The Bard would surely be pleased.<\/p>\n
What about the Christmas City would have made William Shakespeare smile? One need only to have visited the Bethlehem Garden Club\u2019s presentation of \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Garden,\u201d a National Garden Club Standard Flower Show July 31-Aug. 1 at Advent Moravian Church, to understand.<\/p>\n
The piped-in sound of chirping birds greeted guests as they stepped into the show, presented as a woodsy wonderland with the theme of Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s our gift to the community,\u201d Kay Marsh said Aug. 1 during a busy afternoon at the event. Marsh and Rosanne Cilente, president of the Bethlehem Garden Club, were co-chairs of the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do this for the community,\u201d Cilente said, noting the event helps people learn about plants and design. \u201cWe want to generate interest and support the community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though the show is not an annual event, the club is aspiring to begin holding one every other year. The past two shows have been held at Hotel Bethlehem and First Presbyterian Church, Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
How does your garden grow? If you attended the show, you were treated to a wonderful sampling of fresh ideas through exhibits that included vignettes, horticulture, fairy gardens \u2013 botanical arts, table designs, breakfast tray tables, miniatures and regular designs.<\/p>\n
Participation in the show was open to everyone \u2013 there were 73 classifications in the horticultural entries alone in the NGC judged show.<\/p>\n
Everything was tied to the \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Garden\u201d theme, such as The King Theseus Table Design Award, based on the al fresco wedding banquet of the king and queen in the Bard\u2019s play.<\/p>\n
A Shakespeare buff, Marsh came up with the theme. \u201cWe needed to find a theme we could explore. It\u2019s a fun story and I knew we could make it woodsy looking,\u201d she said, adding \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream\u201d is often the first Shakespeare people read in school.<\/p>\n
The show took over a year to plan and 15 hours to set up at the church \u2013 60 percent of club members worked on it in various capacities, including the many flower show committees. The club hosted a plant sale and bake sale \u2013 with tasty offerings of homemade goodies \u2013 during the show. Barbara Tracy, a local artist and club member, designed the whimsical poster advertising the show.<\/p>\n
The response from those attending was very positive and supportive. \u201cPeople are very happy,\u201d Marsh said.<\/p>\n
Tri-folds offered information on the Bethlehem Garden Club\u2019s services to Miller\u2019s House Garden, Horticulture Enrichment at Moravian King\u2019s Daughters Home and Cedarbrook Senior Care and Rehab in Allentown and Fountain Hill, and Morningstar Memory Caf\u00e9 at Advent Moravian Church.<\/p>\n
One of the newest editions to the Miller\u2019s House Garden in the Colonial Industrial Quarter is a fountain. The garden is totally supported by the club and its members. At the Morningstar Memory Caf\u00e9, volunteers work with dementia patients and their caregivers to make floral arrangements and seasonal crafts. The Horticulture Enrichment program brings the joy of gardening and floral design to those residing at Cedarbrook in Allentown and Fountain Hill as well as Moravian King\u2019s Daughters Home.<\/p>\n
The Bethlehem Garden Club, organized in May 1930 and becoming a charter member of the Garden Club Federation of Pennsylvania in 1931, now has 107 members.<\/p>\n
The club has a rich history but is always looking to \u201cgrow\u201d into the future. Cilente and Marsh think it\u2019s wonderful the club has been welcoming younger members.<\/p>\n
The club\u2019s general meetings are held on the third Thursday of each month at 1 p.m. at Advent Moravian Church. The club year starts in September, and there are no meetings in January or February.<\/p>\n
One of the club\u2019s many activities will be a Garden Tour June 26, 2027. So far eight Bethlehem and Allentown homes are slated to be part of the tour.<\/p>\n
For more information visitbethlehemgardenclub.org\/ and facebook.com\/groups\/httpbethlehemgardenclub.org\/.<\/p>\n
Press photos by Tami QuigleyRosanne Cilente, left, and Kay Marsh, co-chairs of \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Garden,\u201d the Bethlehem Garden Club\u2019s National Garden Club Flower Show, admire one of four Vignettes depicting the den of Oberon, King of the Fairies, Aug. 1 at Advent Moravian Church. Guests were invited to vote on their favorite, as entrants used their own interpretation, using plant material and other items, such as lights and candles. Oberon is a character in William Shakespeare\u2019s \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream,\u201d the theme of the flower show. Cilente is president of the club. More photos on A5.<\/p>\n
Tri-folds offer information on the Bethlehem Garden Club\u2019s services to Miller\u2019s House Garden, Horticulture Enrichment at Moravian King\u2019s Daughters Home and Cedarbrook Senior Care and Rehab in Allentown and Fountain Hill, and Morningstar Memory Caf\u00e9 at Advent Moravian Church. More photos on A5.<\/p>\n
Visitors peruse the 73 classifications of horticulture at the NGC judged show, which ran July 31-Aug. 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cFairy Garden,\u201d the first-place winner of the Robin Goodfellow Botanical Horticultural Award. Inspired by a dreamlike atmosphere, fireflies and butterflies surround the garden house as a fairy sleeps inside.<\/p>\n
In Shakespeare\u2019s play \u201cA Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream,\u201d a man was turned into a donkey. He was found at the flower show.<\/p>\n
Bethlehem Garden Club member Sharon Coe, right, chats with guests in front of the fairy crowns botanical designs. Other designs in the category featured birdhouses and potion bottles, as the magic potion in the play is made of pansies.<\/p>\n
The winner of The King Theseus Table Design Award, based on the al fresco wedding banquet of the king and queen in the Bard\u2019s play.<\/p>\n
Visitors check out the selections at the plant sale hosted by the Bethlehem Garden Club.<\/p>\n
A sampling of the tasty homemade baked goods available for purchase at the Bethlehem Garden Club\u2019s bake sale.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bard would surely be pleased. What about the Christmas City would have made William Shakespeare smile? One…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276667,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154],"class_list":["post-276666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}