Centennial Celebration 2024-2025
October 2024- June 2025
Rooted in History. Planting in the Present. Branching into the Future.
The goal of the Centennial Committee is to create a year-long celebration with programs and events which reflects the Garden Club of New Haven’s core mission for the past 100 years. This is a joyous period for the club, a time for proud reflection on our achievement-filled past and happy anticipation of all we can do in the future. This is also an opportunity to recognize and salute our many civic partners in the New Haven community.
GCNH Day in Our City
May 10, 2025
Celebrating our close ties with the New Haven Green and our city, working in conjunction with the Proprietors of the Green. A Flower Show at the New Haven Library, children’s workshops, seed give-away, en plein air painters, showing of our film about the New Haven Green at the New Haven Museum, tour of the Grove St. Cemetery, dedication of a bench & time capsule at Phelps Triangle, planting at Audubon Mini Park and more.
Schedule of Events: Saturday, May 10th
Come one, come all and enjoy the day! Bring a friend!
Rain or Shine.
10:00am – 4:00pm
NEW HAVEN PUBLIC LIBRARY
133 Elm Street
Nature and the Written Word, a Centennial Flower Show
(100 years after our first flower show! )
11:00am – 1:30pm
THE LOWER GREEN
Elm/Temple/Church Streets
The Garden Club and our Community partners will join the Proprietors of the Green’s WAKE UP THE GREEN celebration with horticultural advice, information, activities, vendors, seed give-a-way and a children’s flower design workshop. Food Trucks too!
While you’re there, take a self-guided walking tour of the Green
11:00am – 4:00pm
EN PLEIN AIR ON THE GREEN
Enjoy over 30 Connecticut artists as they paint and capture the spirit and essence of the New Haven Green and the surrounding landscape.
12:00pm – 2:00pm
GROVE STREET CEMETERY
227 Grove Street
Arboretum Tours/Cemetery Tours
1:00 pm – 3:00pm
BEINECKE LIBRARY
121 Wall Street
Discover New Haven’s Landscape History with City Historian Michael Morand.
2:00 pm – 3:30pm
THE NEW HAVEN MUSEUM
114 Whitney Avenue
Showing of our documentary film, The New Haven Green: Heart of a City. Karyl Evans filmmaker, Paul Giamatti narrator
3:30 pm – 4:00pm
PHELPS TRIANGLE PARK
Intersection of Whitney Ave /Trumbull St
The Garden Club has been responsible for this tiny sliver of land for decades. A new bench, in honor of our Centennial, has just been installed.
4:00 pm – 5:00pm
AUDUBON PARK OF THE ARTS
80 Audubon Street
The day concludes with a celebration of the Garden Club’s long history with Audubon Park of the Arts. Join us for cupcakes, lemonade and a few remarks by Mayor Justin Elicker, along with the dedication of a tree for Nancy Alderman, one of the Garden Club’s inaugural Environmental Heroes
Parking Information
Parking lots and street meters available at or within a few blocks of every venue: (click here for maps)
- LIBRARY and the GREEN: on street parking or nearby Yale lots
- GROVE STREET CEMETERY: within the cemetery gates or on street
- BEINECKE LIBRARY: is just across the street from the cemetery
- NEW HAVEN MUSEUM/PHELPS /AUDUBON PARK: on street metered parking
Highlights of our history and past members presented at GCNH meetings in anticipation of our birthday celebration:
The Cherry Shaw Swords and Virginia Thorne Shaw Annual Lecture
Public Green Space: An Urban Imperative
November 13, 2024 at 5:00pm
A panel on the importance of public green spaces with a focus on looking towards the future. Confirmed speakers: Sophie van Haselberg of the New York Restoration Project, Lynn Kelly, executive director of the New York Restoration Project, Sarah Charlop Powers, Executive Director of the Natural Areas Conservancy and Eric Sanderson, landscape ecologist and Vice President for Urban Conservation Strategy at the NYBG. Moderated by Colleen Murphy-Dunning, Program Director of the Hixon Center for Urban Sustainability, Urban Resources Initiative. Will Ginsberg, Community Foundation, opened the panel.
Summary of the 2024 Sword/Shaw Lecture
On November 13th the Garden Club of New Haven recognize that green spaces are critical components of successful and livable urban areas, as they provide a wide range of benefits for people and the environment. The Garden Club of New Haven (GCNH) has contributed 100 years of volunteers, ideas, and funding to develop, preserve and maintain more than fifteen green spaces in greater New Haven. This year, to honor our commitment to the preservation of green spaces, our annual Sword/Shaw Lecture a panel discussion featuring five exceptional public green space preservationists advocating for initiatives that create healthier green spaces for our communities.
Moderator: Colleen Murphy-Dunning, Director, Hixon Center for Urban Ecology and the Urban Resource Initiative
Panelists:
Sophie von Haselberg, Member, Board of Directors New York Restoration Project
Sarah Charlop-Powers, Executive Director and Co-Founder, Natural Area Conservancy
Eric W. Sanderson, Inaugural Vice President, Urban Conservation at the New York Botanical Garden
Lynn Kelley, Executive Director, New York Restoration Project
Public Green Spaces that the Garden Club of New Haven has historically cared for include:
New Haven Green – Since the 1980’s we have partnered with the Proprietors of the Green to fund the preservation and planting of elm trees and other tree species.
