Nineteen years ago, Concord’s Perennial Exchange started with a call to city gardeners: Check out your gardens, then split and swap and share. Now new street trees are flowering, gardens blooming, and sidewalk strips filling up with lush perennials. The streetscape is growing more beautiful every year, thanks to the caring and sharing participants in the Perennial Exchange, sponsored by the Friends of the Audi and the City’s General Services Department on every Mother’s Day Saturday morning.
Expert gardeners Cay Bowman and Linda Rost helped hundreds of plants find their “forever homes” with the assistance of Barbara Shea, Carl Rost, Scott Gish, Erica Gish, Adriane Gish, Allwynne Fine, Jean Barnes, Merwyn Bagan, and Carol Bagan.
The free event included the popular Great Gardening Raffle organized by Sheila Knight, a great success all thanks to the generous prizes offered by Osborne’s Agway, Aubuchon Hardware, Blue Seal Feeds, Brochu Nurseries, Cobblestone Design, Cole Gardens, D. McLeod Florist, Marshall’s Florist, Murray Farm and Anne Hartshorn.
The event is a “friend raiser” and a “flower raiser,” but it also became a fundraiser with a donation bringing the Audi’s next upgrade project: replacement of the stage curtains, closer to its goal.
May 11 was the 19th time the Perennial Exchange has gathered community-minded gardeners, and we thank all the people who have shared their time, knowledge, and plants to beautify our community.
Mark your calendars for Mother’s Day Saturday 2020; we’ll be back!
Catherine Kaplan, Barbara Shea, Joanna Otis, Theresa Neves, Merwyn Bagan, Steven Meier and David Murdo
Friends of The Concord City Auditorium