January 2020 Newsletter
Volunteers Making New Canaan Beautiful
|
|
Dear Members,
Now that you have packed away the holiday decorations, written your thank you notes, eaten the last holiday cookie, and chosen the diet you plan to start this month, we invite you to join us on January 8 for “The Art of Floral Design”, a program featuring Karen Legan, the founder of the design firm, Lemon Dahlia.
We want to send a big “thank you” to Ty Tan and Jill Ernst, who chaired the Holiday Greens Workshop and all of you who helped create the holiday decorations in town. We enjoyed the decorations and appreciate all your hard work! Also, we give our thanks to Karen Hanson who has worked diligently all year recording and acknowledging the annual appeal donations and a big thank you to our volunteers that arranged flowers at Waveny Care this fall and winter.
While it is officially winter, there are always opportunities to work outside in Lee Garden. Please check with Faith Kerchoff or Rob Carpenter for the times volunteers are needed and read our newsletter for the Lee Garden Winter Walks that will be starting soon.
This year, our Midwinter Tea on February 5 will feature heirloom table settings, a popular feature at our Tablescapes events a few years ago. See the column in our newsletter on how to participate. Thank you Barbara Mechanic for chairing this portion of the event.
The Civic Beautification committee has several projects in the pipeline, and come spring we will have many opportunities for members to participate in the beautification of New Canaan. In order to fund these projects we need your help in addressing the envelopes for our annual fundraising appeal. They will be distributed at this month’s general meeting and program. Thanks for your help!
See you on January 8th.
Barbara and Karen
|
|
January Program: The Art of Floral Design
|
|
Wednesday
January 8, 2020
New Canaan Nature Center
coffee: 9:30 am
program: 10:00 am
|
|
Come to our January program where Karen Legan, founder and owner of the innovative Wilton floral design firm, Lemon Dahlia, presents the world of floral design and how she creates her natural arrangements for everything from a simple wildflower bouquet to an outdoor bridal swing or floral wreath.
|
|
Karen was trained at the prestigious Flower School New York and now works out of her own floral studio in Wilton. She cuts from her own gardens and buys from the best growers in the world to bring the beauty of nature to her clients.
To read more about Karen and her company, Lemon Dahlia, click on her company logo:
|
|
Join Us for Lunch After the Program!
Membership will have a table at Cava at noon on Wednesday, January 8 after our program at the Nature Center. Our informal lunches are an opportunity for members, especially new members, to get to know one another. It is purely social, and as usual, we will split the bill. Please let Sara Hunt (
skhminky@optonline.net
) know if you can come.
Y’all come!
|
|
Midwinter Tea & Luncheon : 2/5/2020
|
|
RSVP with number attending by January 31 to:
Gloria Simon
203-972-8069 or thesimons4949@gmail.com
Let us know what you'll be bringing:
2 dozen finger sandwiches
2 dozen sweets
a green salad
a fruit salad
or deviled eggs.
Please bring on a decorative plate or bowl.
|
|
Back by Popular Demand: The Heirloom Table
Table Settings and Their Histories from our Members
For Display and Viewing at our Midwinter Tea & Luncheon
The Heirloom Table is a display of table settings and their descriptions. Participants will bring one table setting to Waveny House on February 5 at a designated time to set it up.
To sign up to display your table setting, please send a photo of your china and brief description to our Heirloom Table chair, Barbara Mechanic @ bmechanic@icloud.com by January 22.
For questions, email Barbara or call her @ 203-292-9627.
You can see examples of table setting displays we've had in the past for other events below. You can be creative in what you include with your china setting and silver flatware. Other pieces you may want to add include stemware, linen napkins, placemats, and decorative items such as vases with flowers, framed family photos, and other small heirlooms. You will have a 24" by 24" space for your display.
|
|
Midwinter Tea
Floral Help & Tea Pots Needed
|
Jacqueline Harmody will be making dining table arrangements in tea pots for our Midwinter Tea & Luncheon! We need people and teapots! If you can donate your time to make the arrangements on February 4 please let Jacqueline know. If you can donate a teapot for use for the day, please let Jacqueline know. If you can do BOTH, help with the arrangements and bring your teapot, that's great too! You will be notified of the time of the flower arranging as we get closer to that date.
|
|
Contact Jacqueline Harmody: jharmody@yahoo.com to help in any of these ways!
|
|
Save the Date: Flower Arranging 101
|
|
Flower Arranging Workshop 101
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Waveny House
10:00 am - 11:30 am
Registration details coming soon.
|
|
The Flower Arranging Workshop in 2017 was a huge success and so much fun!
|
|
Please welcome our newest member!
Richard Duffee
|
|
Hospitality: Help Needed for January Program
|
|
The Hospitality Committee is still looking for volunteers to help provide refreshments for NCBL’s upcoming January 8 meeting taking place at The Nature Center - The Art of Floral Design.
