Garden club dedicating tree to member, donor July 29

Sun, 07/17/2016 - 09:13 pm

SUSAN JOHNS

The Garden Club of Wiscasset will dedicate this stewartia tree in Benjamin Kirkland’s memory July 29. Courtesy of Emily Adler

Wayne Davis got a call many years ago from friend Benjamin Kirkland, making sure he was home. Then Kirkland showed up with three birches to plant. “They’re the height of a seven-story building, now,” Davis said, laughing.

“He was a very generous person,” Davis said. “If someone admired a rose bush, they’d probably wake up the next morning to find one.”

Past Garden Club of Wiscasset president Esther Leck of Woolwich said she had never seen anyone in Maine grow roses better than Kirkland could. He was very generous with his time in sharing his knowledge with garden clubs, including Wiscasset’s, where he was a member, Leck said.

Wiscasset and the garden club were very close to his heart, Leck said. Kirkland died in 2013, leaving donations to the club and Wiscasset Public Library, according to those interviewed.

The Garden Club of Wiscasset planted a stewartia tree on the library lawn in 2014 in his memory and recently added a memorial stone in front of it, club member Emily Adler said.

“People in the club have been taking very good care of it,” Leck said about the tree. On Friday, July 29, the club will dedicate it. Davis, of Topsham, plans to be there, and said others may attend from Train Riders/Northeast. Davis is chairman and co-founder of the nonprofit that advocates for passenger rail service. Kirkland served on its board.

Kirkland’s nephew Walter Kirkland of Silver Spring, Maryland also plans to attend.

In an email Tuesday, Walter Kirkland writes that he and wife Judy enjoyed a very long, very warm relationship with his uncle. “Like all our family, we miss him immensely, and we are so pleased to have the opportunity to visit Wiscasset for this special occasion. He would have been so pleased.

“Our Uncle Benjamin Kirkland was always known to all of us as an exceedingly generous and kind-hearted man who was devoted to his family, his community, and his faith,” the email continues. “In Wiscasset, he found a community of like-minded people who always made him feel that he had found a welcoming home. He loved the arts which he supported in many ways, but his true love was always the garden from which he drew his inspiration, and most especially the roses.

“I remember as a young boy a family visit to the Sarah P. Duke Gardens (at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina) where our uncle designed and planted and cared for the rose garden that thrives to this day.”

Walter and Judy Kirkland will make the trip north by Amtrak, which would have pleased his uncle immensely, Walter Kirkland said when reached by phone Tuesday.

According to Benjamin Kirkland’s obituary and Adler’s announcement of the tree dedication, Kirkland belonged to the National Garden Club Federation of Maine, was one of three founding members of the Mid-Maine Rose Society and took part in the early planning for Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay.

“He was interested in all things horticultural with a passion for roses. He loved to educate and had a deep appreciation of art, being very involved in the art wing of the Wiscasset library,” Adler writes.

The event will run from 3 to 4 p.m and will honor Kirkland’s support of, and generosity to, the garden club, Adler writes. “Family, friends and members from all of Ben’s beloved organizations will be in attendance ... Hopefully the sun will shine and the camellia-like blossoms of the Stewartia will be in full bloom.”

“The rain we’ve been getting will definitely help with that,” Leck observed Sunday evening.

Light refreshments will be served. Adler requests an RSVP from anyone planning to attend. Contact her at adlerer@gmail.com or 882-9804.