Hard to believe, but it’s nearly the end of June. Before summer’s really hot weather hits, we should take a moment this weekend to look around town at all the perennial plantings in public places that are just now coming into their own.

Check out the daylilies blooming at the intersection of Queen Street and Church Hill Road in the traffic island planted by the Town and Country Garden Club. Stand up and salute the coral pink impatiens now making a strong showing at the Newtown Meeting House planted by the Horticulture Club of Newtown. And if you’re going by the Newtown Senior Center off Riverside Road in Sandy Hook, take a moment to appreciate the butterfly garden planted by the Newtown Garden Club, and the dozen or so red rose bushes now in glorious bloom there. And while you’re passing through Sandy Hook Center, enjoy the riotous show of magenta purple petunias in the window boxes and hanging planters 100 Church Hill Road restaurant. After grabbing a coffee and Danish at Andrea’s Bakery, notice the very promising bed of sunflowers now taking root outside the door. Well, we could go on and on, but you get the picture.

The Ferris family’s ice cream stand on Route 302 opened this week with a special evening just for family and friends. Shirley Ferris carried a basket filled with folded slips of paper that the guests could choose to find out what ice cream treat they had won, from a small cone to a concoction like the Cow’s Crossing, a sundae filled with three scoops of ice cream and topped with hot fudge sauce, dark green sprinkles (to represent grass), three chocolate cows, and whipped cream. (It comes with two spoons, so I guess you are expected to share.) Of course, there are desserts for dieters, too, including a low-carb moose-tracks ice cream, although somehow that sounds like a contradiction in terms.

Now that the Booth Library lawn has been paved over to create a larger parking lot, the summer concert series has moved to The Pleasance. A good-sized crowd enjoyed listening to Mary Beth Sippin and Goldrush on Saturday night. The next free concert is 7 pm on July 17 when Washboard Slim and the Blue Lights will play.

Samantha Ann Merrow finally made her much-anticipated entrance into this world on June 18 at 6:24 pm, daughter of Tanjua and Joe Merrow. Tanjua is better known to Bee readers as Tanjua Damon, which was her byline when she worked here as an education reporter until last year. Samantha is Tanjua and Joe’s first child. She weighed in at 8 pounds, 6 ounces and was 20¼ inches long at birth.

On the subject of babies, Bee graphic artist Susan Olsen and her husband Bob became the grandparents of triplets on June 13. Their son Scott Merrell and daughter-in-law Lisa are the proud parents of a boy, Mason, and two girls, Morgan and Sydney, as well as big brother Scottie, 4,

All of you dogs out there should have your new licenses by now. If not, you have only a few days left to get one. Town Clerk Cindy Simon says any dog over 6 months old must be licensed before the end of June. After that, Dog Warden George Mattegat will be tracking down the scofflaws and issuing their owners a summons and a $60 fine. Sixty bucks buys a lot of kibble, so get it done now.

Both the Newtown High School and Newtown Middle School graduations took place at the Western Connecticut State University O’Neill Center this year — the cavernous sports complex at WestConn’s western campus. The move allows both schools to conduct graduations secure in the knowledge that there will be plenty of room for everyone, even if it rains. Of course this year, the weather was beautiful for the graduations. Congratulations, once again, to the graduating eighth graders and high school seniors.

With July 10 quickly approaching, Paula Stephan has been contacting people who served as docents and greeters in past Historic Homes and Gardens Tours. Paula still has openings for this year’s event, which will be the tenth annual self-guided tour of historic homes and beautiful gardens. Docents only need to be friendly, welcoming people; all information about the home or garden they will be working at will be provided by the historical society. If you have a few hours available on Saturday, July 10, leave a message at Newtown Historical Society’s answering machine, 426-5937.

It looks like one of the trees between The Bee office building and the yellow house at 3 Church Hill Road may be trying to tell us someone. A few years ago one of the upper limbs came down during a fast-moving thunderstorm. A lightning strike hit the tree and when the limb fell, it landed on the side porch of David and Mary Ellen Harris’ side of the house. This week another limb from the same tree came down. It spared the house, but it still managed to wake the Harrisses up from a sound sleep when it came down.

For shoppers, six months before Christmas sounds like plenty of time. For those in the retail business, however, it’s never too soon to start thinking about the holidays. When Tom Johnson welcomed a large contingent from The American Nurseries & Landscape Association to Lexington Gardens last week he didn’t pass on an opportunity tell the visitors about the “beautiful Christmas shop we put together here every year.”

All this talk about Christmas makes me want to go lie out in the sun, but I’ll be back again next week, so be sure to...

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