​I read a sign near the Capilano Suspension bridge in British Columbia last April which read: Lichens are one of the most bizarre forms of life because each lichen is actually composted of two, possibly even three, distinct species of organisms. Lichens are a partnership between fungus and algae that grow on rocks, tree branches and the bare ground. Lichens are considered living fossil plants since they are directly linked to the original plant life that first inhabited the Earth. 

Ever since I happened upon that sign, I've been on a quest to take pictures of as many lichen and lichen-lookalikes that I could find.  Luckily my PictureThis plant identifier app can differentiate lichen from just plain fungus and algae.  PictureThis often identifies them as ‘lichenized.’
 
Lichens have no roots, stems, flowers, or leaves.  They get their nutrients from the air and from rainwater.  They are often grow in dark places where nothing else will.  They can be found from the arctic to the tropics and some even survived a two week experimental stint in outer space. They contribute 80% of the nitrogen needed in a forest and are extremely sensitive to air pollution so are like the canary in the coal mine.  Where there's lots of lichens, the air quality is better.  Studies have shown that lichens growing on headstones in rural cemeteries are much more abundant and diverse than those in urban ones.  When I google “lichens and cemeteries,” ads for detergents to kill lichen were the  most numerous hits.  Sounds like a bad idea to me. 

Here’s a crazy bit of info for you—if it wasn’t for lichens and their friends the mosses and bacteria, the Great Wall of China might be a 13,000 mile long pile of rubble.  Scientists studied the 'biocrust' made up on lichen, algae, and bacteria that grew there.  They theorize that this living skin strengthens the wall and shields it from moisture and temperature fluctuations.

If in your travels near and far you should spot an interesting lichen-like plant or perhaps some growing on a famous tombstone or, better yet, on the Great Wall of China; please send me a picture.  I’ll add it to this collection of lichen photos.  

​A holiday centerpiece-making frenzy happened on December 8th, but not before the many moving parts were put in place by a bunch of dedicated garden club members and their connections. 
 
Planning started in March when Kristina Cole, Kathy Houghton, Tina Gleich and I met to discuss the feasibility of making holiday centerpieces for Meals on Wheels.  Steve Rudolph connected us with Jay Welenc who runs Meals on Wheels in Lebanon. Jay enthusiastically approved the project. Kristina volunteered take the lead assisted by Kathy. The centerpiece project was the perfect opportunity to adapt the club’s pandemic-abandoned plan to run a boxwood tree workshop in 2020. Right after Christmas in 2019, Elise Kendall and Sue Coakley purchased deeply discounted Christmas decorations—oodles of adorable Christmas decorations.  The little bulbs, ornaments, and wired sticks sat in storage for almost three years.  The club loves to reuse and repurpose items and ideas.  
 
Kathy had the resourceful idea to repurpose mushroom containers, and asked club members to keep those containers for the centerpiece workshop.  Thank you to all the folks who obviously ate lots of mushrooms.  As a retired small business owner, Kristina has lots of contacts and used her connections to get mugs and other items needed for the centerpieces. One contact, Jamie Loura of COVER Home Repair in White River Junction, Vermont, donated 50 holiday mugs.  Kristina, Kathy, Diane Cameron, Sue Berg, and I scoured thrift shops and bought Christmassy mugs.  Between the mushroom containers and the mugs, we had more than enough bases for all the centerpieces.
 
Sweet smelling, fresh greens were needed and lots of them.  Dotsy Miles accompanied Kathy and me to Balsam Woods Tree Farm and introduced us to the delightful owners Kristian and Sebastian Baca who graciously donated a large amount of freshly cut Balsam branches.  (If you’re in the market for a Christmas tree or wreath, stop by Balsam Woods Tree farm at 240 Maple Street in Newport, NH which is opened on weekends.)
 
Kristina’s contact at Nicols Tree Farm Amy Nichols offered the club a nice discount.  Jenny Gelfan walked around the farm with Kristina and helped her harvest perfect centerpiece-making boughs. (If you live in that area, consider checking out Nichols Tree Farm on 163 Dartmouth College Highway in Lyme, NH.)
 
