|
Annual Holiday Wreaths and Greens Workshop
Thursday
December 1, 2016
8:30 am - noon
NC Nature Center
|
|
January
Meeting & Program:
Waveny Park Conservancy: For New Canaan Forever
Wednesday
January 4, 2017
9:30 am coffee
10:00 am program
New Canaan Nature Center
|
|
Victorian Tea
Wednesday
February 1, 2017
11:30 - 2:00 pm
Waveny House
|
|
Flower Arranging 101:
to be rescheduled
(more info coming soon)
|
|
March
Meeting & Program:
The Native Landscape with Doug Tallamy
(joint meeting with NCGC)
Wednesday
March 8, 2017
9:30 am coffee
10:00 am program
New Canaan Library Lamb Room
|
|
|
A Letter From Our Presidents
It's beginning to look a lot like ... winter! We went from warm sunny fall weather to an abrupt change just in time for Thanksgiving. Bulbs are being planted around town in anticipation of a glorious spring. Chris Schipper of Colorblends Bulb Company has donated the bulbs for the Town Hall planters again. Thanks Chris! In the spring, we can look forward to seeing 'Ballet Class', a combo of dainty pink and orange tulips! We'll be planting the following bulbs: for the Thrift Shop triangle, 1000 Muscari (grape hyacinth) and 200 'Top 40' daffodils, a blend of early and midseason bloomers. At the two red "Welcome to New Canaan" signs more daffodils were planted; Gerdes got 'Barret Brownings'; and Carter Street/123 has 'Tahiti'. Last but not least, Lee Garden has some daffodils and other small bulbs like Allium 'Molly', blue squill and winter aconite.
Our triangle volunteers are putting their triangles to bed for the winter. Some need leaf clearing, others get blown clean. Let us know if there are big leaf piles for the town to pick up. We are one of the few towns that collects their leaves and make mulch from it for residents to use. We are lucky to have our town crew for this and for all the other great things they do.
Just in time for the holidays, we have begun a joint venture with Staying Put to bring Amaryllis bulbs to 18 members at the Inn and at home. Members from Staying Put and the NCBL planted and distributed the bulbs that NCBL donated. We hope to distribute even more next year.
We are looking forward to the Holiday Wreaths and Greens Workshop, our annual collaboration with the Garden Club to decorate the town! Our Town will be decked out with 7 huge wreaths (that we'll make), 42 window size wreaths and greens roping for the holidays! If you have pine cones, evergreens, holly, or white birch that can be trimmed, please bring the cuttings to the Nature Center any time from Monday November 28 through Thursday December 1. You can place these items outside the Sturgess room on the walkway. The workshop will be held on Thursday, December 1 from 8:30-noon. Bring gloves and clippers. It is a fun event and a great opportunity for our new members to come and see what we're all about! This is a wonderful welcoming group who share a common love of New Canaan and want to help make it the beautiful scenic New England town it is!
|
|
|
|
|
Here are some simple ways you can support NCBL: sport your NCBL magnet on your car; buy our special notecards for gifts; and donate your shopping T-BILLS at Stewart's Market when they announce their Community Giving Program. You can donate your T-BILLS to NCBL at the checkout.
Best wishes for a warm and wonderful holiday season.
|
Wreaths and Greens Workshop
Thursday,
December 1, 2016
8:30 am
New Canaan Nature Center
Sturgess Room
Come and join us on Thursday, December 1, at 8:30 am at the NC Nature Center to make the wreaths that decorate many of our public buildings in town. We will be working in partnership with the Garden Club, an annual tradition and great opportunity to mingle with our friends in New Canaan's other garden group. No experience is necessary as we will show you what to do. Creating the wreaths involve attaching fresh cut greenery to wooden frames with staples. Bring gloves and hand pruners if you have them. Bring any evergreen trimmings and pinecones you may have from your yard.
Please let Liz Orteig know if you will be coming!
