CAMBRIDGE – The Dorchester Garden Club’s Annual Meeting and installation of the new 2017-2019 officers was held at the Eastern Shore Hospital Center on March 10. Outgoing club president Julia Berman acknowledged and thanked the members of her Executive Board for their service for the past two years. Ms. Berman also announced that the Dorchester Garden Club had received four state awards: The Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland Award of Merit for “The Potting Shed” Standard Flower Show to Faye Phillips; Second Place Dessie Moxley Youth Involvement Award to Nancy Hastings and Nancy Hebdon for their work with Camp Agape; First Place Yearbook Award “For the Love of Gardening” to Dee Terry; and Second Place Award “The Diggers” newsletter to Ellen Higgins.

Bonnie Stevens, a member of the Dorchester Garden Club since 1983 and founder of the Oxford Garden Club, welcomed and installed the officers for the 2017-2019 term.

Guest speaker, Karen Collins of Hillstead Gardens in Easton and a member of the American Hemerocallis Society, shared her experience in creating her daylily garden which has received national recognition for the number of cultivars grown in a small area. Karen shared her extensive knowledge about daylilies that she described as a “no fuss, no muss perennial” well suited for Eastern Shore gardens — easy to grow, pest and disease free, drought tolerant and available in a wide variety of types and colors.

The meeting also included the club’s hallmark mini-flower show exhibition of horticultural and design entries by members. The design section featured a special “Art Blooms at the Eastern Shore Hospital Center” that club members interpreted botanical watercolor paintings by patients of the Eastern Shore Hospital Center. Lunch was served by the very talented culinary staff of the ESHC.

The March mini flower show and design awards are as follows:

Division I-Horticulture

Class 1 Forced Branches

1a. Forsythia, 1st Wanda Ciekot

1b. Pussy Willow, 1st Karen Cartwright

1c. Other, 1st Beverly Shelly, 2nd Kay Karminski

Class 3 Conifers-One branch

3b. Without Cones or Berries: 2nd Beverly Shelly

Class 4 Broadleaf Evergreen Tree or Shrub-one branch

4a. Flowering: 1st Barbara Stockton, 2nd Kathy Miller, 3rd Patti Hopkins

4b. Foliage: 2nd Beverly Shelly

4c. Fruited: 1st Barbara Stockton, 2nd Beverly Shelly

Class 5 Ilex (Holly)-one branch

5a. Foliage: 1st Beverly Shelly, 2nd Martha Hoyer

5b. Fruited: 1st Beverly Shelly

Class 6 Container Grown Plants

6a. Flowering: 1st Kathy Miller

6b. Foliage: 1st Nancy Hastings, 2nd Susan White

Class 7 Open Class

7b. Perennial: 1st Kay Karminski, 2nd Martha Hoyer, 3rd Barbara Stockton

7b2. Perennials- Other: 1st Linda Easter, 2nd Mary Jo Papin, 3rd Patti Hopkins, HM Kathy Miller, Gloria Warner

7c Biennial 1st Patti Hopkins

7d. Bulb, corm, rhizome, tuber: 1st: Beverly Shelly, 2nd Karen Cartwright, 3rd Deana Kozak, HM Sue Jones, Wanda Ciekot

Division II-Design

Design Class 1: 1st Faye Phillips, 2nd Fran Collins, 3rd Julia Berman, HM Karen Cartwright

Design Class 2: 1st Susie Middleton, 2nd Kay Karminski, 3rd Lynne Davis