Danielle Ricketts
URI Internship Year:
2024
Graduation Year:
2026
Degree:
BA
Danielle is a rising Junior at Yale College who is passionate about learning how changes in social structures can improve public health, as well as environmental health and sustainability. Originally from Jamaica, she has lived in West Haven for a couple years and is looking forward to getting to know New Haven and its residents more intimately this summer through the Community Greenspace initiatives. In her free time she enjoys painting, playing ukulele, riding her bike, and being outdoors.
Group
New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence
Chatham Square Neighborhood Association
Greenspace Log
| Date | Category | Photos | Group | Summary | |
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08/03/2024 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
On the final official workday for the summer at the BGH, the group watered plants, weeded and pruned some jostas eaten by the deer, and planted 6 perennials in the beds near the windchimes |
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08/02/2024 |
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On the final official workday of the season, the group planted two Jostas in the garden on the right, and added mulch to the rest of the garden. It's looking very full and beautiful, the group is so happy with the work they did. They also watered previous plants and oaks. |
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08/01/2024 |
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On the final official workday of the season, the group did a lot of stewardship: watering the new tree, as well as the butterfly and bird gardens. The group also pruned one of the bushes on the park to improve sight lines. |
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08/01/2024 |
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The group mulched the west Blvd bed that was weeded last week, and did some weeding in the east bed, In addition to finishing laying edging wood around at the Hobart east bed. |
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07/31/2024 |
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On the final workday of the season, the group spread stone dust and laid pavers down. |
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07/27/2024 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
This week at the BGH, the group planted some flowers in the wildflower garden and watered the garden beds after Chris used the weed wacker last week that don’t receive enough irrigation. |
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07/26/2024 |
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The Cherry Ann Park gardeners weeded and mulched the back side of the garden on the left that they’ve been working on for the season. They also planted a coral bell in the spot they decided the week prior, and added some mulch to the garden on the right. |
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07/25/2024 |
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This week was QRP's annual Birdhouse Day. Joined by Mary Wade, we hung birdhouses on trees all around the park and watered the new cherry tree. |
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07/25/2024 |
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On this workday, the East Edge Gardeners weeded the Blvd west bed and weed-whacked around its perimeter where Parks has not been mowing. Some edging wood was placed around part of the perimeter of the Hobart east bed. |
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07/25/2024 |
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The Friends of Scantlebury Park had their final workday of the summer where we added more mulch to the perennials around the Blue Spruce to increase distance between the plants and the lawn mowers. We also added mulch underneath the tree near these plants where lots of perennials have been planted, to prevent the mowers from damaging those plants as well. We also cut back some tree branches to increase light to the wildflower garden, as well as trash pick-up. The group did some more pruning of the Blue Spruce on the opposite side of the park. |
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07/24/2024 |
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The group did a lot of planting this week: 3 butterfly milkweed plants and 3 evergreen shurbs |
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07/23/2024 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
This volunteer group from Vox church did a lot of work mulching the wildflower garden area, and the garden beds along the pathway |
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07/20/2024 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
This was a very special workday at the BGH, with some really meaningful community building that was quite beautiful to see and be a part of. There were about 6 volunteers in all. We weeded the beds along the walkway, planted a holly and some perennials, and added mulch to the area as well. We also watered our new plants. |
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07/19/2024 |
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The group at Cherry Ann watered the oaks, and the new perennials planted this summer. They also planted a wintercreeper and two perennials in the garden on the left side, weeded underneath the garden on the right side, and did some trash pick-up. |
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07/18/2024 |
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After some really difficult laboring, the Friends of Quinnipiac River Park successfully planted a 2.5 inch Okame cherry tree at the corner of the park, and planted 4 beautiful perennials underneath. |
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07/18/2024 |
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The group mulched both beds at Brownell St. |
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07/18/2024 |
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The friends of Scantlebury Park met and added some mulch around the Blue Spruce to prevent the mowers from mowing down the perennials. We also pruned the trees over the wildflower garden to make sure it’s getting enough sun, and we also pruned the Black Locust on the other side of the park. We had 4 people total on this workday which is pretty amazing! One person saw the sign and decided to join the workday, which was pretty encouraging, and a police officer saw us as we were pruning the Black Locust and was really happy to join us. |
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07/13/2024 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
The first half of this workday was extremely rainy, so we understandably had a low turnout. Molly spent time pruning the garden bed right by the outdoor classroom, Chris weeded lots of mugwort in the wildflower garden, and Bethel, a new volunteer, weeded and pulled dried plants from the plot along the entrance. |
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07/11/2024 |
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This week, the group added pine mulch to the two beds along Hobart St. |
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07/11/2024 |
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This was the first workday of the season for Scantlebury Park Gardeners. The group added mulch around the perennials surrounding the base of the Blue Spruce by the skateboard park. We also planted some wildflower seeds to replace the garden that was mowed down a few years ago. |
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07/11/2024 |
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The Quinnipiac River Gardeners got together to plant an Okame Cherry Tree. However after digging the hole we found the tree had a fungus on it and so will replace it and plant a new tree in the same spot next time. |
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07/10/2024 |
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On this workday, the Shelton Ave gardeners did lots of weeding, especially on the left side of the garden. The group also watered all of the plants. |
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06/29/2024 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
Molly and I pulled the dried daffodils and weeded within the flower bed by the outdoor classroom, the flower bed across from that one, and all along the beds leading up to the wildflower garden. Colleen and her husband came a bit later. Gary used a weedwacker along the side of the garden with the evergreen border, and Colleen weeded and mulched the two trees to the left of the mulch pile. Molly and I watered these trees, the bush to the left of them and the weeping tree. |
