News 2014

HGC members Nancy Forhan, Fern MacMillan, and Barb Earnhardt accepted the invitation of the Garden Forum of Greater Akron to present six seasonal/holiday (Thanksgiving and Xmas) floral designs at the Forum’s November meeting. Tricks and “tips of the trade” were offered to the attendees as well as a discussion of the flower arrangements created for the Hudson Home and Garden Tour. Postcards for the 2015 Tour were given to all. Our group had help from Jane Harrison, a Stan Hywet flower arranger, because Fern had a broken elbow in a cast. The first photo below shows the Fall design with dried cimicifuga seed heads from Daniela Baloi’s garden, turkey feathers from Wendy Hilty, burlap flowers created by Faye Duber, locally found horsetail, kermit mums, variegated pittosporum, and baby’s breath, with bamboo rods topped with glass prisms and Oasis decorative wire.

We are now accepting home and garden nominations for the 2015 Hudson Home and Garden Tour. Nominees need not be garden club members and all styles of homes are welcomed. If you know of a home that would be a good candidate, or would like more information about putting your own property on the Tour, please contact Tour CoChair Lois James at 330-650-4209 or jameslois19@gmail.com.

Once again, the Hudson Home and Garden Tour was a wonderful success and well received by our tour patrons. This event would not be possible but for the generosity of the home and garden owners. We thank them. Our appreciation also extends to the Tour Cochairs Lois James and Cyndy Nygaard, our tour sponsors and advertisers, and the hundreds of volunteers from the club and community who gave of their time and talents. An overview of the 2014 Tour was published in the Hudson HubTimes and is available here. Pictured below are Gail Royster (on right), a continuing sponsor of the Tour, presenting a 2014 Home and Garden Tour plaque to homeowner Lauren King, and two of this year’s tour gardens.

Gardenview Horticultural Park was the destination for the club’s May field trip. Field Trip Coordinator Barb Earnhardt had made arrangements for the group to have a two-hour guided tour by the garden’s curator, Mark LaRosa. Six acres of English cottage gardens were blooming with spring flowers. The 16 acre property was purchased by Henry Ross in 1949. He devoted his life to collecting rare and unusual plants to display here. The garden, an oasis amidst a highly developed city, depends on donations and admission fees to sustain it. For more about Gardenview visit http://organicslant.com/gvhp

Ten garden club members met at the home of Carla Maurer for a workshop on making faux stone troughs from styrofoam shipping containers. The containers were cut to size, roughed up with a knife to resemble stone, sprayed with paint and potted up with plants. The troughs will be sold at the Garden Shop during the Hudson Home and Garden Tour, June 12 and 13. We hope you will support this recycle/reuse project and our club’s fundraising efforts by purchasing one!

The spring rains stopped just long enough for our club to have a wonderful day-long field trip on May 13. The first stop was at DJ’s Greenhouse in Hermitage, PA. After an introduction by the owner, we strolled the gardens and shopped for new and unusual plants. We enjoyed lunch together at a nearly restaurant then drove to Youngstown’s Fellows Riverside Gardens. Over 80,000 tulips were in bloom amid the magnificent specimen trees and early spring perennial foliage. Thank you, Sherry Beam, for planning a fun day out for our members.

Hudson Garden Club was again invited to participate in Inspiration in Bloom, a fresh flower show at Stan Hywet. The successful event has been expanded to twice yearly, April and October. Our club was one of the very few garden clubs among the many professional floral designers participating. The floral designs were sited throughout the manor, each interpreting the beauty and/or history of the Manor House and grounds through flowers. The estate’s theme for 2014 is the travels of the Seiberling family, so we chose April in Paris as our inspiration. Forced branches, early spring bulbs and tulips were featured. One arrangement for the stairway windowsill incorporated a wire Eiffel Tower to emphasize the theme. This year’s designers were Barbara Earnhardt, Daniela Baloi and Fern MacMillan.

Head Hostesses for the 67th Hudson Home and Garden Tour met recently to get planning underway for the June 12 and 13 event. The 2014 Tour will feature five homes and three gardens. Purchase presale tickets by sending a check for $20 per ticket and a SASE to Ticket Chairman, 200 S. Main Street, Hudson, OH 44236. Visit our Tour webpage for more about the Tour and browse photos of past Tours here.

The Corpus family’s door was selected as the Hudson Holiday Door for 2013. The brightly colored decorations caught the eye of homeowner Tracy Corpus several years ago, before the house had even been built. An eclectic, cornucopia-shaped stocking highlights the front door while the two flanking planters are accessorized with items found by Corpus at a local store. The arrangements bring an element of holiday whimsy to the European cottage home.

As the recipient of the Holiday Door of Hudson 2013, Tracy Corpus was presented with two tickets for the Hudson Garden Club’s Home and Garden Tour 2014, to be held June 12-13. Other entries are posted here. We welcome all Hudson residents to participate next year.