News

New Trees Grace Entrance to Irwin, Thanks to Garden Club and Town DPW

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[Editor’s Note: The following information was submitted by Katie Stewart of the New Canaan Garden Club, a nonprofit organization that’s been doing this type of great work in town for more than a century. Find out more about membership here.]

The three photos below were taken on Tuesday, September 30, 2014 by Judy Neville when the New Canaan Garden Club Irwin Park Committee installed five new trees at the Park entrance with the help of the town backhoe and Parks Superintendent John Howe, Highway Superintendent Mose Saccary and Tiger Mann. In 2005 the garden club members accepted the stewardship of New Canaan’s newest park on Weed Street from the Irwin Family when the club members were given an endowment fund to continue the beautification of the property/park and improve the quality of life in our already special town. The garden club gladly collaborates with the Park and Recreation Commission, the Office of Selectman and the Public Works crew on the maintenance and beautification. Annually improvements and new projects have been undertaken using the funds.

The Little Things

High Praise for New Wildflower Field at 123 and Parade Hill

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An avid tennis player at the New Canaan Field Club, town resident Suzanne Jonker drives up Route 123 all the time. Prior to this summer, nothing much caught Jonker’s eye as she passed the (harrowing) intersection at Parade Hill Road. That’s all changed, with the creation this year of a bright wildflower meadow that’s drawing high praise from locals. Here are a few photos that Terry took on Thursday, article continues below:

“It used to be all weeds, so it definitely caught my eye and I thought, ‘Wow, that is so nice,’ ” Jonker told NewCanaanite.com. “Really good work.

Around Town

Parks Officials Back New Canaan Garden Club’s Beautification Plan at Irwin

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Seeing a need to beautify Irwin Park, the New Canaan Park and Recreation Commission unanimously supported a plan presented by the Irwin Park Committee of the New Canaan Garden Club to update and improve the 36-acre park’s visual aesthetics at the main entrance on Weed Street. The plan, presented by committee chair Katie Stewart, calls for the removal of several unsightly, overgrown and dying trees on either side of the driveway, just past the entrance. This includes three pines on the left side of the driveway and a juniper, two oaks, a maple and several hemlocks on the right. In their place will be a 12-foot Copper beech as well as Stewartias and Kousa dogwoods that Stewart told the commission will complement the visual presentation of the park. “It will form a nice, gracious canopy in that area,” Stewart said.

Around Town

New Canaan Garden Club Launches Tree and Shrub Sale

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An organization whose first-ever civic project was the planting of two maple trees in front of Town Hall in 1909 has launched its annual sale raise money for projects in New Canaan. The New Canaan Garden Club for this year’s Spring Tree and Shrub Sale—held through April 20 (see the venerable group’s website here for order information)—is featuring two trees and two shrubs that it says appeal to a wide range of gardening interests: Stewartia pseudocamelia and American Pink dogwood (trees) and oakleaf hydrangea “snow queen” and viburnum dentatum “blue muffin” (shrubs). Asked to describe the level of interest in gardening here, club President Caroline Garrity said strong, “as evidenced by not only the different gardening groups, but by the many townspeople who love strolling through Waveny Walled Garden (which our club restored, plants and maintains) and by the many residents who use and admire the plantings at Irwin Park.” Any day now, we may see the 5,000 daffodils that the club planted there pop up through the ground—they’ll be visible from Weed Street, we’re told, on the crest of the hill in front of the main house. Other civic projects from the club include the garden at the New Canaan Historical Society—a fuller list of activities can be found here.

The Little Things

The Little Things: 5,000 Daffodils from the New Canaan Garden Club

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[Editor’s Note: In this feature, “The Little Things,” we record acts of consideration and kindness that make New Canaan special. It is meant to complement “REALLY?”—a feature where we record the opposite.]

Motorists traveling along Weed Street will have an entirely new and spectacular view come spring, thanks to some planning and work from the New Canaan Garden Club. The club saw to it that 5,000 daffodil bulbs were planted at the crest of a hill in front of the main house at Irwin Park, said Katie Stewart, a member of the group. The plantings include four different varieties of daffodils, she said. “It’s going to be a dramatic,” Stewart told NewCanaanite.com.