Ten volunteers from the garden club came together this week for a four-and-a-half-hour work marathon in the Miller Street and Children’s Gardens at the Belfast Free Library. Making the gardens look sharp was made easier by Chris Lougheed of Perfect Edge Lawn Service in Knox, who generously donated five cubic yards of compost for the project! Thank you, volunteers, and thank you, Chris!
When Marie and Al McMonagle bought their home in Searsport, it came with plenty of lawn, and a row of primroses that ran up one side of the yard. Over the years the McMonagles (who co-chair the Book Donation committee for the BGC) have allowed the Candelabra Primroses to spread until they have essentially replaced the lawn. Very early spring bloomers native to mountainous regions of China, this variety is so named because of the graceful, arching blossoms that reach up to entice butterflies, bees, and other insects when not much else is in bloom. Herbivores love the plant’s moist…
Saturday, May 24 will be a cool, cloudy day: Perfect weather for the Annual BGC Plant Sale at the Belfast Boathouse from 9 a.m. until noon. We have some lovely donations this year from members and local nurseries, including many native plants and shrubs, trees, vegetables, houseplants, and a table full of items hand-crafted by BGC members. Stocked with Angelicas to Zinnias and (most) everything in between, we’re ready for you!
You’ve probably walked past it countless times without noticing: The message board near the public restrooms had fallen into disrepair over the years, a sad ghost of its former self buffeted by much weather, with hardly a message to convey. Last week, enterprising BGC members Kris and Jeff Shula and Bob Siviski, with the permission of the Belfast harbormaster and the city manager, renovated the message board with new cedar shingles, new post supports, new hardware, and lots of new paint. The message board is ready to advertise local events in style, looking spruce (well, cedar) and lovely again!
It’s spring! The trees are leafing out. The forsythia’s in bloom, and the rhododendrons, and the apple trees are beginning to bud. This can only mean one thing: It’s almost time for the Belfast Garden Club’s Annual Plant Sale! Scheduled for Saturday, May 24 from 9 a.m. until noon at the Belfast Boathouse and Steamboat Landing, the plant sale will feature hundreds of plants donated by BGC members and local plant purveyors. Annuals, perennials, herbs, shrubs, trees: We’ll have them all. The Gardener-to-Gardener table will be back, stocked with useful tools and garden items, including pots (no plastic). This year,…
Exuding “the massive / Mysticism of stone, / Which failure cannot cast down / Nor success make proud,” boulders appeared this week in the Belfast post office garden. The foundation of the new planting going on this spring, these boulders will do a lot of work in a small space. They’ll help stabilize the soil and prevent erosion, provide shelter and shade for pollinators, and define the pedestrian path that leads from sidewalk to parking lot. To quote Robinson Jeffers, they will also add a touch of “massive mysticism” to the garden situated at one of the town’s busiest points.