Many congratulations to the Garden Club of New Jersey 2020 Perennial Bloom Award recipient, Joan Baker, Spring Lake Garden Club. Joan is an unanimous choice from a group of outstanding candidates submitted from our state.

Joan’s accomplishments abound. Over 60 years she has been an active member of the East Brunswick Garden Club and the Spring Lake Garden Club, of which she is a founding member and a past President. Her mastery of horticulture and floral arranging extend to sharing her knowledge and expertise with young people, her community and fellow gardeners. She serves on the Spring Lake Garden Club Scholarship and Awards committees, is the club’s Historian and its Parliamentarian and she wrote the club’s Constitution and By-Laws. Her presence in her Club and in our State are invaluable examples of the impact of how one person’s love of gardening, lovingly shared can build something of enduring value.

The Perennial Bloom Award is a wonderful way to celebrate those in our Garden Clubs who have contributed and given back so much to our communities year after year. Joan certainly embodies all of these qualities and more. Her application now moves on to CAR-SGC for consideration for the regional Golden Perennial Bloom Award. We are sure they will enjoy getting to know Joan as much as we do!!

CONGRATULATIONS JOAN!!!!👏👏👏👏

1. The Garden Club of New Jersey, Inc. is proud to announce that we have unanimously voted to join the Coalition to Pass the Liberty State Park Protection Act and Save the Park’s Caven Point Natural Area.
• Please write, email, and/or phone your local legislators to support this critically important legislation: Senate Bill S1449 and Assembly Bill A2189. Please go to Environment, the circle to the right on our Home Page to find details and links to the petition & state legislature.
2. The GCNJ is working with Liberty State Park, the NJDEP and NJDOT in establishing a Blue Star Memorial at LSP in 2021. Please read the November, 2019 issue of Gardener News under Publications on our website for this back issue with front page History of the Blue Star.
3. The Garden Club of New Jersey, Inc. will embark on a project entitled ‘Freedom Trail of Great Americans’ that will showcase our nation’s great Americans for New Jersey, our nation and for the world to view at Liberty State Park, New Jersey’s gift to the nation. We look forward to working with the NJDEP and other groups to make this a reality.
4. My GCNJ President’s Theme: Paths to Discovery Through Outdoor Learning Centers we hope will have its debut at Liberty State Park with a Pollinator Learning Center. By establishing this initial Learning Center, we wish to inspire many more Learning Centers entertaining and educating the public about conservation, the environment and wildlife with these interactive displays. Full speed ahead as we invite everyone to participate in the design and execution and make this a reality.

View Liberty State Park – Caven Point Video

Jeannie Geremia, GCNJ President

The GCNJ Symposium planned for October 14-15, 2020 has been canceled due to the Covid 19 pandemic. It will be rescheduled for the Fall of 2021 with a specific date to be determined. Information will be posted on this website when further information is available. Thank you.

Dear GCNJ Members:
Due to the devastating COVID-19 global pandemic, we want to list the following cancelations and reassure our club members that we are united in our commitment to providing education, resources and opportunities for adults and youth for all our citizens to expand the love of gardening and floral design and encourage participation in civic, environmental and historic preservation projects to protect the past for the future.

United, we will weather this calamity that has gripped the world, follow strict measures of safe distancing so that we can get back to the new normal as soon as safely possible. Our government’s restrictions are everchanging as they seek to quell the spread of this horrific virus, so we will be canceling or holding virtual Zoom meetings, workshops, schools and conferences. The following is the current schedule as of July, 2020:

1. All meetings to have been held at Holly House, GCNJ Headquarters, Rutgers Gardens for the rest of the calendar year of 2020 and until further notice, will be held via Zoom meetings from the safety of our homes.
2. Flower Show School, Course IV to be held September 16th & 17th, 2020 at Holly House has been canceled. Both FSS Courses III & IV will be rescheduled in future.
3. NGC’s Fall Board Meeting to be held in Fargo, North Dakota on September 24th, and 25th has been canceled.
4. GCNJ District Meetings will be rescheduled via Zoom meetings TBA.
5. District Flower Shows scheduled for September, 2020 have been postponed, details to follow.
6. Garden Study School to be held at Holly House on October 6th, 7th & 8th, 2020 will be held via Virtual Zoom with details to follow. This has been cancelled.
7. Judges Council Meetings will be held via Zoom meetings, details to follow.
8. Flower Show Symposium to be held at the Holiday Inn in East Windsor on October 14th , 15th and 16th has been postponed until the Fall of 2021.
9. Central Atlantic Region-SGC Conference at Dover Downs, Delaware scheduled for October 19th, and 20th has been canceled.
10. The Garden Club of New Jersey’s Fall Conference and Presidents Day at the Bridgewater Marriott to be held at the Bridgewater Marriott has been canceled and a Virtual Zoom Meeting will take place in late Fall, details to follow.

Please know that we are working hard to provide upcoming workshops so our member clubs feel comfortable conducting Virtual meetings and our Speakers List has been updated to include Speakers who have adapted to the new normal and are able to present Virtual workshops from the safety of our homes. Our new website will be continually updated to give the latest information on a wide range of gardening topics. We will be working to advocate for important environmental legislation under the Environment with current updates on key environmental legislation posted by our Environmental Chair, Beverly Kazickas. Beverly will provide instructions on reaching out to your local legislator/s on legislation that has lasting implications for our pollinators, wildlife, our health and wellbeing for us and for future generations.

Happy Gardening!

Jeannie Geremia, GCNJ President

As the interim membership chair, I wanted to let you know that GCNJ has changed the way they keep their membership information. The new procedures are in a viewable PDF HERE. For a downloadable, writable document, that you can fill in, CLICK HERE. Please fill it out and then email it back to me. The first sheet can be mailed with your dues check. Any questions, please do not hesitate to call or email me.

Ellen Preissler
GCNJ Membership Chair