presidents message

Now that life is slowly returning to some sort of normal for most of us, we hope you are having fun visiting local greenhouses and shopping for flowers and plants. Speaking of flowers...we'd like to invite you to our 13th Annual Garden Tour. Seven private gardens are on the tour this year. Each of the homeowners have created interesting landscape designs. Some of which include water features, a unique swing set and an unexpected "man cave" set into the woods...just to name a few.

Spring will be extra special this year as we look for an end to the pandemic and a return to what we hope will be our "normal life". Last year was spent learning new ways to stay connected. Club members are so thankful for the advances in technology and the people who were able to help us master using it. What a blessing our gardens were as a place where we could enjoy the outdoors. Our gardens also offered us a place to renew our mindset and give our spirits a lift.

Our Club was recently notified that we received a very prestigious honor...the Violet S. Thorn Award. This award is given by the CAR-SGC (Central Atlantic Region of State Garden Clubs). This region is made up of seven states, including Delaware, Maryland, National Capital Area, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania. 

On December 1st, many of us looked out our windows in Western PA to see the first snowfall of the season. What an amazing sight of the beauty and resilience of nature. In 2020, we have experienced nature's fury through storms, floods and forest fires. Then COVID19 arrived. One positive was more time spent in our gardens. We can now experience nature in her natural form, as we move through the dormant season and look forward to her reawakening in the spring. 

It has been a strange and trying year for all of us. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused so much of life to be cancelled or put on hold. However, our Garden Club was blessed to be able to "Keep Calm & Garden On" having  our 12th Annual Garden Tour take place. Gardeners are a close bunch, so for safety's sake we made a few adjustments asking everyone to wear masks & social distance. Many of our guests thanked us for not cancelling the event and offering something wonderful for them to look forward to.

As you are aware, we are in challenging times due to the out break of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Restrictions have not yet been lifted regarding our meeting location at the Seven Fields Community Center. Unfortunately, our May meeting is cancelled. We hope to see you at our next meeting and will update our website with any schedule changes.

Be well, keep yourself healthy and remember to keep calm & garden on!

The start of a new year always gives us an opportunity to look back and reflect. Our Clubs annual fundraiser... a Summer Garden Tour, was very successful in 2019 enabling us to give back to several projects in our community. The funds raised helped us, in collaboration with the Cranberry Township Community Chest, to install a Blue Star By-Way Marker in our Community Garden in Graham Park. This memorial marker is a National Garden Club, Inc. sponsored project to honor U.S. service members.

"Autumn is a second Spring when every leaf is a flower" -Albert Camus

Sometimes we get a bit sad as we start the process of putting our gardens to bed for the winter season. We need to look at this time as a well deserved rest for our plants and the soil after they have supplied us, the birds and other pollinators with beauty and nourishment.