Time to go to the beach

Ocean Beach Park is one great reason to live in New London, so get your sunscreen out, grab a towel, and head for the beach, that many of us grew up on. Feel like a child again, meet your friends, eat ice cream and be happy!!!

Two Years at City Hall, a video

A short video showing the installation of the new sidewalks and garden, in the back of City Hall, last summer.

A Visit to Enders Island

A last look at our past summer. Beautification Committee member Sue Davis visited Enders Island in Mystic, in the height of the summer season, and took all the beautiful photos for this video. Thanks Sue for sharing this wonderful place with us.

Betty's Garden - video

On August 8th, friends and family of Betty Foye gathered at Ocean Beach Park for a day of rememberance.

Thanks to Daneen Roth and Marie Mc Sparren for the photos.
If you wish to view this video on a larger screen or download this video you can go to
our YouTube Channel -New London Beautification Committee, Channel57 click to go

Make some new memories at Ocean Beach Park - A new video

The first day of summer is almost here! Let us hope the rain clears out and we can enjoy some of the fine things the beach has to offer.
The Beautification Committee has been working hard to have our largest garden site, the Hillside Garden, planted and ready to go. We have added a new stone bench this year.
Hope to see you all at the beach!!

Speaking of the good old days, A New London blog,
Don't Shoot the Messenger, click to go.
has a cool video of a 1908 rescue off the pier in New London, well worth seeing.

Making a Dry Creek Bed Garden

BELOW ARE SOME HELPFUL INSTRUCTIONS IF YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT INSTALLING A FEATURE LIKE THIS.
First plan the course that the dry creek bed will take down the slope. Mark the 2 edges of that course with landscaper's paint. A meandering course looks more natural than a straight course. How high up the slope should you start? In some cases, there's little choice. For instance, if a landscape drainage pipe that's already in place is dumping all that excess water onto your property, your decision is clear-cut: begin the dry creek bed right under that pipe....

But in cases where you have more leeway (especially for dry creek beds that are purely decorative), attempt to disguise the "headwaters" of the dry creek bed by making it bend out from behind a large boulder or some plant material. When the source of a stream is mysterious, viewers have to use their imagination. And what we construct with our hands is rarely as pleasing as what we construct with our minds!

We've talked about how high up the slope to start. But what about where to finish down below? Some homeowners redirect excess water toward the street. But it's best to contemplate a worst-case scenario when dealing with public property, because that means dealing with the government -- which can be a real stickler when it comes to issues like redirecting excess water. So check with your local public works department first. If their response is positive, get something in writing that says so....
What if you're not allowed to redirect the water to the street? Unless you already have a landscape drainage system in place (allowing you to route the runoff into that system), you have 2 main options. You could channel the water to a location on your land (but make sure it's your land, not a neighbor's!) where it's less troublesome and where, if the soil is sandy enough, it can percolate harmlessly down into the ground. A second option is to build a pond and funnel the water into it

So much for the course of a dry creek bed. What about its depth and width? These dimensions don't have to conform to any rule exactly. Look at dry creek beds in nature: they're obviously not all of the same depth and width. But there's a general rule you can follow: dry creek beds tend to be wider than they are deep, which is good news for you -- less digging! A 2:1 ratio is about right, meaning you could make the dry creek bed 3' wide x 1.5' deep, for example.
With the planning done, now it's time for the first real work in the project: the digging. It's easy to build dry creek beds for landscape drainage, provided that the soil you'll be excavating isn't strewn with roots and rocks. Those with difficult soil to excavate can take solace in the fact that excavating the dry creek bed will be the toughest part of the project!
Take the soil that you're excavating and mound it up along the sides of your dry creek bed, as you go. This will reduce the amount of digging that you have to do, since you'll be lowering the base and raising the sides in one motion. Tamp down this excavated soil with a tamping tool.
After the trench for the dry creek bed has been excavated, lay down landscape fabric along its whole length. You want the fabric to cover the mounds of earth on both sides, as well as the trench. Hold the fabric in place using fabric pins or garden staples. Now for the part of the project that will be visible to viewer's: the rock....

