Growing Together: Shoreview Garden Club

This article appears in the March/April 2015 issue of Northern Gardener.

Thanks to the Shoreview Community Garden Club, members experience the difference great speakers can make for individuals and the community. “We’ve had some really great speakers, many of which were found on MSHS’ speaker roster,” says Doris Roettger, the club’s president. “One of my favorite speakers was Eric Johnson, one of Northern Gardener’s writers. I’m always inspired to apply what we see and learn in my own yard. I like presentations on new plants and natives since they use fewer resources.”

Held each May in the Shoreview Community Center parking lot, the club has a plant sale fundraiser that helps pay for speakers. “I think sometimes we can be our own best customers,” says Doris. “But we also donate plants for a couple public plantings.”

The club hopes to jump start more participation in community projects with a new partnership with the Shoreview YMCA. The Y received a grant to create vegetable gardens at its location and asked the club to help.

In June, the club has a bus tour to distant, exceptional gardens; evening garden tours at more local gardens in July and August continue to inspire members throughout the summer months.

After a presentation from Metro Blooms about rain gardens, one club member was motivated to get a rain garden installed in her townhouse development. “When it was finished, you could see the direct results of what speakers at garden club meetings can do,” says Doris.

—Brenda Harvieux