June and July 2023
6/30/2023
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE BURLINGTON GARDEN CLUB
The Burlington Garden Club (BGC) Receives Merit Awards
The Burlington Garden Club shines again with their worthy community, educational projects and events with state recognition at the 2023 Annual Meeting held recently at Philo Ridge Farm in Charlotte, Vermont.
Jo Fretz, President of the Federation Garden Clubs of Vermont, recognized the Burlington Garden Club for the following awards. Barbara Gaida and Linda Lane, Co-President accepted the awards on behalf of the BGC.
The Federated Garden Clubs of Vermont (FGCV) is comprised of sixteen (16) Garden Clubs throughout the state. The Burlington Garden Club is one of the largest garden clubs with over ninety (90) club members.
The Yearbook Award
Youth Award Program for "Young Gardeners"
Roadside Development
Project of Merit Award for Honoring members
Landscape for a Business
Garden Therapy Award
The Birchwood Planting Annual Event Project under the direction of Karen Villanti has once again transformed the courtyard at Birchwood into a project of beauty with flowers and vegetables donated by the BGC members.
The club members working with residents to plant the vegetables and flowers envision the staff and residents enjoying the beauty this summer looking out the windows and throughout the summer as the flowers continue to grow and bloom.
JUNE 23 ANNUAL MEETING
Fifty two (52) Burlington Garden Club members gathered for the 2023 Burlington Garden Club Annual Meeting held recently at the Catamount Golf and Country Club. Club members received the new 2023-2024 Yearbook and participated in a silent auction to benefit the club's many community projects and activities.
Members welcomed Pat Webster, the Canadian Garden writer and artist. Using her photographs from private gardens around the world, she discussed how art enhances a garden or distracts from it. She told the group about the what, Where and Why and examined what constitutes art in a garden. She discussed the considerations of shape, size, color and how they influence where to locate it. she explained how our choices express our personal tastes and reveals how we relate to the world around us. She explained how art brings a garden to life and regardless of what it is made out of, art used with purpose stirs the emotions, it makes us laugh or cry, delights or irritates and sometimes can stop us dead in our tracks. Best of all, though, art can make our gardens sing. Pat invited the group to visit her family's 750 acre property situated in Quebec's Eastern Township, a two-hour trip from Burlington.
Federated Garden Club Annual Meeting -
Philo Ridge Farm, Charlotte, Vermont, June 6, 2023
FGCV Executive Board Installation of Officers: L to R - Martha Dale Vice President, Doris Van Mullen President, Cheryl Pierce Secretary, Judy Reed 2nd Vice Presiden, Therese Burton Treasurer, Barbara Ricotte Assistant Treasurer, Jo Fretz outgoing President. Burlington Garden Club members in attendance: Margaret Bartholomew, Carolyn Bates, Flora Bell, Susan Daily, Jan DeSarno, Barbara Gaida (BGC Co-President), Rose Godard, Mary Ellen Johnson, Andy Kenney, Gail Kirby (guest speaker), Linda Lane (BGC Co-President), Margie Larson, Cindy Lin, Liz Robitailli, Lorinda Sargent, Mary Scollins, Doris Van Mullen, Karen Villanti (BGC Secretary)
July - BGC donates thirty buckets donated to flooded businesses on Main Street in Barre, Vermont.
Photos by Carolyn Bates