March, 2023 Newsletter
Volunteers Making New Canaan Beautiful
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Dear Members and Friends,
The calendar says spring isn’t here just yet but the New Canaan Beautification League is already in full swing. Our Programs Committee has another fabulous webinar planned on March 1st, “All About Dahlias!” with Sean Corenki of the Gardener’s Center in Darien. Betsy Bilus, with the help of NCBL volunteers, is leading The South Avenue re-Leafing Project with the Town of New Canaan and planting may begin as early as April. Be on the lookout - it will be hard to miss! Gloria Simon has been hard at work preparing for the Spring Buffet Luncheon on March 22nd at Waveny House - a great chance to reconnect with all of our NCBL friends.
Then we have big news from Lee Memorial Garden - the new gate has been installed! A big thank you to Rob Carpenter, Peggy Danneman, Yvonne Hunkeler, Kathy Lapolla, Faith Kerchoff and Carol Seldin as well as the Newcomers for making the gate a reality.
Lastly, under the direction of Patricia Spugani, the Annual Appeal letter will hit New Canaan mailboxes soon. Created by our marketing genius Laura Ault, the Annual Appeal letter beautifully highlights everything we do for New Canaan.
Spring isn’t here yet but NCBL is already off to an amazing start. Thanks to everyone for making it possible.
Sincerely,
Robin Bates-Mason & Jill Ernst
co-Presidents
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Signs of spring from NCBL tended areas: photos 1,3 Claude Colabella; photo 2 Peter Hanson |
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Say 'Hello' to the New NCBL Website! |
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The newly revamped and upgraded New Canaan Beautification League website is live. Woohoo! We worked with each of the League’s committees to ensure a site that would deliver more capability to our members online. On the new site, you can:
- Donate to the Annual Appeal, no check required (it’s right around the corner!)
- Easily renew your membership each June (or share the link with friends you’d like to recruit!)
- Register for our upcoming programs
- Stay updated on our town projects, and learn more about Lee Garden
- Continue to access our newsletters, documents, lending library, and videos of past programs
We’re thrilled with the new site’s modernized layout and increased functionality, and hope you’ll find it valuable, too. While we iron out the final developmental kinks, we welcome your thoughts.
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Our ever so popular Spring Buffet Luncheon (previously The Victorian Tea) will be taking place in March on the 22nd, just two days after the official first day of spring! Come celebrate spring with members and friends at this much loved event. |
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RSVP with number attending/guest name and email
by March 15 to:
Gloria Simon
(203)972-8069 or thesimons4949@gmail.com
Note: due to space, members are limited to two guests.
Guest names must be submitted with RSVP to Gloria.
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Let us know if you’ll be bringing:
2 dozen finger sandwiches
2 dozen sweets
a green salad
a fruit salad
or deviled eggs.
Please bring food on a decorative plate or bowl.
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Please contact Jacqueline Harmody if you have a tea pot to loan for the event.
jharmody@yahoo.com
Jacqueline needs 10 - 12 teapots and if your teapot is used, you will be able to take home the arrangement in your pot!
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April 5, 2023
9:30 - 11:30 am
New Canaan Library's new auditorium
Blue Violet
with author Cig Harvey
Guests welcome.
No RSVP needed.
We are thrilled to welcome Cig Harvey, British-born artist and writer living in Maine and working in large-format color photography and poetry. Rich in implied narrative, saturated in color, and deeply rooted in the natural world, her work is devoted to the topic of what it is to feel.
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She has published five sold-out books and her photographs and books are in the permanent collections of museums across the world, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Library of Congress, Yale University, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Farnsworth Art Museum, and the International Museum of Photography and Film. Cig will share with us the inspiration behind her book, Blue Violet, a vibrant meditation on the procession of seasons, sensory abundance, and the magic in everyday life. Signed copies will be available for sale following the presentation.
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The Hospitality Committee is looking for volunteers to donate baked goods/food items for our joint meeting with the New Canaan Garden Club on April 5, 2023 at the New Canaan Library.
