The St. Patrick’s Day meeting of HGC on March 17, 2016 was called to order by President Ann Standridge at 1:00 pm. She then greeted our members (one brand new!) and our many visitors. She thanked Suzanne Bushnell for the lovely and seasonal flower arrangement. She also thanked our greeters Ann Bonang and Sue Luce as well as our hospitality angels; she then led the group in the “Gardener’s Collect”.

Suzanne Bushnell, president of GCFM, reminded us of the inviting state convention coming up June 14-16th in Bar Harbor. There are bargain rooms available still at a hotel near the convention site, and there are gardens to visit and some fabulous sounding programs to enjoy! Registration forms are available today and online. Jane Covey announced the plans for another year of the Community Garden. Brochures are available today.

Becky Gallery, Program Chair, announced a site change for our regular April meeting. We will be “back” at Kellogg Church, not at Thornton Oaks. The program is all about “gardening without back pain”, and she passed around note cards for us to write down any of our personal back problems. She then reminded everyone about the April 13th Stroudwater District Meeting, hosted by our own HGC at the Brunswick Golf Club. Registration begins at 9am. The day will feature two great programs at one low price! We encourage our members to sign up! Also, Becky passed around the signup sheet for working at Harpswell Historical Gardens.

Ann then explained an idea she has had to set up Youth Gardening Programs at Harpswell Community School. She asked anyone interested in conducting one of these programs to email her to see if there is enough interest.

Becky then introduced our speaker Susan Perrine, a contemporary fiber artist from Woolwich, who gave a charming talk and demonstration on “Making Rustic Garden Trellises” (see related post).

The meeting was adjourned at 2pm.