Liz Orteig
203-966-2359
|
Waveny Park Conservancy: For New Canaan Forever
January 4, 2017
9:30 am coffee
10:00 am program
NC Nature Center
WPC and NCBL board member and landscape architect Keith Simpson, traces the history of the gardens at Waveny Park from Olmstead to present, and outlines impressive future plans for restoration by the Waveny Park Conservancy.
A brief history of the Waveny Property:
Waveny House was constructed as a summer residence in 1912 for the Lewis Lapham family and sits majestically overlooking three hundred acres of Connecticut countryside. The House was designed by W. B. Tubbs of Greenwich. The gardens and grounds were laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., of Boston, a well-known landscape architect who also designed Central Park. Lewis Henry Lapham was an American entrepreneur who made a fortune consolidating smaller businesses in the leather industry. He was also one of the founders of Texaco Oil Company.
Crops on the farm during the Lapham era included corn, wheat, buckwheat, hay, chickens, apples, peach and pear trees, and a large vegetable garden. Lewis Lapham's sporty son, Jack Lapham, used the back yard of Waveny House as a golf course, polo field, and even a landing strip for his private biplane. There were also tennis courts and a swimming pool on the property.
Mrs. Lapham named Waveny House after Waveny River in England where Lapham ancestors had once lived. In August of 1967, the Town of New Canaan purchased Waveny Park from Mrs. Ruth Lapham Lloyd. The Lapham family gave the Town of New Canaan most of the estate land in 1967 and sold Waveny House and its surrounding 300 acres to the Town for $1,500,000.
Ruth's grandson, actor Christopher Lloyd spent time there. The house was used for exterior shots for the fictional 'Cortlandt Manor' on the soap opera All My Children for many years; exteriors of the estate were also used in the 2004 remake film The Stepford Wives. The grounds were used for the movie Ice Storm, written by New Canaan author Rick Moody.
Click or tap the logo below to visit the Waveny Park Conservancy website:
|
|
A Reminder to our Triangle Volunteers!
If you haven't cleaned up your triangle yet:
- Cut back perennials to almost ground level
- Rake or blow leaves to an appropriate place so the town can remove them. Let one of us know so we can alert the town. Leaf removal will be ending in the next two weeks.
- If you plan on planting bulbs, now is the time!
Thanks for taking care of your triangle. They all looked beautiful this entire season.
Please let Kathy or Tracy know if we can help in any way.
Happy Holidays!
|
Victorian Tea
Invitation Coming Soon!
|
Welcome New Members!
Join us in giving a big hello to our newest members!
Jill Ernst
Sandy Hogan
Nancy Malling
Barbara Newman
Barbara Wilson
|
Many thanks to everyone who helped us make the 2016 Annual Appeal so successful!
On January 4th we will start working on the 2017 appeal, for mailing on March 1st.
We are encouraging everyone to address envelopes again this January. You will be able to pick them up at the Wednesday, January 4th NCBL Program at the Nature Center. The "appeal bags" contain a list of addresses, cover letters, bookmarks, remittance envelopes, and envelopes to address. Handwriting the envelope makes a difference in personalizing the mailing. Again, we are NOT allowed to write a personal note of any kind on the letter this year (per post office bulk mail requirements).
Thanks for your support of this important fund raising campaign.
"Many hands make light work".
Looking forward to seeing you in January!
Enjoy the season!
Peggy Jay
Judy Johnson
|
We have car magnets available for every member ... get yours and proudly display your NCBL membership! The magnets are handed out at program meetings. If you'd like yours sooner, contact Faith or Sara.
|
|
November Program with Susan Cohen
|
|
| Faith Kerchoff, Susan Cohen, Sara Hunt, and Gerda Smith at our November program. |
Our November program was standing room only with 65 attendees! Susan Cohen was a wonderful speaker. Her newest book, T
he Inspired Landscape, is now part of our NCBL library. If you'd like to borrow it, call or email
Faith Kerchoff.
