Club Programs 2026-2027

September 22, 2026

Program: Color Your Garden–
Flowering Bulbs for Every Season

Presenter: Christine Darnell

How can we approach the use of spring flowering bulbs in the same creative way we put together a gorgeous perennial border? We will look at experimenting with combinations of spring-flowering bulbs and exploring the method of intermingling bulbs with perennials and dwarf shrubs to create longer periods of interest. Whether your garden is big or small, there are creative ways to break out of the traditional norms and invigorate your plantings with color, texture and volume.

Christine Darnell is a planting design specialist. Her firm, Christine Darnell Gardens, in in Lyme, CT., and focuses on natural, sustainable gardens that are bio-diverse, beautiful, and create long-term, ecological balance. She believes that with climate change and the serious threats to the living systems that surround us, home gardeners can make a real difference and there are successful strategies we can embrace. Christine is the vice-chair of Lyme’s Inland Wetland and Conservation Commission and serves on the Buildings and Grounds Committee for the Florence Griswold Museum. She currently teaches design for the CT Nursery and Landscape Association, an organization which supports the next generation of designers, horticulturists and nursery men and women in Connecticut.

HORTICULTURE DISPLAY TABLE: One cut stem of Shasta daisy, Fall Chrysanthemum, Aster. Cosme, Joe Pye weed, or you may choose a flowering houseplant.

Raffle Centerpiece: Joan Alexander
Desserts: Linda Dunn Paula Toi

Program: The History of Stone Walls in Connecticut
Presenter : Peter & Barbara Rsaza

When describing our New England landscape, images of old barns, colored foliage and stone walls often come to mind. Stone walls, the most common geological feature in our landscape, meander along our roadsides, fields and forests. Most stone walls were built between 1750 and 1860 and are considered important archaeological artifacts of our agricultural past. It is estimated that over 240,000 miles of stone walls once crisscrossed New England, which may have taken three billion man hours to build. Learn who built the old walls, their purpose and types of walls that can be
observed today. They will also describe Indigenous Ceremonial Stone Structures, abandoned kilns, foundations, and other stone structures that have been found in our area Peter Rzasa earned his B.S. degree in Forest Chemistry from S.U.N.Y. College of Environmental Science. Barbara obtained a B.S degree in art from Southern Connecticut State University and is a retired graphic designer who uses her artistic skills to create nature-based watercolor paintings. The Rzasas’ goal is to
encourage people, especially children, to look more closely at our natural and historical world and to become more aware of its hidden wonders.

DESIGN: Pumpkin Design
Create a Traditional or Creative Design in, around, or on top of a pumpkin using fresh and/or dried plant material. Back Panel and/or Underlay are not required

Raffle Centerpiece: Mary Lincinsky
Desserts: Marlene Whitney Louise Zierzow

Program: Seasonal Centerpiece “Make &Take” Workshop
Presenter: Peggy Townsend

Ready to outshine your neighbor’s holiday décor? Join award-winning floral designer Peggy Townsend for a hands-on demonstration where she will show you how to craft an elegant centerpiece with natural dried and fresh flowers. Peggy guides your every step…no prior floral design experience required. Learn clever tricks to refresh your arrangement at home. Practical, fun and surprisingly addictive. Bring your sense of humor, and maybe a camera-ready smile as you take your centerpiece home. Bring your scissors, floral cutter and small wire cutter.

HORTICULTURE DISPLAY TABLE: One cut stem of Leu-cothoe, (common name Drooping laurel) Holly, Rose, Painted Fern, or a house plant grown for its foliage.

Raffle Centerpiece: Paula Toi
Desserts: Sue Greco, Kimberly Neuenschwander

All Member Annual Lunch at 12 noon

The Ranch
160 South Main St
Newtown. Ct
(Separate checks)

Program: Our Important Pollinators
Presenter: Holly Kocet

Pollinators are part of the intricate web that supports biological diversity in nature which helps to sustain our quality of life. Pollinators are needed for reproduction of 90% of our flowering plants and one third of food crops. This program emphasizes the characteristics of each pollinator species and their specific needs. Because bees and other important pollinator populations are on the decline in Connecticut, it is important to know what we can do in our yards and in our communities to protect and provide for them.

