Samantha Irwin Peguero and her husband, Emanuel Peguero Montero. The porch of the house is lined with hanging baskets of petunias and is decorated with hummingbird lanterns. Congratulations Kelly, Joe and your family on receiving the August Civic Beautification Award.

Thank you, Diana Dove, for forwarding this information to me. Our members and Warren County residents can still register their gardens in the Community Wildlife Program.

The Warren Garden Club's July 25th meeting was held at the Warren County Library Southwest Branch on RT519 in Phillipsburg. The slate of officers for the 2024-2026 term has been agreed upon and will be installed at our September meeting. Portia has been compiling the information for our yearbook and there were several members' photos that needed to be updated. Barbara and Diane handled the photo session and 18 new portraits will appear in the yearbook. Liz reported on the upcoming luncheon and distributed printed invitations to our members. We all will be thinking of the raffle baskets that we will donate to the event. The artistic design assignment for the month applied to all of our members. Each member was given a card last month describing a situation that would use a shoe or boot for the container that would hold the floral design. Flowers colors and types were at the discretion of each designer and accessories would be allowed. The theme was "Stepping Out" and the scenario could be: taking a hike in the woods; a day at the beach; playing a round of golf; going for a ride on your horse; attending a formal wedding, etc. Each design was different and it was delightful to see how they all turned out. Thank you, Dee and Rhoda, for creating all of the cards and leading us through the presentation of the designs. Thanks also go to our hostesses Carol J., Sue M., Liz and Janice for the delicious sweets and treats before our meeting began.

Plans for the Warren Garden Club's Luncheon are coming together. Liz Wiffen will be our chairwoman this year and the luncheon committee has once again chosen Hawk Pointe Golf Club in Washington as the site for the event and a speaker has been secured. It's now time for all of our members to start planning their baskets/prizes for our amazing raffle. Please feel free to share the invitation with your family members and friends.

Taking care of any garden during the high heat of July can be a daunting task. Maintaining the gardens that surround the clubhouse and line the walkways of Fairway Valley Golf Club at 70 Mine Hill Rd. in Washington is a fulltime job for Jimmy Puco. The Warren Garden Club's July Civic Beautification Award was presented to the golf course in recognition of the beautifully tended gardens that surround the main building and continue along the cart paths.
Jimmy's love of gardening is evident to all who visit the property. He meticulously maintains the numerous beds with such dedication and hard work. Although the gardens cannot be seen from the street, they are immediately noticed as golfers approach the clubhouse. There is a flowering purple clematis that graces the outdoor porch railing. The two garden beds in front of the clubhouse near the 1st hole tee box are filled with red and white roses and Russian sage, which are joined by assorted flowers and shrubs. An additional garden, which extends along the cart path between the 1st and 2nd holes, is filled with spring, summer and fall perennials which provide color throughout the seasons. Jimmy is also an expert on fig trees and has successfully grown a fig garden behind the kitchen of the facility. Congratulations to Fairway Valley Golf Club and Jimmy Puco on receiving the Warren Garden Club's July 2024 Civic Beautification Award.

There were a lot of topics to cover at the Warren Garden Club's June 27th meeting at the Warren County Library in Phillipsburg. To start off the meeting, Anne L. led the group in the singing of God Bless America" to acknowledge the 4th of July holiday. Congratulations to our member, Denise Coleman, on becoming District IV Director of the Garden Club of NJ. Thank you Rhoda, Char and Denise for representing our club at the state picnic. They accepted our awards for Garden Therapy and the "Thomas Turner Cooke Memorial Award" for promoting pollinator gardens. Congratulations ladies for being recognized for all of your hard work. Denise and Sue M. are currently cultivating a pollinator garden behind Gibson's Gym in Washington. The proposal was approved for our club to once again create the 4 wreaths for the gates at the NJ Governor's Mansion, Drumthwacket, and the bows for the window wreaths this Christmas season...always such a fun project. The June Artistic Design assignment was to design a bridal bouquet on the subject, "Love and Marriage". Betty, Sue M. and Jane P. all made lovely bouquets featuring seasonal flowers. The Artistic Design for July will follow the theme, "Stepping Out", an arrangement made in a shoe or boot. Liz explained that each member would be given a different scenario that Dee had printed out on individual cards. Flowers and accessories may be used in the presentation. The meeting finished with Char and Mary Ellen presenting the group workshop titled, "Making Paper Flowers". The flowers were created from rainbow colored cupcake papers, pipe cleaners and glue. Char had created gold boxes to be used to display our creations. A special thank-you goes to Karen A. for rescuing the flowers in the urns that decorate the entryway to the library. The recent storms had totally flooded 2 of the 4 urns and the flowers were floating!!! She gets a gold star for service above and beyond what is expected when something like this happens. Thank you, also, to our hostesses Kathy C., Carol J. and Lillian R. for the delicious salads and desserts that they provided.

