Garden Club to Celebrate Anniversary with Beautification Projects

The Douglaston Garden Club is celebrating its 91st anniversary with several upgrade projects at and the Alameda Mall.

The club, which was founded as an original charter member of the New York Federation of Garden Clubs, will officially commemorate its anniversary on March 17.

But the group is planning activities throughout the spring and summer to beautify the community.

“We’re going to redo the steps at Catharine Turner Richardson Park,” President Douglas Montgomery said. “We planted 2,000 daffodil bulbs in the fall and will probably do a wildflower theme this year. Now that it’s spring, we’ll have ongoing planting and pruning. It had been getting a little trashy because people had been hanging out there and leaving their bottles.”

In May, the club will begin cut the grass at Alameda Mall and take part in several plantings at Catharine Richardson.

The annual cost for plantings at the park and Alameda Mall is $4,000. The club pays for the plantings and the upkeep of the mall and park out of pocket as well as through fundraisers and donations.

This summer, the group intends to start a local battery-recycling program as well as hold regular demonstrations at the community’s green market near the station.

In May, the club will host a flower show at the as well as a plant sale that acts as one of its largest annual fundraisers.

Montgomery said he also intends to create a website for the garden club in 2012.

Two years ago, the group for its flower arrangements in a National Garden Clubs, Inc. competition.

On March 29, they will receive an award for a state competition in which they most recently participated, Montgomery said.

“It’s amazing that we have an organization such as this that’s more than 90 years old,” he said. “It’s very special.”

The club currently has 103 members, the oldest of which is only one year younger than the group.

Montgomery said the club planted daffodils at last fall and is in the process of drawing younger members of the community to take part in its events.

“As we do more cleanups and projects, we’re trying to get the local Boy Scouts involved as well as look for new members,” he said.