May 20, 2021
Despite restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Garden Club of Darien (GCD) has continued to have an impact in its community. This spring, club members completed the renovation of the Veterans Circle memorial at Darien Town Hall and worked to create a 350-square foot foundation garden surrounding the newly-built Elizabeth W. Chilton Educational Center at Darien’s Mather Homestead.
The Veterans Circle is a joint project with the Darien Beautification Commission and GCD and was funded through a donation from the club’s flower show Persephone. During the renovation, invasive and overgrown shrubs were removed and replaced with native plantings designed to enhance the circle which contains memorials honoring the servicemen from Darien who lost their lives in both World Wars, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.
In addition to their efforts with the Veterans Circle, GCD members worked to beautify the Mather Homestead, planning and executing a new garden around the educational center. The work included testing the soil as well as studying locations for sun and shade. Members created a planting plan to include drought and deer resistant plants as well as a variety of textures, colors, and bloom times to coordinate with the center’s red barn siding. The next phase of the project will be to label the ‘pollinator friendly’ plant varieties that will attract birds, bees, hummingbirds, and butterflies for the adult and youth visitors expected to visit this historic homestead.