In This Issue

We have got action on all fronts this month! First, don't miss Trish Manfredi's article about sending packages to one of our own serving in Afghanistan and our new feature, "From the Judges Council Corner"....Take a moment to nominate a fellow garden clubber for a Tribute Award....Lois Nichols gives us a real opportunity to act on behalf of the critical pollinators....Time to put our thinking caps on for CAES Plant Science Day, Flower Show School, Gardening Study School, Environmental Studies School and the NER Meeting....And members are on the move, from our President's NGC visit to Ireland, to the December tour to Pennsylvania, to the imaginative trip that will be our 2015 Flower Show.... Plus, get to know Louise Weber, another impressive board member....and let Pamela Weil introduce you to a special new Hydrangea.

To keep track, visit the Calendar by clicking here.

There's still time to recognize that special club member who does outstanding work for your club--someone who works hard, has fun, makes a difference and inspires others! Is there an outstanding member of your club or The Federation who deserves special recognition?  Connecticut Tribute Awards may be awarded to FGCCT members who have made notable contributions in any one of the following categories:

*    Conservation

*    Design

*    Garden Therapy

*    Horticulture

*    Landscape Design

*    Youth

*    All-around Excellence

Any member of a Federated Garden Club is eligible.  Recommendation letters should include the reason for the nomination and details of the nominee's activities. Awards will be presented to the recipients at the October Awards Luncheon.  Deadline for submission is August 15, 2014.  Please submit all recommendations to Leslie Martino, Second Vice-President and Membership Chair at [email protected] or 70 Penny Lane, Woodbridge, CT 06525

PLANT NATIVE TREES

The state's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has published a list of sources for buying native trees and shrubs. To encourage our members to plant natives, we have posted that list, "Connecticut Native Tree and Shrub Availability List" on our website. To access the list, click here.

They are America's only babies-in-the-pouch marsupials, and they are a southern species - proper name, Virginia opossum.  They have adapted to our New England winters.

Opossums are found across a variety of habitats but seem to prefer deciduous woodlands.  They move along the ground ceaselessly in search of food, without following any prescribed trails or travel routes to known food reserves.  Be tolerant if you see an opossum in your backyard; it will soon be traveling along.

Opossums are very beneficial to the garden by eating unwanted pests such as snails, slugs, spiders, mice, snakes and ticks.  

Ecologists have now learned that opossums are a sort of magnet when it comes to ridding the world of black-legged ticks, which spread Lyme disease.  They are efficient tick-killing machines.  That's because one opossum trait is that they groom themselves fastidiously, like cats.  If they find a tick, they lick it off and swallow it.  It has been estimated that in one season, an opossum can kill about 5,000 ticks.

Although opossums are susceptible to a variety of diseases of significance to humans, their role in the transmission of any is uncertain.  Rabies rarely occurs in opossums since their lower body temperature is believed to inhibit its presence.

You've heard of the phrase, "playing possum."  It comes from the fact that the opossum has an involuntary comatose-like state induced by extreme fear.  An inert opossum does nothing to excite a predator, so, therefore, it is left alone.  When the danger is past, the opossum comes to again.  Because of this phenomenon, do not drive over an inert opossum thinking that it is dead; it might just be "playing possum."

And yes, there is an Opossum Society of the United States, and their website, www.opossumsocietyus.org, has lots of good information.

Enjoy your backyard and all the critters it contains.

Gardening Study School will be held September 23-25, 2014, at the Kellogg Environmental Center in Derby.  This is also Course I and will cover a wide variety of topics of interest to all gardeners.  These include:  Basic Botany, Soils, Houseplants, a Plant Propagation activity, and a special lecture on growing orchids. To learn more, click here.

* Cheryl Basztura and Joanne McKendry
Gardening Study School Chairs  

  * Judy Joly
Scholarship Chair


The Shippan Point Garden Club of Stamford is pleased to announce its annual Scholarship awards. A $2,000 Scholarship was awarded to Arianne Spaulding who will attend Brown University and major in Environmental and Civil Engineering. Another $2,000 Scholarship was awarded to Jack Houtz who will attend the University of Maine and major in Environmental Science and Forestry. The $1,000 Susan Flynn Memorial Scholarship was awarded to Nicholas Robinson, who will attend the University of Connecticut and major in Horticulture.
 
Shippan Point Garden Club

* Trish Manfredi
Judges Council Flower Show Chair

    Email: [email protected]

[email protected]

The Living Earth Environmental Studies Schools (ESS) are composed of a minimum of forty hours of study of specific units divided into four Courses of ten hours, each of which includes a two-hour field trip. The Courses investigate AIR, LAND and WATER.  The units are divided into Ecology and Environmental Science, Life on Earth and Earth Stewardship.

After passing two Courses, a student may become a Provisional Consultant and join an Environmental Studies Council (or Bi/Tri- Council). These groups provide programs and tours that further the education of members.

