Community Projects

Public Gardens
Member teams provide design, layout, plants, soil improvement, and weekly maintenance as well as seasonal decorations for these public gardens.

School Garden Scholarships
The Belfast Garden Club has an active, community-based scholarship program that awards scholarships to students participating in local school-based summer garden projects each year. By participating in the projects and working with experienced gardeners, students actively learn all aspects of gardening, from growing, planting, tending and harvesting plants to soil building, and pest control, as well as learning to market and sell their produce. Funding for this program  is determined by the club membership on an annual basis.

Ann Mullen Memorial Scholarships
The Club dedicated its annual campership donation to Tanglewood 4-H Camp in Lincolnville, Maine, to honor its beloved member, Ann Mullen, who held a deep attachment to the Camp. The Ann Mullen Memorial Scholarships support camperships youth who need financial support. The Camp offers overnight camp (ages 8-14), day camp (ages 4-11), hunter safety camp in conjunction with Maine Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, wilderness discovery trips and a multi-week leadership camp for teens (ages 14-17). The Camp focuses on building connections to our natural resources, outdoor education and conservation.

Club Donations
Each year the Garden Club donates funds to the Troy Howard Middle School Garden Project. The Club also selects one or more other local non-profit organizations to support. This year’s recipients are Aging Well in Waldo County, Habitat for Humanity (Belfast), and Tools for Schools.

Open Garden Days
On most Fridays during the summer, the Club collaborates with area gardeners to open private gardens to the public for a small fee. This offers club members, area residents and visiting gardeners an opportunity to share design ideas, gardening problem solutions and techniques. The featured gardens are compiled in a brochure with descriptions of the gardens and dates they will be open to the public.  This is a major fundraising project for the club.

Partnerships
The Wales Park Community Garden, which was initiated and implemented by members of the Belfast Garden Club in 2019-2021 in partnership with several organizations and the City of Belfast, is now run independently of the club. The pollinator garden surrounding it, however, continues to be maintained by BGC Public Garden volunteers, including significant efforts to certify the pollinator garden with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.

The Belfast Garden Club also partners with the Belfast Free Library in multiple ways. Throughout the year, the library provides meeting space and Zoom services for Club programs. The Club also collaborates with the library and Waldo Community Action Partners (WCAP) each winter to sponsor a Giving Tree for area residents. In 2021 the Giving Tree provided holiday gifts to 15 local children whose families were identified by WCAP.

Book Donations
The Club donates a broad range of garden and horticulture and conservation books to the Belfast Free Library and area schools. This contribution to the community is fairly unique among garden clubs yet Belfast has been doing it for more than two decades. This ongoing support has created the very best local collection of horticultural books for children and adults in the state of Maine.

Books donated to the Belfast Free Library in 2021
Books for Children
The Tiny Seed by Eric Carle 2015
Foraging with Kids: 52 Wild and Free Edibles to Enjoy with Your Children by Adele Nozedar 2018
Biodiversity: Explore the Diversity of Life on Earth with Environmental Science Activities for Kids by Laura Perdew 2019

Books for Adults
From Art to Landscape: Unleashing Creativity in Garden Design by Gary W. Smith 2010
Garden Allies: The Insects, Birds, and Other Animals That Keep Your Garden Beautiful and Thriving by Frederique Lavoipierre 2021
Herbarium: The Quest to Preserve & Classify the World’s Plants by Barbara Thiers 2020
Flower Farming by Lynn Byczynski 2017
Pollinators of Native Plants: Attract, Observe, and Identify Pollinators and Beneficial Insects with Native Plants by Heather Holm 2014
Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables by Joshua McFadden 2017
New Naturalism: Designing and Planting a Resilient, Ecologically Vibrant Home Garden by Kelly D. Norris 2021
Bees: An identification and native plant forage guide by Heather Holm 2017
Felt Flower Workshop : A Modern Guide to Crafting Gorgeous Plants and Flowers from Fabric by Bryanne Rajamannar 2021
Earth in Her hands by Jennifer Jewell 2020
Propagating Plants: How to Create New Plants for Free by Alan Toogood 2019
Around the World in 80 Plants by Jonathon Drori 2021
Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse by Dave Goulson 2021

Donations to the Belfast Community Outreach Program in Education (BCOPE)
Flower Farming by Lynn Byczynski 2017
Plant Partners: Science-Based Companion Planting Strategies for the Vegetable Garden by Jeff Gillman 2020
The New Organic Grower: A Master’s Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener by Eliot Coleman 2018
All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew 2006
Flowers from A to Z: A Practical Guide to Buying, Growing, Cutting, Arranging by Cecelia Heffernan 2001
The Organic Garden Book ~ Complete Guide to Growing Flowers, Fruit and Vegetables Naturally by Geoff Hamilton 1993

Donations to the East Side and Nickerson Elementary Schools
The Tree Book for Kids and Their Grown-ups by Gina Ingoglia 2009
The Curious Garden by Peter Brown 2009

Annual Plant Sale
Each spring the club holds its Annual Plant Sale fundraiser at the Belfast Boathouse on the waterfront.  Hundreds of plants in a wide assortment of perennials and annuals are for sale to the public thanks to the generous donations of local garden centers, nurseries, club members, and other talented gardeners in the community.

Garden Club members dig and pot plants from their own and others’ gardens to donate to the sale. Member volunteers set up the sale, staff the check-out area, and aid customers throughout the sale. In addition to plants, the sale includes a Gardener-to-Gardener table of garden-related items donated by members, as well as a very popular Bake Sale.

Public Programs
The Club offers six daytime and three evening programs with Zoom support from the Belfast Free Library. Each program fosters interest in a topic pertinent to gardening and/or the environment. Selections feature some of the best speakers in the area.

The daytime programs are held at noon. The evening programs, cosponsored by the library, are held at 6:30 p.m. This year they focus on the impacts of climate change on gardens, farms, and forests.

Program registration is available on the Belfast Garden Club website and the Belfast Library website. The Belfast Garden Club holds its membership meeting at 1:30 p.m. following the program. A separate Zoom link is sent to all members via e-mail for access to this meeting. Non-members are welcome to attend by emailing belfastgardenclub@gmail.com.

Floral Heart Project
The Belfast Garden Club was honored to participate in our local Floral Heart Project remembering those we have lost to Covid-19 over the last year. Wreaths were placed at Post Office Square and Grove Cemetery to help create spaces for public grieving and share support and hope during the pandemic. Thanks to Stanley Chevrolet Buick and Holmes Greenhouse for including us in this important effort. (Photos courtesy of Kathy Hayes)