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Volunteers – Branford Garden Club
The breeze, the trees, the honeybees
All volunteers!
Juliet Carinreap
Have
you looked around Branford lately? What a beautiful
town! As beautiful as Branford is, there are volunteers
who work tirelessly to make it even better. They are the
members of the Branford Garden Club, more than one
hundred strong. Being a member of the Branford Garden
Club isn’t “a bed of roses.” Members are encouraged and
expected to volunteer on committees dedicated to
community service.
The
award-winning Branford Garden Club is celebrating its 80th
anniversary this year.
You will soon notice garden club volunteers
sporting their new aprons, working on beautification
projects around town. A half-mile stretch of downtown
Main Street is graced with
hanging baskets, sponsored by local businesses and
individuals. Club members plant and care for the baskets
during the summer, and decorate them with greens in
early December. “Project Daffodil” continues throughout
town, and members are always looking for new locations.
The colonial garden at the historic Harrison House is
planted and maintained with garden club assistance.
The gardens on the Green near the flagpole and
the Academy are regularly tended, as well as the
welcome-to-town corner of Kirkham and
Main. The
Rosenthal Gardens are a “work almost in progress”
as the affordable housing construction project nears
completion. The entire garden, with its specimen trees,
shrubs, pools and flower gardens, will be wheelchair
accessible and open to the public. At the Community
Center a planter and flower arrangements are evidence of
garden club members’ attention. Members of the club
arrange May baskets for distribution to the guests at
Orchard House, our regional adult day care center. Other
special flower arrangements are designed for community
events and holidays.
The
Branford Garden Club works in close cooperation with the
Branford Green Committee. A plum tree was recently
planted near the Town Hall to commemorate the club’s 80th
anniversary. Members are always on hand at their booth
at the Branford Festival, giving information and advice.
This year they will be offering copies of their newly
published “Living Green” booklets, giving “gentle” and
practical solutions for the home and garden. Nancy
Sutton, co-chair of the Conservation Committee says, “It
was lots of fun, putting all the bits and pieces
together.” Dedicated
to finding ways to protect our environment, the booklet
advises: “The best way to have an impact on our
environment is to have as little impact as possible.”
Garden
Club members are involved with youth activities in the
community with the purpose of sharing and developing an
appreciation of plants, conservation and wildlife. Just
before Mother’s Day, members scour their cupboards and
local thrift shops for coffee mugs. They donate flowers
from their own gardens and from generous neighbors and
help the children at the
Early
Learning
Center
arrange bouquets for their moms.
A small committee has been formed to help in the
newly refurbished greenhouse at Walsh
Intermediate
School. The students in
Robin Axtell’s Fifth Grade class hope to grow plants to
beautify the school grounds. Each year the Branford
Garden Club encourages students at the middle school to
express their appreciation for the world of nature in
poetry. Many of the children’s poems are featured in the
club’s annual handbook. Robert Miller, a Fifth Grader at
Walsh
Intermediate
School, summed up the
feelings of many hard-working gardeners when he began
his poem this way:
My favorite place in the world to be
Is lying
on the grass underneath
My
big tree.
Continuing celebrations of the Branford Garden Club’s
anniversary include two special events. Watch for
information about a Garden Party at the Harrison House,
with tentative dates of July 26 or August 23rd.
The herb and flower gardens will be featured, along with
colonial refreshments served by folks in colonial
costumes. This is a joint project of the Garden Club and
the Branford Historical Society. Any funds raised will
be used to purchase signs, plants or outdoor furniture
for the Harrison House. On September 21st a
cocktail reception at the Owenego Inn will feature
displays of all of the club’s contributions to the town.
There will also be a silent auction. Earlier on the same
day, in conjunction with the Blackstone Library’s book
sale on the Green, the evening committee of the Garden
Club will hold a sale of plants and produce from
members’ gardens. Look for the prize winning dahlias!
The
pleasure of even the most beautiful garden or
streetscape can be spoiled by the presence of unsightly
litter. Each year, near the date of the original Earth
Day in April, the members of the Branford Land Trust and
the Branford River Project rally our citizens for a
Spring Clean-Up event. Groups and individuals gather on
the Green and fan out through town and along the river
to collect litter which the wind (and some careless
person) has distributed. The dumpster on the Green is
filled with an amazing variety of “stuff.” It is not
necessary to wait until the end of April each year to
participate in this activity. Carry a litter bag as you
walk. Become a litter volunteer!
Contact Information:
The Branford Garden Club, Inc.
P.O. Box 966,
Branford,
CT, 06405
Membership Applications:
Margaret Murphy
488-2089
or
rmargaret18@snet.net
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