PGC members went on a trip to the Harvest Festival at Quiet Valley in Stroudsburg on Saturday, October 11th. The Harvest Festival offered the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of life on the farm during one of the busiest times of the year. Members on this trip enjoyed seeing and learning about activities common in the 1800s such as candle dipping, scrapple making, tanning, leather work, spinning and weaving. Other highlights included one-room school presentations, a Civil War encampment, and folk entertainment.

The second stop on the trip was to Columcille Megalith Park in Bangor where members were able to see more than 90 strategically placed stone settings reminiscent of the megalithic structures found in ancient Celtic lands, with some formations paralleling the iconic Stonehenge (thus the nickname).  

Thank you to our Bus Trip Chair Christine Gallina for organizing this fun Fall outing!

Club members were treated to a delightful, dahlia-filled day on 10/7 at the Moser family property in Hellertown. The family cares for 5 dahlia gardens totaling 1.5 acres and grows over 250 varieties of dahlias.

Participants first listened to an introduction about the sixth-generation dahlia farm by owner Shirlene Moser followed by a walking tour of the farm which celebrated its 100-year anniversary in 2023.

After the tour, members were treated to a luncheon of salads, fruit, yogurt and homemade desserts. Over lunch, Shirlene introduced the group to the science and history of growing dahlias.

Finally everyone was invited to gather bloom stems from the garden to make their own arrangements to take home. It was an enjoyable and educational trip!

PGC Bus/Field Trip Committee Chair Christine Gallina arranged a trip to the New York Botanical Garden on June 4th.  

Bus Trip Chair Christine Gallina arranged a fantastic trip for PGC members to Peace Tree Farm in Kintnersville, PA. After a personalized tour led by owner Lloyd Traven, the group met for lunch at an eatery in Hellertown. 

Peace Tree Farm is a family-operated, USDA Certified Organic wholesale greenhouse company located in the countryside of Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Owners, Lloyd and Candy Traven, work with growers and retailers across the country and provide business customers with plants that grow. The Farm production is wholesale to the trade only. Locally, they provide all the Wegman’s stores with live containers of fresh herbs.

The Travens want their business partners and the ultimate public consumer to be as enriched by the gardening and plant-keeping experience as they are every day. Peace Tree’s website to contains information about their trademark specialty lavender and hearty figs, their certified organic herbs & vegetables, and their curated ornamental collection.

On this tour, members learned how the biocontrol program is an industry-leading example of sustainable agriculture. The Travens are also starting to grow Spring trial sample plants of new introductions for some of the industry’s largest plant breeders and propagators. Peace Tree is one of the few remaining growers in the greater Philadelphia market who takes on the lost art of plant forcing for flowers to grace the Philadelphia Flower Show commercial exhibits.