“Downee Ocean, Hon”* with the Caroline County Garden Club

Four members of the Caroline County Garden Club (CCGC) took a trip “downee ocean” on June 18, 2026, at District 1 Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland’s “Celebrating Maryland’s Eastern Shore,” an NGC Standard Flower Show.  

The show wasn’t held at the ocean, but at The Packing House in Cambridge, and was hosted by the Talbot County Garden Club. The show included four design sections, including Section D. “Downee Ocean Hon,” a Vignette Design competition in Class 10, “It’s a Shore Thing.” The only design category that allowed for a collaborative effort, garden clubs were invited to create a Vignette that represented “…a functional section of a room, terrace, patio, or similar area.” The Vignette needed to include a floral design, and could also include other plant material, and the entire exhibit needed to fit into a 5’x5’ square floor space. CCGC members Tammy Coulbourne, Kimberlee Eveland, Terry Fearins, and RaeAnn Holder worked together to create a design that represented a porch where a mother and daughter retreated after a day at the beach.  

The base of their Vignette was created using luxury vinyl flooring planks, donated by Rob Sturla of Competitive Carpentry, to simulate a porch floor. Topping the floor with a sisal rug and using other furnishings and materials from their own homes and gardens, the designers outfitted the “room” with a chair, a side table, and a coat rack. Beach towels, bathing suits, and a sun hat were hung from the coat rack to give the illusion of being hung to dry off after coming in from the beach. The imaginary mother and daughter both kicked off their flip flops on the porch so as not to track sand in the house. (Actual sand from Ocean City’s beach was sprinkled around the floor and filled a sand bucket.) A beach tote filled with sand toys, extra towels, and sunscreen was placed by the coat rack. A paperback book with a beach-y cover and a pair of sunglasses were left on the chair, as if the mother in the Vignette had just put down her book and stepped away from the porch to fix lunch. An assortment of seashells decorated the table beside the chair. To meet the requirement of a floral design, an antique metal watering can was filled with a design created by Tammy and Kimberlee, using hydrangeas, Solomon’s seal, hosta, and Japanese Maple branches from their yards, and supplemented with snapdragons, millet, thistle, Black-eyed Susans, and ornamental grass from Vintage Family Farms. 

*“Downee Ocean, Hon” is a Western Shore phrase, usually spoken in a Baltimore accent that translates to: “I am going down to the ocean, honey.”