Each year in June, we take a break from regular business duties and gardening work to gather as friends for good food and conversation.  For the 2017 annual luncheon, we met at Vazzy’s Cucina in Shelton.  Continue reading →

On Saturday, May 20th, we hosted our annual Perennial & Garden Plant Sale at the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on the Huntington Green in Shelton.  It’s a highlight of our year, when members donate cultivars from their own gardens for sale.  This year’s event once again featured some of our favorite features. Continue reading →

May marks the full swing of gardening season, and what better way to kick it off than to present a brand new, hand-built birdhouse for a feathered friend!  At this month’s meeting, we constructed birdhouses from simple pine kits, using only a screwdriver — a surprisingly simple and quick project. Continue reading →

We’re thrilled to announce our upcoming, annual Perennial & Garden Plant Sale on Saturday, May 20th from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon.

Most plants are grown from ORGC members’ gardens — each specimen has been lovingly cultivated and cared for.  Also available will be Shelton City Flower Plants (Rudbeckia fulgida) and a wide variety of homemade baked goods.  Proceeds will benefit garden and scholarship activities.

The Perennial & Garden Plant Sale will be held at the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Parking Lot at 25 Church Street on the Huntington Green in Shelton.

We hope to see you there!

It’s time to plant the City Flower in gardens throughout Shelton. The Shelton Board of Alderman designated the Orange Coneflower (rudbeckia fulgida) the City Flower in 2016. The Olde Ripton Garden Club is encouraging residents and businesses to grow this flower in their gardens around the City this coming spring just as they did last year when it was introduced.

Club member photo

Rudbeckia fulgida “Goldsturm’ is a large, daisy-like flower named for it orange tinged petals 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.

For more information about the City Flower, please visit www.olderiptongardenclub.org or visit a nursery in our area.

The Olde Ripton Garden Club will be selling the flower at their annual plant sale on May 20 at St. Paul’s Church from 9 am – 12 noon.

April is an exciting month for gardeners.  It is that middle month of spring hinting at bright, hot summer days ahead — while reminding that the gray chill of winter may still have a visit or two left.  Here in Connecticut, we’ll be met one day with soaking rains and warming soil, and another day with a blustery blast from the newly-departed cold.  Continue reading →

Photo credit: Kindra Clineff

Tovah Martin, seen on TV shows like Martha Stewart and PBS as well as author of many gardening books and articles in publications throughout the country will visit the Olde Ripton Garden Club at their April 3 meeting.  Continue reading →

We’re on the cusp of a new gardening season, and the warm weather can’t arrive fast enough.  For our first meeting of the year, we took a break from the brisk March weather to rally garden enthusiasm with topics on pruning and forcing forsythia — and to take a virtual tour of the Gardens of Williamsburg. Continue reading →

Over the weekend of February 23 through February 26, The Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut hosted the 2017 Connecticut Flower and Garden Show, “Woodland Enchantment,” at the Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford.  We’re proud to announce that ORGC members Renee Marsh and Kimberly Wehger were awarded First, Second, and Third Place across two Photography classes. Continue reading →

This is a reminder that our next meeting is Monday, March 6 at 10 am at the Plumb Memorial Library. Our featured presenter will be Sandy Nesteriak taking us on a tour of the Gardens of WIlliamsburg.  Read more here…

We want to remind all Shelton gardeners that The Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut 2017 Connecticut Flower and Garden Show, “Woodland Enchantment,” is this weekend from Thursday, February 23 through Sunday, February 26 at the Connecticut Convention Center in Harford.

Photo courtesy of Liz Hansen

What can you find at the show?  Gardeners from around the state will be featuring specimens in an Advanced-Standard flower show.  Educational exhibits of the theme “Mighty Woods” will offer gardening, forest, and ecology information from groups such as UCONN Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Greenhouses, Rhododendron Society of CT, CT Agricultural Experiment Station (CAES), and CT Invasive Plant Working Group (CIPWG). You’ll also be able to browse a wide variety of goods and services vendors, from plants, seeds, fertilizers, and bed kits to shed builders, landscaping heavy equipment, and landscape designers.

For more information, including show times, directions, and ticket price, please see the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut show flier, available on their website.

The next meeting of the Olde Ripton Garden Club of Shelton will be held on Monday, March 6 at 10 am at the Plumb Memorial Library, 65 Wooster St. downtown Shelton.

The meeting will feature a program on “The Gardens of Williamsburg” with speaker Sandy Nesteriak, a long-time Club member and a frequent visitor to the Gardens of Williamsburg. Continue reading →

Photo courtesy of Kimberly Wehger

Connecticut saw a major snowstorm today, including thundersnow, blizzard warnings in sections of the state, and overall snowfall rates of 1-3 inches per hour.  Shelton had a total accumulation of approximately 10 inches.

What does snowfall mean in terms of moisture?  NOAA’s National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL) explains that 13 inches of snow typically equals 1 inch of rain.  This can vary, depending on snow’s lightness or sleet-like qualities.¹  Therefore, Continue reading →