Head out for Cleaner Greener Quincy day and clean up the ‘hood, Squantumites!

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Monica

Saturday, May 3
Clean ups around Squantum 9 a.m. – noon
Appreciation cookout 12:30 pm., Pageant Field

Grab your gardening gloves and head out for the 25^th Annual Cleaner Greener Quincy Day!

In Squantum clean ups will be happening at:

The Squantum School and parks, 50 Huckins Ave
Nickerson Post & beach, 20 Moon Island Road
The Causeway, East Squantum Street
Orchard Beach

Roll up your sleeves alongside city employees and spruce up the neighborhood parks, beaches, schools, marshes and open space area after this long winter. Watch out for tiny Squantum tots and adults as you drive around the ‘hood!

The Quincy Park Department will provide rakes, bags, gloves, shovels and other equipment.

Cookout
Head over to Pageant Field at 12:30 p.m. to join Mayor Koch at his volunteer appreciation cookout, sponsored by Hannaford Supermarket.

Free t’s
All volunteers will receive a free “Cleaner, Greener Quincy” t-shirt.

Learn about Quincy Cleaner Greener days.
Contact the Quincy Park Department for more information or to help out. (617) 376-1251.

Shop the Plant Sale May 10

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Monica

Saturday, May 10
9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The Kennedy Center
440 E. Squantum Street, N. Quincy, MA [map]

The Seaside Gardeners Club of Squantum invite you to the 56^th Annual Plant Sale celebrating Mother’s Day.

Come shop a fabulous selection of flowering plants, herbs and greens to inspire your garden this season. Select from beautiful perennials nurtured by garden club members, and healthy vegetable plants to enjoy all season. Garden Club members are on hand to provide tips and advice.

Yummy treats and prizes!
Don’t miss the home baked goods, various garden items, and the raffle table!

A beautiful cause
All proceeds benefit garden club community activities such as Squantum School Junior Gardeners, Causeway Beautification Program, Annual Christmas Tree Lighting, Annual Scholarship Fund, Marsh Restoration, and the new Blue Star Memorial Program, which honors all men and women (past, present, and future) of the Armed Forces of America.

Shop early for the best selection!

Learn more about the Seaside Gardeners.

Kick off the holidays at the Tree Lighting Dec 1

Posted on November 23, 2013 by Monica

Calling all Squantumites! Put down that leftover turkey leg, bundle up grandma, your sweetie, and the tots, and head on over to the Tree Lighting for song and cheer to kick off the holiday season. In addition to our Squantum festivities, the City of Quincy has some treats planned.

Sunday, December 1, 2013, 4:30pm
Gilbert Memorial Park, at the intersection of Huckins Avenue and East Squantum Street

Join the festivities as we kick off the holiday season with the annual Tree Lighting following the Quincy Christmas Parade. Head over to the triangle at Gilbert Memorial Park and join your neighbors for hot cocoa and delicious cookies provided by the Seaside Gardeners of Squantum. Join in on the carol singing as we welcome Santa Claus who will do the honors of lighting up the tree! Hope to see you and the whole family there!

Quincy holiday festivities

Quincy festivities and tree lighting
Friday, November 29, 2013, 5pm-7pm
McIntyre Mall (tents in front of City Hall), 1305 Hancock Street, Quincy
At approximately at 6pm, Santa Claus will make a special appearance with Mayor Koch to turn on the Quincy Center Christmas Lights, which include a few new additions this year! Drop off your letters to Santa and enjoy free popcorn, hot chocolate, and candy canes! Enjoy Donna Marie Children’s Puppet Show, strolling Victorian Christmas Carolers, and street performers.

Santa and his Elves arrival by parachute
Saturday, November 30, 2013 ~ 12:30pm
Pageant Field,One Merrymount Parkway, up the road from Adams Field

City of Quincy Christmas Parade
Sunday, December 1, 2013, 12:30pm-3:00pm
The 61^st Annual City of Quincy Christmas Parade route begins at the intersection of Hancock Street and Walter J. Hannon Parkway, continuing up Hancock Street to North Quincy. The rain date is schedule for Sunday, December 8. 2013.

Visit the Quincy website for details about the holiday festivities.

Learn more about the Seaside Gardeners.

Mark your calendars for The Faire For All Seasons craft fair & lunch

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Monica

Join The Seaside Gardeners of Squantum for their annual “Faire For All Seasons” and pick up some fabulous treats!

When: Saturday, October 26, 2013, 9:30 am – 1:00 pm
Where: Kennedy Center, 440 East Squantum St., Quincy, MA

Find a great selection of gifts and items for the upcoming holiday season, including homemade baked goods, jewelry, handmade crafts, stocking stuffers, and everything in between. (Get there early as I hear Mary’s pies go quickly!)

The lunch has always been the talk of the town; come and taste home brewed chowders, and steamed hot dogs.

There is a little something for everyone and plenty of free parking.

For more information, contact event chairperson Patricia McGilvray at 617-328-0355

Honor service men and women by donating to a Blue Star Memorial

Posted on September 25, 2013 by Monica

The Seaside Gardeners of Squantum are currently raising funds to place a Blue Star Memorial By-Way plaque at the Squantum Fire Station to commemorate and honor all men and women who have served, currently serve, or will serve in the Armed Services of the United States.

How to make a donation
If you or someone you know would like to donate to this project, you may send a check made payable to “The Seaside Gardeners of Squantum” to: The Seaside Gardeners of Squantum
c/o Sandra Sumner
18 Bellevue Road
Squantum, MA 02171

History of Blue Star Memorials
The Blue Star Memorial program was created in 1945 at the close of World War II by the National Garden Clubs, Inc., as a means of honoring men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces. Garden Club members visualized a living memorial, helping to beautify and preserve the country these men and women had fought for. In 1944, the first memorial came to be – a thousand ﬂowering Dogwood trees planted along ﬁve miles of New Jersey highway, designated the Blue Star Drive by the Legislature. The goal of the Memorial program was to create a “ribbon of living memorial plantings traversing every state.” Garden Clubs around the nation responded enthusiastically.

