The Shelton City Board of Alderman designated the “Orange Coneflower” (Rudbeckia fulgida “Goldsturm”) as the City of Shelton’s Official Flower at their meeting on Thursday, February 11, 2016.

Photo Courtesy of Unsplash, May

The Olde Ripton Garden Club of Shelton requested the designation as it celebrated in 2016 its 40th Anniversary of continued service to the Shelton community.

Rudbeckia fulgida “Goldsturm’ is a large, daisy-like flower named for its orange-tinged petals and was chosen as the city’s flower in keeping with Shelton School’s colors. It is easy to grow and can be grown in containers or naturalized in meadows and planted freely around homes. The Orange Coneflower is a native plant that will grow readily in our area and it is a perennial assuring that it will return to our gardens year after year.

It is attractive to birds, bees and many pollinators that are needed for our gardens to thrive; it blooms from midsummer through the fall; and provides a long season of color.

Plant the City Flower in your garden and show the community you care about pollinators.

This month we welcomed Dr. Yonghao Li from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES) in New Haven.  Dr. Li is a plant pathologist and has more than 30 years of experience in gardening, disease diagnostics, and pest management.

Dr. Li spoke about the difference between conventional and native landscapes, his Power Point presentation can be found at the following link:   Gardening with Native Plants

For our field trip this year we visited Boothe Memorial Park and Museum in Stratford.

Boothe Memorial Park and Museum sits on an idyllic, 32 acre site in the north end of Stratford high above the Housatonic River.  It was the estate of the Boothe family for many generations and willed to the town in 1949 for the public to enjoy.

The park is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Lisa DiNardo and Pat Robik. Our thanks to Lisa for planning the trip.

The Friends of Boothe Park is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization formed in 1984 with the mission of providing information and preserving the heritage of the park and its museums, buildings and grounds.  Each year Friends contribute over 6,000 fun-filled hours conducting school programs and guided tours, maintaining gardens, grounds and buildings.

All the above information taken from the Boothe Memorial Park and Museum website.

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This month Linda Hooper gave a presentation about “The Wonderful Comfrey,” Symphytum.

Symphytum is a genus of flowering plants in the borage family, Boraginaceae and is native to Europe and Asia.

In Latin it means to “grow together” and has also been known as Knitbone.  Historically it was used as a medicinal herb, known to help knit broken bones. Continue reading →

This month we welcomed Barbara and Peter Rzasa, who shared with us a Power Point presentation of “Summer Wildflowers of Connecticut.”

Summer wildflowers are found in Connecticut’s forests, wetlands and fields, compared to spring flowers, which are light pastel colors, summer flowers are vibrant.

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At our July meeting, Master Gardener and past President Renee Marsh spoke to us about the Beech Leaf Disease that is affecting the Beech trees in Connecticut.

Beech leaf disease (BLD) is a novel disease which is affecting the American beech (Fagus grandifolia) in North America.  BLD symptoms have been shown to be associated with a newly recognized subspecies of the anguinid nematode Litylenchus crenatae mccannii.

The symptoms on beech foliage, best observed from below looking up into the canopy, are characterized by dark striping between leaf veins. Symptoms have also been found to include: aborted leaf enlargement; cupping, browning, and yellowing of foliage; branch and tip dieback; and in some cases, premature leaf dropping.

Leaves with severe symptoms are heavily banded, shrunken, and crinkled with a thickened, leathery texture.

Little is known about the biology of the pathogen and epidemiology of the disease, effective control or eradication measures are still the subject of ongoing research.

For more information about Beech Leaf Disease visit the website of CAES (Connecticut Agriculture Experiment Station.)

Information in this article was taken from the CAES article “Beech Leaf Disease – Updates 2021” by Drs. Yonghao Li and Robert E. Marra.

This month’s presentation will be by Barbara and Peter Rzasa on “Summer Wildflowers of CT. ”

Area naturalists Peter and Barbara Rzasa will provide a PowerPoint presentation highlighting not only our common native wildflowers but also the not so common ones such as pipsissewa, turtlehead, bottle gentian, butterfly weed, rattlesnake plantain, Virgin’s bower, and arrowhead.  The presentation will also cover the parasitic plants dodder and Indian pipe as well as the carnivorous Northern pitcher-plant and sundew.

