Volunteer Gardening Help Wanted

Whipple House Last Summer

Hello all  -

Verena Erickson, Roxie Giddings, John Messelaar, & Kay Evans arrived Friday morning and we raked the Heard House staff entrance shade garden and around the visitors' entrance, planted petunias in the various outdoor pots there as well, connected the HH hose and turned on the water in the cellar, fed & watered the roses in pots in the nursery, raked and then fed the peony bed on the east side of the Whipple House lawn. The plantings under the sign are thriving and there should be a bright array of tulips in about 2 weeks. John Messelaar knows which is what with the tulips. To me, they are just bright and magical heralds of high spring.

The Formal garden is ready for some raking and weeding but, as there are perennials there, it should be done with someone who recognizes the desired plants.
Housewife's Garden has some raking to be done but it's looking lovely with all the bluebells/scylla carpeting everything.

The Austin rose bed can use some weeding and the only thing that's supposed to be there are roses - so weeding is easy and requires very little plant knowledge.
Behind the arbor bench is fast acquiring jungle status and plants other that roses need to be removed- heavy trousers and leather gloves highly recommended.


Beginning Friday, May 10, (the day before the spectacular Ipswich Garden Club Plant Sale) we will have weekly volunteer gardening on Friday mornings, 10 - 12. We'll meet (usually) at my picnic table behind the Whipple House and decide what needs first attention. If weather is an issue on a Friday, we will still have Saturday as an option and, when necessary, as a day for carting things to the transfer station. Everyone is welcome to join in on Friday mornings: neo-gardeners, garden-deprived apartment dwellers, parents who need an alternative to a 3-year old's view of the world, friends and visitors. 

Don't be alarmed about the large tunnel openings appearing in the meadow and under the lilacs and on the north side of the Whipple House. And don't fall in. These are not sink holes, they are entrances to a vast underground woodchuck condominium complex. I'm contemplating a visit to a public meeting of the planning and conservation commissions to notify them of the illegal development of underground housing in a protected area adjacent to a wetland.

Regards,
Judy Hallberg