For projects intended to improve landscape drainage, all rocks need to be mortared into place to form a solid channel that will carry water away (for ornamental dry creek beds, this is optional -- and probably undesirable). Apply mortar only to short sections of the fabric at a time, since mortar dries quickly. Use at least 2" of mortar. Lay the rocks in the mortar, then repeat the process with the next short section. It's easier to work from the top of the slope, down.
You can use rock of various shapes and sizes, but many homeowners prefer to select more round rocks ("river rocks") than flat ones. Round rocks conjure up an image of the water that has been gushing over them, knocking them about and causing them to become round over time.
Place small river rocks in the center of the trench; the water will flow over these.
Place your larger rocks on the sides of the dry creek bed, where they'll help channel the water and where they'll have the most visual impact. Save any boulders for the biggest bends in your stream's course and to disguise the "headwaters" of the dry creek bed (as discussed above).
Tips:
After you build dry creek beds, you can dress them up a bit. Plants will soften the edges, for instance. If you're more ambitious, you can install a landscape bridge over the dry creek bed and plant tall ornamental grasses to serve as "bookends" at both entrances to the landscape bridge. Adorn the landscape bridge with hanging container gardens to create a knockout focal point for your yard
What You Need:
Landscaper's paint
Landscape fabric
Fabric pins or garden staples
River rocks and boulders
Mortar
Wheelbarrow for mixing the mortar
Tamping tool
Shovel

Our Summer Photo Album

Take a look back at the past summer season, with committee members, and some of their favorite photos.
It is a chance to see the members home gardens as well as some nice shots of the waterfront.
All of our members are great gardeners but we have some great photographers as well.
Pause for one last look at a summer that seemed to pass all to quickly.........
Now get out there and start raking.

Spring Planting with the Beautification Committee

As summer settles in, here is a look back at the Committee's very busy and exciting spring season.

A NEW LOOK AT CITY HALL

Have you noticed new splashes of color when passing New London City Hall? The magnificent architecture of this fine building was recently enhanced by the New London Beautification Committee. The addition of new planters is part of an ongoing collaboration to improve the appearance of this noble structure. The two planters at the front doors were donated to the City by the New London Garden Club. The other nine planters as well as all the plants and soil were purchased by Beautification. The installation of these concrete planters would not have been possible without the assistance of the Public Works Department. Special thanks go to Dave DeNoia from Parks for his cooperation and advice. Thanks also go to Bob Myers, Assistant to the Director of Public Works, Corey Elmore and Sean Porter from Parks, and Jim Petty, George Frankewicz, Matt Alloway, Don York, and Bill Barlow from the Buildings for their assistance. Beautification also thanks Brian Desautell from Center City District for doing such a fine job keeping all the downtown plants watered during the summer. It’s collaborations such as this that will continue to improve the appearance of downtown New London.Tita WilliamsNew LondonChair, New London Beautification Committee

In Memory of Betty Foye

A sad week for the Beautification Committee, with the passing of one of our members.
Betty Foye, a passionate and experienced gardener, who's humor and wisdom will be greatly missed.
Here is an excerpt from The Day, New London, Ct. about her exceptional life.

New London - Elizabeth Fetzer Foye, beloved mother, grandmother, and wife, Navy veteran, committed volunteer, and loyal friend peacefully passed away on April 22, 2008. She was 85 years old and enjoyed a rich and independent life.

Born in 1922 in Morristown, N.J., she graduated from Morristown High School in 1939. She continued her education at the Mountainside Hospital School of Nursing in Montclair, N.J., and became a registered nurse in 1944. During her childhood, she loved riding horses, going to her grandmother's farm, and developing her stellar tennis game.

She was the daughter of Charles and Elizabeth Davitt Fetzer and the sister of Charles K. Fetzer, all of whom preceded her in death.

With the coming of World War II, she was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy and assigned to St. Albans Hospital in Tarrytown, N.Y. There, she met William Foye, a naval aviator, caring for him after his serious injury, who became her husband of 47 years.

Betty and Bill joined the New London community and had eight children together. They vigilantly supported their children in all their activities at New London High School and in their college years and beyond. As parents, they taught their children the value of love and support of your community, loyalty to family, the value of education and hard work, and the Golden Rule. Her strong Roman Catholic faith provided guidance and support throughout the challenges of life.

Her career in nursing (U.S. Navy and Mitchell College) was the cornerstone of her extraordinary life dedicated to the service of others, especially those less fortunate than she. For over 60 years, she worked tirelessly for charitable organizations too numerous to list in full. Some of her more recent work was with the New London area food pantry; Child and Family Agency; Catholic Charities; Girl Scouts (lifetime member), Lawrence and Memorial Hospital volunteers (over 25 years), Save Ocean Beach (SOB), New London Beautification, and many groups for St. Joseph Church.

Fiercely independent and a woman of many interests, Betty passionately pursued her hobbies in her "spare time". One of her greatest loves was her gardens not only at her colorful, charming cottage but also in her work with the Friends of Harkness, Save Ocean Beach (SOB) and New London Beautification.

The short video, below, shows Betty's garden sites and projects at Ocean Beach Park. All the photos were taken in the past garden year by members of the Beautification Committee.