Master Calendar

West Hartford Garden Club members,

We have an opportunity to remove some invasive plants this Saturday, March 26, from 9 to noon at Spicebush Swamp Park, West Hartford.

The town has granted our Civic Projects Committee permission to plan and plant a new Bird & Pollinator Friendly Garden at Spicebush, and the first step is to clear the garden site of invasive plants.  If you can join in this initial stage, please read the details in Ted Goerner’s (science teacher at Sedgwick Middle School) email below.

I hope to see you there.

Thanks,

Madeleine Hexter
Civic Projects Chair & Co-President of the West Hartford Garden Club

Hello,

Just sharing a few details with all of you regarding an effort next Saturday, March 26, at Spicebush Swamp Park in West Hartford to remove invasive plants … particularly Oriental bittersweet, multiflora rose, Japanese barberry, winged euonymus, European (common) buckthorn. and honeysuckle.

Several groups are involved in this effort and the goal is to remove invasive plants from the areas around the pond, along the stream, and along trails going back into the woods.  This is in preparation for a bird garden with oak plantings that will be carried out by the West Hartford Garden Club.

Feel free to share this message and arrive anytime between 9 a.m. and 12 noon.  Parking will be limited in the parking lot on Mountain Road, so some folks may need to park across the street on Gloucester Lane.  If you park in the lot, please park close together.  Carpool or walk if possible.

If you have any of the following tools, please bring them.  Some tools may be available but it is not certain:  eye protection, hand clippers, lopper/pruners, small pruning saw, hand mattock or similar digging tool, garden rake, small shovel, standard mattock, tarps for dragging cuttings, weed wrench or similar device for uprooting, and anything else that you feel you can safely use to remove plants.

Please wear tick repellant and do a tick check immediately afterwards.  The ticks are not terrible yet but they are waking up.  Proper clothing should include boots, long pants and long sleeves, and leather gloves.  Several of the plants have thorns.

As you remove bittersweet vines from trees, please remember not to pull them down from the tree.  We will cut and remove a section at the base of the tree and let the upper vines die and fall on their own.  We will be pulling smaller ones up from the soil, but don’t pull downward.  Vines are often attached to dead branches that have been killed due to shading by the bittersweet leaves.

A few student environmental clubs have been told about this.  Students under the age of 16 need to be accompanied by a parent please.

Invasive plants threaten our local ecosystem.  Native insects and birds are in serious decline partly due to loss of critical food and shelter.  If left unchecked, some of these plants will completely take an area over and make it unfit for recreation of any kind.  We hope that this is the first of many follow-up efforts at Spicebush and other local areas.

Feel free to email me with questions.  This effort is rain or shine and is being planned in cooperation with Leisure Services and Public Works.

Thanks

Ted Goerner tedprez@gmail.com

The Floral Design Committee is excited to be offering a Zoom session on the classic Japanese artform Ikebana. Famous for its restrained, spare and beautiful design, there are a number of Ikebana schools in Japan, each with a somewhat different aesthetic. This session will follow the Hara School, one of the most traditional Ikebana schools. Nancy Lemega-Watt will be the Instructor.

Please note that the date and time have been changed to:

Tuesday, March 29, from 1:30pm to 3:00pm.

All Club Members, irrespective of flower arranging experience, are welcome to sign up. Since it will be a Zoom class, there is no maximum number of attendees. The more, the merrier!

Kore wa tanoshideshou! This should be a lot of fun!

During the session, there will be a brief explanation of the principles along with a demonstration and time for you to create your own arrangement and share it with your fellow Zoomers. Attendance is free. You will need to supply a few flowers, botanicals, a flower frog (pin holder) and a shallow, flat-bottomed container. The frog is critical to creating authentic Japanese Ikebana. When you sign up, you will receive more detailed instructions on supplies. If you have any questions, please call Nancy Lemega-Watt at 860 944-3122.

Please sign up by March 22 by texting Charlotte Massis at 860 280-6802 or emailing her at charmassie@yahoo.com.

Doug Jackson, who oversees Spicebush Swamp Park, will be responsible for clearing the rest of the invasive plants and large logs from our garden site.

Meetings will be via Zoom if we cannot meet in person.

Presider – Ann Schoeninger

Our next project is April 6 when we are going to be making Spring flower arrangements.

Margaret Pulito & Meg Griffin