December, 2021 Newsletter
Volunteers Making New Canaan Beautiful
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Dear New Canaan Beautification League Members and Friends,
Embrace the holiday spirit of fun, family, friendship, festivities & fabulous food! Enjoy your traditional - and maybe not-so-traditional celebrations of Hanukkah, Christmas and New Year’s.
Some ideas for de-stressing and working off those holiday calories:
Take a walk in Lee Garden and enjoy the winter wonderland scene. Look carefully and you just might find some small flowers blooming bravely.
While you are at it, why not indulge in helpful leaf swatting which keeps the leaves from weighing down the plants with winter snow and possibly damaging the branches and buds of rhodos and azaleas. You’ve always wanted to be part of a swat team, right?
Indulge in a nature stroll through Bristow Bird Sanctuary and find the fernery – planted by NCBL in conjunction with the SLOBs and Public Works and designed by our Ty Tan.
Spend some time in your garden, a friend’s garden, any garden - and forage for items to use in your decorating and tablescapes – as inspired by our most recent presenter, Kyle Riccoboni. We will never look at oak leaves or random branches the same way again after he showed us what you can do with them.
Fix a cup of hot chocolate, relax by the warmth of a crackling fire, and spend time reading Page Dickey’s marvelous book Uprooted. She shares her joy in the making of her new garden.
Make the rounds of our public buildings to admire the beautiful wreaths and friendly gnomes created and decorated at the Holiday Workshop. Special thanks to Laura & Andrew Ault, Kathleen & Peter Murphy, Faith Kerchoff and the many elves from NCBL and GCNC for their time and talents.
Put on a kitschy holiday apron and cook up one of the tasty recipes provided monthly by our savvy chefs of the Hospitality Committee: Cindy Bamatter, Robin Miner and Anne Tropeano. How about a yummy batch of El’s Apricot Bars? The recipe is in this issue.
Invest in a new blower – good for leaves, cleaning your walkway or garage and even blowing light snow. Carol is positively smitten with her new powerful, yet lightweight, model.
Take a drive down Buttery Road to see Rob Carpenter’s incredibly fantastic holiday light display! You will want to return again and again with family and friends.
Count your blessings for all good things – great and small – as we do - when we think about you, our dedicated Beautification League members, and all you do for our town and Beautification League.
Cheers to 2022!
Warmly,
Carol & Karen
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The Right-Size Garden
with Kerry Ann Mendez
Wednesday, January 5, 2022
9:30 - 11:30 am
This program will only be offered via Zoom and a link will be sent to each member shortly before the presentation.
Per request of the speaker, the program will NOT be recorded.
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Kerry Ann Mendez, author, blogger and nationally acclaimed speaker will help us simplify our outdoor space with low-maintenance design solutions and plant choices so that we can spend more quality time in our gardens. The Right-Size Flower Garden will be available at Elm Street Books.
Kerry is an award-winning garden educator, author and design consultant based in southern Maine. Since 2015 she has presented over 400 lectures to more than 40,000 gardeners in 21 states and Canada. As a popular educator and communicator she has received over 450 five-star reviews from her lecture audiences, which are available for review on the independent national website GreatGardenSpeakers.com. In 2014 she received the Gold Medal award from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for “Exceptional teaching and writing that increases public enjoyment and appreciation of horticulture.” Her gardens have been featured in numerous magazines including Better Homes and Gardens, Fine Gardening, Country Gardens, Garden Gate and Horticulture.
Books are available at
ELM STREET BOOKS
35 Elm St.
New Canaan, CT
203/966-4545
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Get Your Garden Ready for Spring
with Sean Corenki
Wednesday, February 2, 2022
9:30 - 11:30 am
This program will only be offered via Zoom.
Information coming soon.
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Sean Corenki, Manager of The Gardener’s Center in Darien, will discuss the various tasks we should be performing in our early spring gardens--including soil preparation, pruning, and choosing ornamental and edible plants. Be ready with your questions!
Sean has been working in the retail garden center industry for 30 years - the last 16 at The Gardener's Center in Darien as General Manager and Buyer for the nursery. Although his formal background is in history, he developed a love for horticulture at a young age, spending summer days in his father's vegetable gardens and great grandmother's perennial gardens. When he is not working he loves to garden (obviously!), cook, read historical non-fiction and keep up with his 1898 Queen Anne Victorian house.