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Wednesday
May 3, 2023
9:30 - 11:30 am
New Canaan Nature Center
Pam Roman will explain step-by-step how she removed invasive shrubs and vines in order to create a native pollinator-friendly garden. How can such a daunting, seemingly hopeless task become reality? Join us as Pam explains what she did in her own yard, day-by-day, month-by-month, over a period of 3 years.
Pam Roman is a former book publishing executive who now works with local organizations that embrace native plantings, sustainability, and teaching children the value of all things nature. An avocational gardener and birder all her adult life, Pam has spent years at work in her own Trumbull yard, removing invasive plants, growing native (and non-native) flowers and shrubs, and tending to a vegetable garden.
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above: photos from Pam Roman's garden. |
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Calling TRAVELING TROWELS!
March 3
9:30 - 11:30 am
Dust of your trimmers and find your garden gear for a clean up day on FRI. MAR. 3 at the Mailboxes.
Learn how to prepare for bulbs and blooms.
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Introduction to Waveny Care Center
Flower Arranging
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Introduction to Flower Arranging at Waveny Care
April 26
10:00 am
Waveny Care Center
Have you wondered what it's like to be an NCBL flower arranging volunteer at Waveny Care Center?
Come to this volunteer introduction to see how fun and easy it is!
This introduction includes a mini flower arranging demonstration and a tour of the flower arranging room. It is a great way to gain confidence, get to know fellow NCBL members, and make Waveny Care Center a more beautiful place for residents.
For more information, contact Betsy Bilus: enbilus@gmail.com
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OPEN GARDEN DAY
Sunday
May 21, 2023
1:00 - 4:00 pm
Come see the breathtaking display of azaleas and rhododendrons in their peak spring bloom! Bring your friends, family, and camera!
Lee Garden is open every day, dawn to dusk. On our Open Garden Day you will be able to meet and ask questions of the volunteers who work hard to keep this garden beautiful.
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On Saturday, February 18, the new gate at Lee Garden was installed. Designed by Faith Kerchoff, Vinnie's Ironworks (formerly known as Steve's Ironworks) in Norwalk manufactured it. (They also made the Silvermine signs, the Bristow gates, and the entrance to the allee on Elm Street by the movie theater.) The gate is 10 feet further back from the road so cars can pull into the driveway while they open the gate. Additionally, there is a new WALK-IN GATE, so neighbors do not need to open the big gate. One member commented that the lettering looks like the house-building fairies might have written it. "It's whimsical, welcoming, fun and friendly". A huge debt of gratitude to Faith for many hours of work and also to the Newcomers of New Canaan for a most generous donation to help make it happen!
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Faith and Vinnie Ambrosio outside the new gate. |
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LEAF DAYS AT LEE GARDEN
Monday March 6 and Thursday March 9
10am - 2pm
Refreshments
Come help us take leaf clumps off the bulbs that are pushing up and trim Hellebore and Epimedium leaves from last year.
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Crocus and snow drops at Lee Garden |
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Spring is arriving this month and as we wait, enjoy this presentation compiled by Faith Kerchoff showcasing the blooms we have to look forward to at Lee Garden this year. Faith has photos of plants from March through October with special photos by George Lee himself at the end. Click below to see Faith's blooming document: |
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To volunteer at Lee Garden, contact Faith Kerchoff. We can always use more people! |
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Save the Date: Annual Meeting |
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Fireflies
with Chris Schipper
Wednesday
June 7, 2023
9:30 - 11:30 am
New Canaan Nature Center
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Informal Member Garden Visits 2023 |
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It's time to mark your calendar for the 2023 NCBL Informal Garden Visits. This year we will be having garden visits on:
Thursday, May 18
Thursday, June 15
Wednesday, July 12
Wednesday, August 16
The gardens will be open from 9:30 to noon, to 35 registered NCBL members. Pre- registration for all 4 events will open in early May. Watch the newsletter for updated information.
