April 2020
Message from the President
Greetings!

I truly hope this message finds you well. So much has changed, and so rapidly, since our last meeting.

Uncertainty may surround us, but our wonderful little club remains relevant. Our activities will be modified for a while, but the LGC purpose remains:

'The purpose of the club is to educate members and the public in scientific and artistic methods of gardening, stimulate interest in horticulture, encourage and assist in civic beautification, raise environmental awareness and protect and conserve our national and historic heritage.' 

We will find creative ways to fulfill that purpose and, in so doing, hopefully provide pleasant distraction to our greater challenges.

With tremendous thanks to Joan Burgess, we have already begun that creativity! The new LGC blog is up and running with 19 posts and counting! What a great way to stay connected as a club and share our garden ventures. 

Enjoy your gardens and family time, and stay well.

Annie ðŸŒ¸
There is no Meeting this Month

Due to the coronavirus uncertainty, all club events have been cancelled until further notice, including our fundraiser cocktail party at Susan Magary’s on April 25th.
Committee Reports & Announcements
Club Updates
The Litchfield Garden Club Blog (LGCB) is full steam ahead! Read an account of what your fellow Clubbers are doing to brighten their days and chase away the Coronavirus blues. Leave comments too (though they will be reviewed, so please be civilized!). All Members are encouraged to submit their own personal garden-related stories and pictures - click BLOG LINK to view page or click HERE to submit an article . On our website, you can find our Blog page just below the Member Only tab... Members' Blog Page . Visit often to see if there are new postings. It could be your morning daily check in!

How and what to post? Take a look at what has been posted already, and that may spark a thought. Entries are up to approx 200 words. Send your image(s), article and article title to Joan Burgess for posting. You may make comments directly on the Blog site - click the comments link and follow directions. You can also view comments from other members.
Conservation Committee Request - Pollinator Plant Pick Up
Even in these times of quarantine and social distancing, as we work in our gardens and divide perennials, please remember to put some aside to donate for planting at our extended Pollinator Garden at White Memorial. 

Once you have a few pots (or even bags) of plants, contact Grace Yagtug and she will pick them up and keep them tucked away beside her barn until it is time to start planting the Pollinator Garden in the Spring. 

Yes, she will practice ‘social distancing’, you can leave them by your mailbox, driveway, just arrange a time and place for plant pick up. 

Very much looking forward to being overwhelmed with all your plants!!! Thank you gardeners!!!
Conservation News
NAL 2020 Conference - February 23-26, 2020. It was an honor and a pleasure to be our delegate for the 2020 NAL conference in February. With over 300 women attending, it was an incredibly rich and informative experience! Taking the 6 hour train from New Haven to Washington DC was an easy and peaceful journey, and the cherry trees along the Potomac Tidal Basin were all ‘in bud’ still too early to be in bloom.

Zone II representatives, over 20 women, were in our meeting with Senator Blumenthal, and each woman who spoke was respectful, calm, and very specific about the bill being discussed and what element of the bill GCA was championing for support. Read more about the conference.
On February 28, 2020 , adventurous Garden Club members went to the CT Science Center in East Hartford to visit the butterfly house. It was an amazing experience which resulted in an unexpected bonus and an invitation to a future field trip.  Read more and see all the images.

Floral Design
A new page for Design Sweepstakes was created. Please visit and see images of our last meeting.

Garden History & Design
The GH&D meeting scheduled for April 15th has been postponed. We will reschedule later.

Horticulture
Well it is officially spring now, although the weather is still dancing about abit. However that is not surprising since March is always unpredictable! We have several flower shows that we enjoyed: Hartford, Philadelphia and Boston; unfortunately the latter had to close early. This Coronavirus has definitely put a damper on our lives and our world, but I am thankful that we weren’t affected until now. We can go outside to walk (with or without dogs); we can go outside to begin spring prep in our yards, and we aren’t stuck inside all the time. Granted we cannot go to enjoy flower shows or art shows or other entertainment. So we get creative, and we go back to a simpler time of writing letters, sowing seeds and being creative in our own ways. I know there are members still creating flower arrangements in their own homes. I know there are people still propagating plants (perhaps not as obsessively as me). I’m sorry that we couldn’t have our April club workshop, but if I can help in stirring up ‘growing interests’ in anyone, please reach out. We can chat by phone or by video, if my hair isn’t too bad that day, and we can still share the love of our plants!

Hospitality
The open meeting was a great success with 50+ in attendance. Doreen Hampton wrote a wonderful article - check out our Public Blog page to read the article.

Program
What a disappointment to cancel our April meeting, especially because our own Kate Jamison and her trustworthy pal Whitney Voss were due to woo us with their houseplant know-how. The good news is there should be no difficulty in having them do it at a later date either this year or next.

As we shelter in place, think about programs, workshops and sweepstakes that will bring us all together next year. The Program Committee looks forward to putting forth an interesting, challenging and a just plain fun program schedule for the LGC. So please share your thoughts and ideas. With your help it is sure to be a truly fine year.

As our new normal becomes more clear, we will let you know what to expect for the rest of this year. Until then, stay safe and be careful.

Best wishes to all,

Projects and Civic Beautification
Projects and Civic Beautification will be in a holding pattern for now. The brass plaque for the skating area is here and beautiful. See the photo below. We will install the plaque possibly in May.

In the Beautification area which includes our spring/summer plantings, our committee will regroup in April when the weather is warmer. At that time we will plant the 4 areas: Murphy’s, the trough, the Information Center, and Norfolk Road. So, get those garden gloves and trowels ready. We’ll be in business before you know it. Please think of the plants that we want to use and email me with your thoughts. I look forward to hearing from all of you.


Visiting Gardens
The Philadelphia Flower Show on March 3-5, 2020, an intrepid group of seventeen members, spouses and friends embarked on a voyage south to the big city of Philadelphia, leaving the confines of Litchfield for three fun-filled days.  Read more and see all the images. Scroll down the page for article.

From the Communications Desk
Do you need help in logging into the GCA website? Each member has their own user name and password. Do you need the password for The Federated Garden Club of CT? Check with Joan if you need help.

Don't see something but want it posted or have a question - contact Joan . Need LGC information - use our website! It's all there and easy to find.

If you want something posted on the LGC Calendar, please contact Joan .
Our Most Recent Events
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