RIWPS Appreciates Its Volunteers!
At the annual meeting on March 11, 2023 we celebrated our award recipients.
Volunteer of the Year is given to a Rhode Island Wild Plant Society member who has unfailingly dedicated their efforts toward the betterment of the Society as a whole.
Lifetime Service Award is given to a Rhode Island Wild Plant Society member who has unfailingly dedicated their efforts toward the betterment of the Society as a whole for a minimum of 10 years
Lifetime Service Awards
Mary Lou Upham
The Rhode Island Wild Plant Society has been very lucky over the years to be powered by many passionate volunteers, but Mary Lou definitely stands out as one of the most dedicated. Ah, some may quibble, she’s not a volunteer, she’s paid to be our office manager. But this assignment comes in addition to virtually every volunteer capacity known to RIWPS. She served stints as co-president, president, treasurer, plant sale plant digger, flower show volunteer, public relations officer, publications printer and mailer, membership chair, donor liaison, archivist, storage room guardian, equipment purchaser and fixer, meeting-snack-baker, in short, she has held every position except seed starter.
Invaluable as her fulfillment of each of those tasks has been, the list of her jobs doesn’t capture her ineffable qualities. Mary Lou is organized, efficient, tireless. She is also cheerful, generous, unflappable and, above all, kind. Lisa Gould has suggested that we clone her. She’ll take the first copy for the North Carolina Native Plant Society.
Let’s focus on one of Mary Lou’s projects that spans all her job titles. While working as she did for the RI Historical Society, Mary Lou came across illustrations by Edward Lewis Peckham, a 19th century Providence-born artist. The Historical Society has an astonishing portfolio of nearly 200 of Peckham’s botanical watercolors that are exacting studies of native Rhode Island wildflowers. Peckham used pencil, India ink, sepia and watercolors to make what are practically photographs, in many cases, of the entire plant, root, stem, leaf and flower.
Mary Lou organized a unique collaboration between Brown’s John Hay Library, the Brown Herbarium, the RI Historical Society and RIWPS to mount a stellar exhibition called “Entwined: Botany, Art, and the Lost Cat Swamp Habitat: An Exhibition Celebrating Art & Science.” The exhibit paired Peckham’s illustrations with Brown University’s Herbarium specimens to document the diversity of flora in the now lost Cat Swamp area of Providence.
The exhibition was a couple of years in the making. In addition to the usual curatorial tasks of mounting an exhibition, Mary Lou diplomatically navigated territorial issues of where and how to display the work. By the time the exhibition opened, you can be sure she had won the respect of all her counterparts, secured the stature of RIWPS as a foundational RI organization, and attended to every detail no matter how small.
The Lifetime Service award is quite fitting for Mary Lou. She has been entwined with RIWPS for its entire lifetime, a relationship that began thanks to a gift membership from her mother-in-law Ruth Upham in 1987.
Nancy Weiss-Fried
It was a moment of mutual good fortune for RIWPS and Nancy that back at the beginning of our organization when members were crafting educational programs and outreach and the need for helping hands was crucial, Nancy had just arrived at a time in her life when she could cultivate her lifelong interest in plants. In 1988, at Alton Jones, Nancy took the initial class Lisa Gould offered on wildflowers. Listening to her fellow students as they identified images of native plants made her aware of how much she had to learn. In her words, she “discovered that she knew almost nothing.” So began Nancy’s ongoing commitment to becoming ever more knowledgeable by studying the particular characteristics of different wildflowers, then working hard to notice them in the landscape, yes, finally learning the proper name. Along the way she earned a degree in Landscape Architecture and a Certificate in Field Botany.
All the while Nancy was learning she was helping – the garden tour initiative, harvest dinners, tours of her own garden, educational outreach. And while all of this deserves to be noticed, what most impresses are her years of commitment to RIWPS annual activities, a legacy that spans nearly all of our organization’s existence. Only in retrospect is it possible to appreciate fully what can be achieved through steady incremental efforts.
Nancy’s work helped transform the plant sale from a modest affair to our sole fundraising event. Her annual ritual of donating plants from her own garden started with the very first sale. Realizing that dividing one’s stock also produced healthier plants, she mastered the art of knowing when to divide and the best potting methods to create healthy and flourishing plants by the day of the sale. The practice of adding these newly divided plants from members and friends to the sale inventory grew. This was especially true under the leadership of Plant Sales Chair, the late Sandra Thompson, whose vision and practices shaped the transformation. Sandra and Nancy, would start the call for plants early in the spring, noting the benefits of division for the source plants in addition to the prospect of increased revenue through the sale. They would then crisscross the state, demonstrating and very often digging and dividing themselves. After came the potting and tending which by this time required its own location as these newly divided plants were far too numerous for the facilities used by Seed Starters East for plant propagation.
