Presidents' Letter- September

Dear Members,
Billie and I send you happy greetings and hope each of you enjoyed your summer! It's hard to believe it's autumn already and nearly time to put our gardens to bed for the winter and to rake those darn leaves. We look forward, though, to enjoying the last blooms of summer, the cool autumn breezes, the brilliant foliage and the invigorating return to the fall routine.

While many of us were taking the summer off from garden club activities, others were working hard. Evidence of this is the striking renovation of Phelps Triangle. If you haven't dropped by the Triangle to check it out and enjoy the experience, please make the time to do so soon. You will not be disappointed! The members of the committee for the Phelps Triangle renovation did a fabulous job of carefully and thoughtfully planning the work and seeing it through, resulting in a special place of which we can all be proud. Kudos to each of you.

The Program committee worked hard during the summer months to finalize a schedule of interesting speakers for our general meetings. Thanks to their diligence, the topics are broad-ranging and current, and we trust that you will find them worthwhile and will learn something along the way. The first meeting, on October 6th, features Marge Schneer from the Connecticut Dahlia Society speaking on "The Dahlia Year." What a wonderful way to kick off the year!

The Horticulture and Flower Arranging committees have devised a fun and active schedule for all of us to participate in at each general meeting. We will learn more about the schedule for the year soon, but the first activity is for each of us to bring either a small arrangement in a coffee mug or an identified horticulture example from our own gardens to the October 6th general meeting. We're already thinking about what we can harvest from our gardens and are hoping that we'll still have something in bloom!

Our Corresponding Secretary worked diligently with her committee to compile and publish our all-important directory, and yours will be ready to pick up at the October 6th meeting. It is full of important information, and we trust that you will review it carefully and mark your calendars for the remainder of 2008 and 2009.

The other committee chairs have been busy on their projects and planning for the coming year. We are grateful for their spirit of volunteerism and for their dedication and hard work on behalf of The Garden Club of New Haven. We hope that you will thank them for all they do when you have a chance.

As we embark on a new garden club year, we are committed to being a greener club, to engaging in our community, to gaining personal knowledge and trying something new, and to reconnecting with old friends and making new ones. Billie and I look forward to another wonderful garden club year.

Sincerely,
Debbie

"The autumn frosts will lie upon the grass
Like bloom on grapes of purple-brown and gold.
The misted early mornings will be cold;
The little puddles will be roofed with glass."
From Wild Peaches by Elinor Wylie