Around Town

‘Come In and Enjoy’: Public Welcome to Spectacular Lee Garden on Chichester Road

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A vast and unique garden in New Canaan that’s open to the public recently finished its final bloom, inviting visitors to a spectacular experience. Located off of Chichester Road, the New Canaan Beautification League’s Lee Garden is a publicly accessible place for residents to enjoy in the warm weather. The garden was founded after George Lee moved to New Canaan in the 1940s, longtime NCBL member Faith Kerchoff said. “Goerge asked if he could leave it to us, and we said ‘yes,’ ” Kerchoff said. “So we’ve had the garden since 1978.”

Several features of the Lee Garden are most enjoyable in the summer, following the widely anticipated azalea bloom within, Kerchoff said.

Around Town

New Canaan Beautification League Dedicates ‘Carol West Seldin Barn’ at Lee Garden

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The New Canaan Beautification League’s plan to convert a shed in the Lee Garden—itself constructed using parts of the Lees’ family home, including the fireplace and the hardwood floors—into a barn for the organization’s volunteers began as Carol Seldin’s vision, according to NCBL President Nancy Malling. Yet as the plan stood in 2019, “our budget only allowed for a bare bones renovation,” Malling told more than 75 people gathered Saturday at the 2.7-acre garden on Chichester Road on a clear, sunny afternoon. 

“Last June, Carol made her final wish,” Malling said during a dedication of the lovingly renovated shed as the ‘Carol West Seldin Barn.’

Malling continued: “She asked that all donations in her memory be given to the organization that she loved. As I thought about the best way to honor her deep commitment to NCBL, my focus was to make some renovations or improvements to the Lee shed—to go the last mile for Carol. When I brought this idea to Peter Seldin, he asked me to think bigger … As he said, ‘If Carol’s name is attached to this project, it should be done right.’ Carol’s vision and Peter’s unqualified support created the Carol West Seldin Barn that we dedicate in her honor today. On behalf of all of the New Canaan Beautification League volunteers, we are very grateful to have a home.”

A certified master gardener and past president of the NCBL whose motto, “Gardens are for sharing,” is printed on a plaque inside the renovated barn, Seldin died June 6, 2024 following a courageous battle with lymphoma.

Around Town

Op-Ed: A New Canaan Treasure

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For three years, a team from the Department of Public Works and New Canaan Beautification League volunteers have been working to transform the New Canaan train station. The NCBL had overseen landscape design for the station in 2000, but many of the plants had been overgrown or covered by invasive weeds. The town was slated to install new sidewalks and fencing, so the DPW and NCBL’s own Faith Kerchoff came together for a redesign today. 

Landscape designer Ty Tan and landscape architect Barbara Wilson, both members, contributed their professional expertise to the renovation plans. While Wilson produced the hardscape drawings, Tan chose the plantings. Tiger Mann, director of Public Works, organized our amazing DPW team led by Highway Superintendent Mose Saccary. 

The window for planting was hindered by six consecutive rainy Saturdays. The team was able to get 600 1-gallon perennials and 34 trees in the ground despite all the weather interruptions.

Homepage Featured

Podcast: Faith Kerchoff of the New Canaan Beautification League

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This week on 0684-Radi0, our free podcast (subscribe here in the iTunes Store), we talk to Faith Kerchoff, the New Canaan Beautification League’s co-chair of civic beautification, about the organization’s plans for the spring, ongoing work around town and membership, which has risen during the COVID-19 pandemic. The League is donor-supported organization. Here’s an interview from two years ago with Kerchoff on the Lee Memorial Garden. Here are recent episodes of 0684-Radi0:

Around Town

Happy Birthday: Three New Canaan-Based Nonprofit Organizations Turn 80

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Three well-known local nonprofit organizations this year will mark 80 years in operation. The New Canaan Chapter of the League of Women Voters, New Canaan Mounted Troop and the New Canaan Beautification League are united by their focus on community engagement and service. The League of Women Voters is the local chapter of a national organization that helps register citizens to vote, and provides voter education about candidates and issues, according to LOWV Chapter President Miki Porta. 

“We’re really all about civic engagement,” she said. “A lot of us are just history and civics and government geeks who really believe that the more of us who volunteer and get involved, the better life is.” Porta said that running the candidates’ debate prior to Election Day is the LOWV event that makes the biggest difference in the lives of New Canaan residents. 

“Because the League of Women Voters is a non-partisan organization…I think that the candidates themselves and also the people coming to the debate feel that it’s going to be fair, it’s going to be substantive, and it’s going to be balanced,” she said.