CIVIC PROJECTS AND CONTRIBUTIONS
The list below identifies just some of the entities that have received funds, material assistance, and/or volunteer time from Sasqua Garden Club in the last thirty years. All projects have had the intended purpose to “to restore, improve and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and
ASPETUCK LAND TRUST, Fairfield
BURR HOMESTEAD, Fairfield
CONNECTICUT AUDUBON SOCIETY, Fairfield
READ ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, Bridgeport
- Sasqua members meet with fourth-grade classes twice a year. In Fall, members bring flowers and baskets to Read School and help students make Thanksgiving centerpieces. In Spring, members host students at the Birdcraft Museum where the students learn about avian habitats. This is a cooperative project between the Civic and Community Outreach committees.
BIRDCRAFT MUSEUM, Fairfield
- Please see Civic main page for a description of Sasqua’s largest, current project.
CONNECTICUT COLLEGE ARBORETUM, New London
CONNECTICUT FUND FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, New Haven
DISCOVERY MUSEUM, Bridgeport
EARTH PLACE THE NATURE DISCOVERY CENTER, Westport
- As a Founders Fund project, Sasqua created an entry garden for the Center’s main building housing its exhibits, laboratories, and preschool.
FAIRFIELD SENIOR CITIZEN CENTER LANDSCAPING
- Please see Civic main page for a description of Sasqua’s involvement with the Senior Center.
FAIRFIELD TOWN HALL TREE PLANTING
FAIRFIELD TRAIN STATION TREE PLANTING
FAIRFIELD TRAIN STATION BARREL PLANTINGS
FAIRFIELD MUSEUM & HISTORY CENTER
- Sasqua and Fairfield Garden Club partnered to design and fund the installation of foundation planting at the Fairfield Museum and History Center, a site used by both Fairfield public and private schools and by community groups. Plants included clethra, bearberry, and other native plants that tolerate this
Center’s location near shore-line wetlands.
GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICA CENTENNIAL TREE PROJECT, Fairfield
- In celebration of the centennial of the Garden Club of America, Sasqua Garden Club planted four elms at the Fairfield train station. Sasqua chose Ulmus americana ‘Valley Forge’, a varietal highly resistant to Dutch elm disease with the classic vase shape associated with elms that stood a century ago. As a complementary Civic project, Sasqua planted three
Crateagus viridis ‘Winter King’ with the elms. Like the elms, these native hawthorns have an upright branching habit, but are smaller in stature and hold bright, red-orange fruits in Winter.
GARDEN CLUB OF AMERICAN MILLENNIUM BUTTERFLY GARDEN AT THE SMITHSONIAN GARDENS, Washington, DC
GREENFIELD HILL GRANGE, Fairfield
MERRIT PARKWAY CONSERVANCY, Stamford
THE RIVER-LAB PROGRAM OF THE MILL RIVER WETLAND COMMITTEE, Fairfield
- The River-Lab program is
a main component of the elementary science curriculum of Fairfield Public Schools. Founded by a Sasqua member nearly fifteen years ago, the River-Lab program annually educates over three thousand school children about the Mill River subbasin and how to keep it healthy. Sasqua members take River-Lab volunteer positions, and the Club makes annual contributions to the Mill River Wetland Committee.
THE NATURE CONSERVANCY, New Haven
PEQUOT LIBRARY, Southport
RYE NATURE CENTER, Rye, NY
SAVE THE SOUND, New Haven
THE GARDEN CONSERVANCY, Cold Spring, NY
THE GARDEN EDUCATION CENTER OF GREENWICH, Cos Cob, CT
TOMLINSON MIDDLE SCHOOL COURTYARD, Fairfield
TOWN OF FAIRFIELD DAFFODIL PLANTINGS
TOWN OF FAIRFIELD DOGWOOD TREE PLANTING
TROUT BROOK VALLEY, Easton and Weston, CT
- In the late 1990s, Sasqua worked in coalition with other community groups and with the Aspetuck Land Trust and the Coalition to Preserve Trout Brook Valley to save 1009 acres in Easton and Weston from development after Aquarion Water Company sold the land to National Fairways. National Fairways proposed building a gated community and private golf course on the pristine land. Happily, the land remains pristine and is maintained by the Aspetuck Land Trust.
