October 2025 Concord Garden Club Updates & Events
- Jenny Robson - Communications
- Oct 6
- 7 min read
President's Letter
It was wonderful seeing so many members at Garden Club’s fall social event. The weather was great and Diane Wilson’s gardens were still blooming. Thank you to Diane for hosting, to Jeanie for helping organize and to everyone who contributed food and drinks. To whoever is missing this dish, you can claim it from me.
The 2025-2026 Garden Club Membership Directories are in! If you didn’t get yours at Diane’s they will be available at our next presentation, Growing and Using Peaceful Herbs, on October 16, or you can contact me to pick yours up.
Two new members have joined our ranks this fall: Shelley Moffatt and Carol Brooks. Please introduce yourselves when you see them next. In order to make getting to know people easier, we would like to replenish our member nametags. Look around your house and if you can’t find yours, drop me a note and I will make new ones. Speaking of new members, fall is a great time to welcome new people to Garden Club. If you have new neighbors or know people who have recently retired and might be interested, forward their names to Membership Chair, Nicki Kilfara, nkilfara@hotmail.com. Thanks!
Hope to see you all soon.
Gena
October Meeting
Growing & Using Peaceful Herbs
with Maria Noël Groves
Learn how to grow herbs that promote sleep, boost mood, quell anxiety, and encourage calm energy. We will discuss some of Maria’s favorite local herbs that can be grown in any size garden.
Thursday, Oct 16, 2025
1:30 PM – 3:00 PM
NH Audubon Meeting Room ,
84 Silk Farm Rd, Concord
This meeting is open to the public, so please feel free to spread the word and to bring a friend.
Questions?
Contact Ruth Perencevich
November Meeting
How to Divide Perennials and
Expand your garden for Free
with Isabel Burley
Learn how, when and why to divide your perennials. Isabel Burley of Black Forest Nursery will discuss timing, soil preparation, watering and how to identify the best time to divide plants. She will also demonstrate the process for different plant/root types. Question and answer period to follow.
Nov 06, 2025, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Black Forest Nursery,
209 King St, Boscawen
Questions? Contact Anne Mills
November Holiday Showhouse Tour of The Fells Estate
The Garden Club is working with The John Hay Estate at the Fells to arrange a private guided tour of the Christmas at the Fells Holiday Showhouse. The tour will be Friday, November 14 at 11:00 am. Tickets are $20 per person and the Club will cover the additional cost of the docent. The Fells requires a minimum group of 10 people so we need your RSVPs immediately to reserve our group slot. Please reply to concordgardenclubnh@gmail.com if you are interested.
December Meeting
Creating Holiday Decor
with Barbara Jobin
Highlights include:
Ideas for updating your holiday décor;
Inspiration for styling areas of your home: the entryway, kitchen, and living room;
Easy ways to add festive touches with what you already have!
Dec 03, 2025, 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM
3 Wildemere Terrace, Concord
Questions? Contact Lauren Savage
Merrimack County Nursing Home
Decorating Workshop
Continue our annual tradition of creating holiday decorations with MCNH residents. Please bring greens and clippers.
Dec 10, 2025, 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Merrimack County Nursing Home,
325 Daniel Webster Hwy,
Boscawen
Questions? Contact Melissa Smart
Community Service
The Community Service Committee will meet on October 14th to discuss future activities and potential recipients for Polly Perry grant funds. If you have ideas for a Community Service project or a worthy non-profit recipient of grant funds, please contact Melissa Smart (lisbeetea.ms@gmail.com) or Jenny Robson (jenrobson@mac.com). Thank you!
Membership:
CGC Website Directory Pictures --
If you would like to include a picture of yourself with your Directory entry online,
please email it to Nicki Kilfara (nkilfara@hotmail.com) for posting.
Art and Bloom 2026
Mark your calendars!
We are pleased that CGC’s 23rd Annual Art and Bloom will be held once more at the Kimball Jenkins Estate on Thursday, January 22 through Saturday, January 24, and will again draw inspiration from art provided be the Women’s Caucus for Art, NH Chapter.
This year we will be using both the carriage house and the mansion for our show.
Right now Karen McNamara (kmcnamara1969@gmail.com) and I (lafontainefamily@comcast.net) are actively seeking willing designers for the show, either solo or in teams. The only qualifications you need to participate are that you love flowers (which we know you do!), and you will be in town then to make it happen. Let us know!
We will be looking for hosts closer to the time. We will need to fill twice as many 2-hour slots as in prior years, so we would love you to help out if you have a couple of hours to spare during that time frame.
And don’t forget, CGC members are invited to our preview walk-through from 1-2pm on Thursday the 22nd, just before the show opens to the public at 2. Hopefully we’ll have a number of you to hear from a number of the designers about the creative process!