We still weren't sure if we had enough greenery so got permission from Christine Cecchetti of Eastman Recreation to take some of the branches left over from their wreath making workshop. That greenery was pruned from the woods by the Eastman Maintenance Department. We ended up with more than we needed, but I am happy to report that ALL of it was put to good use. 
 
Grantham’s own Recreation Department’s Emily Rinde-Thorsen ran Breakfast with Santa in the Town Hall the previous weekend and, when asked, left lots of her lovely decorations up to make our event even more festive.  Of course none of this was possible without the Town of Grantham and the use of their wonderful facility. 

The last step in the process was purchasing AgraWool which is biodegradable and completely recyclable floral base made or volancanic rock stone wool-basalt.  Kirsten VanDijk of New Age Floral gave Kristina a nice discount for the AgraWool when Kristina told her what the club planned to do with it.  The day before the event, a group of volunteers came to set up and load tables with green boughs, decorations, tubs and mugs. They soaked and molded Agra-wool a to fit in each container.  
​
On December 8th, lots of people showed up bringing in baked goods to share. Some people brought more holiday decorations, mushroom containers, and mugs.  Our cup runneth over. Kristina presented a brief Centerpiece Making 101 presentation before folks picked out their bases, ornaments and greenery.  It was a personality test based on what they chose and how they arranged their works of art.  The original plan was to make 120 for Meals on Wheels.  That morphed into an additional dozen for the Grantham Food Pantry.  Since folks were having so much fun and we had extra makings, another 14 were made and given out to various deserving folks around town including the club’s five civic sponsors Bar Harbor Bank, Shepherd Realty, Coldwell Banker Lifestyles, Lady Grantham Apiary, and Willis Auto.
 
So what did we do with the leftovers greens? Participants were encouraged to take branches home for their own holiday decorations, and many did.  Dana Ramsport at the Transfer Station had us pile up some of the remaining branches accessible for people wanting to take some.  Lastly, Lin Hill brought a large bunch of the fresh greens to her friend Cammie in Plainfield who fed them to her sheep Daisy and Clover.   

Thank you to the army of people who helped make this happen.  Picture those 146 lovingly made centerpieces spreading holiday joy all over the Upper Valley.  ​Happy Holidays!

​When generous Garden Angels purchased 818 daffodil bulbs for the town, the idea to plant two rows all along the post office was hatched.  Project Post Office took a lot more muscle than the usual garden club volunteer gig. Most of the men were recruited at Eastman's pickleball courts. Russ Miles lives on Stocker Pond Road and has mail delivered so doesn’t even have a horse in the race.  Russ brought his pick up truck and his son’s trailer with a handy dumper which was integral to making it all work.
 
The challenge was to dig up zillions of small rocks and clear a trench 12 inches deep, 12 inches wide and 42 feet long.  When one guy started singing “That's the sound of the men working on the Chain Gang” everyone joined in--complete with grunts and laughter. Sue Berg was a one-woman bucket brigade with help from the men when a bucket got too full. Sue kept the diggers supplied with empty buckets making the entire process run like a well oiled machine. 
 
Once the trench was dug, the work was far from over.  The team headed to the Transfer Station.  Having a place to dump the truckload of rocks and fill it back up with free compost was crucial to the project’s success so a big thank you goes to Dana Ramspott who gave his okay.
 
The whole project came in ahead of schedule (3.5 hours) and on budget ($0) with the hard work of volunteers Ben Lavoie, Bob Munson, Bruce Altobelli, Jim Berg, Kevin Williams, Mark Kendall, Russ Miles, Stephen Handley, and Sue Berg.  For most of these folks, giving up pickleball on a perfect Sunday morning was a sacrifice. Everyone deserve kudos for a job well done.  Can't wait to see all those daffodils in the spring.

​Despite being over 300 miles away, Longwood Garden is known to many people in Grantham.  Often when I told fellow garden club folks that I had visited Longwood, their eyes would light up as they told me of their trips there.
 
Two of the aspects of the garden that stood out to me were the army of docents peppered throughout the property eager to point out hidden gems and interesting facts. The other was the water fountains including small, medium, and huge ones.  The fountains were the idea of Pierre de Pont, the wealthy entrepreneur who purchased the land in 1906 to prevent the arboretum on the property from falling into the hands of a greedy logging company. 
 
