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Maplewood Garden Club at 97 Years and Still Going Strong!
Since 1927, the Maplewood Garden Club has been a hands-on garden club, open to the people of Maplewood, NJ and the surrounding communities. Meetings are held September through May at The Woodland in Maplewood at 7:30 p.m. and are open to the public.
2024-25 MGC Season
Our 2024-25 Garden Club year kicked off on September 9th 2024. We have some great speakers this year, a new Design Exhibit theme, more trips in the planning stage and our usual club events. We are very excitedly looking forward to this season. We hope you are too and hope to see you at September’s meeting.
March Club Meeting
Monday, April 7, at 7:30 PM
Subject: Small Space Gardening (Terraces, Patios and Decks)
Speaker: Anthony Bracco
The thrust of this Small Space Garden talk is to raise awareness as to where our food comes from, share growing methods, and demonstrate how backyard growing methods can be adapted to a small garden space. Get inspired to build and prepare an enjoyable, fully functional garden in your own small space.
Anthony (Bracco Farms) and his family live in Cedar Grove, NJ. Twelve years ago he and his wife bought a 25-acre farm in the Black Dirt region of Pine Island, NY. Anthony had intended to be a hobby farmer on just an acre growing his family the cleanest produce possible using Non-GMO seeds, hand cultivation of weeds, old fashioned farm equipment, picking only when ready, and without chemicals, fertilizers, irrigation, pesticides, or herbicides, and allowing the soil to naturally regenerate each season. These sustainable farming techniques produced a shocking abundance of produce. After just one season, Bracco Farms was born out of the demanding momentum of the growing food movement.
See the April Club Meeting Event entry for more details.
GARDEN CLUB EXHIBITS THEME 2024-2025
THEME: Flowers by the Month: Flowers, Buds and Beyond
Each month a different flower or branch, chosen for its availability in local gardens and stores, was selected to be incorporated in the designated floral designs. The flower or branch chosen per month may elicit fond memories associated with each, such as, big chrysanthemums in November for football games, or red roses in February to express our fondness for others. Designers will draw upon their visions of what each flower or branch signifies to them and incorporate them into the scheduled design type for their skill level.
February’s theme is Daisy
Please see our Design Exhibits page for more details!
MAPLEFOOD YOUTH GARDEN PROGRAM
Calling all garden educators! I am planning the spring season for our MapleFood Garden and are calling on vol- unteers to help in the garden and work with kids this spring, summer, and fall. The MapleFood garden teaches kids and families about how to grow and maintain vegeta- bles organically. We harvest the food for kids to take home and deliver food to the community foodbanks and com- munity fridge on Springfield Ave.
If you would like to volunteer or know kids/families who would like to participate in our program, please reach out to me at youthgarden@maplewoodgardenclub.org.
~ Monika Hannemann
APRIL = GARDENING ITCH TO SCRATCH
April is the month for clean up and prep. Early Spring bulbs are starting to bloom, soon perennials will be breaking soil if not already, but you still have some prep to do now that will pay dividends the rest of the year.
For more help to kickoff your 2025 garden season please visit our April Gardening Tips
In Memoriam
We are very sad to tell the Garden Club that our dear member, Marilyn Schnaars, passed away in early March. She had been a loyal member since 1989. Over the years of her membership she has been a long-time cashier for the Plant Sale, the chairperson of the Garden Therapy Committee, involved in Wreath-making and Ornament-making Workshops, and Potting-up Parties. At meetings, she had aways been a super sales person for ama- ryllis and MGC clothing
and merchandise. Marilyn’s kindness and enthusiasm will be missed by all who knew her. There will be a celebration of Marilyn’s life in the near future at her church in South Orange. When plans are finalized, there will be an announcement. We send our condolences to Marilyn’s nephew, Stephen, and all of Marilyn’s friends and family.