State Recognition For Garden Club Of Newtown’s Community Service

By Shannon Hicks

Last May, a garden of butterfly-friendly plants was planned for, planted in, and enthusiastically received at Newtown Senior Center. The Garden Club of Newtown spent time researching sites before deciding on the Riverside Road location, and the first summer of the garden’s existence has been nothing but exceptional. Visitors to the senior center have enjoyed the garden all summer, as has the staff of the center.

While summer has ended and the butterfly garden is now established as something many visitors look for, garden club members continue to enjoy benefits of their good deed. When The Federated Garden Club of Connecticut, Inc., held its annual awards luncheon on October 4, The Garden Club of Newtown was among the clubs honored for “outstanding service to their community.”

The Garden Club of Newtown was not only honored, but the group was presented with the big award of the day, The President’s Bowl. To honor all past presidents of the state group, of which The Garden Club of Newtown is a member, The President’s Bowl is an annual award for a garden club “for an outstanding community project.”

“This year,” according to program notes from the early October luncheon, “Garden Club of Newtown is the recipient… Taking into consideration their senior citizens and children, members agreed to install a butterfly garden at the senior center adjacent to a daycare facility… Through this labor of love they brought joy and pleasure to children, seniors, and their community.”

“We didn’t know what we were being awarded for,” garden club member Ginnie Carey said early last week. “The state club contacts the local clubs and invites you to the luncheon, but they never tell you in advance what you have won.

“And when it comes to The President’s Bowl, they keep that a secret for as long as they can. When you walk in to the luncheon, they have the name of the new winners covered with a piece of masking tape. We had no idea we had won that,” she added.

(The club was also presented an honorable mention award for its yearbook. Member Cheryl Wicks headed that project for the club.)

A butterfly garden attracts, protects, and nourishes butterflies during all stages of their life. Some plants can feed the caterpillars, while others provide nectar and nourishment for adult butterflies.

The garden is in the small triangle area behind the sidewalk that runs between the doors of Newtown Senior Center and the entrance to The Adventure Center, a children’s daycare facility located in the same building.

Cheryl Wicks, as head of the garden club’s conservation group, proposed last spring a butterfly garden that would be donated to the community.

“We looked at a number of places, and when we called the senior center they were very enthusiastic,” Mrs Wicks said late last week. “We wanted something where we could all work on it for the community, but we were also looking for a place where it could be maintained.

“We researched the plants that would attract different things and bloom at different times, and then we just picked a day,” Mrs Wicks said. Installation of the garden took place on May 11. “We pulled out what was here, mended the soil that was here and in the flower boxes, put in the flowers and plants — including a number that came from members’ gardens — and installed the butterfly garden.”

The Jungle, a garden center in Bethel, donated a butterfly house that will provide a place for the butterflies to winter. Another important part of the garden is a birdbath which, when empty, doubles as a “butterfly bar.” This is where mature male butterflies gather to attract females. Ripe or overripe fruit such as bananas are left at the bar to attract the butterflies.

In front of the garden is a small clay saucer filled with sand that is kept wet. This is the garden’s “puddling place,” and butterflies prefer this to the deep water of a birdbath.

In addition to building the butterfly garden, club members planted in large flower boxes to the right of the senior center doors and around the side of the building, as well as a small cement urn also near the doors.

With frost becoming a regular feature of these late autumn evenings, the butterfly garden is no longer in full bloom. It is still being looked after, however. When garden club president Nancy Rowe arrived at the senior center last week, the first thing she did was pull up some of the dried flowers and grasses.

“When it was in bloom it was the most beautiful garden you’ve ever seen,” said senior center director Marilyn Place. “What was so neat was a lot of the seniors would look at it and then come inside and say ‘What’s planted in there? I’ve got to have a butterfly garden!’ A lot of them tried to establish their own butterfly gardens this year, too.”