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06/28/2024 |
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Cherry Ann had a very successful planting workday! We followed Chris’ design outline for the corner with the two catmint plants, a rose bush and two weigelas, making sure to mix in some compost when planting. I had some leftover catmint in the truck from my QRP workday and the group really insisted on planting them so we planted two extra catmint as well, behind the border. We also mulched the entire left garden area |
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06/27/2024 |
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On this workday, the group weeded to the two Hobart St. beds. |
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06/27/2024 |
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On this very productive workday, the Friends of Quinnipiac River Park planted 36 perennials underneath trees throughout the park (but mostly towards the left side). |
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06/26/2024 |
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The group got a lot done this workday. They planted 2 Rhododendrons, secured the fencing around the garden beds, watered all the plants, and did a bit of weeding and mulching |
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06/25/2024 |
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During this meeting with the Friends of Quinnipiac River Park, we walked together along the length of the park to discuss what the group would like to see and do in the park this summer. We also planted around 5 tree stakes to identify possible spots for tree planting this summer |
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06/22/2024 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
At the BGH this Saturday, many members of Marlene’s family had their annual tradition where they join for a workday at the garden! Other volunteers were there as well and we planted some grasses and coral bells within the two beds close to the statue. The newly planted areas were watered and mulched. Rose Campion flowers were also added to the wildflower garden after lots of weeding. |
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06/21/2024 |
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Cherry Ann’s workday last week was filled with Miss Beatrice’s family members and one family friend. The group weeded a great deal on the left side of the garden, as they had really gotten very tall and unmanageable. The group also trimmed up some of the overgrown plants, raked leaves and watered. |
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06/20/2024 |
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Sandy, Marion and I added some pine mulch to one of the beds on Norton St. |
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06/20/2024 |
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This week, the Friends of Quinnipiac River Park weeded and mulched underneath about seven trees beginning from the far left end of the garden moving towards the right side. The group also discussed planting flowers underneath those trees next week, and what kinds of new trees they'd like to plant this summer. |
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06/15/2024 |
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Miss Connie and Beatrice met with Chris, Colleen and I to discuss the future of Cherry Ann park, regarding future stewardship projects as well as infrastructure changes and additions that will positively contribute to how the park can be used by kids and community members. |
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06/15/2024 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
During this workday, the group weeded some of the beds along the pathway by the wind chimes, and added mulch to those areas. Pamela also planted some coral bells. |
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06/13/2024 |
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The group mulched both beds along Ellsworth Ave, then planted 6 replacement coneflowers in the Norton St bed and weeded. |
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06/13/2024 |
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The group did amazing work tree pruning the large blue spruce towards the left of the park, and beautifying the welcome sign there as well by removing many weeds and improving its visibility . |
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06/13/2024 |
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Sandy and I spent an hour canvassing both sides of the Edgewood block between Ellsworth and Norton telling people or leaving flyers about our volunteer group and Thursday work sessions. |
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06/12/2024 |
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The Shelton Ave group mulched some of the trees and garden beds, in addition to some weeding under the tree on the curb strip and within the beds as well. Two shrubs were planted in the corner of one of the beds that was a bit barren, and two sun-loving flowers within the adjacent bed. |
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06/06/2024 |
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Kate, Sharon and I met to briefly discuss the Peanut and other Blockwatch 303 sites. The Peanut was in really good shape, there was not much maintenance needed and they were both content with the work done on the sites earlier in the year. They will let me know if this changes and they feel they need anything. |
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06/06/2024 |
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The group did some weeding around the Ellsworth beds. |
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06/06/2024 |
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Beatrice and I met at Cherry Ann Park. Because this is her first year taking over leadership of this group, I spoke about URI's mission and the function of Greenspace groups. We took a look at the plantings of the previous Greenspace groups by the entrance, the fire that had recently taken place at the doc, and discussed a lot about her visions for the future of the park in terms of infrastructure. We also discussed possible times to meet based on her and the community members' availability, which may prove challenging to coordinate. |
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06/06/2024 |
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The group weeded the beds along Ellsworth |
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06/05/2024 |
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Sandy and I met and walked the 14 different beds along the Edgewood Ave Median to discuss what the group would like to focus on this summer- planting some shrubs in several of the beds in addition to the routine weeding and mulching. |
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06/05/2024 |
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On this initial workday the group discussed their hopes and desires for the summer, and planted 2 perennials |
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06/04/2024 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
A group of grade 10 students from Common Ground High School visited the garden to both learn about its history and purpose, and participate in stewardship activities. Since this was quite a large group, they were split in half. The first group worked on adding gravel to the pathway by the West River, and the second group finished adding gravel to the pathway, did weeding along the pathway and removed some brush from the area near the parking lot. |
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06/01/2024 |
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New Haven Botanical Garden of Healing Dedicated to Victims of Gun Violence |
On this I Heart New Haven day, a group of about 20 volunteers from Bridges of Hope visited the garden, along with a few regular weekly volunteers, and some Yale students in the area. Marlene and Pam, two of the moms who were instrumental in the development of the garden, talked a bit about its history and significance, followed by a walking tour. The volunteer group did some weeding under the statue, and in the beds along the wind-chime walking trail. They added mulch to these areas as well, which gave all the work a clean finish |