Warren Garden Club members, Carol J. and Dorothy R., made the drive to the Blue Star Memorial on RT80east, located at the rest stop in Knowlton. They weeded and tidied up around the marker and will arrange for a future day for a group to go and tackle those very pesky weeds...again. It seems to be a never-ending battle. Thank you, ladies, and Happy 4th of July to all.

Congratulations to the Karen Nash Memorial Butterfly Garden on receiving this grant award from the Garden Club of New Jersey!

Good advice now that we are in lightning bug season.

Belvidere, the county seat of Warren County, is the perfect town to stroll around in June. The gardens are all in bloom around the Victorian, Craftsman and bungalow style homes that line the historic tree shaded streets. The Warren Garden Club presented its June Civic Beautification Award to Karl and Janelle McAleer, who reside at 519 Oxford St. The garden beds, which flow across the front of the property, accent the wide front porch of the house. The cottage style garden is anchored by a Japanese Kousa dogwood tree and is backed up by a white picket fence. Karl designed and maintains the garden which is overflowing with a wide assortment of flowers that bloom from spring into the fall. Currently blooming in the garden are allium, coreopsis, daisies, evening primrose, lamb's ear, lilies, Virginia bluebells and widow's tears, which will be followed shortly by the blooms of coneflowers and hydrangeas. Karl, who is involved with numerous firefighting organizations and fire departments, has incorporated a statue of a firefighter, fire medallions and a fire hydrant into the scheme of the garden. People driving or walking by often slow down to appreciate the vast visual appeal of the plantings. Congratulations Karl and Janelle on receiving the Warren Garden Club's June 2024 Civic Beautification Award.

Mark your calendars! Well Sweep Farm will be hosting their open house on June 1st and June 2nd.

So very true!

LOL!!!

Our very wet spring has not only created an abundance of flowers, it has also created an abundance of weeds. The gardens at the Blue Star Memorial, at the rest stop on Route 80 eastbound in Knowlton Township, presented a real challenge to the 5 Warren Garden Club members and 2 husbands of members who went to refresh the gardens on May 13th. The weeds were even attempting to strangle the ground cover junipers and perennials that the club has planted over the years. After a few hours of intensive labor, the crew was able to turn the garden into a visually appealing plot in front of the visitor's center. The large clumps of daisies were divided and replanted, filling the bare spots. In anticipation of the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, a patriotic wreath was placed on the memorial, while red geraniums and American flags highlighted the freshened display. After a few hours of hard work, with pleasing results, the group rewarded themselves with a yummy lunch at the Buck Hill Tavern in Blairstown. A huge thank you to all of the volunteers who helped to beautify this lovely garden that honors our veterans who bravely defended our country. It was especially nice to have Brian and George along to do some of the heavy lifting.

The peony buds are getting close to blooming and they are attracting an assortment of visitors...from a ladybug, to ants, to a tiny black and white spider.

Ah, the joy that flowers can bring! Members of our Garden Therapy Committee went to the Phillipsburg Area Senior Center on May 2 carrying an armload of flowers. Several local seniors attended the workshop and created floral arrangements using lilacs, yellow mums, baby's breath, carnations and assorted greens. Each of the participants got to take home their spring centerpiece. There were lots of happy, smiling faces during and at the end of the session.