When Pierre was six years old, he visited the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia where he saw a huge water fountain display.  He used some of his fortune to have elaborate fountains installed at Longwood.  Visitors were drawn to the fountains on that hot summer day when I visited. Little children ran in and out of strategic locations to get optimally soaked by splashes from the fountains.  Pierre would have smiled at the sight.

Now that I've visited Longwood in late summer, I'm anxious to return in spring, and autumn, and...  

The Grantham Recreation Department runs Music in the Meadow which is a quintessential small town event. where families bring their lawn chairs and listen to talented performers. After their picnic dinners, they often are up for something sweet, and that's where the garden club comes in.
 
Each week a couple of volunteers don the GGC aprons,  load up a table with home baked goodies, and accept donations for the scholarship fund in exchange for the sweets.  They chat with the performers, the food truck folks, soccer moms and dads, couples, and lots and lots of children.
 
I love it when a tot comes to the table clutching a dollar bill and picks out the cookie of his or her choice.  The parents aren’t there (though I suspect they’re watching nearby) as the child has his or her first solo purchasing experience.  Definitely a rite of passage!
 
Five-year-old Sutton is a regular at our table and calls us the Olive Garden Ladies according to her mom Emily Rinde-Thorsen who runs Grantham Rec. Another regular, four-year-old Ludo recommended that we make enough cookies to give one to every single person in the large crowd.  He and his pal Darby had an absolute blast at the first event this year when a sudden downpour interrupted the music. They ran around the field getting as wet as they could and then figured out that could get even wetter if they stood under the edge of the GGC awning.  They ran to each side begging the tall grownups to push the awning.  In true GGC spirit, we obliged. 
 
Over these two summers, we have doled out more than a thousand cookies and brownies. Imagine the hours of time the volunteer bakers have clocked making their sweet treats. None of this could happen without them.  Last summer, Kristina Cole attended a concert and offered to bake cookies and she wasn’t even a member (then).  
 
If you haven’t had a chance to attend Music in the Meadow yet, consider coming on August 22nd or 29th.  Bring your appetite ;-) 

​Environmental Educator is one of Michael Caduto’s many impressive credentials. Michael travels around the world educating people about important topics such as riparian buffer zones which was the topic on a blustery afternoon in May in Eastman.  Michael led a group of 25 intrepid folks on a walk along the riparian buffer zone located between South Cove Beach and East Lake Beach.  Michael pointed out that the gusty winds clearly showed the areas where the water was slapping onto the shore resulting in lots of organic matter compared to the clear water beside areas with trees, shrubs, and plants. Algae bloom is one of the potential results of organic matter and nutrients entering the water. Plants are needed to slow down the rain so it safely seeps into the ground.  An added benefit is that the roots absorb pollutants. 
 
The good news is that the solutions are right next to the problems. Michael encouraged us to "look around and see what is growing successfully." He gave an example of a nearby willow tree and suggested that hundreds of little willow branches could be stuck in the ground, many of which would grow. He recommended that invasive species gradually be replaced with native plants like serviceberry, yellow birch, hobblebush, and dewberry.
 
One of the worst erosion areas on the walk was at the entranceway to the lake trail at the East Lake Beach end.  Michael suggested that this would be a good spot to create a rain garden and protect it with a walkway. Michael said that the Natural Resource Conservation Service of the Department of Agriculture offers grants for projects such as that.
 
To learn more about Michael Caduto and his important work visit his website at www.p-e-a-c-e.net     

Moth Balls? ​Yes. Just as there is a Christmas Bird Count and a Fourth of July Butterfly Count, there is a Moth Week where families, communities, and science centers hold Evening and Midnight Moth Balls where white sheets are spread out and lights kept on to attract moths and make them easier to see and photograph. Some use incandescent and UV (Black) Party lights, and some even sport a professional’s Mercury Vapor light, but you don’t need one. 
 
To get involved, leave all your outdoor lights on (normally a no-no) until bedtime to see what is in your neighborhood (from July 22nd to 30th). Take phone photos, identify them with iNaturalist, and SHARE them with iNaturalist so that they can be counted. And if you didn’t SHARE your Pollinator Week discoveries with iNaturalist, you can do it now. Your GPS will identify the place and time of your photo. They will still count.
 