If you plan to attend and are interested in providing a sweet or savory food item, please contact Anne Tropeano at annietrop@yahoo.com or 203-536-0349.
Thank you from the Hospitality Committee!
|
|
Did you know NCBL now has an Instagram account? Follow us by clicking on the icon below or find us on Instagram by searching for our account @ncbeautificationleague.
|
|
Thank you to the volunteers who have offered to make the Waveny Dining Room arrangements in December: Liz Orteig, Jill Ernst, Diane Johnson, Jessica Havens, Eniko Szatai, Kathy Lapolla, and Betsy Sammarco.
|
|
Who says arrangements need to have flowers? Jill Ernst and Diane Johnson created these arrangements full of holiday spirit using greens from our Greens Workshop. How clever and resourceful!
|
|
Jessica Havens and Betsy Sammarco created these arrangements mid December. The pink carnations, dainty white flowers, and evergreens give a soft touch to the usual holiday palette.
|
|
The next time NCBL will be arranging flowers for Waveny will be in June 2020! Look for our call for volunteers in the spring.
|
|
Our Greens Workshop was another fun filled morning and a huge success. The workshop has been an annual collaborative event with the New Canaan Garden Club for over 50 years. The wooden frames used for the wreaths' bases are reused year to year. The wreaths and planters are truly home grown as the greens and cones are obtained locally from the town DPW's trimming work and volunteers' yards.
New this year, our NCBL crew made evergreen gnomes for the Nature Center! Click on our photo button below to see them!
|
|
Susan Bergen and Ty Tan work on the enormous wreath that will decorate our Town Hall.
|
|
Deck the Bandstand!
The bandstand at God's Acre was decked out in Christmas greens and bows on the 18th. It was a 'dicy' icy morning, but the sun came out and the ice started to melt. Fortunately, it wasn't windy as in past years.
|
|
Working on the roping and bow placements were (left to right): Holiday Greens co-chairs Ty Tan and Jill Ernst, Richard Duffee, Kathy Lapolla, and Faith Kerchoff.
|
|
Ice covered the roping on the morning of decorating.
|
|
Newly Designed Triangle Gets Bulbs
|
|
The triangle at Canoe Hill and Laurel Roads were recently reconfigured by the town for safety. Chris Schipper of
Colorblends generously gifted NCBL spring bulbs for the new triangle. Dug in and planted under the icy crust is a daffodil blend named 'Spring Loaded', and at another end of the triangle
Leucojum aestivum, Summer Snowflake, was planted. A bit of a misnomer, Summer Snowflake will bloom in late May.
|
|
left:
Leucojum aestivum
. Summer Snowflake and right: Colorblends 'Spring Loaded' daffodil collection
|
|
|
|
The 2020 Annual Appeal - Envelopes are ready to be addressed!
Envelopes will be handed out at the January 8 NCBL meeting at the Nature Center.
Each envelope is already stuffed with the Appeal letter and this year’s gorgeous bookmark! Now they need your handwritten mailing addresses, a proven tactic to increase donation responses! Please make sure to pick up a bag (or 2) of envelopes, including a mailing list. You can sign it out at the Membership table. Patricia Spugani, Amy Reid, Dody Whitehurst, and Eva Wingate will be collecting the bags by February 21, so the letters can be mailed on March 1, 2020.
Thanks, in advance, for continuing to make the appeal a large success and allowing NCBL to continue making New Canaan beautiful all year!
|
|
Fridays at 10 am starting January 10.
Meet in the parking lot.
Interested members should send Faith Kerchoff their email for Lee Garden updates, photos, and news.
FaithKerchoff@hotmail.com
|
|
A robin sits in a Winterberry shrub, a winter food source, at Lee Garden.
|
|
|
|
Faith Kerchoff was at the New Canaan Holiday Stroll selling ornaments on Elm Street. It was 35 degrees, but her hands were warm, as were her spirits.
photo left: courtesy of Peter Hanson
|
|
This month, we are providing links to the following essays by Joan:
We are building her collection each month, and you can access Joan's essays on our website or by clicking the following button:
|
|
Click on the organization's icon for more information about the following local events.
|
|
The Connecticut Flower & Garden Show
Feb 20-23, 2020
CT Convention Center
Hartford, CT
|
|
|
Bartlett Arboretum Events
Including a screening of "Beatrix Farrand's American Landscapes" and much more ...
|
|
|
Our NCBL Newsletter is used to distribute information regarding NCBL activities and announcements that pertain directly to our stated mission. The newsletter shall not be used for political issues, or for the promotion of merchandise or services unless such merchandise or services are part of a joint venture with NCBL.
|
|
New Canaan Beautification League
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
