The Ruby-throated Hummingbird is eastern North America’s sole breeding hummingbird.  Feeders and flower gardens are great ways to attract these birds.

Around the middle of April we will be seeing the first hummingbirds arriving in Connecticut.  After their long voyage they are hungry and will be looking for food to regain their weight.

Take the time to make sure before you put your feeders out that they are well cleaned.  Because hummingbirds are very territorial about their feeders it is a good idea to put out more than one around your yard.

A simple recipe for Hummingbird food is 1 cup of cane sugar mixed with 4 cups of hot/boiling water.  It is important to remember that you only use cane sugar since other sugars are not safe for Hummingbirds.  Change the water before it grows cloudy or discolored and remember that during hot weather, sugar water ferments rapidly to produce toxic alcohol.

Brightly-colored flowers that are tubular hold the most nectar, and are particularly attractive to hummingbirds. These include perennials such as bee balms, columbines, daylilies, and lupines; biennials such as foxgloves and hollyhocks; and many annuals, including cleomes, impatiens, and petunias.

Join us Saturday, May 14, 2022, rain or shine, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church parking lot for our annual Plant Sale.  For sale will be member grown perennials, there will also be annuals, house plants and herbs.  Our successful bake sale will be offered along with hand painted rocks and a raffle. Click here for the printable flyer.

Here are some of the rocks members painted at a recent workshop that will be available at our annual plant sale.

For our April meeting we will be welcoming Lee Ganim of Ganim’s Garden Center and Florist in Fairfield, Connecticut.  Lee’s presentation will be “Preparing Your Garden for Spring.”

Our meeting will be held at the Shelton Community Center at 10 am, guests are welcome to attend, there is a $5.00 Visitor Fee for non-members.

As greenhouse gas emissions blanket the Earth, they trap the sun’s heat. This leads to global warming and climate change. The world is now warming faster than at any point in recorded history.

For our virtual meeting this month we welcomed Susan Quincy who is an outreach educator for the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.  Susan is stationed at the Kellogg Environmental Center in Derby, CT.  Her virtual presentation was “Climate Change, Actions & Impacts.”

The presentation highlighted what is happening in Connecticut related to climate and the actions we can take on personal levels to start reducing our carbon footprint.  It also looked at the largescale actions states and countries are taking to reach the goal of reducing temperature rise globally.

Using the interactive simulator En-ROADS from Climate Interactive and the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative, we were able to change variables to try and lower our carbon emissions.

Susan went over the things that we can do to help reduce this buildup including switching to electric outdoor tools and electric cars, adding solar panels to your home, recycling and educating yourself and others.

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The International Herb Association has chosen the Pansy, Viola or Violet as the Herb of the Year for 2022.  Plants selected must be outstanding in two of the three categories:  Decorative, Culinary or Medicinal.   The Pansy also known as a Violet, a Johnny Jump Up or a Heartsease meets all three of these categories.

As Decorative they have sweet smiling faces with a sweet fragrance and multi-colored flowers.

As Culinary the flowers are edible and superb as decorative garnish for soups, desserts, and beverages.

As Medicinal, historically violets were a healing herb, viola tinctures were used to treat skin conditions.

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The members of the Olde Ripton Garden Club wish everyone a safe, healthy, happy holiday season.

Wreath at the Shelton Community Center main entrance

Some of the wreaths created by the members of the Olde Ripton Garden Club.

Alfreda Mozdzer and Irmina Grabarz with their wreath for the Huntington Branch of the Shelton Post Office.

Rich with history and symbolism, the wreath is a favorite Holiday decoration.  Every December, Olde Ripton Garden Club members decorate wreaths for locations throughout the community.

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Originally a farmhouse built around 1840, the Osborne Homestead Museum is now one of fifteen distinctive historic sites in Connecticut.  Frances Eliza Osborne (1876-1956) was the last of the Osborne family children and deeded the 350-acre property to Connecticut to preserve it as a state park for future generations.

Every December for more than 30 years, local garden clubs have prepared lavish holiday decorations following an annually chosen theme.  The theme for the 2021 Holiday Season was “Holiday Tribute: Celebrate the Suffragists.”  The Olde Ripton Garden Club decorated the Living Room and Solarium in the spirit of the “Connecticut Women Suffrage Association Parade.”

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For our November meeting we welcomed Debbie Semonich who led us in a workshop of “Winter Sowing.”

Debbie Semonich has been gardening for 25 years. She learned some skills from her grandfather and mother but she is mostly self taught.  Discovering winter sowing made her gardening life blossom.

Debbie works with her other love, books, at the Plumb Memorial Library.  She lives and gardens in Shelton with her family.

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Meet Pyrrharctia Isabella better known as the Woolly Bear Caterpillar.

This month for our Horticulture presentation, Linda Hooper shared information about the Woolly Bear caterpillar.

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For our October meeting, club member Martha Nosal led us in a floral arranging workshop.  Rather than using floral foam bricks, which are considered hazardous because of the chemicals “phenol” and “formaldehyde”, to secure the flower stems we used chicken wire and wooden sticks.

There were many colorful flowers and interesting greens to choose from.

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For our September meeting we welcomed Ceil Rossi.

Ceil lived in Arizona for over 26 years during which time she discovered gourds, an art form of the southwest.

Her earthy artwork is grown from the ground and it’s these hard shelled vessels that have perpetuated her passion for art.

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This month we welcomed back Cathy Rich as our guest presenter. Cathy demonstrated and created beautiful flower arrangements which were auctioned off at the end of the program.

Cathy showed us how to use plants and flowers from the garden to make interesting and unusual arrangements.

Follow the “continue reading” link below to see some of her beautiful arrangements and learn how to use your own garden plants to design unique arrangements of your own.

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