Letter to the Editor‏

To the Editor:

Last Sunday, July 14th, the Georges River Land Trust held its 22nd Gardens in the Watershed Tour in Montville, Hope and Union.  It was a wonderfully bright, sunny day! The Land Trust, as well as the gardeners, is grateful to the nearly 400 patrons who came to the upper watershed and the headwaters of the St. George River to appreciate the lovely working farms, gardens and vistas and to partake in the beautiful summer day.

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: Andrew and Victoria Marshall of Dorolenna Farm, Bo Atkinson and Alda Stitch, Rick and Denise Sawyer of Fernwood Nursery & Gardens, Tina Marriner and Robert Pearse, Eileen and Leonard Ames, Lorraine and Wayne Smith of Hobbs Farm & Greenery and Linda and John Shepard. 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 listed in the tour brochure.  A special note of thanks to Mary Bumiller, Rockland Branch Manager of Bangor Savings Bank, for the multitude of things she does behind the scenes, and to her staff, for organizing a sale of wonderful home-made cookies to tide over hungry tour goers.

James Hatch and his staff at the Home Kitchen Café deserve our grateful thanks for preparing nearly 200 delicious lunches of unique sandwiches, chips, and cookies for our hungry patrons. The sandwiches were delicious!  And the cookies…large and chocked full of chocolate chips!

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 45 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 also offers 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, Hilary Matlack, Norma Jones, Hathy Brewster, Tracy Beck, Mary Bumiller, Bonnie Percival, Sally Wood, Ginnie Hibbard, Leslie Fuller, Alice Dashiell, Cheryl Feldpausch, Sydney Hall, Mary Ann Carey, and Jane Rasmussen.

Sincerely,
Pat Ashton and Lisa Young, Co-Chairs, 2013 Gardens in the Watershed Tour, for the Georges River Land Trust