 Garden Club Mission Statement The Hooksett Garden Club wishes to encourage interest in all phases of gardening, floral design and horticulture; to aid in the protection and conservation of natural resources; and to assist in the civic beautification of the community. Meeting Information Monthly meetings are held at the Hooksett Public Library, 31 Mount Saint Mary’s Way, Hooksett NH, lower level on the fourth Wednesday of the month, February through October. There will be a social time from 6-6:30 and all meetings with a program will have the program first, starting at 6:30. The business meeting will follow at approx. 7:30. Founded in 1997 by 12 charter members, the club has been an active part of the Hooksett community ever since. We welcome new members. You don't have to live in the town of Hooksett to attend a meeting or be a member. New to the area and want to meet new people? stop by - we’d be happy to meet you! Anyone interested in joining, or just curious as to what the club does, is encouraged to come to a meeting and see what goes on. Some of our members have extensive gardening knowledge and are Master Gardeners - others have learned by trial and error. Programs are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. HGC is a member of the New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc., National Garden Clubs, Inc., and New England Garden Clubs, Inc. and through those affiliations many other educational and social opportunities are availablee to us. Hooksett Garden Club Officers 2020-2021 President Ron Trexler 1st Vice President Valerie Hinckley 2nd Vice President Rachel Sweeney Treasurer Jocelyn Scarpetti Corresponding Secretary Paula Harris Recording Secretary Janet Hansen HGC Board meetings - the second Wednesday of the month at the Hooksett Library. COMING UP Due to the fact that the Hooksett Garden Club holds all of its meetings and programs at the Hooksett Public Library and the library has of March 12 suspended all meetings and programs indefinitely due to the Corona virus, all the following programs are ON HOLD until further notice. March 2020 Wednesday March 25 The program will be "Native Plants for New England Gardens" presented by Ruth Droescher an Advanced Master Gardner with the UNH Cooperative Extension. Her presentation will cover the concepts of natives and cultivars, the benefits and advantages of native plants as well as replacing invasives with natives. All are welcome. April 2020 Wednesday April 22 Speaking at this meeting will be Marie Nickerson from the UNH Extension Service on "Care of Celia Thaxter's Garden". Marie is the steward of Celia Laighton Thaxter's historically re-constructed garden on Appledore Island in the Isle of Shoals, straddling the border of Maine and New Hampshire. Celia was a 19th century author, artist and poet. Open to the public. May 2020
Wednesday May 20 NHFGC's Annual Meeting to be held at the Manchester Country Club from 9am to 3pm. Hosted by District II. Wednesday May 27 "Growing A Pollinator Garden” will be the topic of the program by Donna Miller of the UNH Extension. For more than 20 years Donna has been an exceptional gardening and pollinator educator. Free and open to the public. June 2020
Wednesday June 24 Hooksett Garden Club member Janet Hansen will be the June speaker. Janet's topic will be “Vermiculture”. This is a practice that Janet has done for several years. It utilizes worms to decompose vegetable and food waste into compost. Janet will include tips on equipment, methods and resources to use. July & August 2020 In lieu of a program, in the months of July and August the Hooksett Garden Club will be giving tours of members gardens. The dates and whose gardens will be viewed are TBA. These tours are open only to members/guests. September 2020
Wednesday September 23 The September program will feature Marie St. Onge, owner of Paisley Floral Design Studio in Manchester. Her program will be “Designing in Heirloom Pieces.... how to use your treasured keepsakes during the holiday season to honor the memories of loved ones”. Marie will be designing in her own heirloom pieces and then transfering the designs to another containers. She will create four designs this way that she will raffle off at the end of the program. This is a program co-sponsored with the Hooksett Public Library and is free and open to the public. Wednesday September 30 The Fall Meeting of the NHFGC. Hosted by District III. Time and venue TBA. October 2020
Wednesday October 28 This meeting of the HGC will feature a program by the clubs President Ron Trexler. Ron is an Advanced Master Gardener with the UNH Extension. His topic will be "Gardening Tools – what to use to make your gardening easier and how to sharpen your tools". Click on 2019 and 2020 on the left sidebar of the page to see photos of our meetings and events. For past Horticultural Moments, please navigate to Horticultural Moment on the left hand sidebar.  September 2019
The Horticultural Moment for this month was about cleaning up the garden. Elena said it is time to start especially if you have mildew on plants such as phlox. Cut them down to the ground. If they are not infected leave them alone, for the plant is still taking in chlorophyll. She also spoke about milkweed and specifically about another type of caterpillar that eats milkweed, the Milkweed Tussock Moth. This type has a very wooly appearance and does not harm the milkweed or interfere with the Monarchs. If you don’t want your milkweed to increase and take over your garden, cut off the pods. Highways used to be full of milkweed which spread this way but now they are mowed which has seriously decreased the amount of milkweed available to the Monarchs.
Monarchs also love a plant called Tithonia or Mexican Sunflower, a drought tolerant annual that is easy to grow from seed . Hooksett Garden Club Hooksett, New Hampshire Organized and Federated in 1997 Member of the New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc. National Garden Clubs, Inc. and New England Garden Clubs, Inc.
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