October, 2022 Newsletter
Volunteers Making New Canaan Beautiful
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Dear Members and Friends,
The crispness in the air is invigorating! And with it comes new adventures. Old and new NCBL friends gathered at the Colonnade at Mead Park for our first event, the Welcome Back Coffee. Even our town works partners came to share in refreshments and good will.
The year's programs are all set with a variety of gardening events. After pruning and putting our triangles to bed for the winter, we will move to building those enchanting gnomes that bring smiles to everyone. And we can turn our sights indoors and help brighten the days at Waveny Care Center with colorful floral arrangements.
Please note that the January, February & March programs will be via Zoom - and that the November program is an evening event.
Warmly,
Robin Bates-Mason & Jill Ernst
co-Presidents
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We couldn't do what we do, without Tiger and his crew.
To see more photos from our Welcome Back Coffee click the button below.
Thank you Peter Hanson, for being our photographer that morning.
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OOPS! Could you possibly have forgotten to pay your dues?
If you joined the League after January 1, 2022, you need
not pay a thing. Otherwise, kindly fill out the membership form again so we
have your most current information
and send it along with your check to:
NCBL Membership
P.O. Box 1244
New Canaan, CT 06840
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See you at the luncheon!
If you did not register, but want to be placed on the wait list, please contact Gloria Simon:
203-972-8069
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NCBL Autumn Luncheon
Thursday, October 6, 2022, 11:30-2:00 P.M.
Woodway Country Club, Darien
The Garden Tourist’s Hudson Valley
with Jana Milbocker
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In her talk, The Garden Tourist’s Hudson Valley, renowned speaker, author, and garden designer, Jana Milbocker, will take you on a tour of the best public gardens in the Hudson Valley, including Kykuit, Boscobel, Stonecrop, the Vanderbilt Estate and more. Her books will be available for purchase, including The Garden Tourist: 120 Destination Gardens and Nurseries in the Northeast as well as two others.
Jana is a garden designer, speaker, and author. She combines horticulture, design, and travel tips to educate, inspire and delight both new and seasoned gardeners. Jana loves to visit gardens and historic sites in the U.S. and abroad, and share her trips through her books, photos and blog.
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Pots with Pizzazz
A Tutorial on Creating Stunning Containers
for the Fall Season and Holidays
with Terrance Rhodes
owner and principal of Floral & Landscape Designs by Rhodes
November 2, 2022
7:00 pm
New Canaan Nature Center
144 Oenoke Ridge, New Canaan
Note: this is an evening program!
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Containers add instant color and create a welcoming focal point to a porch or garden. Have you ever wondered how to create your own container that reflects your own unique style? Local floral and landscape designer Terrance Rhodes will demonstrate how to create stunning containers that pop with color and personality. He will provide tips on how to choose the right seasonal plants and flowers along with essential elements needed to make that perfect impression. Terrance will create two containers: one fall themed and one holiday themed. Attendees will be entered into a raffle for a chance to win one of these beautiful creations! Come celebrate the warmth of the season with this fun demonstration! |
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About Terrance: Terrance Rhodes brings his botanical knowledge and creativity to container gardening with over 30 years of floral, wedding and special events design experience. An alumnus of Alfred State college with a degree in Landscape Development, he has been in the Interior Design community in Connecticut for over 12 years. He creatively designed for the New Canaan Holiday House Tour in 2019 and has worked on numerous special events in Texas, New York, Connecticut and several other states. As owner and principal of Floral & Landscape Designs by Rhodes, Terrance has a passion for nature and utilizing natural materials in his artistic creations. Container designing is one of his specialties: he keenly understands all design elements - from a plant's growing requirements to how color, texture and layers all come together to create balance and harmony. He believes there are no design hard and fast rules and firmly believes in creative freedom - whether to create natural design, whimsical drama or just seasonal fun. He hopes to inspire you in either creating your own holiday containers or investing in someone to do it for you.
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Wednesday
November 30, 2022
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IT'S TIME TO SIGN UP FOR THE HOLIDAY GREENS WORKSHOP!
Celebrate the season by helping with our Holiday Greens & Gnomes Workshop at the New Canaan Nature Center.
