Old Lyme’s Post Office has a fresh new landscape design around its front entrance, thanks to efforts by the Duck River Garden Club (DRGC) and some other civic-minded volunteers and organizations around town.
While most patrons probably don’t think they have time to stop and enjoy the scenery as they dash in for mail or postage stamps, the next time they stop by, they should be pleasantly surprised by the changes. Gone are the overgrown yews and azaleas, foundation plantings that blocked the building’s front windows.
In their places are an array of woody shrubs and perennials, with an emphasis on native species that will provide colorful seasons of foliage, flowers, or berries.
There are 14 inkberries; 16 Red Sprite Winterberries—female plants—and one Jim Dandy Red Winterberry, the necessary male plant; eight Dwarf Fothergilla that will bloom white in April and May; and six Ruby Spice Summersweet, or Clethra plants. In front of these are 36 Spring Cinquefoil plants, low growers that will bloom yellow in the spring.
A detailed plan of the plantings, including Latin plant names, will be posted inside the post office.
The design was developed by Sheila Wertheimer, a DRGC member. Her Wertheimer and Associates landscape design firm in Old Lyme has been specializing in historic designs and garden restoration for the past 20 years.
For years, teams of garden club members volunteer each summer to plant and maintain colorful flower beds or large containers at seven prominent sites around town. They have shown up every year to do general landscaping clean-ups around the post office, as part of the club’s commitment to civic beautification.
When the post office’s plantings had become overgrown and unattractive, Wertheimer and fellow club member Glynn McAraw decided to tackle a redesign. They met with the Old Lyme Post Office staff and mapped out a plan.
The club was one of three garden clubs in Connecticut awarded a small grant by the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut for proposing a civic restoration or beautification project that used native plants. The National Garden Clubs, Inc., started the program and the grant was funded by The Principal Financial Group.
A number of area civic groups also chipped in with either financial support or sweat equity. These include the Old Lyme Conservation Trust; Bruce Baratz; Lyme-Old Lyme Lions Club; Rotary Club of Old Saybrook, serving Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, and Westbrook; and Interact Rotary Youth.
It took several attempts for “the Duckies,” whose annual May flower market has a history of bringing out all sorts of precipitation, regardless of when it is held across the street at the Marketplace Shops, to dodge September showers and get their work done.
First, they had to dig out the old shrubs. Wertheimer’s professional crew took on the largest ones, but members and other volunteers were urged to show up with sharp loppers, spades, a broom or two, and, of course, sturdy gloves.
A handful of students in the Lyme Old Lyme High School’s community service group, made up Key Club, Leos, and Interact Rotary youth, helped out. Students Shannon Chapman, Nick Davidson, Andrew Winter, Sal Fava, Justin Wadge, and Mitchell Krasney pitched in to either pull out the overgrown old shrubs or plant the new ones.
“The students were wonderful,” said Wertheimer. “They worked so hard at digging out the stumps and roots. The 20-year-old yews were just horrible to get out.”
She set them to work as an assembly line, following the process her crews use to install a garden. One person digs the holes, another comes behind to add water, or “puddle in” the plants. A third one planted the new additions.
Not all the existing vegetation in front of the post office was removed. The row of rich, green junipers and a mature ornamental flowering cherry on the south side of the building were retained.
Wertheimer said it normally takes a few years for woody shrubs to fill out. In the meantime, the selection of plants will give passers by a variety of leaf color, winter berries, and other seasonal interest throughout the year. The post office and garden club have agreed to share the weekly plant maintenance and watering duties during the growing season, and the club’s garden beautification committee will monitor all the maintenance needs, mulching and fertilizing.
Although the new plants may look diminutive now, they are properly spaced and provide a pleasing array in front of the building. The garden club has placed small decorative fencing around the edges to deter foot traffic through the mulch and the plants.
Club members also made nine large flower arrangements, from flowers in their own yards, to decorate the Old Lyme Town Hall for the town’s rededication of the building on Oct. 5.
In December, club members will once again bring out their loppers and gloves to create several large wreaths that are displayed each holiday season on a number of the town’s public buildings and non-profit organizations.