2022

February

The club was able to get back to a normal meeting schedule on

February 23 and had a business meeting preceded by a Yankee Swap.

Yankee Swap in February at our first meeting of the year

March

The speaker for the March 23 Meeting was Sarah Marcoux of the UNH Extension Service speaking on Seed Starting. The meeting was

co-sponsored by the library and had 31 people attend. A business meeting followed.

Seed Starting with Sarah Marcoux

April

Unfortunately, our April libary cleanup and pizza party was cancelled due to weather.

May

The speaker for the May 25 meeting was again Sarah Marcoux of the UNH Extension Service speaking, this time on Herb Gardening . The speaker was co-sponsored by the library and a business meeting followed.

Herb Gardening with Sarah Marcoux

Also on May 25, several members of HGC attended the 89th NHFGC Annual Meeting in Bedford, NH. The club won several awards including a second place in Scrapbooks and Yearbooks, an award from the NGC for our newsletter, a Presidental Citation from the NHFGC for Ron Trexler and Silver Citation Award for Carolyn Taylor. The club also provided two raffle items – a handmade lap quilt made by member Aida Jacques and a basket of gardening books and garden items.

NHFGC Annual Meeting

On May 31, a library clean up was held with the primary goal to add to the Monarch Butterfly Garden. The new area was weeded, cardboard was spread and 80 bags of new soil were added before adding new plants that will attract butterflies and bees.

Library Cleanup

June

The annual plant sale was held on June 5 at R&R Public Wholesalers. We had a nice sunny day and had a very successful sale. New this year was a kids table and a booth with Master Gardeners to answer questions. Co-chairs Ellen Doherty and Elisabeth Murphy also asked the Boy Scouts to help us set up and clean up and had students from the Moore School in Candia come to help at the Childrens Table. Good job everyone!

Plant Sale

The club held a 25th anniversary party on Wednesday night June 29 at the Oscar Barn and Wedding Venue in Hooksett. The food and service were wonderful and we got a tour before our dinner of the hightowers where Hip Peas Farm vegetables are grown. Eight past presidents attended including Nancy Barrett who was a founding member and has stayed with the club the entire 25 years. Two other founding members who are no longer members were in attendance - Nancy Gosselin and Dorothy Darby. Another founding member, Mary Farwell, who has also stayed with the club, was not able to attend. Both Mary and Nancy received snow globes in appreciation for all they have done for the club over the past 25 years. A cake with our 25 year logo was served for dessert and a slide show, prepared by Ellen Doherty and Elisabeth Murphy played on screens on both sides of the room. Forty four members, spouses and guests attended including NHFGC President Sue Miner.

Anniversary party

July

Our first "Cocktails in the Garden" for 2022 was at the home of Ellen Doherty and Elisabeth Murphy on July 27. They are great hosts, providing wonderful food, drinks and desserts and a tour of their gardens. They also hosted us last July so thank you for keeping our popular garden tours going. We also got to meet two new members, Claudia Grilli and Susan Carvalho.

"Cocktails in the Garden" at the home of Ellen and Elisabeth

The second planting of flowers went onto the bridge in late June. This is what they looked like on July 29 . The gorgeous pink and white Supertunias have never looked as full and beautiful as they do this year.

Part II – Summer Flowers on the Bridge

August

Our second "Cocktails in the Garden" was held at the home of Jennifer Kippin on August 24. Jennifer and her husband Bill had set up a food tent with wonderful food and drinks. Jennifer has many different kinds of gardens, from her Rememberance Garden to honor her Dad, Father in law and son; a sunflower garden; a Dragon garden for her grandkids; a pollinator garden and lots of flowers and vegetables. Throughout these gardens she has art pieces she either collects or creates. An addition to the evening were a plant swap. The club also presented Mary Farwell with a gift of a snow globe in appreciation of her 25 years with the club.

"Cocktails in the Garden" at the home of Jennifer Kippin

September

Our speaker for the September 28 meeting was William Dunkerley, aka "Dunk the Mushroom Guy". He owns Dunks Mushroom Products and Foraging, LLC, a gourmet mushroom farm and FDA registered food processing plant on RT. 125 in Brentwood. He grows 8-12 species of mushrooms and provides local area restaurants and stores with quality gourmet mushrooms. His presentation was informative and fun.

Dunk the Mushroom Guy, September speaker

The New Hampshire Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc. held their 89th Fall meeting, "Wings of Hope" on September 28 at the beautiful venue, The Barn on the Pemi in Plymouth, NH. It was hosted by the clubs of district I and was attended by five of our members, Rachel Sweeney, Paula Harris, Ron Trexler, Cindy Coburn and Elena Whitfield. IT featured two programs: "Pollinators in the Garden" by Michelle Mensinger and "The Secret Life of Birds" by Sue Francesco.

89th NHFGC Fall Meeting

October

Our program for the October 26 meeting was Marie Nickerson of UNH's Extension Service. Marie's presentation was about the care of Celia Thaxter's historically reconstructed garden on Appledore Island in the Isle of Shoals. The garden exists in it original location and is painstakingly recreated every summer under the guidance of stewards focused on its historic accuracy. As a staff member of the Shoals marien Lab, Marie was steward of the garden from 2016-2020 and still volunteers regularly. Marie explained how the garden is created each year and showed great photos of it in various stages.

Also at the meeting, the club collected warm pj's and books for Kiwanis Kids Kloset. They were collected by co/chairs Jocelyn Scarpetti and Paula Harris.

Celia Thaxter's garden program

November

November 26, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, was wreath pick up day at the library. The day went very smoothly with a lot of members showing up and everyone knowing just what to do. We were done by and cleaned up by 11am. Good job everyone and thanks to everyone who supported our club by buying our wreaths, swags and bows.

Wreath pick up day

December

From 10am to 6pm on December 9, Hooksett Garden Club members rang bells for the Hooksett Salvation Army as we have in past years. 80% of what goes into the kettle stays in Hooksett for direct assistance to individuals and families as well as programs such as buying turkeys for Thanksgiving and hams for Christmas, for the food pantry, the adopt a family program, camp scholarships, needy children, and back to school supplies. The other 20% goes to divisional headquarters for administrative expenses and disaster relief all over northern New England. Thanks to everyone who came out to ring and to Connie Snair for chairing the event along with Irene Gould. Missing from the photos was bell ringer Sue Carvalho.

Ringing bells for the Salvation Army