June 2026 UPDATES & EVENTS Concord Garden Club

have a wonderful summer --

see you at our fall party in September!

Presidents Messages

We had a great Annual Meeting this week with almost half of the Club members in attendance. Jeanie West made sure we were well fed and Lauren Savage presided over a swap table that once again sent many people home with new additions to their homes and gardens. I want to once again thank the Committee Chairs and Officers who were confirmed and reelected at the meeting who make our Club hum along. Enjoy the summer everyone and we will see you in September.

Gena Cohen Moses,

Immediate Past President

The Concord Garden Club enjoyed another successful year. Many thanks to Gena for her outstanding leadership as our President over the past three years. I feel fortunate to work with such a dedicated board, and I am pleased to welcome Diane Wilson as our new Social Chair. I look forward to another great year filled with many exciting events and hope to see you all at our “Kick Off” event on September 8.

Peg Blume,

President

September Party

Save the date for our Fall Gathering, to be held on September 8th at Diane Wilson’s house on Stickney Hill Road.

Full event information and RSVP will be up on our website some time this summer.

Looking Ahead to Art & Bloom 2027!

All of you who have enjoyed our signature event know how beautifully it represents Concord Garden Club and brings inspiration in the coldest time of year. It may not take place until January, but the planning is well underway before then.

Of course we’ll be looking for designers eager to put their imaginations to work for the show, but we are also looking for volunteers to help prepare for it—starting now. Even if your time is limited, or you will be in and out of town with travel plans, we have a volunteer job for you that is doable in the time you have.

We’re looking for recruiters of designers, publicity assistants, fundraising assistants, and reception coordinators to be part of our planning kickoff later in September. Please contact me if I haven’t already approached you! Many hands make light work!

Millie LaFontaine, Art and Bloom Chair

Lafontainefamily@comcast.net

603-491-6428

Portsmouth Garden Tour

Wander through carefully crafted gems of gardening and landscaping on the 37^th annual Pocket Garden Tour, June 19-20 in Portsmouth’s historic South End neighborhood.

The June 19 tour runs 5-8 p.m., and the gardens will be lit. The June 20 tour runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 either day of the tour. They are available online at https://portsmouthnh.ticketsauce.com/profile/south-church and through local retailers. The will-call location is at South Church, 292 State Street.

Pocket gardens sprang up across Portsmouth over the decades when residents planted flowers, herbs, vegetables and fruits for household use in small and often oddly shaped parcels of land. Each garden has a distinctive personality, with many featuring elaborate stone work, water features, sculptures, outdoor furniture and greenhouses.

The 11 gardens on the 37^th tour include private homes, the Goodwin Garden at Strawbery Banke Museum, and the Tobias Lear House on Hunking Street. The Goodwin is a Victorian-style garden with roses, a gazebo and fountain. Other gardens feature terraces, views of South Mill Pond, and unique plants and trees including an ancient willow. Some will offer refreshments and host musicians and artists.

The Pocket Garden Tour is presented by South Church, a Unitarian Universalist congregation celebrating its 200^th year in Portsmouth. The tour goes ahead rain or shine. Check for updates at https://tinyurl.com/pocketgardens or follow us on Facebook @PortsmouthPocketGardenTour.

Community Information & Volunteer Corner

Peace Pole Garden

Maintenance continues at the White's Park Peace Pole Garden, with plans for renewing and updating it this year. As we rethink the plantings we will be asking for donations of perennials - stay tuned!

Big thanks to the Peace Pole maintenance crew. Our work visits rarely take more than an hour, and we always have a lot of fun. Many hands make light work! If you would like to be added to the list of Peace Pole Garden maintainers, contact Jenny Robson (jenrobson@mac.com) or Melissa Smart (lisbeetea.ms@gmail.com).

June Chores for Flower Gardens

SOME PERENNIALS (geranium groundcovers, bee balm, etc.) may be so tired they need a full cutback (aka The Chelsea Chop) now or soon. You sometimes have to make things worse for the garden to look better in the long run - you are aiming for a second blooming later this season.

LET ANNUAL GERANIUMS, which are technically in the genus Pelargonium, dry between waterings for best results.

SPEAKING OF ANNUALS, even the easiest familiar ones like zinnias or marigolds may poop out if you only sow once, in spring. Succession sowing of flowers, for ample blooms through till hard freeze.

SOME SPRING WILDFLOWERS can be multiplied by simple division around this time of year, including trilliums, and others can be divided in fall.

DEADHEAD ANY messy-looking bulbs as blooms fade, but continue to leave bulb foliage intact to wither and ripen the bulbs naturally. Deadhead spring-flowering perennials unless they have showy seedheads (same with bulbs), or you want to collect seed later (non-hybrids only).

TENDER BULBS like dahlias, cannas, caladiums, gladiolus and such should be in the ground, but with the glads, you can stagger flower harvest by planting a row every two weeks until the start of July.

ARE VINES getting the support they need, whether twine, wire, lattice?

PREPARE NEW BEDS by smothering grass or weeds with layers of recycled corrugated cardboard or thick layers of newspaper, then put mulch on top.

EDGE BEDS to make a clean line and define them, and keep edges clean with regular fine-tuning with grass shears. A well-cut edge (along with mulch touchups) makes a big difference in how the garden looks.

DON’T BAG OR RAKE clippings; let them lie on the lawn to return Nitrogen to the soil…unless you waited too long between mowings, that is. Mow frequently if grass is growing fast; never remove more than one-third of the blade of grass at any one mowing.

DON’T LET THE COMPOST HEAP dry out completely, or it will not “cook.” Turning the compost pile to aerate will also hasten decomposition, but things will rot eventually even if not turned.

BE ON THE LOOKOUT anytime for dead, damaged, diseased wood in trees and shrubs and prune them out as discovered. Ditto suckers and water sprouts.

SPRING-FLOWERING SHRUBS like lilacs get pruned now. Later pruning (after about July 4th in our Zone 5B Northeastern location) risks damage to emerging buds for next year’s blooms. Clean up unsightly deadheads of other big bloomers like rhododendron if you care to, and other things that don’t make showy fruit next–anything where leaving behind the faded blooms just looks messy. With fruiting things (roses that make nice hips, viburnums, you get the idea…) faded flowers are left intact to set beautiful, bird-feeding fruit.

MULCH AROUND WOODY PLANTS after cleaning away weeds and grass, but no volcano mulch (meaning no piling thick mulch up against trunks). Two inches depth or slightly less is plenty, starting several inches or so away from trunks.

THROUGH THE END OF JULY, softwood cuttings of Buddleia, Weigela, Rose-of-Sharon and roses, among other shrubs, can be taken to propagate more plants inexpensively.