Mead Memorial Park
241 Park Street, New Canaan, Fairfield County, Connecticut
24.5 acres

Directions:

From the Merritt Parkway, take New Canaan Exit 37 (South Avenue/Route 124). Turn left onto South Avenue/Route 124 and continue into New Canaan Station Area. Turn left onto Bank Street; in one block or so turn right onto Park Street.  The park entrance is up on the left before Mead Street on the right. 

Facilities:

two Little League fields, one regulation sized baseball field, playground, lighted tennis courts, pond

Habitats:

pond (a popular ice skating spot).

Trails:

10/27/2005.  On a cold morning, dog Sonar and I walked around the pond.  The eastern part of the pond is very close to private houses, but one can still walk along the pond shore.  It's a pretty pond in a pretty setting.  The entrance to the place is also nice with a larch arch. 

On the west side of Mellick Field (a baseball diamond) a sign with an arrow shows the way to the Helen and Alice Bristow Sanctuary and Wildlife Preserve.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plant found in bloom on date of field trip, 10/27/2005

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharinum (silver maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula papyrifera (white birch)       planted
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Catalpa sp. (catalpa)
Cercis canadensis (redbud)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus sylvatica (European beech)     planted
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Ilex aquifolium (English holly)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Magnolia sp. (magnolia)     planted
Morus alba (white mulberry)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Picea pungens var. glauca (blue spruce)   planted
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Prunus sp. (cherry)     planted
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Salix alba var. (weeping willow)
Salix sp. (willow) 
Ulmus rubra (slippery elm)

Shrubs and sub-shrubs:
Cephalanthus occidentalis (buttonbush)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Forsythia sp. (golden bells)     planted
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)     *
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Salix sp. (discolor)?  (pussy willow)?
Salix sp. (willow)
Spiraea sp. (spiraea)     planted
Taxus sp. (yew)     planted
Viburnum sp. (plicatum)?  (double-file viburnum)     planted

Vines:
Calystegia sepium (hedge bindweed)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Euonymus fortunii (Fortune's euonymus)
Hedera helix (English holly)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)

Herbs:
Acalypha sp. (three-seeded mercury)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Aster cordifolius (hart-leaved aster)     *
Aster sp. (aster)     *
Bidens cernua (nodding bur marigold)     *
Bidens comosa (swamp beggar ticks)
Chenopodium sp. (goosefoot)
Conyza canadensis (horseweed)
Eupatorium sp. (Joe-Pye weed)
Hibiscus moscheutos (swamp rose mallow)
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Iris sp. (blue or yellow flag)
Lemna sp. (duckweed)
Ludwigia palustris (water purslane)
Lycopus sp. (bugleweed)
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)
Myosotis scorpioides (forget-me-not)     *
Oenothera biennis (common evening primrose)
Penthorum sedoides (ditch stonecrop)
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed)     *
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Polygonum hydropiper (water pepper)
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal)
Rumex sp. (dock)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)
Typha latifolia (broad-leaved cattail)
Urtica dioica var. procera (tall nettle)

Rushes:
Juncus effusus (soft rush)
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Cyperus strigosus (umbrella sedge)
Scirpus cyperinus (woolly grass bulrush)

Grasses:
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
 

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