Join us on Wednesday, November 30 to create the wreaths, arrangements and woodland gnomes that give New Canaan a special sense of festivity and cheer. This year, there will be three shifts and many opportunities to share your talents at the workshop at the New Canaan Nature Center. We will be partnering again with the New Canaan Garden Club. This is a fun and enjoyable time to welcome the holiday season. Your time is greatly appreciated by us as well as the town. Please get in touch with Kathleen Murphy (kapmgo@gmail) or Barbara O'Shea (barbara636@mac.com) if you have questions.
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Susan Bergen, Lois Himes & Angela Materna work on a wreath. |
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Please note that all of our programs for the 2022-2023 year can be found on our website. Mark your calendars!
Our November program will take place in the evening.
Our January, February & March programs will be via Zoom webinar.
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Waveny Care Center Flower Arranging |
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Please Sign up to Make Flower Arrangements
Fall is here! Making arrangements for the residents of Waveny is a fun and worthwhile project for veterans and newcomers alike. We work on Monday mornings using flowers donated by local merchants and from our own gardens. The work is done on-site at Waveny, usually in pairs, creating an assortment of arrangements for the dining room and other areas in the facility. We will find an experienced partner to work with you if you are new to the project. Guidelines and hands-on help are provided. Think of the smiles you can bring to the faces of the residents.
FLOWERS WILL BE PROVIDED.
We are currently looking for help for the following Mondays at 9:30 am:
October 10th
December 26th
A big thank you to those who have already volunteered.
We can't do this without you!
To sign up, please email us and include any questions you may have:
Enikō Szatai
Betsy Bilus
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Nancy Malling (left) and Pam Yee (right) help with flower arranging at Waveny Care Center. Arrangements by Nancy and Pam. |
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The Triangles Committee needs 3 volunteers!
Please read about the areas below that can use your help:
New Triangle needs a partner.
Angela Materna cares for the new 'Welcome to New Canaan' sign garden at the intersection of Rtes. 106 & 15 and would love to have a co-gardener. Please let her know if you are available to help.
angela@tmaterna.com
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Extra set of hands needed. Bring a friend:
Kathy Lapolla is looking for help with the Lambert & Oenoke Ridge Rd. triangle. If you would like to join her to help with this lovely triangle please let us know or contact Kathy directly. She really needs an extra set of hands - or 2 - to control the various weeds that sprout up along this main thoroughfare into town.
kathylfore@optonline.net
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Oenoke and Lambert Road triangle |
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Smallest triangle needs a little help.
Our smallest triangle at the intersection of Talmadge Hill Rd. & Hollow Tree Ridge, needs a friendly visit about 3 times a year to do a little pruning of roses and pulling of a few weeds. (The hosta pretty much take care of the weeds.) Please let the triangles committee know if you are willing to help out.
Thank you!
barbara@wilsonlandscapearchitect.com
nccolabella@hotmail.com
greg@carlinobrown.com
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NCBL's Traveling Trowels care for:
The Gold Star Walk and Plaza at Mead Park on Richmond Hill Road
The mail box drop-off at the corner of Pine and Park Streets
Town Hall's pots and the garden running atop the wall along the driveway
The railroad station
Traveling Trowels, lead by Faith Kerchoff and Rob Carpenter, takes on the task and has a lot of fun in the process!
We need members who are willing to pitch in when garden help is needed.
If you'd like to be part of the group, meet more members and learn a lot about the plants we grow, the history of the town and laugh while you're doing it, please email Faith at:
faithkerchoff@hotmail.com
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Faith & Lois Himes on Pine St. |
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Faith & Cindy Bamatter on Pine St. |
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Faith Kerchoff gave an update of recent Traveling Trowel activity:
We added two Stokes' asters, Stokesia laevis 'Mel's Blue, to the mailbox garden. 'Mel's Blue' is a beautiful, hearty plant. The species is native to the southeast United States. The flowers, larger than other asters and a lovely blue, are prized for their midsummer and fall flowering show and are a favorite pollinator plant.
At the top of the mailbox hill we added three Amsonia hubrichtii, Hubricht's bluestar. This is a south-central US native plant, known for its foliage of narrow leaves and blue periwinkle spring bloom. Its fall foliage turns golden/orange in color.
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The plaza at Mead Park and the Gold Star walk got a good weeding and pruning in mid September thanks to volunteers Pat Thatcher, Yvonne Hunkeler, Faith Kerchoff, Stephanie Hutter, Pam Yee and Katherine Humphreys. As well, two of the group went over to Benko Pool and weeded the garden under the sign.