The arrangements at our monthly programs are raffled off to our NCBL members. The November arrangement was beautifully made by Bianca Romano and won by member Lisa Ferrente!
|
Planting Now for Spring
200 'Ballet Class' tulip bulbs were planted in each of the two Town Hall planters.
Take a look at some of the bulbs we are planting around town this fall. Obtained from
Colorblends, they are clockwise from top left: 'Tahiti' daffodils, 'Barrett Browning' daffodils, 'Top 40' Colorblends mix, grape hyacinth, 'Ballet Class' tulip mix.
You will see these bloom in various places in town, such as the Town Hall planters, "Welcome Sign" triangles, and in front of the Thrift Shop. What a beautiful spring it will be!
|
Bulb planting is happening at Lee Garden too!
Lee Garden volunteers are busy bringing spring beauty to our peaceful woodland. Clockwise, from upper left are: winter wolf's bane, 'Sempre Avanti' daffodils, 'Barrett Browning' daffodils,
Allium moly, and blue squill. All bulbs are from
Colorblends.
If you'd like to help with any of the autumn work in the garden, give our chairs a call or email!
|
Charlie Woodman
SLOBs / Lee Garden
Volunteer Receives Award
Charlie Woodman received the Youth MVP award from the New Canaan Community Foundation on November 17 at the Town Hall for his work with the NCHS Service League of Boys. He is a frequent volunteer at Lee Garden with the SLOBs organization, and last year donated the proceeds from a SLOBs award to the NCBL.
|
|
|
NCBL NOTECARDS
Notecards are $13.00 each (package of 6 different designs) or two packages for $26.00. Call or email Faith. This is a local gift that says New Canaan and NCBL on each card backing. Great for secretaries, hostess gifts, bridge group, grab bags, etc.
|
Some of our members submitted book ideas to give as gifts for yourself and others this holiday season. The books below can purchased at Elm Street Books or if out of stock, the store can order them for you.
|
|
Larry Weaner's Latest Book
Larry Weaner, a program speaker for the NCBL last year, has a new book out by Timber Press:
Garden Revolution: How Our Landscapes Can Be a Source of Environmental Change.
"An invaluable and provocative resource for gardeners who want to collaborate with their local ecologies - and save themselves both heartbreak and backbreak." - The New York Times Book Review
|
|
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
In
The Hidden Life of Trees
,
Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware.
|
|
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren
An illuminating debut memoir of a woman in science, Lab Girl is a moving portrait of a longtime friendship, and a stunningly fresh look at plants that will forever change how you see the natural world.
|
|
... and any of Penelope Hobhouse's top 10:
An excerpt from the Old House Gardens Blog has printed Penelope Hobhouse's top ten gardening reads. See her list
HERE.
|
|
and a book for the kids:
Charles Darwin's Around the World Adventure by
Jennifer Thermes (Libby's neice!)
Complete with mesmerizing map work that charts Darwin's thrilling five-year voyage, as well as "Fun Facts" and more,
Charles Darwin's Around-the-World Adventure
captures the beauty and mystery of nature with wide-eyed wonder.
|
EVENTS OF INTEREST AROUND TOWN
|
|
Presentation and Book Signing
Thursday
December 8, 2017
6:30pm at the New Canaan Library
Celebrate the beauty and elegance of flowers as Ngoc Mihn Ngo presents
In Bloom: Creating and Living with Flowers
. Ngo's seductive photography masterfully captures the beauty of these flower-inspired homes and the engaging text shares the unique vision behind these artists and designers' botanical creations.
|
|
NYBG Classes at the Nature Center
The New York Botanical Garden is holding classes at the New Canaan Nature Center! How convenient it is to get top notch training from some of the best instructors in the country right in our own backyard!
Upcoming classes are listed below. To read the class descriptions and to register, click
HERE
.
Perennial Plant Combinations : Thursday, February 2, 10:30 am - 3:00 pm
Landscape Design : Thursday, March 9, 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
|
|
|
|
