What do gardeners do in winter?
Walter Cullerton, master gardener, and founder and president of the Tri State Hosta Society, will discuss just that at an upcoming seminar called “The Garden in Winter.”
The free talk, sponsored by the Mount Laurel Garden Club, will take place on Jan. 16 at 1 p.m. at the Mount Laurel Public Library.
Featured will be various gardens, nurseries and arboreta. Perennials will be considered as well as “bones” (natural or man made year-round anchors). Also “woodies,” special plants with special form, color, or bark will be discussed.
Conifers like evergreen trees and shrubs will also be addressed.
“Of course in the wintertime, there’s not as much to do outside that we do in the fall or the spring,” Mount Laurel Garden Club Vice-President Cathy Hepp said.
She said the club has many projects.
Members recently created 26 wreaths for the township, including the fire department and police department.
They also maintain a butterfly garden at Paws Farm, decorated Smithville Mansion and Farmers’ Hall. The club also spruced up the veterans’ memorial and 9/11 memorial.
Their work has not gone unnoticed — and the club has won an award in the Philadelphia Flower Show. Hepp said preparing for that was a lot work and expensive and so she decided to forego the show this year.
In her third year as member, Hepp said the garden club has been around since 1964.
She said fundraising is the most challenging part of what she does, noting the club needs about $10,000 a year to stay afloat and offer scholarships.
The $1,000 scholarships are for Mount Laurel residents and are awarded based not just on academics, but also activities.
“It’s very rewarding,” Hepp said of giving out scholarships out, noting it means a lot if it only covers the cost of books.
She said recruiting is also a challenge.
Hepp said she has had much success soliciting gift cards from local businesses, which are used to fill baskets people bid on at the club’s annual luncheon.
The luncheon, usually attended by as many as 250 people, offers about 50 baskets. Attendees take chances on winning the baskets, which are theme-based.
The luncheon and the annual plant sale at the library are the club’s biggest revenue generators.
Walter Cullerton and his wife, Emilie, were the proprietors of Oxford Gardens, a design/install business that also sold perennials, Japanese maples, and dwarf conifers, which they started after Walter retired from his 40-year career in the business world.
In 2000, the Cullertons relocated from New Jersey to Pineville, Pa., where they have three acres for their 600-plus Hosta cultivars, 300 conifers, mostly dwarf and miniature (and more than 2,000 plants of all kinds).
Avid plant collectors, they now reside near three of their four daughters.
Walter is not only a co-founder of the Tri-State Hosta Society but was also president for six years.
The club also maintains a website at mtlaurelgardenclub.tripod.com.
So if you suffer from the winter blues, perhaps this talk of gardens will warm your spirit.
