MONTHLY PROGRAMS
Held on the second Monday of the month, the Club’s meetings include a lecture featuring a well-known personality from the horticultural world followed by Club business announcements and a delicious luncheon prepared by member volunteers. These meetings are held at the Wilton Congregational Church (Pilgrim Hall), 70 Ridgefield Rd, Wilton.
Please note that monthly programs are for members only. If you are interested in joining the club and/or attending one of our meetings, more information is available on the Join Us page or please contact our membership chairs: Emily Nesmith nesmith.emily@gmail.com and Kathy Rosenbaum kmrosenbaum@icloud.com
The 2024/25 meeting date schedule is listed below:
DATE: September 9, 2024
SPEAKER:Andrew Pighills, Principal – English Gardens and Landscaping
TOPIC: Stone in the Garden
Our speaker, who is originally from Yorkshire, England, is passionate about his English
garden heritage and the art of creating stone structures. He will discuss not how, but where
to place stone in the garden, and which material to use when creating contrast or harmony.
From steps and paths to direct or invite, through mosaics, follies, benches, seats, and other
whimsies, to ponds and patios to relax and refresh. His firm, English Gardens &
Landscaping, creates and installs award winning residential garden designs and
landscapes that evoke the abundant color and luxuriant verdure of English and European
gardens. They design landscapes to incorporate natural stonework and plantings
appropriate to the clients’ architecture, environment and lifestyles.
http://www.englishgardensandlandscaping.com/about-ushtml
DATE: October 21, 2024
SPEAKER: Mary Ellen Lemay, Director of Landowner Engagement for the Aspetuck Land Trust
TOPIC: The Green Corridor and Pollinator Pathway: Improving Biodiversity in our own Yards
With more than 43 states in various stages of launching Pollinator Pathways, this landowner
engagement strategy has taken the region by storm in only 6 years. By planting natives,
avoiding pesticides, and reducing lawn, this very scalable initiative has the potential to create
healthy, connected habitats for pollinators and wildlife as they move across the landscape.
The Aspetuck Land Trust Green Corridor, following the same core message, is a broader scope
of biodiversity, moving up the food chain beyond pollinators, with a focus that includes land
protection and stewardship in a 6-town study region. This is a new direction that brings our local
land trusts into a leadership role in regional conservation.
The Pollinator Pathway and Aspetuck Green Corridor together have all the ingredients to help
landowners supercharge biodiversity with simple action steps that can have a big impact. As
Pathways open up to Corridors, I’ll show you why our yards are vital stepping stones on the
journey to heal our landscapes.
https://www.aspetucklandtrust.org
DATE: November 18, 2024
SPEAKER:Carol King Platt, Member of The CT Unit of Herb Society of America, the past chair
of the Landscape Design Council of Connecticut, and is a member of the Wallingford Garden
Club.
TOPIC: Holiday Arrangements and Decorations
Carol was voted one of People, Places and Plants’ top ten New England garden writers. Her
work has appeared in The New York Times, Traditional Home and many local publications. She
will cheerfully demonstrate how to create easy beautiful Holiday table arrangements and
decorations from your garden, the side of the road, and Stop and Shop.
https://www.carolkinggard
DATE: December 9, 2024
ANNUAL HOLIDAY LUNCHEON
DATE: January 13, 2025
SPEAKER: Dr. Lydia C. Pan, President, “Wild Ones, Mountain Laurel Chapter”
TOPIC: Nativars: Where Do They Fit In? + Climate Resilient Gardening
It is the mission of the Wild Ones organization to promote environmentally sound landscaping practices to preserve biodiversity, through the preservation, restoration and establishment of native plant communities. While encouraging the use of native plants to promote ecosystem health in our gardens, we ask, “Do nativars, which are cultivars of native plants, have the same ecological value as straight-species plants?” and “What is the difference between a nativar and a straight-species native?” Dr. Pan will also give us her thoughts on redesigning our gardens and yards for resilience and beauty in a changing New England climate.
https://mountainlaurel.wildones.org/
DATE: February 10, 2025
SPEAKER: Members of the WGC Conservation Committee
TOPIC: Winter Seed Sowing
With native plants booming in popularity, the Conservation committee will share the fun and fascinating practice of winter sowing – an easy, economical way to propagate native perennial plants from seed. The technique uses plastic gallon-size jugs as carefree “mini greenhouses” that will overwinter outdoors and protect their seeds (and eventual seedlings!) from downpours, weed seeds, unwanted plants and hungry critters until the young’uns are ready for up-potting or planting out. Presentation will be followed by a group winter-sowing session, with participation optional, after which each participant can take their finished mini-greenhouse home to stratify and await seed germination in spring. All materials supplied.
DATE: March 10, 2025
SPEAKER: Haiku Durden, Ann Margaret Mannix and Committee Chairs
TOPIC: Everything you need to know about the WGC Plant Sale
DATE: April 14, 2025
SPEAKER: Peter Picone, Wildlife Biologist, Department of Environmental Protection
TOPIC: To Plant or Not to Plant – Conserving CT’s Biological Diversity
Our speaker is a practicing Wildlife Biologist with a demonstrated history of working in wildlife conservation and wildlife management; civil service, administration, technical assistance and state and private lands habitat management. He is skilled in Natural Resource Management, Applied Science Methods/Techniques; Adaptive Resource Management; Invasive Species Management; Habitat Restoration/Enhancement; Wildlife Damage Management/Research; Environmental Education/Public Awareness, and Wildlife Conservation/Management Issues. He will be speaking on wildlife, wildlife resources management and habitat management and enhancement. Mr. Picone and his family are working on habitat projects implementing ecological restoration/habitat enhancement practices at Charter Oak Tree Farm in Connecticut.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-picone-32872245/
DATE: May 19, 2025
SPEAKER: Allison Sanders, 25-yr. WGC member; Club Historian
TOPIC: Mrs. Wilton Garden Club – the remarkable Vera Breed: Horticulturist, Landscape Designer, Energizer Bunny!
How did the Wilton Garden Club become one of the largest and most respected clubs in the state? The one with the most inventive flower shows, the depth of horticultural knowledge and dedication to preservation, conservation and beautification? How did the use and care of Old Town Hall become such an important ongoing project? How did the Wilton Garden Club become connected to Weir Farm, now a National Historical Park? The answer to each of these questions inevitably includes the involvement of the remarkable Vera Breed, aka Mrs. Wilton Garden Club.
Two-time President Vera Breed was one of the most dynamic of the Club’s members. Spanning her 35-year membership, from 1932 – 1967, her passion for gardening, engagement with the town, and endless energy and humor influenced the Club’s character and direction in ways that still affect us today.
This talk will include her involvement with the Wilton Garden Club; highlight her best-known landscape design, the Sunken Garden at Weir Farm; and provide a glimpse of our Club’s earlier days.