New Haven Register (Sunday) (New Haven, CT)
‘The Sound and the Flora’
Venue is as pretty as the blooms in ambitious flower show
The Branford Garden Club has been the town’s unofficial beautifier for nearly a century — the downtown light-pole planters, the floral display every year at the Branford Festival, the annual daffodil planting, to name a few, and a flower show every four years.
The green-thumbers are hosting their most ambitious show in the club’s 90-year history, a standard flower show, “The Sound and the Flora,” Saturday and Oct. 7 in the historic seaside Stony Creek Village — hence, ‘The Sound” in the show title.
Meandering through nine “historically significant” venues, including three lovely homes, it just might be the first time a flower show actually competes for “prettiest in show” with a venue renowned for its picture postcard scenic beauty and place in Branford history. Several of the venues are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“We’ve had house tours (in the past), but to have this many venues is very, very ambitious,” said Eunice Lasala, who is co-chairing the event with Doreen Larson-Oboyski and a committee of 50. “It’s been in the works for a year and three-quarters. Everyone in the club will be doing something that day, whether as a hostess or driving a van or teaching visitors.”
The venues, all within walking distance of each other on or off Thimble Islands Road, are: the Stony Creek Museum, which once was St. Therese Church; the 1865 Branford Land Trust building, previously a school and firehouse; former First Selectman Unk Da Ros’ workspace in a replica of the 1851 Stony Creek station of the New Haven and New London Railroad; the 1865 former Puppet House Theatre building, built in 1865, which has served as a church, a silent picture house turned live theater, and is now being renovated by its present owner, The Legacy Theatre; and Church of Christ.
Also, the 1875 Seaside Hall, home of the Stony Creek Fife and Drum Corps; the Brainerd Hotel, a former hotel built in the early 1800s, and now a stunningly decorated private home; Victorian Splendor, owned by generations of the same family since it was built in 1883, with original details such as stencils, painted ceilings and furniture, including a period Steinway piano; and Vintage Cottage, a typical village cottage built in 1928, now a family home.
Some of the buildings are rarely open to the public, so the show affords a unique opportunity for visitors, a dual experience in floral artistry and town history.
Every show is a learning experience for members, as well as its visitors, in keeping with the club mission to educate about floral art, stimulate interest in horticulture and floral design and to provide an outlet for creative expression.
The show, open 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 7, is divided into four sections: horticulture, design, education and botanical arts, with opportunities for attendees to look at and take part in handson learning. Tickets ($15) are available at the Stony Creek Museum, Seaside Hall and Taken for Granite at the intersection of Leetes Island and Thimble Islands roads, where visitors can park and catch continually running shuttles.
Horticulture, the art, science, technology and business of growing plants, is the most inclusive part of the show, where visitors are encouraged to bring their best examples of seeds,
flowers, ornamental blooms, hanging plants, evergreens, and so on, for judging and plain showing off. The specimens should be brought to Fellowship Hall, Church of Christ, 192 Thimble Islands Road.
Lasala said the education component will be in Seaside Hall and Branford Land Trust building, where each of the seven exhibits will provide 18 square feet of information.
“There is one on acquisitions which the Land Trust has acquired, how bad balloons are for the environment, how to compost, pollinators, monarchs, different things that are interesting to the public. If you read everything, you’ll learn a lot,” Lasala said.
Seaside Hall also will house 10 vendors selling handmade crafts, candles from Scenic Route, plants from Natureworks and beaded jewelry from Trinkets to Treasures, among others.
Botanical arts, common at large shows such as Newport and Boston, is the smaller cousin of the type of artistry often seen on the famed Rose Bowl Parade floats.
“It’s using dry plant materials, such as leaves or plants to cover a hat, a shoe, a necklace. We’re doing beachy things — a hat, beach bag and book,” Lasala said.
Design, the star of the show, will be showcased in nearly all the venues, including a four-pedestal display in the Legacy Theatre, the only space available there, as it is about to start renovations in October.
“Some are very creative that show you can do almost anything with flowers,” Lasala said. “Some are traditional. There’s a petite section of designs no larger than eight inches.”
Before the show is open to the public, the entries are judged by National Garden Club-certified judges — 21 judges of all levels from around the state, who start judging at 9:30 a.m. and finish with a lunch at the Willoughby Wallace Library at 12:30 p.m., just before the public tours start at 1.
The show is a prelude to the club’s full-blown anniversary celebration Dec. 7 at the Pine Orchard Yacht Country Club.
But the weekend, Lasala said, will leave its visitors “educated, enlightened and entertained.”
Shopping, too VENDORS AT SEASIDE HALL INCLUDE:
1 Sherry Kling — potter, art, sculptor
Mark Bents — potter,
1 eclectic garden items
JoAnn Everson — silk
1 scarves by Pangborn
Nature Works — garden
1 items
Debbie Morawski —
1 handmade jewelry
Lois Delise — handmade
1 jewelry
Trinkets to Treasures —
1 eclectic handmade jewelry
Scenic Route Candle Co.,
1 Indian Neck — assortment of handmade candles, also offers customized candles
Nutmeg Naturals — feltcovered
1 scented soaps
Jeanne Tahnk — homemade,
1 organic sauces, relish and jams
And more.