Happy Spring

                                         Happy Spring from the Beautification Committee.

Beautification Awards - 2012

Tita Williams, Mike Passero, Dave Denoia, George Brosofske and Tim Hanser
at City Hall for Beautification Awards Presentation, November 19, 2012

See all the photos of this event on our web album, click to go
Run your mouse over each photo in the album to read the full caption.
Click on each photo to see it full size or to save a photo to your computer.

Each year the Beautification Committee recognizes New London businesses and organisations who have contributed to making New London such a beautiful city.
This year the recipients were Carwild Corporation, City Center District, Connecticut College,
 Harbor Club, Riverside Park Conservancy, Shaw's Landing, and Union Station.

We also thank individuals who have given time and assistance to the committee during the past year.
This year the recipients were Jason Clark and Katie Jordan from CCD, Joshua Radkosky of Joshua Tree Lawn and Garden Services, Matt Klotz for his stone work, Dave Sugrue from Ocean Beach Park, and Dave Denoia, George Brosofske, and Tim Hanser from New London Public Works.

Two weeks in New London, a video

Hurricane Sandy, Halloween, a national election, and a nor'easter have made for exciting and crazy two weeks in our small city. The buzz of chainsaws seems to be a constant background noise, while we restock the fridges, gather up oil lamps and used candles and rake leaves that were not blown out of the yard, and oh yes, chainsawing fallen trees from our gardens. The song "I'm a Lumberjack" keeps running through my head. Hit the link and watch the video. It will cheer you up while you are making your twenty third trip to the transfer station loaded down with tree cuttings
Be safe and be careful out there.

New London Night at the Elks Club

New London Night - Honorees
Marty Olsen Jr., Ronald Samul, Ricky Free,  Barbara J. Neff
New London Beautification Committee,
and the City Center District

New London  Beautification Committee Members



The Beautification Committee wishes to thank the New London Lodge Of Elks No.360 for the wonderful event they held on Friday, September 17 at the Elks Club.
While the Beautification members often garden together, we seldom get a chance to go to a social event together and we had a great time. Thank you for the award, it was an honor to be recognised along with the other honorees that make such a difference in the city of New London.
A special thanks to all the Elk Club members who worked on this event and prepared the dinner.
A good time was had by all and we thank you for your hospitality.

Late Summer at Ocean Beach Park

A late summer video of the Beautification Committee's Hillside Garden at
Ocean Beach Park. Also a reminder, that it is not too late to take a mini
vacation and spend a summer day at this beautiful beach.
 Take the scenic route.

Cannas Blooming at Ocean Beach

Cannas growing against the back wall, on the Hillside Garden
at Ocean Beach Park, New London

Two visitors to the park, graciously consented
 to have their photo taken in front of the cannas, to give some
scale to the size of the plants.
Thanks ladies, it was a pleasure to meet you.

 Cannas are lush tropical plants, grown as perennials in garden zones 8-11. In northern garden zones like ours (zone 6A) cannas are treated as annuals.
Four years ago, Beautification Committee members Bob Stuller and Mike Wright planted some left- over canna rhizomes along the back wall,  just to see how the plant would do in the Hillside Garden.
Much to their surprise, the cannas have survived the last three winters, each summer looking better and better.
The wall, the cannas are planted against, receives full sun all day and must provide the warmth the plants need to keep them from freezing in the winter. The committee also mulches all the gardens.
Perhaps these two factors have created a micro climate fit for tropical plants.
You can grow cannas in large pots or in the ground. Select a site that is full sun and has moist soil.
Tall varieties should be sheltered from the wind. Plant the canna rhizomes around the time you plant your tomato plants and plant them four or five inches deep.
In the fall, after frost has turned the leaves brown, cut the plant down, leaving about six inches of the stalk. Dig up and divide the rhizomes and store in a cool basement. If the cannas are in pots, just bring the whole pot into the basement and if the cannas are not too crowded, you can just set the pot outside in the middle of May, water well, and in a few weeks the cannas will have new shoots.

Thank You to the Gardeners of New London

The Beautification Committee members have been busy taking photos

of some of the great gardens of New London.

The photos are then approved by all the members of the committee, at our monthly meeting,

 and a thank you card is sent to the gardener at that address.

Shown here are two of the first gardeners that received thank you cards.

We hope to add many more in the the future months.

If you have received a card and would like to have your garden photo shown here,

please email us at: nlbcadmin@nlbeautification.org

Remember to just click on the photo image to see the full size page.

It is a great way to see details and ideas that may inspire you in

your own garden.

How to grow great Iris

 Ric Silver, from Groton, Ct.,  grows beautiful Jackson & Perkins Iris.
We asked him to share some tips on growing beautiful iris.
Many thanks Ric.

I guess the main thing is to soak the corms in water for about 1/2 an hour before planting - then place them just slightly under the soil - the tuber should protrude from the soil at the plant end - and can even be slightly exposed the full length of the tuber.

Full sun is a must as they will die in the shade - I do have some that are in a spot that is shaded in the afternoon and they bloom later than the others and also the blooms are smaller - they like good brown dirt - but will grow in rocky soil as well - just so it's not gravel or sand. I fertilize once a year with MiracleGro Shake and Feed. If your Iris have stopped blooming - it's probably because they are crowding themselves out - every few years you need to tear up the whole lot - and start over - making sure to separate them well. clip the leaves in an inverted "V" about 2 inches above the corm. Using a 3 prong spade, lift from below and break into sections - even the corms with no greenery will come back if not rotted. I usually do this every 4 to 5 years . Till the soil to clean out the weeds and broken roots and space the corms about 8 to 10 inches or more apart. -Ric Silver-

Plant Give-Away video

A Great Day for a Plant Give- Away

Thank you to everyone who turned out for the Beautification Committee's first Plant Give-away.
The committee was overwhelmed by the show of support for this effort. It was wonderful to meet so many of the gardeners in our community, and to share plant and garden information. Because of the large turn out, all the plants were gone around noon, so if you came late to the event, we are sorry to have missed you.
Thank you to all the people that made donations to the Beautification Committee.
It was a beautiful day and our thanks go out to all the folks who attended this event. People like you really do make our city a beautiful place to live.

We started loading the trucks with over 450 potted plants early in the morning

Then we started setting up at Ocean Beach Park and people started to come early....

and more people came....

and more people came, about 240 people came 

and at 11:00 o'clock people picked out their plants.

Because of the large crowd we limited the number to two plants per person.

Everyone took home plants and bulbs.

The Plant Give-Away ended very early, around noon this is what was left at that time