The project was named for the blue star in the service ﬂag, which hung in windows of homes and businesses to honor service men and women. The blue star in the flag represents hope and pride.

Today, the mission is to honor all men and women who have served, are serving, or will serve in the Armed Forces of the United States, and in 1981 the program was expanded to include By-Way Markers, to be placed in areas such as parks, and civic and historical grounds as a tribute to the Armed Forces of America.

Join author and master gardener Thomas Mickey, Oct 9

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Monica

Join the Seaside Gardeners of Squantum as they host master gardener and communications professor Thomas Mickey who will share the story of how nineteenth century American seed and nursery catalogs sold us the English garden.

An Evening with author Thomas Mickey

Wednesday, October 9, 2013, 7:00 p.m.
The Kennedy Center
440 East Squantum Street
Quincy MA

To reserve your seat email Sandi Sumner at jamsan18sum@yahoo.com

Join us for an author lecture about the story of the beginnings of the garden industry, which seduced the masses with its images and fixed the English garden in the minds of striving Americans.

The 1890s saw a revolution in advertising. Cheap paper, faster printing, rural delivery, and railroad shipping combined to pave the way for the first modern catalogs. The most prominent of these, reaching American households by the thousands, were seed and nursery catalogs with beautiful pictures of middle-class homes surrounded by sprawling lawns and the latest garden accessories — in other words, the quintessential English-style garden. Something to think about as you tend to those lawns!

Thomas J. Mickey is Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies at Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He is a graduate of Boston University, the University of Iowa, and the Landscape Institute at the Boston Architectural College, and has been a garden columnist for the Brockton Enterprise, Quincy Patriot Ledger, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire’s Seacoast Media.
Visit his blog, American Gardening.

Donate to Marathon Daffodils and bolster the spirit along the Marathon route

Posted on September 19, 2013 by Monica

The Seaside Gardeners of Squantum let us know about this wonderful opportunity to honor the spirit of the Boston Marathon and Boston Strong by donating to Marathon Daffodils.

As fall is knocking on our door, many gardeners are thinking about spring, and considering what bulbs to plant now for those beautiful spring blooms. And in Boston, the arrival of spring brings to mind the Boston Marathon. Some thoughtful gardening folks have a wonderful wish…they would like to plant a river of yellow daffodils along the Boston Marathon route to celebrate the arrival of spring 2014 and to honor the spirit of Boston Strong. “We want to do something to lift the spirits of the community, in support of Boston Marathon 2014 and Boston Strong,” said Diane Valle, volunteer and organizer.

To make this wish a reality, The Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts (GCFM) is collaborating with Tower Hill Botanic Garden, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Charles River Conservancy and other groups to create “Marathon Daffodils” a planting of daffodils along the 26.5 mile Boston Marathon route. The goal is to raise $1,000 per mile for a total of $26,500 from Hopkinton to Boston. The GCFM, of which the Seaside Gardeners are members, will organize volunteers to plant the bulbs along the route beginning in October.

How to donate
If you would like to support this project, make your check payable to “Marathon Daffodils” and send it by October 1 to:
Marathon Daffodils, The Cooperative Bank, 201 Main Street, Charlestown, MA 02129.

About Marathon Daffodils
Marathon Daffodils is a collaboration of non-profit organizations, gardeners, cities and towns, businesses, and citizens interested in preserving the spirit of Boston Marathon and Boston Strong, while embracing the tradition of celebrating the arrival of Spring in Boston.

Many thanks to Sandi for letting us know about this great opportunity!

Garden surprises for Junior Gardeners

Posted on June 24, 2013 by Monica

The Junior Gardeners of Squantum recently took a field trip to the home of Donna Richardson and Ed Swartz, where these blossoming gardeners learned how to plant sunflower seeds in peat pots, and received guidance for how and when to transplant the sunflowers to their own home gardens. As these young green thumbs toured Donna and Ed’s garden, they asked fabulous questions about the variety of plants, the years of work to create the garden, and they applied those math skills considering the square footage of the garden. The children enjoyed a contest to search for and locate the many animal characters in the garden, and in the midst of the visit discovered evidence of a slithery garden visitor…the shed skin of a garter snake, which provided a bonus learning opportunity.

Donna and Ed report that, “everyone enjoyed the experience and we are delighted to add they are a great group of kids and we thoroughly enjoyed their visit.”

About the Squantum School Junior Gardeners Club
The Squantum School Junior Gardeners Club is organized by the Seaside Gardeners of Squantum to encourage the appreciation of gardening, landscape and floral design, and awareness of environmental concerns. Amongst other activities, the Club works with the students to plant gardens at the school. In the past the Club has received the Junior Gardening Award from the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts and the National Council of State Garden Clubs, Inc. in recognition of distinguished service, youth activities, and junior work.

Learn more about the Seaside Gardeners of Squantum.

Shop the Plant Sale May 18

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Monica

Seaside Gardeners of Squantum present the
Annual Plant Sale

Saturday, May 18
8:30am to Noon

The Kennedy Center
440 E. Squantum Street, N. Quincy, MA

Come shop a fabulous selection of flowering plants, herbs and greens to inspire your garden this season. Select from beautiful perennials nurtured by garden club members, and healthy tomato plants to enjoy all season. Garden Club members are on hand to provide tips and advice.

Don’t miss the raffle table!

All proceeds benefit community activities including the clean up and maintenance of the Squantum Causeway and scholarship funds.