If you drive around New London in the early spring and throughout the summer, you’ll notice how the city seems to come alive with color. Large planters are hung from downtown lampposts, with calibrachoa cascading from them in blue, white, pink, red and yellow varieties. At the entrances to the town, welcome signs are framed by flowers and greenery, and Hillside Garden at Ocean Beach is bedazzled with an array of annuals, perennials and shrubbery. In fact, 25 town-owned sites around New London — comprising 18 in-ground gardens and 58 planters — are made more beautiful, lush and welcoming by a group of enthusiastic volunteers, the New London Beautification Committee.

Long before there was an official “committee,” a group of inspired residents came together to clean up litter around town, explained Tita Williams, the Committee’s co-chair. Years later, they petitioned City Council to formalize and fund the group.

“They ended up setting up the Committee, and we’ve added to it over the years. We are appointed by the City Council, and members have to apply for appointment,” she noted. The Committee today has 21 membership positions, and only one that’s not yet filled.

“We have one opening available,” Williams said. “You have to live in the city and be a New London voter.” The 21-person Committee meets once a month, but you don’t have to be an official member to volunteer to help. Individuals can offer their time throughout the season, or local groups can help out, like the Coast Guard Academy cadets who frequently volunteer.

Collectively, the group’s mission is three-fold: to “provide inspiration; educate the community; and encourage gardening.”

The group spends the off-season budgeting, planning and ordering annuals for springtime planting. Every member gets a creative say in how they’d like the sites to look, and the types of planting and flowers they’d like to install. Once the creative vision is decided, they place orders with local nurseries, who afford them wholesale pricing for mulch, annuals and perennials.

“We’ve been known to take things out of our own gardens and place them around the city,” Williams said.

By Mother’s Day, the soil and temperatures are just right to begin planting, and throughout the season, you’ll find the Committee members weeding, pruning and watering to keep the gardens and containers plantings looking fresh and manicured.

Asked what New London homeowners and residents can do to further beautify the streets and neighborhoods, Williams said any little bit helps: Plant some flowers in your yard. Add some shrubs or a specimen tree for color and texture. And, of course, keep yards free from litter and debris, so their natural beauty shows.

“If it’s possible to have a silver lining to the [COVID-19 pandemic,] it’s that more people discovered gardening,” Williams said.

Each year, the Committee recognizes local businesses and homeowners who do an exceptional job with landscaping their properties, awarding them at a City Council meeting.

For anyone interested in filling the Committee’s open position, to volunteer with the group, or for some great gardening tips, visit the Committee’s website, newlondonbeautification.org or its Facebook page.

CORRECTION: The hanging planters in downtown New London, referenced in the opening paragraph, are managed by the New London City Center District, not the New London Beautification Committee. The Day would like to give the organization proper credit for maintaining those and the planters found at Parade Plaza. Thanks to all who make New London a beautiful place to live and visit.