By Pearl Bellomo
Editor’s note: This story was submitted via Community News Service, for the Mountain Times.
As winter temperatures fall, the Rutland Garden Club continues to beautify Rutland and give back to the local community.
Best known for maintaining more than twenty Rutland gardens — including those at the City Police Department, Chaffee Art Center, and Rutland Free Library — the club carries on its mission of civic beautification even in cold weather.
Club president Susan Cushing spoke about this shared mission. “Civic beautification is a big part of our club,” Cushing said. “I want my community to look beautiful, so it really gives me pleasure to work downtown.”
For about 10 years, members have boosted the city’s holiday spirit by filling storefront planters with festive greens.
In late November, a small team arranged balsam, cedar, white pine, and white-painted branches in 4-by-8-foot boxes, completing 23 displays across Merchants Row, Center, and West Streets.
Jan Semp, a 12-year member and holiday boxes volunteer, said despite spending three hours outside on two separate days, the cold did not disgruntle the team.
“I think we persevere (through the weather),” Semp said with a laugh. “Anybody who is into gardening, you deal with the elements.”
But the club’s efforts don’t stop there. They also give back to local businesses and nonprofits, such as with their annual wreath-making event at the Boys and Girls Club of Rutland County. On Dec. 4, 18 club members filled tables with pre-wired ornaments and handmade bows for 20 kids to decorate their own wreaths to take home.
Nicole Rice, executive director of the Boys and Girls Club, said the event is one that “youth and staff look forward to each year.”
“The Garden Club members are so patient with each youth helping to design and decorate their wreath. At the end of the event, youth get to surprise their families with homemade wreaths for the holidays…We can’t thank the Garden Club enough for making this a holiday tradition,” Rice said.
Cushing said the club is excited to make Valentine’s Day flower arrangements for residents at St. Joseph’s Kervick Home and to reap the results of the 500 crocus bulbs they planted in November.
“The first sign of spring is that bank on Woodstock Avenue where the crocus bulbs come up,” Cushing said.
The bulbs are planted on the hill in front of the Godnick Adult Center and are anticipated to bloom by early April.
The club currently has more than 50 active members and meets on the second Tuesday of each month in Rutland, though the specific location often varies. Members represent a variety of skillsets and can choose what projects they want to work on.
“You can pretty much pick and choose what you want to do. Some people (prefer) digging the garden…other people are definitely flower arrangers, and other people are happy to do both,” Cushing said.
Semp said the club provides a great opportunity for people to bond over a shared interest.
“I have met so many new friends through the club, people I would not have met before,” Semp said.
Gardeners can often be easily spotted while working in Rutland, thanks to their signature bright pink hats and shirts.
“We get people that honk their horns and say thank you as they’re driving by. It really is rewarding to hear that and realize that they notice us,” Semp said.
For more information, visit: rutlandgardenclub.org.
Submitted
Rutland Garden Club members planted holiday greens in front of downtown Rutland businesses on Nov. 20.
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