About 11 years ago, Terry Armelin and Kim Kwasnik were getting their hair done and chatting about Terry’s dream of starting a garden club in town. It soon became a reality with the help of Steve Zamsky. They each threw in $25, and before they knew it, the Stafford Garden Club (SGC) was growing into the self-sustaining non-profit we know today.Â
That’s right, even though many people assume the garden club is a town-sponsored activity, it’s not. SGC raises all the money it needs, and other than storing its water cart at the town hall and using a town spigot or two to fill up the carts, the SGC doesn’t ask anything from the town but focuses on giving back to the community.
Many garden clubs focus on chatting about their shared interests and visiting lovely gardens together. Not in Stafford, though! You’ve probably seen SGC all over town watering hanging baskets or planters, weeding in Haymarket, or planting thousands of daffodil bulbs at Heritage Park. Our garden clubbers get down in the dirt, ready to beautify Stafford, all in the name of civic pride. Â
Businesses and organizations around town will soon be getting a letter in the mail from Stafford Garden Club. The group does only one fundraiser a year, and it's a simple mailing campaign asking locals to donate to SGC's efforts. However, you can donate whenever the spirit moves you.
SGC President Donna Wright estimates that the club spends less than $10,000 annually to buy the plugs, soil, and mulch it needs to keep Stafford looking its best. They reuse their pots and planters whenever possible, and the hanging baskets on Main Street originally came from the Lion’s Club. They find or rent space wherever they can – most recently in one of Foster Hill Farm’s greenhouses – to grow their plugs until they are ready to be potted. Visibility, says Wright, is key to their success. But their connections also help. Wright works for a garden supply wholesaler and can get discounts; other members have connections that help this little club have a big impact.Â
Just one of those hanging baskets takes about 15 to 20 plugs to keep them looking as full and gorgeous as they do, not to mention the daily (sometimes twice) watering to keep them from wilting in the summer sun. Multiply that out across about 20 gardens (check out the map to find them all), and it takes thousands of plants each year to add seasonal color across town.Â
In other words, keeping Stafford looking its best is a lot of work. And it’s not just summer blooms that the garden club keeps up. They helped create the fruit trail downtown and at the library, run the Scarecrow Contest in the fall, and decorate for the holidays with wreaths, garlands, lanterns, and candles. The holiday decoration typically takes them two or three days of work. And then, of course, they have to take it all down.Â
In December and January, the club focuses on choosing the varieties it will use in the coming year, and they change it up all the time. In early April, they will transplant their plugs to bigger pots. Last year, the hanging basket combo SGC put together was so eye-catching that Karl Milikowski – who recently passed away but was co-owner of Foster Hill Farm – suggested the garden club pick a name for it and that they would sell it at the farm.Â
The garden club season really gets going around Memorial Day, when you can see club members hanging plants and potting up their planters all over town. For SGC, though, the most important thing is that they do a good job of not just creating but also maintaining their gardens. So, this year, they are taking stock of what real estate – all on town-owned property – they already care for and how many people they have available to care for it. Each SGC garden has a member (or, sometimes, members) responsible for watering and weeding throughout the season. However, the garden club feels the performance of any one person assigned to an area reflects on the entire group, so they want to be sure they have enough people to maintain what they have.Â
The garden club meets every third Tuesday of the month at the library if you want to get your hands dirty as a member. Otherwise, you can make a tax-deductible donation through their website (or the mail)Â and do your part to help keep Stafford beautiful.Â