PLEASE LET NANCY MALLING KNOW IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE A GREETER. IT'S GREAT WAY TO MEET FELLOW MEMBERS!
nancy@themallings.com
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Did you miss our February program, 'Gardens for All' with Irene Barber? Perhaps you attended the presentation, but want to watch it again. You're in luck! The recorded presentation is available on our YouTube channel for the month of March.
Just click the image below! It will be removed on April 1.
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Three new 'Welcome to New Canaan" signs are being installed and Barbara Wilson is drawing up designs for their gardens. The Triangles Committee will be soliciting volunteers to help care for them. |
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Whether you are helping weed areas in town with our Traveling Trowels, weeding your town triangle, or weeding in your own yard, it's helpful to recognize what is a weed and what is not! Triangle co-chair and Landscape Architect Barbara Wilson is sharing this weed presentation in pdf format that was originally presented by Todd Mervosh from the CAES. |
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South Avenue Re-leafing Project |
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Betsy Bilus is heading up a committee which will plant trees along South Avenue from Bank Street south, and will replace some that have died north of Bank Street. They are drawing up a list of the trees which are mostly native, their heights & locations. The plan will be submitted to the DOT for approval. The committee hopes to begin planting in April.
You can read more about this project at this NewCanaanite link:
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The Annual Appeal and Marketing committees are busy preparing the colorful 2023 appeal letter and bookmark. Once again, Laura Ault is designing it for us, ensuring the message is consistent with NCBL’s overall brand image, while highlighting the volunteers behind our organization. Many thanks to Laura and everyone who is contributing to another successful launch.
Look for the 2023 Annual Appeal pamphlet in your mailbox early March!
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Welcome to our newest members!
Mary and Jon Abelack
Ann Flinn
Peggy and Bill Jansen
Amy Murphy
Maria and Joe Weingarten
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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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Please let me know if a member of our NCBL family needs some cheering up in the form of a card, or perhaps, some flowers.
to provide me with the appropriate information.
Many thanks for your thoughtfulness!
Libby
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There are a couple of wonderful presentations happening in and around our town that focus on native plants and wilding your yard: |
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Lunch & Learn Webinar
with
Missy Fabel from
Plan It Wild
Friday, March 3rd
12:00-1:00pm
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Looking for 'Blooms'
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 membership.
We want to be sure everyone feels welcome.
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NCBL board member, Dr. Steve Zatz has joined the board of the Waveny Park Conservancy. He’s chairman and CEO of Remedy Health Media and a director of Prognos Health. Zatz received his undergraduate degree from Yale College, then graduated from Cornell University Medical College and completed his internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
Steve is an NCBL board member on our Programs Committee and his wonderful gardens and yard were part of our Informal Garden Visits tour last year. Congratulations to Steve on this new position!
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photos of Steve and his garden courtesy of Sara Hunt. |
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Honoring One of our Members |
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This year the Gridiron Club is honoring NCBL member and former member of our Advisory Council Tucker Murphy, at a dinner in April at the Country Club of New Canaan. Sara Hunt is organizing a table for NCBL members (and their spouses) for Thursday, April 27. It’s a roast, and it’s always fun!
Before March 15, if we reserve a table for ten people at $1600, we can pay $160 a person rather than the standard $175 a person. I must guarantee the table with my check so let me know before March 15 if you want to join the NCBL table. You then can pay me $160 per person. If ten more people sign up, we will get a second table.
After March 15, you can sign up for your tickets through the Gridiron Club and pay $175 per person for either Thursday, April 27 or Friday, April 28. If you want to sit with fellow NCBL members on Thursday night, let the Gridiron Club and Sara Hunt know.. You can still sit with NCBL members, but you won’t get the break in price.
Tickets to the public will go on sale March 15.
Sara Hunt skhminky@optonline.net 203-966-3313
152 Butler Lane
New Canaan, CT 06840
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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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