Holly Kocet is co-founder of Protect Our Pollinators. POP’s mission is to advocate for pollinators, beneficial insects, birds, and their habitats. Holly is also a member of the Newtown Knotweed Initiative which seeks to educate and advise the public on Japanese Knotweed and other invasive species. A Certified Advanced Master Gardner with the University of Connecticut, Holly worked at Earth Tones Native Plant Nursery in Woodbury for seven seasons which helped foster an under-standing of the unique and important relationships between native plants and our pollinators. Holly is currently FGCCT chair for Conservation and Environmental Issues and chair for the Newtown Conservation Commission that is spearheading an initiative to ban Rodenticides statewide, one town at a time.

DESIGN: Petite Design
Create a Petite Design not to exceed 8” tall, 8” wide, and 8” long using fresh and/or dried plant material. Back Panel and Underlay created by the designer are required to compliment the design and should be 8” or less in all directions.

Raffle Centerpiece: Vicki Boccuzzi
Desserts: Mary Lincinsky Joyce DeWolfe

Program: Bugs that bug you: A closer look at our garden visitors
Presenter: Raya Suyama

When we see evidence that something has been nibbling in our gardens, our first instinct might be to reach for the pesticides. But a closer look at the intricate relationships between our plants, the bugs that feed on them, and the larger terrestrial food webs they support reveal the answer to the question of “when to squish” is not so cut and dry! Learn about the different ecological roles insects play in our gardens, how to identify them, and management techniques to keep pests from wreaking havoc.

Raya Suyama is a Master Gardener with the UConn Extension Office and a Pollinator Habitat Steward with University of MA, Amherst. She’s passionate about all things entomology, conservation, and native habitat restoration (especially for our nearly 400 native bee species!). She’s also an iNaturalist Ambassador; you can find her there as theperplexingbumblebee.

HORTICULTURE DISPLAY TABLE: One Stem of Red Twig Dogwood, pussy Willow, Spice Bush Bloodroot (spring beauty) March Marigold, Tril-lium or an early flowering house plant.

Raffle Centerpiece: Peggy Townsend
Desserts: Joan Palubniak Vicky Taloni

Program: Designing gardens using native plants
Presenter: Donna Katsuranis

Native plants are enjoying a new popularity – and rightly so. While many people think of natives as being just part of the background, they are remarkably suited to starring roles on the botanical stage. Rugged without belligerence, delicate without wimpiness, and beautiful without being prima donnas, all while being responsible citizens of the larger landscape, natives are the ultimate “right-plant-right-place”.
This program will explore some of the remarkable diversity that exists in our forests and fields, and can be adapted to our own backyards.

Donna Katsuranis is an Interfaith Minister and an Advanced Master Gardner who lives and gardens in Brookfield CT, despite lots of “help” from her dog and the local deer. Donna taught numerous Advanced Master Gardner classes and has lectured throughout the Northeast for groups from Gar-den Clubs and Libraries to mental health associations and the CT Flower & Garden Show. Her writings have been published in CT Gardner magazine and other publications, and she is a founder of the Kiwanis Giving Garden in Brookfield , where volunteers grow veggies for local food pantries.
Donna teaches and guides walks year-round on nature and spiritual subjects. Her dearest wish is to help people to reconnect with nature. You can reach out to her with ministry and garden questions at DKatsuranis@gmail.com. Find her on Facebook.com/DKDreamGardner

DESIGN: Cascade Design.
Create a design with dominant downward rhythm and lines. Lines may be curved, straight, zigzag. A minimum of components may extend upward to create balance. Design is supported by a container, vase, candle holder, or other device. Hint: tulips, roses, forsythia, ivy, pothos, Boston Fern, and Weeping Cherry Branches curve downward naturally as do many other branches and flowers

Raffle centerpiece: Jane Sharpe
Desserts: Sandy Stromberg Joan Alexander

DESIGN: Creative Design
Create a spring design using fresh plant material in a unique container or with a unique accessory. Consider using an antique tea pot, soup tureen, vase, candle holder or mold; or a basket of any type.

Raffle Centerpiece: Eileen Holleran
Desserts: Jeannette DelVento, Peggy Townsend

June 22, 2027

End-of-Year Potluck Luncheon

Board Meeting: 10 am—Year-End Review
Club Meeting: 12 noon—Swearing in of new officers
C.H. Booth Library