With the growth and evolution of the June Sale, the number and names of the plant sections have changed, but in deference to Nancy’s talents for exactness, organization, and knowledge about the inventory she has typically taken charge of the ground cover section. Her delight at the unique property of each plant species is contagious. And because Nancy is able to describe how a plant will likely respond to the different circumstances of specific gardens, satisfied shoppers take home with them an experience where it’s more than just the plant that pleases.
The Native Plant Exhibit at the Rhode Island Flower Show was a tradition of more than two decades. Nancy says that over the years her service in helping with the setup produced a special sort of pleasure to go along with the satisfaction. She liked to stroll through the space once the installation completed. The other exhibits aimed to showcase a scene to view, but our design team – Nancy said with pride — included some kind of path welcoming people, allowing them to stop and linger, to immerse themselves in the landscape.
Over many years Nancy Weiss-Fried through her generous volunteer labors has done much, a step at a time, to help lengthen native paths and beautify local gardens, immersing herself in RIWPS landscape of collective effort. It is time to recognize our debt to Nancy’s dedication over many years, and to express our gratitude.
Volunteer of the Year Award
Gayle Anderson
Gayle came to RIWPS through her parents, Bob and Shirley, long time volunteers. She moved back to Rhode Island eight years ago, and gradually started to accompany her mom to Seed Starters West. Last year, the retiring leader of this project, Helen Drew, asked that Gayle assume the position. Although surprised and initially reluctant, Gayle agreed. She took over seamlessly, and the smooth transition has turned into productive collaboration. The group has thrived, first as they planned, and then as they worked, preparing plants especially for May and then June sales. A nurturing leader, Gayle has encouraged the group to share their knowledge and experiences. Whenever possible she has encouraged individuals to choose the tasks they most wished to tackle. Gayle helped the group think through decisions involving which plants species and shrubs to offer, and how to source them best. Gayle herself notes that she takes pleasure in the comradery of the group. “We are having fun doing something very useful.”
The May sale always involves a great deal of coordination and this year’s sale posed additional challenges. Gayle worked with Casey Farm to have more space for our booth. The decision to increase the number of tents thankfully provided cover both from the heavy rains and for the many more than anticipated shoppers purchasing armloads of plants. Gayle earned great gratitude all around by adjusting the check- out system to process sales more rapidly, minimizing the long, snaking waiting line. Her continued good humor in much less than good weather, even while making changes on the fly, certainly made for much better humor for shoppers and staffers alike.
With Gayle’s help Seed Starters West is expanding the existing fenced-in area to be able to accommodate more plants next year. She has many ideas about how to market indigenous plants and how to educate a public that is increasingly not only interested but also knowledgeable about their value in the landscape. Gayle does admit, however, that her starting goal to get rid of plastic pots continues to await a solution.
Brenda Woodward
Brenda became an integral part of the ReSeeding RI project when she joined its steering committee team last Spring. She brought her passion for native plants that animates her knowledge and experience as a Master Gardener. She volunteers at the Wilcox Native Plant Garden in Westerly. Brenda volunteers as well at the Kettle Pond Native Plant Demonstration Garden of the at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Visitor Center in Charlestown where she is also involved in their project to collect seeds, in their cleaning, and then in growing the seeds to plugs.
Brenda immediately immersed herself in forging partner relationships, and then in following up on leads. Her efforts were instrumental in finding a suitable location for overwintering seeds and growing them to plugs. She also helped investigate and evaluate potential locations for founder plots. In all these efforts she was able to draw from her own background or was quick to amplify her existing knowledge to work through the challenges involved. Her graciousness, flexibility and good humor are appreciated.
Brenda anticipates what is needed and is proactive in seeking solutions. For example: plant labels created, printed and delivered. How about a powerpoint presentation with an overview of native plants and of the reseeding project? Done. Attention to detail and organization — her specialty. From conversations amongst interested parties, she produced clear and concise documents to forge partnerships. Out of piles of details ranging from information about plant species, to inventorying supplies or facilities, came organized lists and spreadsheets. Brenda notes that she enjoys helping in whatever way she can. As she recently wrote, the timing of the ReSeeding RI committee is spot-on appropriate as the “world” starts to “really appreciate the power of native plants”.
Frank Carini/ecoRI news