Green Team: Meeting and Exceeding the Challenges

The Graycliff Green Team enjoyed a challenging Spring and Summer of lakeside gardening. Even though the summer set records for heat and low rainfall, we successfully kept the estate’s many plantings alive, well, and colorfully blooming for all our many guests. Many thanks to our new members, Kathleen Leuthe, Margaret Astridge and Babara Harris, as well as long time gardeners Beth Bloomquist and Barbara Rickard.

We began in March with an energetic group at the Spring Clean Up. In April Nellie Gardner, the resident horticulturist at the Martin House, visited our gardens, sharing stories and offering helpful advice. In May we worked together to design and fill over a dozen large planters, the double window box under the kitchen window, and several fern containers. The rest of the summer was spent keeping all our annuals well watered and trimmed. (note from Graycliff: this meant watering, watering and more watering! An enormous thank you from everyone at Graycliff to the entire Green Team for their dedication and hard work throughout this long, hot, dry summer.)

On Sept. 9th and 15th, with the Landscaping Restoration Project nearing, we dug up over 200 plants from the pond area and transplanted them into new gardens along the wall and at the end of the pavilion’s side path. We are all very interested in the changes that the new historic landscaping may bring. We are now anticipating October leaf raking with the help of community volunteers.

- Kathy and Dale Marriott, Green Team Leaders