by Dwight Baldwin, Lake and Property Management Committee
Despite the many hardships brought on by the coronavirus in 2021, the Chocorua Lake Conservancy (CLC) initiated and saw the completion of many projects and goals. Among the highlights was the completion and dedication of the Chocorua Basin View Lot visitor viewing area on Bowditch property on State Route 16. This pullout, with its magnificent stone wall, offers a quintessential view of Chocorua Lake and Mount Chocorua.
Landscaping of this site, however, is still to be completed. In particular, plantings are needed along the north and west bases of the stone wall to bring color to the location. More importantly, plants along the wall will tend to keep visitors from trying to climb and walk along the wall.
We are proposing daylilies (hemerocallis) as the perfect plant for this site. The Greek word “hemerocallis” means “beautiful for one day,” a nod to the brief life of each colorful bloom. But the blooms are prolific and a mix of varieties will allow for ongoing blossoming from early summer through autumn. Daylilies are hardy and drought-tolerant, and will form a dense and compact wall of vegetation that would give pause to anyone thinking of climbing the wall.
So the next question is, where do we get these plants? Well, wouldn't it be grand if we invited “one and all” to dig up a small clump of their favorite daylily patch for planting at the overlook—a community garden of color for this already exceptionally beautiful place.
So the Lake and Property Management Committee of the CLC is asking everyone who is able and willing to dig up, bag or box, and donate a clump of your favorite daylilies for this community garden. And if you’re able, come help us plant and water our new garden and celebrate the beauty of this spot.
Please let us know in advance if you are able to donate a clump of daylilies by emailing events@chocorualake.org. Please label daylilies with your name, location, and, if known, the variety/color. You can drop off your daylilies at the Basin View Lot or the CLC office in Chocorua Village between Monday, May 16 and Wednesday, May 18. Please email lflaccus@chocorualake.org to let her know when and where you’ll be dropping off, or if you need to bring daylilies by before these dates.
Work days:
Wednesday, May 18, 9-11:30AM: We’ll prepare the area for planting. Bring pointed shovels and work gloves.
Thursday, May 19, 9-11:30AM: We’ll distribute loam and plant daylilies. Bring pointed shovels, work gloves and trowels.
If you’re able to help out on one or both of these days, please email events@chocorualake.org with your name and phone number.
“Consider the Lilies of the Field”
by Christina Georgina Rossetti
Flowers preach to us if we will hear: -
The rose saith in the dewy morn:
I am most fair;
Yet all my loveliness is born
Upon a thorn.
The poppy saith amid the corn:
Let but my scarlet head appear
And I am held in scorn;
Yet juice of subtle virtue lies
Within my cup of curious dyes.
The lilies say: Behold how we
Preach without words of purity.
The violets whisper from the shade
Which their own leaves have made:
Men scent our fragrance on the air,
Yet take no heed
Of humble lessons we would read.
But not alone the fairest flowers:
The merest grass
Along the roadside where we pass,
Lichen and moss and sturdy weed,
Tell of His love who sends the dew,
The rain and sunshine too,
To nourish one small seed.
Banner image: Daylilies! Photo: Patricia Lavigne via Unsplash.