Contributors
Eklund Garden is a group effort that relies on volunteers and donations. The Conservation Commission has taken the lead role in organizing and getting this project off the ground. Additional contributors include:
2007 - Year One
Girl Scout Troop 512 (Leann and Nicole Misencik, Kira Diaz, Jessica Solotruk, Allison Rosales, Brianna Lopez) cleared and planted the following, funded by the Conservation Commission:
- swamp azalea
- Jack in the Pulpit
- wild ginger
- May apple
- merry bells
- royal fern
- wood poppy
- ostrich fern
Teresa Gallagher eradicated most of the invasive Black Swallowwort Vine and poison ivy.
2008 - Year Two
Leann Misencik from GS Troop 512
made cedar signs.
Allison Menendez (clearing,planting, plant donations, organizing)
- creeping phlox
- bluets
- bear berry
- coreopsis
- butterfly weed
Teresa Gallagher (clearing, planting, plant donations, organizing)
- Black-Eyed Susan - Rudbeckia Fulgida
- Bee Balm - Monarda didyma
- Beardtongue - Penstemon digitalis
- New England Aster - Aster novi-angliae
- Black Crowberry
- white wood aster
- blue wood aster
Ty Menendez (clearing)
George Kraemer (rototilling)
Terrance Gallagher (clearing)
Lynn Reid (clearing)
2009 - Year Three
Iroquois Gas Pipeline Company - Grant for $2500 to purchase plants was used to purchase:
- New York Aster - Aster novi-belgii
- New England Aster - Aster novae-angliae
- Stiff-Leaved Aster - Aster linariifolius
- Wild Bergamot - Monarda Fistulosa
- Dolls Eye Baneberry - Actaea pachypoda
- Foam Flower - Tiarella cordifolia
- Wood Geranium - Geranium maculatum
- Woodland Phlox - Phlox divaricata
- Squirrel Corn - Dicentra canadensis
- Low Bush Blueberry - Vaccinium augustifolium
- Harebell - Campanula rotundifolia
- Prairie Phlox - Plox pilosa
- Blue False Indigo - Baptisia australis
- Sneezeweed - Helenium autumnale
- Maidenhair Fern - Adiantum pedatum
- Purple Coneflower - Echinacea purpurea
- Butterfly Weed - Asclepias tuberosa
- Garden Phlox - Phlox paniculata
- Jacobs Ladder - Polemonium reptans
- Bluets - Houstonia caerulea
- Blanket Flower - Gaillardia aristista
- Lurid Sedge - Carex lurida
- Common Milkweed - Aesclepias syriaca
- Beardtongue - Penstemmon Digitalis
- Ox Eye - Heliopsis helanthoides
- Prickly Pear Cactus - Opuntia humifusa
- Wild Blue Lupine - Lupinus perennis
- Wild Pink - Silene caroliniana
- Bellwort - Uvularia perfoliata
- Bloodroot - Sanguinaira canadensis
- Sharp-lobed Hepatica - Hepatica acutiloba
- Eastern Blazing Star - Liatris scariosa
- Black Cohosh - Cimicifuga racemosa
- Green Dragon - Arisaema dracontium
The deer fence was installed by Trail Volunteers Richard Skudlarek, Jim Taradine, Lynn Reid, Terry Gallagher, Ryan Gallagher, Teresa Gallagher, and Peter Conway. Specialty Agricultural Products in Orange was very helpful and gave us a discount on the fencing material. The Conservation Commission paid for the fence.
Twenty years of debris was cleared and raked out of the beds, and a new bypass trail was created, trees were cut and sawed into lengths, and the beds were kept weeded by Teresa Gallagher, Terry Gallagher, Richard Skudlarek, Lynn Reid, Kelly Walsh, Bridget Kelly, Diane ?, Sheri Dutkanicz, Allison Menendez, Joe Laski, and Bill Dyer, Emma Gallagher, and Carol Jacobsen.
Teresa Gallagher rescued plants from trail areas, created a planting plant, made this website, planted about 200 perennials, repaired rockwork, and created copper labels. Twombly Nursery gave us a discount on plants.
Pat Gajdosik donated the following natives from her garden:
- Wild Ginger
- Bloodroot
- Jack in the Pulpit
- Columbine
Fairfield County Plumbing provided technical assistance for the purchase of a gas-powered water pump.
The "Mulch Man" Lou Viglione gave us a good deal on Sweet Peat mulch. Richard Skudlarek, Ryan Gallagher, and Teresa Gallagher spread the Sweet Peat and turned it into the soil.