THE GARDEN CLUB OF ORANGE 92 Years of Beautifying the Town

92 Years of Beautifying the Town

WRITTEN BY: MARGHERITA LISI

The Garden Club of Orange continues a tradition of teaching, learning, supporting conservation, and enriching our surroundings.

This year, The Garden Club is participating in the town’s bicentennial with many activities planned specifically for this celebration. Members started in the fall with the planting of hundreds of bulbs. The first floral display will be Fortissimo daffodils at Town Hall, the HPCC sign, and the Bryan House. Darwin, Orange Pride, and Triple A tulips will be blooming in May at Town Hall. In the spring, The Club planted orange sun-patients on the Town Green and in planters at all town schools. The Club is also encouraging citizens of Orange to use orange flowers in their own front yard gardens this year to join in the celebration.

FLOWER SHOW

The Bicentennial Blooms Flower Show is a special event this year. This flower show will be a standard flower show with two parts: Floral Design and Horticulture. Some of the horticulture will be commemorating local landmarks such as the Turkey Hill Preserve, Wright’s Pond, and the Ewen Farm Preserve. This celebration will take place at the gym of High Plains Community Center on Sunday, June 5th, from 1 pm to 5 pm. Gail Nixon is the Chairperson of this event and will be assisted by Lana Ho as Chair of Design with Diane Geary and Sandy Horling as Staging Chairs. Linda Bradford will serve as Chair of Horticulture. The exhibitors will be members of The Garden Club of Orange, some of whom are award winning floral designers and others are novices. They all enjoy designing and growing horticulture and love showing and sharing their efforts with the public. The exhibits will be judged by National Garden Clubs judges and follow that organization’s standards.

GARDEN TOURS

The Garden Club of Orange maintains the herb gardens at the Stone Otis House and will be offering tours of the gardens coinciding with tours of the house by the Orange Historical Society on July 23 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Maryellen Bespuda designed this unique nineteenth century showcase herb garden.

PLANT SALE

The Club held its annual plant sale in May and offered a variety of annuals and perennials, including many orange flowers to help members of the community beautify their front yard gardens as part of the town’s celebration. It will be a very active season for The Garden Club of Orange as they plant Orange and encourage everyone in town to do the same. 