Garden club holds bazaar, luncheon at Summit Inn
Kay Carr remembers a time when there weren’t many trees in downtown Uniontown. “We tried to make it greener downtown,” said Carr, one of the charter members of the Green Gardeners, a civic-minded Uniontown garden club founded 51 years ago that takes on the task of improving the city’s landscape.
“We can safely say we planted almost every tree in Uniontown, except for the bank parking lots and a couple of other places,’ she noted. “We went to the city, but the city also asked us to do a few things. We put the trees in first. They put planters on Main street, and we were asked to plant them, and we’ve been doing it ever since. They also put boxes around down and we plant those, too.’
Carr was speaking at the Green Gardeners’ biannual bazaar and luncheon Friday at the Summit Inn at Chalk Hill. It was the eighth bazaar the club has hosted since 1988. This year’s event was called “Garden Reflections.’
“It is significant because it’s our only fund-raiser,’ explained Valerie Sesler, president. “But most of our money comes from donations or members’ dues.’
Sesler explained the Green Gardeners have 33 active and more than 30 non-active members. In addition to Carr, one other charter member, Bernardine Hagan, remains active. Both Carr and Hagan attended Friday’s event.
“Everybody enjoys gardening, and everyone is civic-minded,” Sesler noted of the members.
That means the members don’t mind getting their hands dirty to plant flowers. Some spots the public might recognize are the flower boxes on Church Street, the parking garage garden and the garden at George Marshall Memorial Plaza at Five Corners, not to mention the trees that add beauty to Uniontown’s city streets.
Green Gardeners is actually a spin-off of the Uniontown Garden Club.
“The Uniontown Flower Club was in existence and had a lot of members, and they said, ‘Why don’t you young girls get together?’ We were young girls at the time.’
The Green Gardeners became interested in civic projects about 30 to 40 years ago, Carr said.
Sesler, a native of Kentucky who has lived in Uniontown for the past several years, noted, “It makes me happy to drive down Main Street and see the beautiful flowers. …I think it makes people feel good.’
Carr said, “It makes people think that somebody cares about something in the city.’
In order to take care of the trees and flowers, the Green Gardeners have a maintenance fund, for which the bazaar provides assistance.
Carney Rigg and Suzanne Frank checked out the guests, noting that everyone was buying a little bit of everything.
“Most everything we make,’ said Rigg.
“Except for the things that God made,’ added Frank.
The members and most of the guests who attended wore hats, with a prize awarded for the best hat. Several items also were awarded through a Chinese auction.
Sesler reported the club sold about 225 tickets for the event, with guests coming from as far away as Pittsburgh.
One table included members of the Penn Hebron Garden Club from Penn Hills: Fran Galasso, Mary Punch, Karen Stegora and Gerry Wadlow.
“I was here two years ago and enjoyed it and I talked them into it and I drove,’ explained Stegora.
The table also included Carol Fusco of Richeyville, mother of Green Gardener Christy Fusco, who sat next to Mary Ann Borsody of Brownsville. Fusco explained her reason for coming, “I like to get out and put a hat on.’
Doug Oster, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Backyard Gardner, served as guest speaker for the luncheon and offered tips on gardening.
“Successful gardening is doing what needs to be done, when it needs to be done, the way it needs to be done, whether you like it or not,” he said.
Oster recommends keeping a gardening journal that keeps track of frost dates, what was planted and when, what items you like.
“It becomes a wonderful record to pass on,’ said Oster, who started his in 1989.
He also talked about the popularity of heirloom seeds, which grow old-fashioned varieties of produce. He recommended a company in West Elizabeth that can be reached at www.heirloomseeds.com or by calling 412-384-0852.
Oster also spoke about the popular Pittsburgh heirloom tomato called the “Potato Top.’ He has been sending free seeds to people for the past several years in exchange for their sending seeds back to Oster from their first tomato they harvest. Last year, he received 54,000 seeds.
This year, Oster sent seeds to people all over the country and as far away as The Netherlands and Greece, receiving help from the Penn Hebron Garden Club.
Besides using heirloom seeds, Oster recommended several plants, including the Corydalis lutera, a perennial that blooms from April to November. He also noted that deer don’t like daffodils, so Oster has given up tulips for daffodils, discovering many wonderful varieties of the species.
In closing, Oster quoted an old Chinese saying: “If you want to be happy for three hours, get drunk. If you want to be happy for three days, kill a pig and eat it. If you want to be happy for three months, get married. But if you want to be happy for the rest of your life, grow a garden.”