East Greenwich Neighbors' Club Springs into Container Gardening Wednesday Morning

Note: There's still time to make the event at 9:30 a.m. at United Methodist Church, 1558 South County Trail. Babysitting will be provided.

From the East Greenwich Cowesett New Neighbors Club:

E.E. Cummings wrote, “the earth laughs in flowers”. If you are ready to put the cold winter behind you and welcome spring join the East Greenwich Cowesett New Neighbors Club on Wednesday, April 13th, at 9:30 a.m. The club will be welcoming Catherine Cote, Certified Horticulturalist from Wildwood Nursery and Garden Center, who will be speaking about Container Gardening.

Catherine’s passion for gardening has spanned a lifetime. She got her start as a child working in the soil with her mother. When she built her house in 1992 she became a satisfied customer of Wildwood. Catherine is now in her sixth year as the Senior Sales Associate there, and one of the experts to whom today’s clientele turns. A member of the URI Master Gardener Program, she knows how to advise gardeners about everything that grows: annuals, perennials, fruits, groundcovers, vines, shrubs and trees.

Ms. Cote’s talk will feature how to best use containers to grow flowers and food. She will advise us on how container gardens can beautifully accent your home or brighten a spot which may need a visual lift. She will explain how to choose the right container for the right planting, and how we can think creatively when choosing one: “Even Grandma’s old washbin can be a whimsical and unexpected container.” Catherine will help us decide what kind of soil and fertilizer will help our plants thrive, as well as whether to locate our containers in the sun or the shade. She will give us some hints for unusual combinations of plants that look beautiful when grown together, in addition to some interesting choices for edibles that can be grown in a container, such as the colorful Bright Lights Swiss Chard. She also likes to use succulents in containers, and described the incredible choices today’s gardeners have when sourcing such beauties. For example, she explained that the latest trend in collecting succulents is called Chick Charms, which provides an amazing 487 named varieties of the old-fashioned “hens and chicks”!

Catherine is proud to work with Wildwood second-generation owner David Bosco and with a business that has been successful since its beginnings in 1967. She enjoys Wildwood’s high commitment to quality and extensive plant selection. She shared, “We get fresh plant deliveries on a weekly basis including some of the most reputable brand names, like Proven Winner and Bower and Branch.” Catherine explained that the devotion to excellent customer service is shared by the whole staff.

The New Neighbors Club is delighted to host Catherine at our next monthly meeting on April 13th. She will be generously providing a door prize from Wildwood for the occasion. The meeting will take place at the United Methodist Church at 1558 South County Trail in East Greenwich. Babysitting will be provided. The Club offers friendship to both new and long-time women of the area. EGCNN has a wide variety of activity groups including Theater Outings, Chick Flicks, Walking, Running, Tennis, Book Clubs, Lunch Bunch, Taste of Rhode Island (Dinner Club), and more. There is a $35 annual membership fee (reduced to $17.50 for those who join now), but newcomers may attend two monthly meetings before deciding to join. More information about the club can be found online at http://egcnn.org/