By Anne W. Semmes
Come the end of next week, Greenwich Avenue is destined to be once again bedecked with those elegant hanging baskets bursting with colorful Dragon Wing Begonias and hanging ivy. But as of last Sunday afternoon, the organization that brings us those hanging baskets – Greenwich Green & Clean (GG&C) was being celebrated with a necessary fundraiser bringing together 100-plus supporters at The Field Club of Greenwich.
They were greeted with elegant music played by an ensemble of six distinguished teenaged Greenwich musicians from local schools, and welcomed by GG&C Executive Director Kanako MacLennan, whose son Ewan, a senior at Greenwich High School was playing the cello (since age six), also Director Emerita Mary Hull, Board Chair John Blankley, and arriving Peter Malkin, Founding Chairman with wife Isabel.
Both Blankley and Malkin would share memorable GG&C history in their addresses.
Sam Bridge III arrived with the first two blooming begonia-filled baskets as other dignitaries mingled, including First Selectman Fred Camillo and Selectwomen Janet Stone McGuigan and Lauren Rabin. Guests strolled along a table crammed with auction items that included “Hand Painted Italian Ceramic Dishes Designed by Backcountry Mercantile,” and “3 Signed Yankee Baseballs – Bobby Richardson, Jeff Nelson, Ramiro Mendoza.”
“The funds raised today are crucial for the care, watering, and maintenance of the baskets, which bring seasonal beauty to our town as they hang from lampposts in central Greenwich and in Cos Cob,” kicked off Blankley. “So, Greenwich Green & Clean has been around for 40 years, and our mission was, and still is, to create a cleaner and more beautiful environment in which to live and work.”
He cited the “inspiration of GG&C founder Peter Malkin,’ the many years of service of now retired executive director Mary Hull, and the ongoing efforts of present director Kanako MacLennan. And he gave thanks to “key sponsors Isabel & Peter Malkin and Sleepy Cat Farm Foundation.”
Blankley noted the recent passing of GG&C director, John Conte, “a man totally committed to the nature of our town.” He then put the spotlight on the “young musicians” representing “Children Helping Children Performers” for their efforts in raising money for such organizations as the New York-Presbyterian Children’s Hospital, Abilis, and Project Music, an innovative youth music program based in Stamford.
Peter Malkin began with that near-famous story ever so briefly of how he and wife Isabel had discovered hanging baskets on a 1987 visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. “I should say Isabel noticed these beautiful hanging baskets…overflowing with flowers and ivy. And we said we have to have them in Greenwich.” And the magic happened, “with the great help from Sam Bridge [Nursery] and others… And let’s give a hand for Sam Bridge.”
“The wonderful thing about the hanging baskets,” Malkin continued, “is that it’s a combination of effort by Sam Bridge making available the facility and Kanako and a wonderful group of Japanese ladies who have adopted Greenwich….These ladies have gotten together, and every year they go to Bridge Nursery and assemble these baskets, which are then hung by Sam and watered by Sam. They really make a difference in the town.”
Malkin followed with an intriguing tale. “Our older son had a roommate at Harvard named Norb Vonnegut, the nephew of Kurt Vonnegut, the author. And he wrote a book about Greenwich. [The Gods of Greenwich] All of his books, which are successful novels, have a murder. And so, he had a murder in Greenwich. He started the book by saying, ‘What an unusual town. Hanging baskets. Beautiful litter receptacles.’”
So, the text reads: “When the weather grows hot, baskets of pomegranate begonias hang from black lampposts that look like exclamation points for everything perfect…The street is squeaky clean and lined with hunter-green trash cans that contain one slot for recycling and one for everything else…It is the Town’s soul…”
And mark that those hunter-green trash cans come with compliments from the Malkins.
Malkin gave thanks to John Blankley for chairing Greenwich Green & Clean, adding his praise for the late John Conte, “a wonderful person who had just started as the head of the Greenwich Tree Conservancy. And he had already made a number of wonderful enhancements to that organization. So, in any event, you’re all here doing well by doing good. And thank you very much for being here.”
Finally, Sam Bridge III gave his history of the flowers in those hanging baskets. “The first year we did the baskets for the town, we used a combination of petunias and potato vine, which is really pretty. But the potato vine just took over and dried them right out…But then Peter and Mrs. Malkin showed me the pictures of the baskets they saw in Cooperstown,” filled with those Dragon Wing Begonias. “What we really like about it is it does well in the sun or shade…they’re relatively easy for the people that water to take care of, because they tolerate getting dried out. They bounce right back.”
“So, we really enjoy doing it for the town,” said Bridge, “The guys look forward to it when they go to hang them. They load the trucks up the night before, and they’re out at 5:30 in the morning, driving down the Avenue, hanging all the baskets out. So, I’d say, we just enjoy doing things for the town.” Bridge did admit he “hardly ever gets down to Greenwich Avenue,” but he hears, “it looks real nice there. Thank you very much.”
