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3rd Annual Mead Park Breakfast
Monday
June 6, 2016
9:30 am
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Old Board / New Board Brunch
Wednesday
June 15, 2016
9:30 am
Faith Kerchoff's House
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Autumn Luncheon
Wednesday
October 5, 2016
Woodway Country Club
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A Letter From Our Presidents
June is in bloom, and spring is tumbling into summer faster than we can catch it. We want to savor the blooms and enjoy the surprises that pop out daily. "Did I plant that?" is often the first reaction to a new bloom in the garden. There is always a delightful surprise here and there.
May was busy! Tulips bloomed at Town Hall, and daffodils and many other flowers are blooming in our triangles. Our speakers were so inspiring and knowledgeable. We went to the Colorblends Home and Spring Garden, and hope to go again next year. The first New Canaan Flower Market bloomed at the Pop Up Park, with a percentage of the sales made going to our group as the designated non-profit (no results in yet). Charlie Woodman, a stellar volunteer for the NCHS SLOBs, won an award for the most volunteer hours this year. His prize was a donation to an organization of his choice, and he chose the NCBL! Thanks Charlie! He and the SLOBs helped us spread wood chips on the paths on two Saturdays this spring.
Hanging Baskets had a record crowd of 27; later the town crew came to get them, and the next day they were up! The following week eight volunteers planted a variety of flowers in the planters on Pine Street (in front of Mrs. Greens) and on Elm Street (used in the Pop Up Park). There are new plantings in the two big round Town Hall planters too! Our Triangle volunteers have been wonderful in keeping the whole town looking beautiful!
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We hope to see all volunteers at the 3rd Annual Mead Park Breakfast on June 6th. It is our way of thanking all involved, especially the Triangle volunteers, Traveling Trowels, and the town crew. Join us!
Good news! The Planning and Zoning commission approved our request for a change of use permit for the Lee House property. The vote was unanimous and the commission commended the garden, how it works into open space requirements, and complements the residential feel of the Chichester Road area.
This is our last newsletter of the year, but we will keep in touch via blasts and Facebook when we have something to share. You should all be proud of the work the NCBL does for the town. Pat yourselves on the back!
Regards,
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Let's Make the Train Station Beautiful for Summer Visitors!
Liz Orteig and Barbara Beall will be weeding
the train station garden on Wednesday, June 8 at 9:30 am
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Welcome New Members!
A big welcome to our newest members:
Deborah Rose
Sarina Vetterli
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Triangles
As we drive around town, we appreciate the triangles that dot our landscape. Each triangle is lovingly tended and has its own special features and personality. The plantings of our triangles and municipal areas is just one of the things that makes New Canaan special, and it's our Triangle Committee that makes it all happen.
A big thank you to our Triangle Committee and its chairs: Kathy Lapolla and Tracy Phillips.
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Each triangle in town has its own personality. This is a grouping of perennial geraniums in the triangle on Huckleberry Hill.
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Joan Hayenga was working on her triangle at Gerdes Road on this bright sunny day.
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Lisa Ferrente and Tracy Phillips work hard to create this new triangle planting at Littlebrook and Route 106.
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WE HAVE A SPECIAL SCRAPBOOK OF ALL OUR TRIANGLES!
CLICK HERE TO SEE IT.
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Have You Seen?
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The Town Hall planters were planted just in time for Memorial Day. Due to the rain, the Memorial Day ceremony was held at the new Town Hall entrance this year.
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Our hanging baskets are starting to fill out!
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Thank you to our photographer!
The person taking the photos is usually not in the photos herself! We need to give Michele Sloan a round of applause for taking so many photos of our events and activities throughout the year. Thank you also to her trusted backups, her mom Ceci Murray and her sister Megan Steele.
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| Michele, Ceci, and Shirley Stancik at our Annual Meeting this month. |
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Wowed by Grace Farms
Our last meeting of the season was held at Grace Farms. After the business meeting, voting on our new NCBL Board nominations, and seeing Faith's wonderful slide show of our NCBL year, we heard from Lisa Lynne Kirkpatrick and Mark Fowler from the Grace Farms Foundation.
Lisa talked about the history of the property, the development of the site and building, and the goals of the Grace Farms Foundation.
Mark talked about growing up in New Canaan with his well-known family and his work and plans as Nature Ambassador with the Grace Farms Foundation.
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| Mark reminisces with other New Canaan natives, Susan Bergen and Lisa Ferrente. |
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| Becky Barlow greets everyone with a smile! |
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Gerda Smith and Barbara Beall
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Georgene Frantz and Anka Jones
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Natalie Kortman and Sarina Vetterli
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Marian Rose, Carol Seldin, and Margo Sisson
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Hanging Baskets
It was a beautiful day, and all of our 207 baskets were hooked and wired and ready to go in record time! We had a record number of volunteers that day also, and had a non-member (Simin Zendehrouh) come by to help!
This year's baskets contain pink dragon-wing begonias, white petunias and a new variety this year, the petchoa. The petchoa is a hybrid cross between a petunia and a calibrachoa and exhibits the best features of both flowers.
