Member of The Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut, Inc.and National Garden Clubs, Inc.

Newsletter April 2020

Upcoming Events

Due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Shippan Point Garden Club meetings and activities, including May Market, will be suspended until further notice. We will continue to monitor the situation and will follow state and federal guidance. The health and safety of our members, neighbor, and loved ones are of the utmost concern to the SPGC.

Board and Horticulture and Botanical Arts Meeting - April 14th - CANCELLED Membership Meeting - April 23rd - CANCELLED May Market – May 9th - CANCELLED

In case you’re looking for longer-term planting project, Barbara Deysson recently ordered 20 of the highly fragrant Lilium regale bulbs online and potted up 6 containers. (Monty Don gave her the idea). If you plant them while the weather is cool, you will have blooms in July/August. The nice thing about pots is that you can place them on your patio and enjoy the intoxicating blooms. Monty claims that they can thrive in pots for 3 years or so. Barbara ordered her bulbs from Longfield.

Federated Garden Clubs of CT (FGCCT) News

FGCCT has cancelled the following activities in April: Annual Meeting, April 15, Aqua Turf Club Historic Virginia Garden Tour, April 20-26

Please check the website for additional updates.

Members Plant Exchange

If members have plants they plan to divide and/or would like to share with others, please forward information to Cindy Lannon, Anne Cheng, and Jackie Connolly, including plant name, color, quantity, and location (e.g., 5 pots of yellow stella d’oro lilies by the garage). Cindy will keep a running list of plants and availability to share with members to pick up on a socially-distanced first come, first served basis.

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April 2020

2-D Horticulture from our Homes

While we’re not able to get together this month for Hort and our Membership meeting, following are some lovely specimens from our yards! We thank all the following people for contributing their photographs: Nolini Barretto, Anne Cheng, Ruth Chiles, Amanda Cook, Diane Deegan, Barbara Deysson, Birlie Lau, Georgia Nostrand, and Diane White for their contributions. We hope you enjoy the photos of emerging spring!

This is a perfect time without much to do to get out your camera or iPhone and take some photos. Practice doing still life such as the first three photos below and experiment with settings on your phone or camera. We have added photography classes to our schedule, so we all want to get better at it. Have fun and get creative with photography!

Daffodils - Narcissus

Tracey 6 W-WBarbara Deysson

Double DaffodilNolini Barretto

Barbara Deysson

Butter and Eggs 1777Amanda Cook

Diane Deegan Diane Deegan

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April 2020

Double Campernelle 1601Amanda Cook

Irene Copeland 1915Amanda Cook

Cum Laude Diane White

Swan’s Neck 1604Amanda Cook

Mount Hood DaffodilDiane White

Birlie Lau

Hellebores

Lenten RoseNolini Barretto

Ivory PrinceBirlie Lau

Lenten RoseDiane Deegan

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April 2020

Single White SpottedBirlie Lau

Single Pink SpottedBirlie Lau

Winter PlumBirlie Lau

Hyacinths

HyacinthDiane Deegan

HyacinthDiane Deegan

Trees and Shrubs

AndromedaKristen Hayes

ForsythiaAnne Cheng Deciduous Azalea

Diane Deegan

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April 2020

Sangogaku MapleBirlie Lau

MagnoliaAmanda Cook

Budding MapleKristen Hayes

Newly Blossomed QuinceGeorgia Nostrand

Tulips

Flare Tulips and Tete-a-Tete Daffodils

Ruth Chiles

Orca and Lemony-Anne TulipsAnne Cheng

Tulips and Grape HyacinthAnne Cheng

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April 2020

Other Plant Varieties

Gerdas CliviaNolini Barretto

VioletsJackie Connolly

Oregano ‘Amethyst Falls’Anne Cheng

Praying Mantis Sack in SpireaKristen Hayes

Dried BonsaiGeorgia Nostrand

Grass Kristen Hayes

Highlights from January Membership Meeting

Following are some of the beautiful designs created by and horticulture fostered by members. As a refresher, the design theme was a petite, multi-rhythmic design, inspired by the Hot Springs National Park (Arkansas).

Diane White Barbara Deysson Nolini Barretto

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Jen Johnson Janet McCabe Krystyna Vaughn

Ruth Chiles Ulli Delmar Angela Swanepoel

Amanda Cook Barbara Deysson Krystyna Vaughn

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April 2020

Amaryllis Project

Marguerite HajjarMaureen Carson“Best in Show”

Amaryllis Project

Nolini Barretto

National Park: Yellowstone

Our theme for April was meant to focus on Yellowstone National Park. While we won’t be preparing floral designs or artistic crafts around our April theme, you may be interested in the following facts about the park.

Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho)o On March 1, 1872, Yellowstone became the first U.S. national park and believed to be the

first national park in the world. It spans approximately 3,470 square miles and is known for its wildlife and many geological and hydrothermal features, in particular, Old Faithful, one of its most popular attractions. o The water that flows through Yellowstone National Park and the Greater Yellowstone

Ecosystem (GYE) is a vital national resource. The headwaters of seven great rivers are located in the GYE, and flow from the Continental Divide through communities across the nation on their way to the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of California, and the Gulf of Mexico. Precipitation in the mountains and plateaus of the Northern Rockies flows through stream and river networks to provide essential moisture to much of the

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American West; and water resources provide recreational opportunities, plant and wildlife habitat, and scenic vistas.

o Water also drives the complex geothermal activity in the region and fuels the largest collection of geysers on Earth. Precipitation and groundwater seep down into geothermal “plumbing” over days, and millennia, to be superheated by the Yellowstone Volcano and rise to the surface in the form of hot springs, geysers, mudpots, and fumaroles.

o Yellowstone contains some of the most significant, near-pristine aquatic ecosystems found in the United States. More than 600 lakes and ponds comprise approximately 107,000 surface acres in Yellowstone—94 percent of which can be attributed to Yellowstone, Lewis, Shoshone, and Heart lakes. Some 1,000 rivers and streams make up approximately 2,500 miles of running water. Thousands of small wetlands—habitats that are intermittently wet and dry—make up a small (approximately 3%) fraction of the Yellowstone landscape.

o Yellowstone Lake is one of the largest high-elevation lakes in North America and is centered over the Yellowstone Caldera, the largest supervolcano on the continent. The caldera is considered a dormant volcano.

o Half of the world's geysers and hydrothermal features are in Yellowstone. Lava flows and rocks from volcanic eruptions cover most of the land area of Yellowstone. The park is the centerpiece of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, the largest remaining nearly-intact ecosystem in the Earth's northern temperate zone.

o In 1978, Yellowstone was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Poetry Corner: National ParksIn celebration of the National Park Service Centennial in 2016, the Academy of American Poets commissioned fifty poets to write poems about a park in each of the 50 states. This project was part of Imagine Your Parks, a grant initiative from the National Endowment for the Arts created in partnership with the National Park Service to support projects that use the arts to engage people with the memorable places and landscapes of the National Park System. Where available, we will include a poem for each of the parks we highlight throughout the year.

National Politics in Yellowstone Park, July 29, 1914By David Romtvedt

Ed Trafton turns from the shimmering waterof Shoshone Lake to the first of fifteen tourist coaches,pulls the black silk neckerchief up the bridge of his nose,plants himself in the road and says, “Please step outand come this way.” Black is so hot. “Drop your valuableson the blanket.” Maybe the neckerchief isn’t necessary.“Kindly take a standing seat and witness the convention.”

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“A rather elegant man,” one woman confessed. “Steadyand calm, with a lovely sense of humor and a smilethat made his watery blue eyes sparkle. The kind of manwho might make a good president.” “Watery blue eyes?”Ed wonders, his reflection in the mirror. “City councilmanor senator but president?” “Polite,” the woman added.

An elderly lady dropped her purse, which explodedscattering bills, coins, a comb, and playing cardsover the dusty earth. The horses stamped their feetand switched their tails to drive away the flies.Someone coughed. Trafton bent over to gather upthe fallen valuables, the last card—jack of hearts.“There madam, you keep these,” he said.“You look as if you need them more than I do.”

“Gallant,“ the first woman went on. She laughedand the air freshened, invisible birds began to sing.

As each coin or watch or earring hit the earth,dust rose around the lodgepole and limber pines,covered the water. Seeking clarity, coaches startten minutes apart—Old Faithful to West Thumb,the horseshoe bend where they stop for the view.But they can’t see what’s to come, coach after coach,the blanket disappearing under the mound of treasure,Mr. Trafton lightly touching each horse to send it on its way.

A young woman asked for a photo—“by the blanket.”Other travelers pulled out their Brownies and lined upbeside the beguiling highwayman, the click of shutterslouder than the cicadas chirring in the dry grass,pine resin rising with the heat, men fanning their faceswith hats or the news of the day—AUSTRIA-HUNGARYDECLARES WAR ON SERBIA. Could be a joke—he wasso friendly and the water, lapping at the shore,made that chuckling sound that says nothingwill change. It can’t be real silk, Trafton thinks,tugging at his face, wouldn’t be so scratchy, peoplemilling around, the sun rising, the hills falling away,the geysers and mudpots, and Shoshone Lakecoated in dust, still blue below the point.

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About This Poem“My wife, who was born in Wyoming, tells me that when she was a child they now and again traveled to Yellowstone to see what life in a city would be like. I’ve thought a lot about the number of people that visit Yellowstone and the strangeness of the scene—the grandest, most exotic natural features—the mudpots, the hot springs, Old Faithful—crossed with traffic jams. And then Ed Trafton, a man who made tourism in the park into a Hollywood comedy about stagecoach robbery, but Ed couldn’t decide if he was showman or thief. As to the link between Ed’s time and ours, I’ll leave that to the reader.”—David Romtvedt

Respectfully submitted by SPGC Corresponding Secretary, Birlie Lau

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