Welcome to the Pomperaug Valley Garden Club!

The objectives of the Pomperaug Valley Garden Club in Woodbury, Connecticut, are to promote an interest in gardens, horticulture, floral and landscape design; to cooperate in the protection of wild flowers, trees and birds; and to encourage public plantings, beautification and conservation.

We are a working club! Our members are responsible for many local beautification projects, including the installation and maintenance of plantings at many of the town’s parks and greens. Take a drive through town and chances are you will see the handiwork of dedicated garden club members! You may even see club members at work, sporting purple t-shirts, as they dig, plant, mulch, and more. Club members also maintain two award-winning sites at Flanders Nature Center and Land Trust: the Botany Wildflower Trail—established by club members in 1965 and continuously maintained ever since—and the Monarch Waystation, a habitat restoration project installed by the club in 2011 and expanded in 2015, part of a an international effort to save the endangered monarch butterfly. The club also sponsors monthly informational meetings and field trips, on topics from floral design to conservation and environmental issues.

Membership is open to those interested in participating in the implementation of these projects and objectives.

Learn more about our club in this short video ~ Click here for our color brochure!
Contact our membership chairman for details or download a membership application here.
Click here for "Woodbury Public Gardens: A Self-Guided Tour"


UPCOMING PUBLIC EVENTS & PROGRAMS



Tuesday, April , 2024
11 am
Woodbury Fire Department Headquarters
25 Quassuk Rd, Woodbury

“Spring Blooms at Last!"

with Peg Townsend

Peggy Townsend, an NGC Accredited Judge and award-winning designer, will 
demonstrate all the steps necessary for making a Creative Spring-time Design, a quick Ikebana Design and a Traditional Low-Profile Design. Her hints and techniques will enable you to design your own quick and easy creations as well as flower show-worthy entries with confidence and ease.

In the event of inclement weather, please check this website or Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pomperaugvalleygc for event updates.  

9:30 am (NOTE NEW TIME for Club Business Meeting)

11 am (Program)

Guests are welcome to attend the 11 am program for a $5 donation.


Coming May 18, 2024!
The 12th Annual PVGC Plant Sale!
9 am - 1 pm
Hollow Park Pavilion, Woodbury


Save the Monarchs!

Click here to see tagging recovery data.

Monarch Overwintering Counts Down 59%, Second Lowest Recorded

By Jim Lovett, Monarch Watch (Feb 8, 2024)

Mexico Overwintering Numbers Announced

Yesterday, the WWF-Telmex Telcel Foundation Alliance, in collaboration with the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP), the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve (MBBR), announced the total forest area occupied by overwintering monarch colonies. Nine (9) colonies were located this winter season with a total area of 0.90 hectares, a 59.3% decrease from the previous season (2.21 ha). This is the second lowest number counted to date – the lowest was 0.67 ha during the 2013–2014 overwintering season.

From a Q&A with Chip Taylor, Founding Director of Monarch Watch and Kristen Baum, Director of Monarch Watch:

Q: Was this news expected?

Taylor: This news is a shock to all who follow monarchs. The depth of this decline is beyond our experience, and the implications for the future of the monarch migration are surely of concern. However, populations have been low in the past. This count does not signal the end of the eastern monarch migration.

Q: Why is the population so small this year?

Taylor: Monarch numbers are at a near all-time low because of drought conditions last fall that extended from Oklahoma deep into central Mexico. Droughts reduce flowering and therefore nectar production, and monarchs need the sugars in nectar to fuel the migration and to develop the fat reserves that get them through the winter.

Q: Will monarchs recover?

Taylor: Catastrophic mortality due to extreme weather events is part of their history. The numbers have been low many times in the past and have recovered, and they will again. Monarchs are resilient.

Q: What can people do to help monarchs recover?

Baum: To recover, monarchs will need an abundance of milkweeds and nectar sources. We need to get more milkweed and nectar plants in the ground, and we all need to contribute to this effort.

Please see the Monarch Watch Blog for additional information and continue reading to find out how you can support Monarch Watch's efforts to get more milkweed in the ground.


Species Status Assessment and the three r’s

By Chip Taylor, Director, Monarch Watch
October 2023

When species are being considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), a Species Status Assessment (SSA) is usually prepared. This assessment is based on the available science, and in some cases, the opinions of scientists that work closely with that species. At the core of the assessment are the three r’s: resilience, redundancy and representation. Resilience refers to data that may or may not support the ability of the species to respond to stochastic (random) events. Redundancy represents an assessment of the ability of a species to respond to catastrophic mortality. Representation seems to have two interpretations, the ability of a species to adapt to long term changes in the environment and/or the species role in the ecological processes in the range it occupies...

The silent partner in the push to have monarchs regulated is their cultural value. They are an iconic species. Their migration is remarkable. They are a species of wonder with a remarkable capacity to traverse a continent. Their beauty, and accessibility, along with charisma, generate emotional responses like no other insect. They are part of our heritage and reminders that we are the stewards of their fate being that we dominate the landscape and how it is used or misused. Biologically, they are an extraordinary example of the drive to survive and reproduce. Much remains unknown of how they respond to the physical cues in the environment and how those cues are processed in a manner that leads to behavioral responses. They are a model species for this research area. None of these considerations can be part of the SSA, yet they heighten the concerns about the need to sustain the monarch migration.

Read the full article here.


IUCN Changes Migratory Monarch Status from Endangered to Vulnerable

December 11, 2023

On December 30, 2021, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) added the migratory monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) to the Red List of Threatened Species as endangered. In June 2023, the IUCN Standards and Petitions Committee received a petition regarding their listing of the migratory monarch butterfly. The petition challenged the appropriateness of population models used in its assessment over the past ten years. After much deliberation, the Standards and Petitions Committee announced on September 27, 2023, that the IUCN would change their listing of the migratory monarch butterfly from endangered to vulnerable on December 11, 2023.

The primary reason for the shift in status was not due to a change in the current status of migratory monarchs. Many methods exist for examining population trends over time, all of which are complex, especially for a migratory insect with a broad geographic range. IUCN-specified criteria are based on the level of population reduction over the past 10 years or three generations, whichever is longer. In the original review, population data demonstrated a long-term population decline in migratory monarchs over multiple decades. When re-evaluated per IUCN criteria, the population decline within the last 10 years did not match the decline of the longer-term trend. Therefore the review warranted a change in IUCN status to be congruent with its evaluation criteria. Both methods of population evaluation used were scientifically valid. The monarch's IUCN status change highlights science's dynamic nature and the imperative need for continuous data collection and evaluation.

Read the full article here.

Do you know your caterpillars?

Above, Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillar Above, Monarch caterpillar

Join the fight to save these magnificent and iconic butterflies!

Consider becoming a "Citizen Scientist" -- you can help scientists understand and track the migration patterns of monarchs by reporting your own sightings here.

You can help save this magnificent species and their amazing migration -- plant native milkweed and nectar flowers for them!


Our PVGC Notecards are available!

You can purchase 8 stunning notecards for a $10 donation. Click here for more information.


A Charter Member of the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut, Inc.
A member of the National Garden Clubs, Inc.

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