The NCGC has maintained the New Canaan Museum & Historical Society garden for 30 years. It is made up of the Shirley Bird perennial garden and an 18th century Colonial herb garden, which was recently redesigned and enlarged in 2011/12 and completed in 2014/15 with brick pathways and new plantings. It is used for educational purposes for the School House, part of the Historical Society’s property and visiting schools as well as being open to the general public.
NCGC volunteers regularly weed and water the Shirley Bird garden, filled with peonies, hydrangeas, iris and lilacs as well as the Herb garden, which is planted with a collection of herbs used in Colonial times and planted in quadrants which are broken into collections for medicinal, home, cooking and fragrance purposes. The gardens are opened in the Spring, maintained throughout the Summer and closed in the Fall. We recently refitted the metal edging along the perennial garden and had the larger trees pruned, which anchor the garden bed. Committee members continue to research plantings and add to the gardens’ collection.
