Framingham Garden Club (FGC) members – in collaboration with Framingham High School (FHS) students – recently welcomed Spring with an exciting four-day “Bridges and Blooms” community art exhibit at the Village Hall.  This FHS event celebrated the intersection of art, science, and history, with a focus on native plants and the environment. The exhibit featured the students’ creative works, like photography, botanical creations and other vibrant creations and artwork. It was coordinated by FHS Art teacher Kate Millman and Biology and Environmental Science Teacher Rebecca Maynard. FGC collaborated with the high school and the show was supported by several local sponsors, like Framingham Rotary Club, Fran’s Flowers, Rivers Edge, and Russell’s Garden Center.

As part of the exhibit 20 FGC members partnered with students in FHS’s ceramics classes to create “Stretch” and “Synergistic” creative floral designs, using the student’s unique containers. It was FGC’s first intergenerational collaboration with local students in 10 years. Each design featured two or three containers of flowers and other plant materials which were connected like a bridge with other plant materials such as Pussy Willows, Lily grass, Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick, and wooden materials, among others.  The talented students created their containers in various sizes, themes and colors after meeting with FGC members in Millman’s ceramics classroom.

FGC’s coordinators were President Shannon Fitzpatrick and Design Committee Chair Ruth Evans. Member designers were: Minal Akkad, Maria Chaput,  Sue Cohen, Joyce deLemos, Ruth Evans, Eileen Fialkow, Suzanne Fioretti, Shannon Fitzpatrick, Marie Giorgetti, Olga Goryanova, Marilyn Hanley, Susan Hehir, Kathy Hoogeboom, Margery Karger, Pam Keeney, Aparna Kumar, Meg Kelley, Aparna Kumar, Lianne Manzella, Nancy Martin, Meera Mathur, Betsy Szymczak, and Pat Towle.

Framingham Garden Club appreciates the support of the Framingham Cultural Council that helped fund this important educational initiative for the Framingham community.  Framingham’s historic bridges inspired this project, symbolizing unity, change, transition, and connections.

The Sept. 27 evening program is free to the public and will feature members briefly describing several books from the 1930s, including Gone with the Wind, Madeline, How To Win Friends and Influence People, the Hobbit, As I Lay Dying, and The Joy of Cooking and their interpretive floral designs of these books. 

The arrangements depicting the  books will be displayed at the library from Sept. 27 – Sept. 30 for free public viewing. This four-day public event, in partnership with the Framingham Public Library, is part of our “give back to our community” goal for FGC’s 90th Anniversary celebrations, and is one of four community events offered by FGC in 2023.

To commemorate our deceased members, FGC created this personalized garden with a Japanese snowbell tree, custom carved granite bench and a granite “We Remember” marker.  
The beautiful Memorial Bench and “We Remember” marker are proud features of the memorial garden at Nobscot Park.

Framingham Garden Club was instrumental in creating Nobscot Park in the mid-1990s. Over 150 years ago, the site was the location of Framingham School House #8, then later Grange Hall and the Scout House, which burned to the ground in 1994. FGC members worked with neighborhood groups and the Framingham Park and Recreation Department to establish this pocket park. FGC members continue to maintain the gardens at Nobscot Park. 

In addition to the new memorial garden, FGC also designed and installed the Pollinator Garden at Nobscot Park. The Pollinator Garden contains native plants specifically chosen to attract bees and butterflies from Garden in the Woods, as a part of New England Wild Flower Society’s pollinator project.

Workmen delivered our raw materials to the Park and helped to assemble this beautiful Memorial Bench that will be a proud feature of the personalized garden and the new town park we lovingly tend to.

The granite slabs are polished and carved to commemorate all of our former deceased members.

An official commemoration with news coverage is expected in November of 2017