Thank you all so very much! 'Many hands make light work!'
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Yvonne Hunkeler & Faith Kerchoff |
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Yvonne & Faith planted the Town Hall planters for fall.
W.O.W!
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On the last day of September, Traveling Trowels weeded, dead-headed plants that were past bloom, and planted a few new plants at the Mead Park plaza, Gold Star Bridge, and Mead entrance. Many thanks to Claire Perkins, Pam Yee, Cindy Bamatter, Katherine Humphreys, Lois Himes, Stephanie Hutter, Sandy Seigel, Faith Kerchoff, and Betsy Sammarco for their help.
There was a lot of excitement as Cindy discovered, while weeding, a monarch caterpillar on the Asclepias tuberosa that was planted in the spring.
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Faith recently spoke to the Rotary Club about NCBL and what we do. Most of the members, she discovered, thought the Town did the work that NCBL does. Attendees expressed their gratitude to the league. The group would like to hold a lunch meeting at Lee Garden come spring. Thank you, Faith, for continuing to spread the word about Beautification!
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L to R:. Rich Townsend, Rotary president, Faith Kerchoff and Rob Fryer, past president.
(Rob and his wife, Margy, are NCBL members.)
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SOUTH AVENUE 'RE-LEAFING' PROJECT |
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Tree-lovers, dog-walkers and anyone else who uses South Avenue will be pleased to learn about a new initiative to restore the "urban forest canopy" along this important gateway into New Canaan. For decades, street trees have gradually disappeared from South Avenue without being replaced. The last tree-planting project by NCBL's predecessor organization, the New Canaan Garden Center - from Bank Street north to Elm Street - was completed over 20 years ago. The first good news is that the Town has recently awarded a contract to prune those trees that remain above Bank Street. Also, thanks to recent American Rescue Plan Act funding made available to New Canaan, NCBL is partnering with the Town to plant up to 125 new trees along South Avenue in the spring of 2023. Tree choice and siting recommendations for the South Avenue Re-Leafing Project are being developed under the leadership of Co-President Jill Ernst, Betsy Bilus and Faith Kerchoff, with assistance from members Barbara Wilson, Peter Atkins and Ty Tan. Not only will the new trees beautify and cool the neighborhood, but in time they will support critical food webs necessary to nurture local bird populations. |
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Jill takes notes about trees on South Avenue for the re-leafing project.. |
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Autumn is a beautiful time to visit Lee Garden. There is still plenty blooming, including goldenrod and aster. Berries and seed pods will start to dot the landscape. You won't want to miss the unique berries of white baneberry (also aptly called doll's eyes) on the hill below the barn. |
The flowers of Solidago caesia (axillary goldenrod) are found in the axils of the stems.
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The berries of Actaea pachypoda (white baneberry, doll's eyes) are white with a conspicuous purplish 'eye'.
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NCBL Directory & Insert Corrections |
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Please make the following corrections to your NCBL Directory and Program Insert:
On the program insert:
The date of the Luncheon is Thursday, October 6
The date of the Wreaths Workshop is Wednesday, November 30.
In the directory on page 4:
Finance Committee:
Debbie Raymond should be listed as head of committee. Jill Ernst remains as a member of the committee.
Karen Sneirson and Barbara Beall should be removed from the committee.
Robin Bates-Mason should be listed as a member of the committee.
Advisory Council:
Tucker Murphy is removed and Laura Budd is added to the council.
In List of Members:
Betsy Bilus no longer uses the (H) phone.
Yvonne Hunkeler's email should be: Yvonne.hunkeler@gmail.com
Joan McLaughlin's email should be: jmclaughlin22@optonline.net
Thank you to all who reported the mistakes. You can be my proofreaders next year! - Sara
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Thank YOU Sara for creating a wonderful directory! This is no easy task and it is greatly appreciated! |
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Welcome to our newest members:
Wendy Fog
Amy Sorensen
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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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NCBL traditionally supports the Rotary Club's Lobsterfest with promoting ticket sales and decorations. Pictured below are three members who gave their time to this wonderful fundraising event this year: (from left to right) Stephanie Hutter, Jill Ernst, and (new member) Mary Ann Henry. |
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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 membership.
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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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