Congratulations to the Harpswell Garden Club for winning the “Excellence in Teamwork” Award from the National Garden Club’s New England Region. NER awards were distributed at the Region’s annual meeting in October, but kept under a veil of secrecy until the Garden Club Federation of Maine’s annual fall conference on October 31, 2016. Several of Maine’s garden clubs won region awards, and Harpswell won for its participation with other organizations to form the Harpswell Invasive Plant Partnership. This group has worked to identify invasive plants along the town’s main roads and in several Harpswell Heritage Land Trust parcels, as well as on the town’s property at Mitchell Field. After identifying the invasive plants during the spring and summer of 2015, the group began work on removing those plants this past summer. The removal process will be an on-going project for several years. In addition to helping to identify and remove the plants, the garden club hosted an evening program on “Return of the Natives.” This presentation by Kookie McNerney of the University of Maine’s Extension Service gave an overview of various native trees, shrubs and perennials that can be planted in the landscape instead of various invasive plants.

GCFM’s First Vice-President Judith Tarbox, Harpswell Garden Club President Ann Standridge, Harpswell Invasive Plant Partnership member Becky Gallery, and GCFM’s Awards Chairman Kathleen Marty