Millie
Looking for Christmas Gifts?
If you are looking for holiday gifts for yourself or others, check out the shopping tab on our website for Garden Club branded items.
We also have available a small supply of decorative notecards for $5 per pack of 5 cards which make great small gifts. If you are interested in those, contact Gena.
MFA Exhibition
Consider attending this fascinating exhibit of the works of Rachel Ruysch at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts.
“Rachel Ruysch: Artist, Naturalist, and Pioneer” features the still life paintings of Dutch artist Rachel Ruysch (1664–1750). Floral bouquets appear alive and rich with movement: petals and stems droop and rise and colorful lizards crawl across stone ledges set against dark backgrounds. These astonishing displays, rendered with a skill that eclipsed many of her male contemporaries, earned Ruysch fame across Europe in her lifetime—an era when few women attained artistic prominence.
Merging art and science, these paintings are far from just decorative; they’re riddles, hints of a deeper understanding of the natural world. They speak of survival and loss, the delicate balance between beauty and violence, and the deeper narratives of colonial expansion unfolding beneath the surface.
Astonishingly, she started exhibiting her art at 17 and continued throughout her life, until her 80s - alongside having 10 children. The exhibit includes an accompanying insect and animal collection from Harvard, and each painting contains wildlife treats.
October To-Do's
Click here for UNH Extension's useful Fall Cleanup resource sheet, specific to our climate and growing conditions.
Read on for additional Fall Cleanup Information from Tufts University's Pollinator Initiative
About 30% of New England’s native bees build nests above ground. Besides bee hotels (many of which have their own issues), a great way to support these above-ground nesting bees is to leave dead plant stems standing in gardens. Bees will lay and provision offspring in these hollow or pithy stems. TPI members are often asked by gardeners, “when is the best time to cut down stems?” The answer is at least two years (ideally never), which is longer than you might think. Let’s review bee and plant biology to understand why.
Year 1: Plant stems are growing. Native plants like joe-pye weed, elderberry, wild bergamot, mountain mint, and swamp milkweed produce hollow or pithy (e.g. soft, spongy tissue) stems suitable for nesting bees. Bees won’t nest in these actively growing stems. At the end of the growing season (December through March), cut the stems back to between 6-18” tall. Use sharp tools to ensure a clean cut. By cutting back the stems, you have created homes for next year’s bees.
Year 2: Bees active during this year will nest in the stems you left standing. They will lay eggs in the stem and provision each egg with a nutritious ball of pollen and nectar. Inside the stem, bees will develop from eggs into larvae and adults that hibernate through winter. Bees won’t emerge from stems until next growing season. Remember to cut back the new, green stems produced this year for next year’s bees.
Year 3: In spring of year 3, stems produced in year 1 still contain bees; stems produced in year 2 do not contain bees. Leave both generations of stems standing throughout the year. Spring-active bees will emerge from year 1 stems by June, whereas fall-active species might not emerge from year 1 stems until August or early September. During this time, new bees will nest in year 2 stems, so leave them standing!
While this may seem like an awfully long time to leave stubble in a garden, it is the only way to ensure that native bees find safe, undisturbed places to nest. Posting signage in your garden to inform visitors about how gardens can be managed to balance aesthetic and ecological goals can be helpful.
Additional October Tasks:
Cut the tops of your tomato plants so the fruit will ripen.
Seed saving…..make sure the flower or vegetable is fully ripe or past ripe. For tomatoes, it can’t be a hybrid. Cucumbers need to be open pollinated. Scrape out the seeds and wash well. Soak seeds for 10 to 15 minutes in a solution of ¾ teaspoon apple cider vinegar to 1 cup water…rinse well. Dry on wax paper. Make sure the seeds are thoroughly dry before storing in jar, baggies, or envelopes. Don’t forget to label container.
Flower seed saving, Just dry the flower head with seeds….when dry, pull out seeds or just save the whole thing. Make sure it is thoroughly dry or it could mildew.
Start basil seeds and parsley seeds now to enjoy this winter. Start in a sunny window.
Pelargoniums….when evening temperature regularly drops below 55 degrees, it is time to cut back to 6 to 8 inches and store for winter. Keep plant in pot in unheated basement or garage that does not freeze. Keep soil dry and only water to just keep alive.
Dahlias need to be dug up and overwintered in our climate. After the first hard frost cut back all of the stems to about 3 to 4 inches. Then dig up the tubers, brush off all of the soil, and let them air dry for a few days if it isn’t freezing. Store them in ventilated cardboard boxes or plastic storage tubs in a cool (40 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit) dark, humid place like an unheated basement.
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