Ideas Garden Club Members Can Use

GOOD IDEAS...
Garden Clubs Can Use

Membership Tidbits

Need new members?
Need new ideas?? Stockton GC formed a new committee “KEEP IT GROWING.” This committee of four members will concentrate on increasing the club’s membership. Are there a few members that would like to work together as a team to increase your club’s membership?

A member of Hi ‘N’ Dri Gardeners pays for four extra subscriptions to this magazine so that the club always has extra copies on hand to give to guests at their meetings as well as those who are newly joined until their subscriptions can be processed.

Looking for a new program and/or tour? Try a garden tour with just your club members or with a neighboring club BUT invite a Landscape Design Consultant to come and observe the gardens. Either after or during the visit have the consultant explain the good land use in practice and suggest simple methods for improvement. There is NO JUDGING just a simple educational tour.

Modesto GC’s Yard-of-the-Month program brings in lots of new members and carries a lot of publicity for the club.

For their Christmas party, members of Fort Bragg GC each brought a handmade ornament to adorn an artificial tree. After the party, the tree and ornaments were then donated to a local senior center.

Any expertise that members of La Jolla GC have and are willing to share is written on a 3 x 5 index card, which is then entered in a Resource Book. Is your club tapping into all the talents within your club? Some members may not even know of the club’s needs, so publish what you need or want in your club newsletter, because you ALL have a club newsletter, don’t you?

When Admiralty Land Lover’s GC’was new, members visited an established civic beautification project of a neighboring club to see what the project was all about. Do you have an ongoing project? How about holding an event there and inviting members from a new club in your area to join you for the day? How about inviting established neighboring clubs to join you for a day? Many clubs invite other clubs when they have a fundraiser, but how about a “just because” event?

Livermore-Amador Valley GC was the club that successfully held the plant sale. They work all year on this huge plant sale. They held three workshops to repot plants, mostly perennials, and had over 600 plants to sell to the public.. I hope they had brochures or flyers go home with every plant telling when and where the club meets. Never miss an opportunity to publicize your club.

When Fallbrook GC held its installation meeting, they not only invited their district director and past directors, they cleverly invited Fallbrook’s mayor, the president and 1st vice-president of the Fallbrook Women’s Club, the president of the Newcomer’s Club, the president of the Encore Club and the president of the Friends of the Library. In addition to the installation of officers, several awards, gifts, scholarships, Penny Pines certificates, Life Memberships, and CGCI awards were presented. This exposes the guests to the many facets this club has and is wonderful way to network in their community. Maybe some of the guests will be enticed to join!

Conduct a Do-It-Yourself Design Workshop With NGC Design Units The Member Services department of the National Garden Clubs has ``Design Study Units" available for purchase. The two units total nine lessons of basic floral design (arrangements) that use easily obtained plant materials, both fresh and dry, as well as fruits and vegetables. The units can be used by club members to begin learning flower arranging or to recruit new members. A little advertising will let the community know about the lessons.

More Than One Use For a Giant Sunflower Lou Willoughby, President of the Anaheim GC, used a photograph of a giant sunflower she grew last year on the cover of this year's club yearbook. She kept the seeds from the sunflower for a club contest to see who could grow another one. First prize will be a free membership for next year.

Spring Plant Sales Do you belong to a garden club that has spring plant sales? Each year for the last 10 to 15 years, I have purchased bareroot strawberry plants, via mail order, for our spring plant sale. The plants come in groups of 25 for about $8 per group. I ask the nursery to send them to arrive about a month before the sale so they will have a few weeks of growing time to leaf out. Each one is planted in a one-gallon can and they usually sell at $1 each. By the time of our plant sale they are acclimated to our area, and our soil, and are growing well. Shoppers are glad to get them for the asking price and we make a reasonable profit on them.

Thoughts About Garden Club Members ``...it is not the size of the garden that is important,
     nor how much gardening one does...
       It is the enjoyment of the creation
        ...valuing the teachings from other members
            and sharing our own hard-learned knowledge
                  with our community."

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