Rain Garden in June

LOVE-YOUR-LAKE RAIN GARDEN CLINIC

presented by POALH’s Lake Quality Improvement Committee

Location: First Beach Pavilion

Time: 9:00 a.m. – Saturday, June 17, 2017

Registration: Free Presentation

THE Lake Hayward Environmental Event of the Year!

Featuring three ways to “show the love”:

• Presentation, 9 a.m. No registration required.
• Landscape consultation visits all day for a small fee, registration required.
• Tree-planting special! Delivered and installed.

Come to a free one-hour presentation on rain gardens and other methods of managing rainwater. Then get specific advice for your property with an on-site visit from landscape designer Kathy Connolly (prior registration required). Learn how trees, shrubs, rain gardens, buffer gardens, swales, terraces, and more can benefit your landscape. (See Kathy’s website www.SpeakingofLandscapes.com for her background.)

Why participate in the clinic?

Good storm water management is a great way to “love your lake,” not to mention the opportunities it offers to improve your own property. Roofs, patios, streets, and driveways cover a surprising area around the lake—and can’t absorb a drop. Even lawns are surprisingly impervious, especially during heavy rain. Your efforts to control runoff make a tangible difference in water quality.

Yet we are all busy—and changes take time. This clinic and site visits are designed to help you save time and money as you decide on your landscape improvements.

What you can expect from the site visit:

For those who register in advance, Kathy Connolly will walk your property with you, review your questions and ideas, and provide site-specific suggestions for landscaping that will control storm water runoff while improving your landscape.

Each site visit will last up to 45 minutes. If we have enough registrants, there will be a second schedule offered on Saturday, June 24.

Tree and shrub special:

Trees and flowering shrubs are a beautiful way to improve your property, slow storm water, and support pollinators and birds. Perennial Harmony Nursery and Landscape of East Lyme will take orders on native trees and shrubs, then will deliver and install them on the day of the Clinic. See order form below. Absolute deadline for plant orders: Memorial Day, May 29.  Ordering plants is not required for the site visit.  You can just do the consultation without a plant order.

This is a rain-or-shine event.

There will be two or three emailed notifications to registered homeowners for a site visit:

• The first to confirm that your registration was received.
• The second to provide the scheduled time of your visit. That email will go out closer to the June 17 date.
• Acknowledgement of your tree and shrub order for those who place an order.

To register for a site visit, please complete the form below and return it by June 6 with a check for $25 made out to POALH.  The actual cost of the site visit is $50 but POALH is paying for half for POALH residents to encourage our residents to love the lake.  East Shore residents’ fee is the full $50.  Still a great deal.

And remember the clinic is free and open to all Lake Hayward residents.

******************************************************************************************

POALH Homeowner’s Rain Garden site visit June 17, 2017 Registration Form

(Overflow date June 24, 2017)

____  My check for $25 is enclosed.  Make payable to POALH.

Name _____________________________________________________

Lake address _______________________________________________

Phone number ______________________________________________

Email address _______________________________________________

Mail or drop off the completed form for your personal site visit and your check by June 6 to:

Felicia Tencza

22 Forest Way

Colchester, CT 06415-5210

Contact Felicia Tencza if you have any questions:  BMR948@yahoo.com.

Plant offer and descriptions

Plants will be delivered and installed by Perennial Harmony Nursery for the prices listed below. Plant sizes range from 2’ to 5’ tall at delivery. All species listed below are native to our location. Absolute deadline for plant orders: Memorial Day, May 29.

Here are a few notes:

• If you wish to plant your own plants, you may pick up at Perennial Harmony and receive a 10% discount. The nursery is at 144 Boston Post Road, East Lyme, CT. Call 860-961-4439.
• View plant pictures by visiting http://images.google.com or http://plants.uconn.edu. Enter the botanical
• The deer resistance ratings below are from the database, “Landscape Plants Rated by Deer Resistance,” by Rutgers NJ Ag Experiment Station. (See https://njaes.rutgers.edu/deerresistance/)
• A basic soil test is available free of charge from CT Agricultural Experiment Station. Visit http://www.ct.gov/caes/, then enter “soil test” in the search bar. More comprehensive tests are available at http://www.soiltest.uconn.edu/sampling.php. Request the level of organic matter!

Annabelle American Hydrangea (a.k.a Smooth Hydrangea) (Hydrangea arborescens ‘Annabelle’) Offers long-lasting clusters of white flowers from June to September. Can be pruned at any time of year without losing next season’s blossoms. Grows to 6’ in a “nodding” form. Good raingarden plant. Can be grown to drape over rocks and walls. Can live on hillsides where, planted in multiples, it helps control erosion. Prefers partial shade. Tolerates poor soil and variable moisture. Somewhat susceptible to deer damage.

Beach Plum (Prunus maritima) This rounded multi-stem shrub, 8 ft. tall and 8’ wide, is a sun-loving plant that can thrive in dry, sandy, or gravelly sites. Small white blossoms clusters in May, followed by dark green leaves, and, later, attractive orange foliage. Edible fruits ripen from Aug. to Oct. According to the Xerces Society, beach plum has special value for native bees. Somewhat susceptible to deer damage.

Black Elderberry (Sambucus canadensis) This graceful shrub displays lacey white flowers in July and August, followed by black, round berries in September that are excellent for jelly, juice, and wine. (You’ll have to beat the birds, however.) Very easy to grow in full sun and moist soil. Can tolerate light shade. Loves to live on the edges of lakes, rivers, and streams. Grows to 8’. Seldom severely damaged by deer.

Dwarf River Birch (Betula nigra ‘Little King’) This little birch grows only 12’ tall by 10’ wide, yet offers the beautiful bark of its full-size brother, the standard river birch. Provides food and habitat for birds. Prefers full sun. Thrives in moist soil, but can tolerate dryer sites. Rarely damaged by deer.

Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus) This is one of New England’s best known evergreens. Can grow to 50 to 80′ tall by 30-50′ after several decades. The young plants tolerate part shade, but overall white pine prefers full sun. Tolerates moist to dry conditions and acidic soil. Good nesting for birds. Seldom severely damaged by deer.

Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana). No stranger to this area, witch hazel is a reliable small tree that offers aromatic yellow flowers in fall, as well as colorful foliage. It thrives in part to full shade and doesn’t mind poor or acidic soil. Needs consistent moisture. In the woods, it is often found near wetlands. Offers food for birds and small mammals. Seldom severely damaged by deer.

Plant Order Form

Absolute deadline for plant orders: Memorial Day, May 29, 2017

Name: ____________________________________________________

Lake Address: __________________________________________________

Email address required if you wish to use credit card:

Email: ______________________________________________________

(You will receive an invoice and a link to a secure payment site.)

Return completed form and check to: Felicia Tencza, 22 Forest Way, Colchester, CT 06415