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Rewatch the November Program |
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Thank you to Kyle Riccoboni for a wonderful demonstration on using clippings from our own autumn garden to create lovely centerpieces like the one pictured with Jill Ernst.
You can follow Kyle on Instagram @modernhouseplant.
Did you miss the presentation?
Want to watch it again?
You can find it on our YouTube channel
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Please welcome these new members to NCBL!
Janet Fonss
interests: Traveling Trowels, Tours, Writing, Programs, Finance, Baking, Fundraising
Pam Yee
interest: Triangles, Traveling Trowels, Lee Garden, Tours, Flower Arranging, Programs, & Membership
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Civic Beautification | Traveling Trowels |
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Thanks to Betsy Bilus, and Peter and Kathleen Murphy, the Center School Bell looks ready for fall. As Faith says, "It will be an oasis among the construction!"
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Pretty place to sit for a spell. |
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A new temporary resident at Center School Lot. |
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Bristow Bird Sanctuary's Fernery
The 'fernery' was planted in Bristow with 4 shifts of SLOBs (Service League of Boys) and their parents, as well as help from NCBL. Thanks to Jill Ernst, Eniko Szatai, Sandy Siegel, Stephanie Hutter, Faith Kerchoff and a wonderful design plan from Ty Tan - and excellent plants from Copia Home and Garden.
We received a note of thanks from Chris Schipper:
Many thanks to you and your traveling trowels team for joining in with the SLOBs to install the fernery. The final result looks great! Please extend our thanks to your crew.
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Stepping back for perspective |
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Plants among the rocks look great |
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A note from our Triangle Chairs to our much appreciated Triangle caretakers:
Please clean up your triangles as soon as possible so the town can pick up the detritus. Thank you!
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The berries of the Hawthorne tree on the Ponus Ridge/Greenley Road triangle are striking this time of year. |
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Recent photos and news from Lee Garden: |
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Lois Himes is one of our mainstay volunteers who shows up for duty at the mailbox drop-off, Mead park plaza, Gold Star Walk, and Lee Garden. Thank you Lois! |
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Lee Garden has received and planted 3 Witch Hazel 'Harvest Moon' plants this fall. This will give fall color to Lee Garden every year. |
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Hamamelis virginiana 'Harvest Moon' (Witch Hazel 'Harvest Moon') shown above, was discovered by Broken Arrow Nursery in Connecticut. Years ago, while Broken Arrow Nursery was propagating the straight species as root stock, one particular seedling was found to have a higher concentration of flowers and a later bloom time in the fall when compared to the straight species. Finding this to be an exceptional variation to this native plant, they have since introduced this cultivar into the nursery trade.
Photo above, courtesy of Broken Arrow Nursery. Thank you to Adam Wheeler from Broken Arrow Nursery for the information on the origins of this plant. Read more about Broken Arrow Nursery at this link: Broken Arrow Nursery.
You can learn more about our native Witch Hazel by checking out our November newsletter by clicking HERE.
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Our Holiday Wish List at Lee Garden
If anyone is cleaning up and getting rid of these items,
please keep Lee Garden in mind and consider a donation:
Chrome storage shelves
or other open book shelves
Regular size plastic rakes
and mini plastic rakes (30” size)
Garden work gloves
Small vacuum cleaner
Plastic storage tubs
One outdoor and one indoor
thermometer
Bird houses (not feeders)
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Waveny Care Center Flower Arranging |
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We are lucky to be mobile and unencumbered by health issues. Why not cheer those who are not so fortunate by volunteering an hour or so of your time to make bouquets at Waveny Care Center?
Experienced volunteers are needed to work with new volunteers for a few dates in December.
to offer your help!
Flowers can be sourced from your garden (or other members' gardens), area stores (Stew Leonard's, Costco, Walter Stewart's, Acme, East Coast Wholesale Flowers, Trader Joe's) and local churches. Even vegetable gardens can provide fragrance and visual interest in the form of herbs and sprigs of aromatic foliage. Reimbursement is available.
Thanks for your enthusiastic support.
Waveny asks that all volunteers be vaccinated, and please bring a mask.