Both are members of the Wallingford Garden Club and serve as Co-chairs on the Horticulture Committee.  In 2015, they were presented the Ellen Carder Memorial Award for their horticultural education by the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut.  They maintain a native plant garden and a DIY bog at their residence.

The meeting will take place on July 11th at 10:00 AM and will be held at the American Legion located at 295 Bridgeport Avenue in Shelton.

Olde Ripton Garden Club (ORGC) of Shelton is a community of garden enthusiasts committed to sharing the love of gardening and conservation. We provide education in horticulture and assist in beautifying the grounds around public buildings.

Guests are welcome to attend, there is a $5.00 Visitor Fee for non-members and membership is $35.00 a year.

Hydrangea Petiolaris is a vigorous climbing vine that clings to surfaces by aerial rootlets. It has a slow growing, shrubby habit until established, then becomes quite vigorous, producing long, fast growing stems. The foliage is blanketed with magnificent, white lace cap blooms in the summer.

This massive Hydrangea was photographed in Lina Hooper’s garden, the Hydrangea has climbed to the top of an old tree trunk.

The climbing Hydrangea will grow from 30 to 50 feet tall and 5 to 6 feet wide.  It is at its best where it gets morning sun and afternoon shade, however it can tolerate dense shade.

On Monday, June 6^th we held our annual June luncheon at Matto Wine Bar in Shelton. The luncheon was coordinated by club Second Vice President Dee Blewett.

At the center of each table were Golden Empire Bidens. At the end of the luncheon the member at each table with the birthday closest to the date of the luncheon got to take home the Bidens.

At each place setting were terra cotta pots containing sedum and hand painted with a sunflower by Dee Blewett.  Also at each place setting were hand painted rocks and everyone was also given a potted sunflower, “Helianthus annuus” to take home.

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For our November 2021 meeting we welcomed Debbie Semonich who led us in a workshop of “Winter Sowing.”   Members learned how to make their own miniature greenhouses from recycled plastic containers.  After planting the seeds, containers were wintered outdoors and in the spring seedlings appeared.

These are the successful plantings of Linda Hooper, pictured are the winter sowing jugs containing Hollyhocks, Love in a mist, blue wheat, and Chinese lanterns.

See our November 2021 posting for instructions on how to make a miniature greenhouse of your own.

On Saturday, May 14th we held our Annual Plant and Bake sale at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Parking Lot. Thank you to the public for supporting this important fund raiser.  The Olde Ripton Garden Club is a non-profit organization and all proceeds benefit the community projects in which we are involved.  A special thanks to Co-Chairs Lisa DiNardo and Debbi Garrow for all of their hard work that made the Plant Sale a success.

Besides Perennials we also offered Gift Cards donated by local businesses, Painted Rocks designed by club members, Baked goods provided by club members and a Raffle of items donated by local businesses and nurseries.

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Join us this Saturday, May 14 from 9:00 to 12:00 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Parking Lot, 25 Church Street (Huntington Green) Shelton for our Annual Plant and Bake Sale.

Proceeds benefit the community projects for Shelton – scholarships, school programs, senior garden therapy and beautifying our city gardens.  ORGC is a non- profit organization

For sale will be Member Grown Perennials, Annuals, House Plants and Herbs. There will also be Hand Painted Rocks, a Bake Sale and a Raffle.

Follow the links below to visit the Facebook pages for the Local Garden Centers donating annuals and perennials.

Benedict’s Home & Garden

Filanowski Farms

Langanke’s Florist & Greenhouses

Laurel Glen Farm

Wells Hollow Farm 

Follow Olde Ripton Garden Club on our Facebook page.

This month we welcomed once again Margery Winters from Roaring Brook Nature Center in Canton, CT.  Margery did a Power Point presentation on “Soil – It’s Not Just Dirt.”

Margery is the Assistant Director and instructor at Roaring Brook Nature Center in Canton where she is delighted to be able to share her passion for earth science and nature with students of all ages. She manages the Nature Center’s native plant gardens and is an advocate for the role of natives in our designed landscapes. She is a Master Landscape Design Consultant.

Rarely discussed by gardeners, soil is the foundation of the garden. Each teaspoon of healthy soil is alive with millions of creatures, many working to keep our plants healthy. We learned why we should care about this intriguing ecosystem.

Always an interesting speaker, Margery, kept us absorbed in her presentation.  We learned all about the different types of soils, the connections between soils and plants and how organic matter makes healthy soil.

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