For more information, check out https://nationalmothweek.org/
 
And don’t forget that New Hampshire’s First Annual Butterfly Monitoring Project using 
iNaturalist goes right through the fall.
 
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/nh-butterfly-monitoring-network

June 19–25 is National Pollinator Week, an annual event initiated and managed by Pollinator Partnership. In the decade since the US Senate authorized National Pollinator Week, it has become an international event, and this year the theme is Pollinators and Climate Change. In support, the Sullivan County Conservation District is asking all of us to photograph every bug we see and submit ”bioblitz” data to iNaturalist during National Pollinator Week because floral resources for pollinators are changing due to climate change.
 
This is the second year that New Hampshire Conservation Districts, including the Sullivan County Conservation District, have provided ”bioblitz” data. Check out the most comprehensive iNaturalist information for New Hampshire counties. Prizes will be awarded for the most sightings, so this is a great activity for kids to participate in this summer!
 
Additionally, a new New Hampshire Fish and Game (NHF&G) state initiative into climate change, biodiversity, and habitat protection is monitoring butterflies. NHF&G is asking everyone to photograph every butterfly we see this year and submit our pictures to iNaturalist. There are 130 species of butterflies in our state, and they are excellent markers of our changing environment.

The NHF&G has formal training and specific “Butterfly Counts” being held throughout the summer, but you need no special training to provide them with valuable information. All you need is a camera and iNaturalist!
 
Did you know that iNaturalist began as a graduate thesis in 2008 and was incorporated by the National Geographic and the California Academy of Sciences in 2017? These days if you use a different nature-identifying application, it probably feeds into the iNaturalist global database. To be sure your data is used to help NH, download the iNaturalist App onto your phone. If you prefer to use your own camera to take pictures, you can upload them to iNaturalist from your computer once you are home.

​GGC members may remember the years when the club completely filled the Town Hall’s lower level with Jolly Farmer annual flowers to sell to support the club’s scholarships, grants, and programs.  At the last such sale in 2019, customers from Grantham and beyond flocked to the sale where a frenzy of buying ensued. 
 
This year, the club is running a more varied plant sale out doors in the Town Hall parking lot. Plants will include two tables of Jolly Farmer annuals, two tables of succulents, two tables of vegetable plants, one table of Van Berkum perennials, plus some Siberian Irises.
 
The Jolly Farmer flowers are being ably cared for by Ray Miner and Pete Lepre who ran the Jolly Farmer sale. They repurposed pallets from their recent solar panel delivery by putting them on wheels and covering the platters with flowers.  They roll out each of the pallets from their garage for ease of watering.
 
The club is also selling succulents nurtured by Tina Gleich who is ‘The Succulent Whisperer.” Tina can coax a tiny, sad looking succulent into a thriving plant with many adorable children.  Along with Tina; Elise Kendall, Amelia Lantz, and Kathy Houghton babysat succulent plants for over a year. Tina is generously donating all 75 succulents to the club to sell at the yard sale. They range from cute $1 minis, to potted groups of multiple types of succulents, to large jade plants.
 
In addition to running the Jolly Farmer sale, Ray and Pete are donating all these vegetable plants they have grown from seeds:
65 tomato plants--cherry and full size
50 pepper plants--sweet and jalapeno
18 four-packs of cucumbers
18 four-packs of summer squash
18 four-packs of zucchini
If you’re planning to buy vegetable plants soon, consider holding off until you can buy some of these healthy plants at great prices and also help out the club.
 
The club will also be selling some perennials from the Van Berkum perennial sale.  New club member Cheryl Wilson took up the reins from Nancy Crocker who ran the Van Berkum perennials, (and huge Jolly Farmer annuals sales for years.)  Nancy is happily busy with her grandchildren.  The perennials arrive on May 23rd. Those not ordered by members will be cared for by Cheryl until the June 10th yard sale.
 
The Siberian Irises that will be for sale used to grow in the Triangle Garden; and some of their relatives still do.  Kathy Hougton, who heads up the Triangle Garden team (giving former head Janie Clark more time to concentrate on her work as president of the Friends of the Library) is housing those iris plants for the sale.
 
I’ve watched these volunteers in action and am blown away by their hard work and dedication.  What I enjoy most is hearing their laughter when they work together toward a common goal.  The GGC is an amazing club.