After all the baskets were planted under the guidance of NCBL co-chairs Libby Butterworth, Sara Hunt and Eileen Boehme, men from the Department of Public Works picked them up in town trucks and hung them on lampposts the following day. These men included Walt Jaykus, Jimmy Peck, John Mitchell and Highway Superintendent Mose Saccary. As part of the collaborative project, town employees will water the baskets three times a week throughout the summer.
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Ceci Murray, Lisa Ferrante, Faith Kerchoff, Simin Zendehrouh, Liz Orteig with basket, Bianca Romano with basket, Eileen Boehme with basket, Sara Hunt, Libby Butterworth, Susan Weatherley with sun glasses, Tracy Phillips with basket
Margery Gardner, Ann Brookshire, Linda Foscato, Georgene Frantz, Kathy DeMarco, Angie Brenninkmeyer, Debera Simpson, Marcia Liddell, Cindy Bamatter, Betsy Sammarco, Karen Hanson, Judy Johnson, Peggy Jay, and Yvonne Hunkeler
Volunteers not pictured: Eva Wingate, Gerda Smith
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A big THANK YOU to our Hanging Baskets Chairs: Sara Hunt, Libby Butterworth, and Eileen Boehme.
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Lisa Ferrente, Cindy Bamatter, and Judy Johnson.
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Photo of the photographer. Note Tom Butterworth sitting among the flowers in the corner!
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To see more photos from our Hanging Baskets day at Libby's house, click
HERE.
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Town Planters
The large town planters were planted with help from our town crew.
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Wonderful Walt watering our planters!
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Learning & Laughing with
Lee Reich, PhD
While we certainly learned a lot about adding edibles to our landscape, we laughed a lot too as Lee Reich was a RIOT!
Many thanks go out to our program chairs, Carol Seldin and Amy Weber Reid for organizing this program and ALL of our wonderful programs this year.
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Faith and Sara show off two of Lee Reich's books.
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Valerie Monaghan helps Dr. Reich sell and sign books.
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New Canaan Flower Market
The clouds broke just in time for a beautiful Sunday in town.
The Flower Market was a first attempt of this kind in New Canaan!
Thanks go out to our helpers that day:
Sara Hunt, Kathy Lapolla, Bianca Romano, Betsy Sammarco,
Lisa Ferrante, Tracey Phillips, Joan Hayenga, and Karen Mactas.
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Peggy Jay, Tracy Phillips, Kathy Lapolla, and Joan Hayenga.
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Faith Kerchoff and Sara Hunt
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These three are good friends. Libby Butterworth and Faith Kerchoff's birthdays happen to fall on the Queen's Coronation Day.
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Lee Garden Blooms
Our own Lee Garden timed its peak bloom just about right for our Azalea Festival. Some of our many visitors have shared their photos with us! Here are just a few of them:
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From our own president and Lee Garden chair Faith Kerchoff, her photo of one of her favorite views.
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From Westport Camera Club visitor Phyllis Groner.
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Solomon Seal from Master Gardener Stephanie Hutter.
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Peter Muller applied a digital artistic treatment to his photo to get this gorgeous result.
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SLOBs Award Recipient Honors NCBL!
Charlie Woodman was the recipient of the award for the most charitable hours for the SLOBs organization and has received a monetary award to be donated to a philanthropy of his choice. He has elected to donate his award to the NCBL in order to help us with the work we do in New Canaan.
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Faith Kerchoff, Derek Perone, and Charlie Woodman.
Thank you boys!
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| Judy Gilroy's peonies. |
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Tips for Making Your Peonies Last Longer in Bouquets
Peonies are gorgeous on the bush, but they make great cut flowers too. Here are some tips from the Old House Gardens blog on making your peonies in bouquets last longer:
- Cut peonies during the coolest part of the day.
- Cut peonies when one or two petals are separating at the top or any time after that, not before.
- Once cut, chill the flowers in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.
For best blooms, future growth, and healthy peony shrubs, it's best to leave as much foliage on the plant as possible. Actually, many experts recommend NOT cutting any flowers the first year.
Check out this entry in the Old House Gardens blog to get more detail!
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Garden Conservancy Open Days
Several of the speakers from past Beautification League Programs are graciously opening their gardens for touring as part of the Garden Conservancy Open Days Program. Entrance fees are typically $7 per person. For more complete listing please check: opendaysprogram.org.
You may purchase a copy of The Garden Conservancy's Open Days 2016 Directory at Elm Street Books.
Here are a few suggestions to get you started.
Saturday, July 9: Jane Garmey's garden in West Cornwall, CT
Saturday, July 30: The Montgomery-Glazer Property with Larry Weaner in Lakeville, CT
Saturday, August 13: Carol Seldin's garden, Dogwood Hill, in New Canaan
Saturday, August 20: Margaret Roach's garden in Copake Falls, NY
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Ikebana : Japanese Art of Flower Arranging
with expert Shoko Iwata
Meadow Ridge Auditorium
100 Meadow Ridge Road, Redding, CT
Friday, July 8, 2:30 pm
This is a FREE event.
For more information contact Wally Meyer.
To read more about Shoko Iwata, click
here.
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