A great first year!!!

Thanks to your support, we enjoyed a great first year as a non-profit dedicated to maintaining and expanding the Garden of Ideas!

With your help, we accomplished the following:

--we hosted thousands of visitors;
--we built a bamboo garden and meeting space off the back of the farm stand;
--we built a labyrinth;
--we removed several dying ash trees;
--we refurbished the upper fish pond and rehabilitated and made more accessible the entrance frog pond;
--we moved some hoop houses down the road to our leased farm land and are now erecting a gifted metal and wood glass greenhouse (well, the frame anyway...now we need funds for the glass).  This will be a great space to hold classes and to host small events in case of rain!;
--we added a small patio in the woodland;
--we maintained the garden to higher standards than the last few years;
--we hosted our first fundraiser on the Fourth of July;
--we hosted guided bird walks in spring;
--we conducted tours throughout the season;
--we hosted visits from Wooster School first graders and girl scouts from Darien;
--we hosted visits from the Ridgefield, Wilton, Weston, and Redding garden clubs;
--we hosted the New Caanan Beautification League, and will be presenting to them in the spring;
--we added some more unusual perennials and shrubs to the Garden;
--we were featured prominently in the Acorn Press newspapers and in the Danbury New Times ;
--we introduced a very handsome Garden Gnome that hundreds of children enjoyed searching for!

We were able to accomplish all of that from dozens of small donations, the money visitors deposited in our donation boxes, a generous grant from the Weeden Foundation, a grant for our events furniture from the Ridgefield Rotary Club, and extremely generous donations from an anonymousand enthusiastic supporter.

Going forward, we hope to secure funds for the completion of our glass greenhouse,  to add more rare and interesting plant material, to improve our planting of annual flowers, and most importantly, to provide a broad roster of classes and lectures on the natural world.

Please consider helping us maintain and improve this suburban sanctuary.

We have quite a few volunteers signed up, and hope this coming year to organize this willing force to further our mission.  Please consider adding your name to the list!!!

We have produced a lovely calender this year.  Make a contribution of $75 or more to Friends of the Garden of Ideas, and receive one!!!  Just let us know your address, and we'll send you one.

If you're not comfortable with Paypal, simply mail a check to Friends of the Garden of Ideas, P.O. Box 732, Ridgefield, Ct.  06877.

Thanks again for all of your support, and enjoy the winter!The garden remains open year round, so come by for a winter stroll in the snow!