Last Sunday, July 15th, the Georges River Land Trust held its 21st Gardens in the Watershed tourin Spruce Head and Rockland. It was a lovely sunny day, but with enough of a sea breeze to keep everyone comfortable. The Land Trust, as well as the gardeners, is grateful to the almost 600 patrons who came to the lower watershed to appreciate the beautiful gardens and vistas and to partake in the beautiful day. We also thank the patrons for their patience as the narrow island roads became very congested with people coming and going.
There are so many people to thank, but most important are the gardeners who graciously opened their special places to us and without whom there would not have been a tour: Mary Ann Carey, Anne Williams, Morris David Dorenfeld, Randall Chanler and Andrew Stancioff, and Barbara and David Noyes, all of Spruce Head. In Rockland, Kathy Thyng and Jim Beaulieu’s garden and that of Nina Scott-Hansen were on display. Their dedication, hard work and love of the land were evident in the riot of color and peaceful serenity we were all privileged to experience last Sunday. We are indebted to them for their gracious hospitality and incalculable contribution to the Land Trust.
Bangor Savings Bank is our major sponsor of this event and we are grateful for their financial support and interest in our work. We thank them and the 80 other business sponsors and individual donors, too numerous to mention here, who dug deep in their pockets to fund this event and support the mission of the Land Trust. Their generosity is greatly appreciated. We encourage everyone to patronize these wonderful businesses. A special note of thanks to Mary Bumiller, Rockland Branch Manager of Bangor Savings Bank and her staff for organizing and staffing a bake sale of wonderful home-made cookies to tide over hungry tour goers who had not had the foresight to order a lunch from our caterer, the Home Kitchen Café!
James Hatch and his staff at the Home Kitchen Café deserve our grateful thanks for preparing over 200 delicious lunches of unique sandwiches, chips, and cookies for ourhungry tour goers all by 8:30 Sunday am! The S.T.A.C. and the B.L.T. were running neck and neck for most popular choices but they all received rave reviews! And the cookies…large and full of chocolate chips!
Special thanks to Susan Van Campen for the use of her watercolor image, June Blues, for our brochure and poster and to Linda Shepard for the gorgeous bouquets of flowers from her spectacular garden, which she kindly provides each year. As always, our volunteers on tour day keep things running smoothly, from helping park cars and directing traffic to taking tickets, handing out lunches, selling raffle tickets and assisting the gardeners in various ways. We are grateful to the 55 wonderful people who gave up a good part of their weekend to help us.
The Gardens in the Watershed tour is the single most important annual fundraising event of the Georges River Land Trust and its success is crucial to our work of helping to conserve the watershed, both land and natural resources, for the public benefit. It alsooffers participants the opportunity to experience the diversity and traditional character of the 225-square-mile Georges River watershed as they travel from garden to garden.
And with deep gratitude, we recognize our fellow members of the Garden Tour committee who have worked tirelessly all year to make this event successful: Heidi Lyman, Linda Arnold, Norma Jones, Hathy Brewster, Tracy Beck, Mary Bumiller, Leslie Fuller, Sydney Hall, Lisa Young, and Jane Rasmussen.
Sincerely,
Pat Ashton and Mary Ann Carey, Co-Chairs, 2012 Gardens in the Watershed tour, for the Georges River Land Trust
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