Wilton Garden Club

The 2011-2012 programs are as follows:

Date:              September 12, 2011 at Old Town Hall 
Speaker:         Kim Young/Melinda Wolcott 
Topic:             "Welcome to a New Garden Club Year"
Program:   Our club President, Kim Young, will welcome us back, introduce the new Board and give us updates on the coming year.  Our Flower Show Chairperson, Melinda Wolcott, and her committee will discuss the flower show, give club members an opportunity to volunteer to help on the days of the flower show, to fill out horticulture entry forms, and of course, to hear a flower show and cocktail party update. Please save the evening of September 17th and join us for a lovely evening of "Friends, Fun and Flowers" at our cocktail party in the library!     

 

Date:               October 3, 2011 at the Library 
Speaker:          Dr. Howard Kilpatrick, CT Dept. of Environmental Protection 
Topic:             "Deer, From Landscape Issues to Lyme Disease         
Program:       This program has been arranged by our Conservation Commission and is co-sponsored by the Wilton Garden Club, the Wilton Conservation Commission, the Wilton Library and the Wilton Deer Committee.  Our speaker is Dr. Howard J. Kilpatrick of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, Wildlife Division.  He is responsible for planning and overseeing the administration of the deer, moose and turkey programs and for the supervision of the waterfowl, small game and furbearer programs.  Dr. Kilpatrick holds an M.S. in Wildlife Ecology from the University of New Hampshire and a PhD in Natural Resources from the University of Connecticut. He has been both the author and co-author of many publications and papers that have appeared in scientific journals.  By the time of our program, Dr. Kilpatrick will be examining the results of the extensive Redding, Ct. survey on homeowners' attitudes about deer.  He may also have the data from the latest aerial fly over to count the deer population.  Please join us for this informative program!

 

Date:               November 14, 2011 at the Congregational Church 
Speaker:         Cyrus Paktinat, Floral Designer 
Topic:             Flower Arranging
Program:        Our very special floral arranger and speaker of the month, Cyrus Paktinat, was born north of Iran.  His earliest memories of nature and of plants are of the fruit trees in his native country. Cyrus studied theater at the State University of Memphis and returned home to work as a film maker for a number of years before returning to the United States where he eventually bought and operates "Flower Falls", a unique floral shop in Westport.  Cyrus describes himself as "a floral designer and a poet" who loves his creative world.  Cyrus has appeared multiple times on the Martha Stewart show on television and has been featured as the "Accidental Florist" in the Westport Magazine.  He will create a number of arrangements for us and welcomes comments and questions during his presentation.  (Photos by Julie Curtis)

 

 

Date:               December 12, 2011 at the Congregtional Church
Topic:             "An Historic and Design Tour of the Gardens of the Cotswolds" and Holiday Luncheon 
Program:        Our own Melinda Wolcott will kick off the annual Holiday Luncheon with a wonderful slide tour of the beautiful Cotswold Gardens.   In addition to her busy life being a floral designer and state judge, an enthusiastic gardener and a longtime member of our club, Melinda previously led tours to England, Scotland and Italy where she, Chris and the girls lived at various times. We will enjoy pictures from one of her tours.

Following this lovely visual tour, we will enjoy our annual Holiday luncheon with Garden Club friends.

 

Date:               January 9, 2012 at the Congregational Church 
Speaker:          Colleen Plimpton, Morning Glory Gardens
Topic:             "Gardening with the Birds"
Program:        Back by popular demand will be our speaker, Colleen Plimpton who spoke last year on seed starting.  This year Colleen will be addressing "Gardening with the Birds". Colleen is the owner of Morning Glory Gardens in Bethel, and has an extensive website and an informative online garden newsletter.  She trained at the N.Y. Botanical Gardens, writes a weekly garden column for her local paper, and is the author of a new book Mentors in the Garden of Life.  She describesherself as a "garden coach."  Colleen will address ways in which we might begin to attract more birds to our gardens with the addition of just a few plants and welcoming conditions.  This program is guaranteed to get us all thinking about additions to our own gardens in the coming spring!

 

Date:               February 13, 2012 at the Congregational Church 
Speaker:         Richard Bergmann
Topic:             Abstracting the Chinese Garden: Creating Spaciousness in a Limited Area
Program:      Richard Bergmann trained in both architecture and landscape architecture at the University of Illinois, Cornell and the New York Botanical Garden.  His work has been featured in both academic and popular publications including House Beautiful, Garden Design, and Landscape Architecture magazines.  In 1994 the Garden Club of America recognized his work with an award for significant accomplishments in historic preservation.  Internationally New Classic Gardens was published in 2000 by the Royal Horticultural Society, England.  His multiple talents are displayed in and around his 1836 Greek Revival-style home in New Canaan.  The gardens, done in collaboration with his wife, Sandra, have been on the Garden Conservancy's Open Days program since 2000.  Today's program is about lessons learned from Chinese gardens in shaping spatial illusions in the residential suburban garden.  We will see how the Chinese garden is an integral part of a house and is considered to be a landscape painting in three dimensions.

 

Date:               March 12, 2012 at the Congregational Church 
Speaker:         Sal Gilbertie 
Topic:             Herbs: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
Program:       The name Gilbertie has been synonymous with herbs for the last 40 years, and Sal is renowned as one of its' leading experts.  Herbs are the oldest cultivated garden species in the world and have been used in medicine and cooking  for their fragrance and decorative appeal.  Sal's commitment and dedication to herbs has inspired him to write seven books, lecture frequently on herb gardening, and host year-round workshops at the Westport, Connecticut retail shop.  He has appeared on numerous national radio and television programs, including "Martha Stewart Living", "Home Matters" on the Discovery Channel, the "Home Show" on the Lifetime Channel, and "Sara's Secrets" on the Food Network.  In March 2006, People Places Plants Magazine named him to their list of the 50 Most Influential Horticulturists in the Northeast.   Sal will be discussing the history of herbs in the U.S. starting in 1930 and bringing us through the war years up to the present.

 Date:             April 9, 2012

Speaker:       Ira Kettle, CT State Apiary Inspector

Topic:            "Bees and their Role inour Gardens" plus Plant Sale Update 

Program:    Our speaker for April is Ira Kettle, the State Apiary Inspector for Connecticut.  He will speak on the importance of pollinators in our world.  Not only does the agriculture in our country depend on bees pollinating the crops, but the farmers raising animals also depend on pollination to provide food for their herds.  Ira will be bringing a frame of bees for us to see, and will entertain questions from the audience too.   In addition to Ira's talk on the importance of pollinators, he also gives talks on the Asian long horned beetles, and the Emerald Ashbar . 

Additionally, we will devote some time at this meeting for the Plant Sale chair to give us an update on our progress for the Plant Sale in May.  You may sign up for committee work and for volunteer opportunities at this time too.