Union — The Union Historical Society will meet at the Old Town House, 128 Town House Road, off Union Common, on Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m.
Diana George Chapin of The Heirloom Garden in Montville will present a collection of slides and will talk about how gardening has changed during the course of American history. Her slides illustrate popular landscape design techniques of the Colonial and Victorian eras and will help anyone with an old home or an interest in heirloom gardening to develop their landscape using traditional design techniques. The images showcase many of the old-fashioned flowers among the collection growing at The Heirloom Garden of Maine.
George Chapin lives and works on her family’s 90-acre farm in Montville. She holds a bachelor of science degree in landscape horticulture and design, and a master of science degree in plant, soil and environmental science from the University of Maine. George Chapin learned to garden alongside her mother and grandmother on a circa 1800s Maine farmstead.
Four generations of her family farmed various historic properties in the town and she developed an appreciation of old-fashioned flowers and working, historic landscapes early in life. Chapin owns and operates The Heirloom Garden of Maine with her mother, Sandy George. Their nursery and greenhouse is located on a farm that was originally settled by a soldier of the American Revolution around 1800. The two women collect, preserve and propagate more than 300 varieties of flowers, bulbs, vegetables and herbs that were common in Early American gardens. They offer plants and early American-style decorations through their farm, autumn and holiday annuals.
The gardens at The Heirloom Garden of Maine are open for Maine Open Farm Days. The farm’s collection of heirloom plants as well as an heirloom vegetable and edible flower tasting draw gardeners and food enthusiasts from throughout the state and New England to the farm each summer. George Chapin is also a professional writer, photographer and speaker on agricultural and horticultural issues. She lives in Montville with her husband John and their two daughters, Julia, 18 and Emma, 15.
All meetings of Union Historical Society are free and open to the public. Refreshments follow the program. Union Historical Society owns and maintains the Robbins House on Union Common, the Cobb’s Ledge historic site on Town House Road, and the Old Town House, also located on Town House Road and available to rent for functions. Membership is $5 per year. For more information, call 785-5444 and leave a message or email info@unionhistoricalsociety.org.
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