The Colonial Herb Garden and the current exhibitions at the Wilton Historical Society, 224 Danbury Road, will be the setting for a garden gathering with a talk about herbs and two gallery talks on Thursday, July 16 from 4 to 6.
Amidst lavender and thyme, visitors may enjoy herb-themed hors d’oeuvres and refreshments. At 4:30 there will be a talk by herb specialist Nancy Moore, co-sponsored by the Wilton Garden Club.
Indoors at 5, quilt artist Denyse Schmidt will talk about her work on display in the Burt Barn Gallery. At 5:30 in the Sloane Gallery, June Myles will chat about the hooked rug art in her show One Loop at a Time. Each talk will be about 20 minutes.
Schmidt’s creations are modern interpretations of classic quilt designs — contemporary, functional textile art with historic roots. With their quirky style and bold use of color, her quilts are fresh interpretations of traditional patterns like Wagon Wheel, Churn Dash and Ocean Waves. They have been featured in numerous publications including The New York Times; Martha Stewart Living Magazine; People; O, The Oprah Magazine; and Time, and shown at the National Quilt Museum in Kentucky.
Myles’ hooked rugs, wall hangings, and pillows are alive with color, texture and movement. The works show off color, love of language, and virtuoso needle skills while engaging the viewer with humor and a style that finds its origins in folk art. A veritable menagerie can be found, from anteaters to turtles, from frogs to goats which frolic and gambol across lively patterns and amidst words both whimsical and wise. She has also produced a series of portraits of “men I’ve never met,” as she calls them, from a sun-drenched “Mattiseman” to a fiddler, a cook, a banker, an exotic manservant, and a philosopher.
Nancy Moore owns Moorefield Herb Farm of Trumbull, which specializes in herb plants, heirloom tomato plants and scented geraniums.
The society’s herb garden is divided into sections for dyeing, potpourri, culinary, and medicinal herbs with more than 40 plants historically accurate to the year 1740. Some of the interesting plants that can be seen in the garden include penny royal (Mentha pulegium) a mint flavoring for soup; rue (Ruta graveolens) for joint stiffness; skirret (Sium sisarum)a flavoring for stews; and wrinkled rose (Rosa rugosa ‘rubra’) which provides Vitamin C to prevent scurvy.
She will have plants available for sale.
The event is free for members of the Wilton Historical Society, $10 for non-members.
Information: wiltonhistorical.org.