Long Wharf Nature Preserve – For more than 20 years the GCNH has partnered with the New Haven Land Trust and the City of New Haven to establish and maintain the public Preserve. Annually thousands of people and school groups enjoy and learn about the Long Island Sound, wildlife, and vegetation. A GCNH board member and teacher developed an educational program for elementary and middle school students, which are still offered.
Phelps Triangle – Fifty years ago we developed a site plan and continue to redesign, plant, and maintain the public park offering a resting and meeting place to many.
Pardee Rose Garden – This was the first major project taken on by the Garden Club and was completed in 1935 – creating and planting a rose garden at the base of East Rock Park which is open to the public.
West Rock Park Nature Center – In 1950 the GCNH transported native plants from a site in Milford to West Rock creating this public garden.
Common Ground School – In 2009 the GCNH helped plant the Shakespearean Garden where students at the school perform their plays.
Edgewood Mall – In 1955 the GCNH partnered with the City of New Haven to design and plant a garden.
Fort Nathan Hale – The GCNH planted a garden in the Flag Pole Court.
Park of the Arts – The Club has participated in the design and planting of the Park of the Arts on Audubon Street since 1979.
Eli Whitney Museum – The GCNH presented a landscape plan to the museum in 1980.
Pardee Morris House – GCNH members designed and planted a Colonial garden in 1981.
Edgerton Park – In 2018 GCNH members worked on the renovation of a meadow.
Quinnipiac Meadows – The GCNH took on the task of the eradication of invasive plants in the meadow and then planted pollinator flora starting in 2019.
Fellowship Place – The Club planted gardens and conducted workshops for clients.
Swipe through some photos from the Sword/Shaw lecture
Centennial Planting Project
Common Ground High School, Urban Farm & Environmental Education Center
358 Springside Avenue, New Haven, CT 06515
Planting took place at the top of the hill, at the end of the bridge that connects the upper and lower campus.
Shrubs planted:
3 Winterberry Hollies — Ilex verticillata “Sunsplash”
3 Mountain Laurels – Kalmia latifolia “Sarah”
GCNH ambassadors: Maggie Gottschalk and Carol Ross
The Garden Club of New Haven and Common Ground School (which was started in the late 1980s) are bound together by their missions to support a knowledge of gardening and the preservation of natural resources through collaboration and connection with the community.
In 2006, Garden club members volunteered to plant trees and shrubs on the Common Ground campus. While there, they had an opportunity to visit classrooms and see, first-hand, the success of rigorous academics combined with exemplary environmental practices. They came away with great respect for the students, the faculty, and the programs, and they continued their interaction in subsequent years.
Common Ground recognized these efforts, thanked the Garden Club and presented them with their environmental award at the 2010 Feast from the Fields festival.
The Garden Club has always been very proud of this school, recognizing them as a model of the very best. They formally supported the renewal of their state charter in 2010 and brought Common Ground’s efforts to the attention of the Garden Club of America. This national organization bestowed their major annual environmental award to Common Ground at a ceremony during their Zone II meeting in 2011
On Monday, September 29, Garden Club ambassadors met with some staff and students of Common Ground, including members of their Green Job Corps, to plant shrubs along the hill in an area known as their ‘sacred space’. As Joel Tolman said, “we’ve been talking about ways to continue to restore this habitat on our campus and I’m excited for this opportunity to garden together and be part of your 100th anniversary celebration.”
Garden Club of New Haven Centennial Environmental Heroes
The following individuals, often unsung, have made a powerful difference environmentally and horticulturally in the greater New Haven community. We are honored to recognize them in our centennial year.
Nancy Alderman, Posthumously
President of Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI)
She was a past president of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment; a past member of the National Board of the Environmental Defense Fund; past member of the Governor’s Pollution Prevention Task Force; recipient of the Clyde Fisher Award of the Environmental Law Section of the Connecticut bar; and the recipient of the New England Public Health Association’s /Mood Award, given to individuals for outstanding contributions in the area of environmental health. Nancy was the Founder and President of Environment and Human Health, Inc., a nonprofit Organization of physicians and public health professionals dedicated to
protecting human health from environmental harm.
Colleen Murphy-Dunning
Director of the Hixon Center for Urban Ecology and the Urban Resources Initiative
She has also been instrumental in the establishment and the continuing work on the New Haven Memorial Garden of Healing.
Charles Negaro & Nancy Dennett
Founded Atticus Bookstore and Café in 1980 and Chabaso Bakery in 1995.
Charles served on the board of Common Ground School/New Haven Ecology Project and was a founding member and former chairman of the board of New Haven Farms which merged with the New Haven Land Trust to form Gather New Haven in January 2020. His wife, Nancy Dennett, has worked hand in hand with Charlie on all of his projects. We are delighted to make this a joint award.
Stacey Spell
Stacey Spell, a retired city homicide detective, currently president of the West River Neighborhood Services Corporation, a nonprofit organization with a goal of creating a green peaceful community through events and community engagement. Stacey sits on the Board of Directors of Elmseed and of the Dwight Development Corporation. He is an active tutor at New Haven Reads and the chairman of the Deaconard of Pitts Chapel U.F.W. Baptist Church.
Vincent Breslin
Cofounder of the Werth Center for Coastal and Marine Studies at Southern Connecticut State University.
Vince and his students have done exceptional work in coastal and environmental research to clean up the Sound.