COVID testing is not currently required for entry, but this could change depending on external conditions. If a testing requirement is reinstated, it will involve a 15-minute COVID test administered onsite by Waveny staff. We will advise of any changes and are grateful for your understanding. Detailed guidelines will be provided to every volunteer.
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Special Thanks to the Volunteers for all the Flower Arrangments
Betsy Bilus and I received great help from the volunteer teams who installed many flower arrangements in various rooms - not only the dining room - every Monday.
Special thanks to the volunteers in September who soldiered on when there were difficult situations in the preparation room.
Also in September, a very special thanks to Carol Seldin who let us pick from her garden, allowing us to select a variety of flowers for our volunteers to work with.
In October we received flower donations from Scott’s Corner Market in Pound Ridge and Darien Stop and Shop. Thanks to them as well!
Our great teams have made beautiful, colorful, seasonal flower arrangements of various sizes for which the staff and residents of Waveny Care Center expressed great appreciation every week.
Thank you very much for your patience, assistance and amazing help!
Looking forward working with you again in December and June.
Betsy Bilus and Enikő Szatai
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Barb Achenbaum in the prep room. |
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One of Barb's arrangments |
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Faith Kerchoff and Yvonne Hunkeler's arrangements above. |
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Arrangements done by Beth Golden and Judy Johnson |
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El’s Apricot Bars
Ingredients:
1-1/4 cup softened butter
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 cups all purpose flour
¾ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¾ chopped walnuts
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
2 jars good apricot (or raspberry) preserves
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a rimmed cookie sheet.
Cream together butter and sugar. Mix flour, baking soda and salt together then add slowly to the butter mixture. Add remaining ingredients until blended. Mixture will be crumbly. Press half of the dough into the prepared cookie sheet making sure the entire surface is covered. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and spread preserves over the entire crust. Cover the preserves with the remaining dough (forming a crumbly topping). Bake an additional 20-25 minutes until lightly browned and the preserves are bubbling. Remove pan from oven and run a sharp knife around the edges of the pan. Let cool completely before cutting.
Submitted by Anne Tropeano
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If you have changed any of your contact information (home address, email address, or phone number), please let membership know. |
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Happy or sad, please let me know if one of our NCBL members, needs some support or cheer in the form of a note and maybe, some flowers.
Many thanks for your thoughtfulness!
Libby
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From a grateful recipient:
Thanks to my friends at the New Canaan Beautification League for the beautiful bouquet that I found on my doorstep. It was so thoughtful of you to reach out and wish my husband a speedy recovery. It is truly appreciated.
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Looking for 'Blooms'
We want to be sure everyone feels welcome.
We have new members joining us each month and we need volunteers to be 'blooms' to help us welcome our 'buds'. Just share your enthusiasm and alert them to upcoming events.
For more information or to volunteer, please contact Jill Ernst.
203-972-0320.
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Prior NCBL Webinar Links Available |
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Thank you to everyone who subscribed to our YouTube channel!
We have hit 100 subscribers and now have our own custom url address.
You can watch many of our past programs and other videos of interest by clicking the image below. The link to our YouTube channel is always available on our website or at the bottom of our newsletters.
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The Gift of Learning:
What a better time than winter to hunker down and learn something new. Consider taking a class, or gifting a class to a gardener or citizen scientist on your gift list. The following links will lead you to classes on native plants and gardening, the perfect gift:
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NCBL Gnome Ornaments Available this Year |
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Faith Kerchoff organizes handmade New Canaan ornaments for the NC Museum and Historical Society. This year, our own NCBL gnome will be one of the ornaments!
Click below to download the order form
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You can also visit the New Canaan Museum and Historical Society website to order:
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NCBL VESTS
We are taking orders for our new green fleece vest that has an embroidered NCBL LOGO.
They are $45. Check, cash or paypal.
Sizes available: XS-S-M-L-XL- 3X-4X (the sizes run a bit large).
They are being made by 84 Sports in New Canaan.
Send or drop off money to Faith Kerchoff.
(Faith is wearing a medium in the photo above.)
Also, if triangle/traveling trowels volunteers would like long-sleeve T-shirts,
let Faith know. They are free.
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Above laugh with thanks to Robin Bates-Mason. |
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Why does Santa have a garden?
So he can ho! ho! ho!
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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. |
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visit our website:
New Canaan Beautification League
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