Press Release, Branford Garden Club and Branford Community Gardens

The Branford Garden Club, the Branford Community Gardens and additional community organizations will be on the Branford green from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Saturday, May 18 for their annual Spring Plant and Seedling Sale. Rain date is Sunday, May 19, noon to 4 p.m.

The sale will include flower, organic vegetable, and herb seedlings, native plants, pollinator plants that attract bees, butterflies and birds, perennial plant divisions from the personal gardens of members of the Branford Garden Club, container patio gardens, and floral notecards. Fresh home baked goods will also be offered.

Treat a special someone or grace your table with a unique floral arrangement. Members of the Branford Garden Club bring fresh cut flowers from their personal gardens and arrange bouquets in vases which will be available for a good will donation.

Bartlett Tree Experts of Guilford will hand out 200 bare root trees (Eastern redbud saplings) through its Bartlett Legacy Tree Program to shoppers on a first come first served basis.

There is a special emphasis this year to help gardeners become more earth-friendly in their gardens by offering more native plants and pollinator-friendly flowers. As many flower seedlings and plants as possible are being grown in a peat-free medium and compostable Cowpots ™ or re-used plastic containers.

Master Gardeners from the UConn Master Gardening Program will be on-hand to answer gardening questions. A children’s table will have small plants for children to pot with help from members of the Branford Garden Club, and sunflower seed packets will be available for children to take home.

Proceeds from the sale will help fund a wide variety of community activities and conservation efforts by the Branford Garden Club and Branford Community Gardens. Both organizations are all-volunteer non-profit organizations. The Branford Community Gardens maintains a garden at 16 Birch Road with individual plots for Branford residents and also grows produce that it donates to the Community Dining Room in Branford and the Branford Food Pantry.

Among Branford Garden Club’s many civic contributions to the beautifying the community are the planting thousands of daffodil bulbs throughout town, maintaining Main Street's lamppost baskets and many community garden spots in Branford, annual Scarecrows on the Green, as well as holiday wreaths and decor at Joe Trapasso Community House, Blackstone and Willoughby Wallace Libraries.

For more information on these two organizations, visit branfordctgardens.org or branfordgardenclub.org.