Horticulture

January 7, 2022

Chairman Fleet Hurlbatt, The Garden Club of the Eastern Shore

The June 1996 Horticulture Field Day on the Eastern Shore was a “beautiful day of visiting members’ gardens, having a good lunch at Dot Kellam’s wonderful house and, where time permitted, checking out the local nurseries. We had 110 members from 29 clubs participate” Having suffered lack of interest in Horticulture Field Day, Fleet Davis reminded members, “It is expected that each of the 46 member clubs send two members to Horticulture Field Day and, if the president or the horticulture chairman are unable to attend, they should appoint two members to take their place and report back to the club.”

The horticulture exhibit at the fall 1996 Board of Governors featured “Pictures, Specimens and Recipes of Flowers Pretty Enough to Eat.”

The horticulture exhibit at the spring 1997 Annual Meeting featured “three to five unusual specimens from members’ gardens to be artistically displayed in a 24” x 24” space in either clear or colored glass bottles or containers. Specimens may be flowering plants or foliage plants, but the emphasis is on being unusual and being displayed in an artistic manner, as well.” It was announced that future exhibits would be open to the public.

“The weather was threatening and it had rained for days prior to 1997 Horticulture Field Day on the south side of the James River. The morning dawned cool and cloudy, but at 10:00 a.m. the sun came out.” The event featured four gardens between Upper Brandon on the western end and Bacon’s Castle on the eastern end — Brandon, Upper Brandon, Pleasant Point and Bacon’s Castle. Participants were encouraged to stop in at Farmer Joe’s Greenhouse & Garden in Surry and Smithfield Gardens Nursery on Route 17.

The fall 1997 Board of Governors horticulture exhibit called for “Workhorses of the Summer Garden” and a rooted plant exchange consisting of shrubs, perennials, bulbs, tubers and grasses that perform from August until frost, three plants per club. The exhibit was open to the public for the first time.

The spring 1998 Annual Meeting horticulture exhibit featured a planter of mixed plants and flowers. “The exhibit may be in your choice of container, but your club should consider the weight of the planter when making your choice.” The planter is to be kept during the summer by one of your members and a photograph taken of the mature planters. The planter that exhibits the best qualities after growing all summer is to be published in the GCV Journal.