Annual Garden Club June Tour -- No Overnight

An Update from Laurie McAleer:

Cynthia Hosmer's Brave Boat Harbor Farm has been evolving for 60 years.

   The trip to Portsmouth and York, Maine will be Saturday the 9th of June--one day, no overnight. We will leave Ipswich at 9am on Saturday at the Town Hall parking lot-- car-pooling as best as we can. Our first stop is Cynthia Hosmer's garden in York.  Her garden was recommended to us by Fred Rice and he says her gardens are spectacular and well-worth stopping to see.

Layout of Brave Boat Harbor Farm

   This garden has been evolving over the last fifty years. It surrounds and complements a Georgian-style stone house. There are formal and informal borders, a vegetable garden, orchards, and collections of various flowering trees and shrubs. Apples and pears are espaliered on the house and along the walls of the formal front garden. Water features include a newly expanded pond in the woodland garden, a farm pond with rustic bridge, and the Atlantic Ocean. This treasure is protected by a sculpted arborvitae hedge on the northwest, a mature stand of hickory on the northeast, and an extensive screen of old lilacs on the south. New projects include expanding the collection of magnolias and rhododendrons, introducing hydrangeas, an espaliered pear fence, a woodland walk, and a summerhouse with views to the pond and the sea.
 
   We will have a lunch at her house, set up ahead by Cynthia. She will order sandwich wraps of chicken salad. Bring your own drinks and extras. After the visit and lunch, we will head to Portsmouth and meet at the Strawbery Banke to visit their gardens and enjoy the area.

Goodwin Garden at Strawbery Banke

The next stop will be another garden in town which we will surprise everyone as to it's location; then heading home .

We need a head count!!  Please email Laurie McAleer ASAP . 

jacksonlodge@yahoo.com

Thanks,

lm

Here is your map to Cynthia Hosmer's Garden.

Map to Brave Boat Harbor Farm 

       Stand by for more photos here and in the late June IGC Newsletter!

Hidden Gardens of Beacon Hill

 A message from Alicia Moore:

Next Thursday, the 17th,  9am to 5pm, The Beacon Hill Garden Club holds it 83rd annual tour of the "Hidden Gardens of Beacon Hill",  UN-hidden on Tour Day for $40 a pop; get them advanced online at  for $10 less. Tickets may be purchased at $40 per ticket the day of the tour at Hostess Booths on Charles Street on Beacon Hill. (Baby strollers are not permitted in the gardens! Complimentary tea, etc, at garden entrance of the Church of the Advent). For complete information and details go to: info@beaconhillgardenclub.org

Important Plant Sale Info from Susie W.

Hopefully, with this wonderful early spring, you have all been busy digging and have many beautiful plants to bring to the sale.  The earlier you dig and pot them up, the nicer they will look for our customers.  Carol Williams has been a star organizing our dig days all over Ipswich and many of you have dug in - thank you all.

Friday,  May 18th Plant drop off and pricing - 3:00 p.m. til 5:30 or 6:00

Please be certain that all your plants are labeled (labels are on the blog for most of our plants - cut and paste to make lots of them, then use mailing tape to put them on tongue depressors which can be purchased at Connolly’s drug store if you need more)  Start early, this will take a bit of time!
     
All plants should be dropped off on Friday between 3:00-4:00pm.  If you can not do this, please ask someone else to bring them for you.

When we finish pricing and are all organized, many of our members plan to gather for dinner at a local restaurant - everyone is welcome. Location TBA.

Location Announcement:  If it rains we’ll have to set up in Boone Hall at Ascension Memorial Church.  I will send an e-mail to all members on Friday a.m. if we can not be outside on the green in front of the visitor’s center.

We need everyone to help both Friday afternoon and Sat. morning. - it’s a lot of work to get everything ready.

We need many, many wheelbarrows.  PLEASE, if you possibly can, bring one on Saturday (be sure to put your name on it) and plan to take it home with you after the sale is over..

We will not sell any plants until 9:00am on Saturday in order to ensure equal shopping opportunities for all customers.

In an effort to reduce the length of our lines, we plan to have 3 check-out tables at least for the first hour of the sale.  Laurie McAleer will provide the cash boxes and the starting cash for each box.

SALE Saturday   May 19th  9-12 noon    7:30-9 A.M. Set Up     

12-1:00 P.M. Clean-Up