* Polly Brooks
Environmental Studies School

Share Your Garden

This month we see the beautiful pond in the Branford garden of FGCCT Secretary, Barbara Romblad. She has had to enlarge it to accommodate the growing fish population. Barbara tells us that the fountain keeps a hole open in the ice for the exchange of gases. This helps the fish survive the winter.

    *Jessica Fischer
Flower Show School Chair

FGCCT Tour Coordinator

1.  Tuesday, December 2

 Our coach makes 2 stops; 8:00am at the New Haven RR station and 8:30am at the exit 18 I95 Commuter Parking Lot in Westport, where public parking is available.  We arrive at Winterthur, founded by Henry Francis du Pont. This is the premier museum of American decorative arts, reflecting both early America and the du Pont family's life here. Yuletide at Winterthur has been a tradition for 25 years. You'll marvel at the annual displays of holiday trees, greenery and flowers as you stroll through a showcase of exquisite rooms dressed with rural and urban settings from the 18th through the 20th centuries.


 
An additional treat is in store as we will have the chance to see "Costumes of Downton Abbey," an original exhibition of exquisite designs from the award-winning television series.



Forty costumes from the television show are displayed and supplemented by photographs and vignettes inspired by the fictional program and by real life at Winterthur. Visitors have the chance to step into and experience the world of Downton Abbey� and the contrasting world of Winterthur founder Henry Francis du Pont and his contemporaries.
 
We will enjoy dinner as a group en-route to our second destination
 
Next we marvel at  the holiday wonderland at Longwood Gardens. Thousands of poinsettias, towering Christmas trees and fragrant flowers fill the Conservatory's crystal palace. Outdoors becomes a winter wonderland where 400,000 lights glow in the outdoor beds in the shape of anemones, azaleas, hyacinths, lilacs, and roses. Huge snowflakes made of lights appear to fall like stars from the skies, and many-colored lights glow in the trees. We spend the night at the Hilton Garden Inn at Kennett Square, central to all our stops.



2.  Wednesday, December 3

This morning we head to Philadelphia to tour the new home of The Barnes Foundation which was established by Albert C. Barnes in 1922.


The Barnes holds one of the finest collections of Post-Impressionist and early Modern paintings, with extensive works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul C�zanne, Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso as well as American masters Charles Demuth, William Glacken and Maurice Prendergast.  There are also Old Master paintings, important examples of African sculpture, Native American ceramics, jewelry and textiles and decorative arts and antiquities from the Mediterranean region and Asia. We lunch in Philadelphia.


 
Our last stop is Strawberry Mansion, filled with antiques, fine art, and collectible treasures from the 18th and 19th century.

Part of a cluster of historic homes in the park, Strawberry Mansion will be fully decorated for the season and we will have an up close glimpse at one of the places our Founding Fathers visited during the early years of our country.
 
We return to Connecticut stops in Westport and New Haven in the early evening.

INCLUSIONS AND PRICING

$399.00 per person double occupancy
$75 single supplement

This Engaging Experience Includes:

•     Roundtrip motor coach transportation
•     1 night hotel  
•     1 breakfast
•     2 lunches
•     1 dinner
• Entrances to the attractions

TERMS:
A minimum of 30 persons is needed by October 1.
Full payment is due with your reservation.
Confirmations will be made via email.
Cancellation penalties: $50.00 October 1-November 1
After November 1, no refund.
 
If you have questions contact
Kathy Kobishyn, FGCCT Tour Coordinator at 203.915.6017
or email [email protected] .

A member of the Garden Club of Old Greenwich since 1983, Louise Weber caught the attention of former Federation President Susan Faulkner when she created an exhibit about birdhouses for her club. Faulkner was so impressed she brought the exhibit to the CT Flower Show and asked Weber to join the board.

Louise's first position was Corresponding Secretary. She has gone on to serve as Horticulture Chair for six years, then Conservation Chair for six years, and is now completing her term chairing the combined Environmental Concerns/Conservation committee.

An Art History major, Weber has also been on the board of the Bruce Museum for many years, including chairing it from 1988-92. It was her suggestion that they expand to a new building and she oversaw the groundbreaking in 1992.

Louise's home garden includes an organic vegetable patch, Hydrangeas and a beautiful flowering Quince. The second year it bloomed, someone cut branches off her Quince during the night. "I think it must have been a decorator or flower arranger!" she quips.

But her specialties are dahlias and gourds. In fact, her birdhouse gourd won an Award of Merit two years ago. And she has come to realize that her favorite dahlias are the ones with the largest number of petals. "They were out of favor for a while because they are too 'flashy,' says Louise, " but that's why I like them!" She enjoys bringing them into the house for arrangements.

Weber is particularly concerned about the genetically modified foods-with genes from other plants and animals inserted in a laboratory--being introduced into our food supply. "I think the Americans are way behind the Europeans in their knowledge about genetically modified food," she says. "Tests done in Europe show that animals fed GMOs get sick. If the modifications kill pests, what do they do to us?" She urges members to ask retailers if the food they sell has been genetically modified.

* Lynn Hyson
News Editor