Welcome to the Swarthmore Horticultural Society Website!
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Contact us at
Swarthmore Horticultural Society P.O. Box 394 Swarthmore, PA 19081-0394 swarthmorehortsociety@gmail.com |
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Calling all Volunteers!
Help Wanted for Changeover Weekend at Gateway Park
❁ ❁ ❁ Sat. May 26- ALL DAY; Sun. May 27, 9-12
January 2012 - Gateway Park
Help needed! Over 2500 plugs of grasses and flowers have been ordered to complete the Gateway Park renovation. We're hoping for 30-40 volunteers to join us to plant our new arrivals during Memorial Day weekend. Bring, friends, family and a trowel and/or small shovel. If you can help, contact Cricket Brien at cbrien1@verizon.net and let her know what time slot you can work. Any time you can give to this project is very appreciated - one hour , half a day, or the whole day. Refreshments will be provided.
☛ Bonus opportunity for those who volunteer = The Smithsonian Archives are documenting the history of Gateway Park. Your generous work may be photographed and appear in the Smithsonian Archives. Come out and help beautify our community... and gain fame and glory in the process!
☛ Bonus opportunity for those who volunteer = The Smithsonian Archives are documenting the history of Gateway Park. Your generous work may be photographed and appear in the Smithsonian Archives. Come out and help beautify our community... and gain fame and glory in the process!
❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ Thanks to all who helped with the town Gardens Changeover!
Volunteers at the War Memorial Garden
❁ Many thanks to all who helped the town gardens get ready for summer. This month (May 2012), all the SHS gardens will be redesigned and replanted with flowers that stay beautiful through the heat of summer. Be sure to watch our gardens grow and know that your hard work makes Swarthmore a beautiful place to live, shop, and/or work. Take a stroll on a fine summer evening and savor your efforts!
Alex's Garden Changeover
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Garden Capt. Mimi Nenno
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Borough Hall Raised Bed
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Wallace Ayers & Charles Cresson
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Membership Campaign NewS
outside Borough Halll (March 2012)
The first annual SHS membership campaign is off and running! We're looking for old and new members to help us continue our work to beautify our community by supporting the existing gardens and future projects. You do not need to be a gardener to be a member--your contribution may be a financial one and/or a donation of your time and skills. Click HERE if you would like to upload our membership letter to make a donation of time or money. Thanks for your support!
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Ribbon of Gold weaves through Borough
pansies and daffodils - Library Window Garden (March 2012)
Officially spring 2012 began on March 20, but thanks to the mild winter and balmy weather of early March, spring for the SHS gardens arrived early this year. Daffodils are up; pansies have pulled through the winter brilliantly; and the tulips are ready to burst open. Look for the featured color of gold to anchor the SHS gardens this year. Plan to plant some gold in your front yard too! Look for this Website to feature a number of Swarthmore home gardens that showcase plantings in yellow and gold this summer.
Spring in the Shrub Garden 2012
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War Memorial Garden - April 2012
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Garden Spotlight - May 2012
⬅ Although this month marks the transition in the gardens from spring to summer blossoms, some of the spring plantings are still going strong. The violas in the LIbrary Window Garden (at left) are still showing their happy faces to all who pass by on Park Avenue.
Thanks to new member Debbie Wilson for sending in this photo!
Allium in the Dartmouth Ave. Garden
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Sidewalk Containers May 2012
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poppies at the Borough Hall steps May 2012
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Garden Conservancy's 2012 Tour Spotlights SHS Gardens
Dartmouth Ave. Garden in full bloom (April 2012)
The Garden Conservancy, a national organization dedicated to the preservation and enjoyment of exceptional American gardens, has honored the SHS town center gardens by including them in its 2012 Open Days Directory. The Open Days program generally selects private gardens for a one-day visit by garden lovers. This year, four private gardens in Swarthmore were selected for its tour on Sunday, May 6, but in recognition of the horticultural efforts of the SHS, the Garden Conservancy has spotlighted the SHS public gardens as well. Over 170 visitors toured the private gardens on May 6. For more information about the Garden Conservancy's Open Days program, including information about tickets to the private gardens, click on this link: http://www.gardenconservancy.org/opendays .
Charles Cresson Recognized for his decade of leadership
Margie Baker and Charles Cresson
As the first item of business at its January 2012 meeting, the SHS Board honored its founder and first president, Charles Cresson. It's hard to overstate how much the Society owes to Charles. The SHS was his brainchild, and he was instrumental in securing the seed money from the Cresson Horticultural Trust to fund the Society. Moreover, after founding the Society, Charles served as its president for 10 years, a decade in which the Society grew to over 100 members with responsibility for 11 public gardens throughout Swarthmore. Charles's tenure as president was characterized by his energy, creativity, vision, pride, and professionalism--qualities that inspired all SHS members who worked with him. Fortunately, even though Charles is stepping down as president, he will remain on the SHS Board and continue to contribute to the Society with his expertise and passion for horticulture.
After thanking Charles for his decade of leadership, SHS President Margie Baker presented Charles with the recently published book New Trees: Recent Introductions to Cultivation by Grimshaw & Bayton.
Gateway Park to get a New look thanks to Centennial Foundation Gift
Christmas arrived early for Gateway Park this past year. In early December 2011, the Swarthmore Centennial Foundation agreed to provide a generous $10,000 gift to fund much needed major renovations to the park. The gift will enable improvements that will preserve the park's key plantings, enhance its visual impact, and save on costly watering and the seasonal replanting of annuals.
To learn more about the plans for Gateway Park and to follow the progress of the renovations, click on the "Gateway Park Renovations" tab at the top of this page.
To learn more about the plans for Gateway Park and to follow the progress of the renovations, click on the "Gateway Park Renovations" tab at the top of this page.
Society donates Spring-blooming bulbs to Local Elementary school ---
the latest link in 2012's ribbon of gold ❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀
Look for lots of gold in SRS's spring gardens
Following its successful bulb sale in October 2011, the Society has donated and organized the planting of 140 daffodil bulbs at our local public elementary school, the Swarthmore-Rutledge School (SRS). These bulbs, which will flower next March and April, were planted by Kit Raven, the Society's Director of Development, and Kristen Cardi, an SRS parent, in SRS's front garden. Look for these cheery hallmarks of spring as you stroll along College Avenue this spring.
Purple was the focal color for the 2011 planting season.
Swarthmore to go for the gold in 2012!
At its September 2011 meeting, the SHS Board selected gold as the color to be featured in the public gardens maintained by SHS in 2012. All members of the community are encouraged to join the ribbon of gold by including plants in yellow and golden tones in their own home gardens, especially in their front gardens, throughout the 2012 growing season. To start off spring 2012 with a golden bang, SHS planted over 3000 daffodil bulbs in Swarthmore's public gardens. This color theme will continue throughout the summer in an array of golden hot-weather plants.
At its September 2011 meeting, the SHS Board selected gold as the color to be featured in the public gardens maintained by SHS in 2012. All members of the community are encouraged to join the ribbon of gold by including plants in yellow and golden tones in their own home gardens, especially in their front gardens, throughout the 2012 growing season. To start off spring 2012 with a golden bang, SHS planted over 3000 daffodil bulbs in Swarthmore's public gardens. This color theme will continue throughout the summer in an array of golden hot-weather plants.
