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Amherst Garden Club Celebrates 50th Anniversary

      The Amherst Garden Club will be 50 years old this year!  In February of 1971, thirty-five women met to form a gardening club called The Gardeners, later to be known as The Amherst Garden Club.  The club has grown through the years to its present size of approximately 130 members who meet monthly to learn from prominent speakers and each other, manage ten town gardens, support local gardening projects, and generally promote the love of gardening.   Each month a dedicated program committee provides speakers on topics of interest, and club members share horticultural hints, plan local projects, visit gardens around New England, and enjoy each other’s company.  Meetings are open to the public; visitors are welcome.  Membership is open to everyone.

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Labeled photos of beautiful dayllies at the Plant Sale.

      A sixth town garden was added to the Civic Gardens Committee’s care when the police asked for help in planning and planting a garden at the police station.   Since 2000, four additional gardens have been added at Sunset Road, Moulton’s Oval, the Ponemah Triangle on Rte. 122 (MaryAnne’s Garden), and the Brick School.  Each garden has a lead and a group of volunteers that do the work involved in keeping the gardens attractive from April to frost.   At times a little whimsy is added such as the scarecrows that inhabited the gardens this past October!.

      In addition to maintaining the civic gardens, the club has given financial support to local projects through the years.  The list is long and includes $2,800 for landscaping at Souhegan High School when it was first built, $1,132 to the Nature Conservancy at the Sheldrick Forest in Wilton, N.H., $1,000 to the Amherst Town Conservation Commission to help buy the property that became Peabody Mill Environmental Center (PMEC), and $2,250 to

Parkhurst Place for landscaping.  Popular

projects involving children include support for the Mont Vernon Village School Gardens, planting of gardens at the Amherst Middle School, providing money and talent for a camp at PMEC, planting of 3000 daffodil bulbs with children from the local schools to beautify the town, and planting of gardens with the students at the Boys and Girls Club of Souhegan Valley.   Local organizations may apply at any time to the club’s Charitable Fund for support for projects that are consistent with the club’s mission of providing education, resources, and networking opportunities to promote the love of gardening, civic landscaping, and environmental responsibility.

      Part of the success of the club has been its flexibility in responding to the interests of its members.  In the early years there were sub-groups studying wildflowers, house plants, organic gardening and recycling.  In the 1990’s water gardening, flower arranging, herb and bird scaping study groups were introduced.  Hydroponics was a popular focus a few years ago.  The most recently added committee centers around an interest in sustainability.  Some groups met regularly for several years while others were shorter lived.   The Perennial Group started in 1997 remains active today.

      By the summer of 1971, club members were working on the village common and spreading mulch at the town’s elementary schools.   By the end of the 1990’s, the club was planting, mulching, watering, and weeding town gardens at the Wigwam Museum, the Amherst Town Library, the Amherst Town Hall, the North Triangle near the Route 101 exit, and the Knight’s Field Triangle at the entrance to the town.   The club helped lay the brick walk at the Wigwam Museum and designed the front and back gardens at the town library.  Today the shade garden behind the library is a welcoming place to read a book, eat lunch, or meet with a friend.

      In 1994, the first scholarship of $500 was given to a local student for further study in a field related to horticulture.   Since that time,

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Plant sale, always a family event, as this child helps Mom pick out a few perennials.

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Heading up the committee for the 4th of July floats are Diane Merrithew, Dawn Burke, and Joan Poltack. Something new and different every year and always a trophy winner!

over $50,000 has been given out in yearly scholarships.   In 2019, three scholarships totaling $4,000 were awarded to two students from Amherst and one from Mont Vernon.  There are also scholarships awarded internally to members who want to take courses to further their knowledge or become a Master Gardener.  The club presently has two Advanced Master Gardeners, eleven Master Gardeners, and three Natural Resource Stewards who share their expertise with the members.  As a working club whose members dig, mulch, plant, water, and generally get their hands dirty, a wealth of gardening knowledge is essential.

      Financial support comes from modest membership dues, the annual Plant Sale, occasional garden tours, bulb sales, raffles, and the Memory Tree.  The Plant Sale is a big undertaking made up of equal parts of hard work and fun.   The organizing begins months ahead of the sale, the digging begins in April when the ground has softened, and the sale at the Wilkins School, the largest in the state, takes place on the Saturday of Mother’s Day Weekend.  All of the plants, dug from members’ and friends’ gardens, are potted by members at Plant Central located at the South Amherst Fire Station.   With a lot of work, chatter, and laughter, some 2,000 to 3,000 plants get potted and sold each year.

      Other sources of income include the Holiday Memory Tree which originated in 1995 to honor family and friends of members and townspeople who have died.  Along with two garden tours featuring local gardens and open to the public, the tree has provided funds for worthy local causes.

      In the late 1960’s the Amherst Garden Club was an idea.  Thanks to the many energetic and enthusiastic members who have contributed their time and energy in the last fifty years, it is now a well-functioning club that plays an important part in making Amherst the town it is today.

MARCH 2021

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