How to Start a Garden Club

Does watching peonies bloom in the spring make you smile? Do you secretly shed a tear when you pick the last tomato of the summer? If so, you might be the perfect person to organize a garden club. A common interest like gardening can bring people from all backgrounds together. It’s amazing what tricks and tips you can learn from fellow plant lovers, such as what soil works best for a lavender bush or how to keep Japanese beetles away from your hibiscus. Are you interesting in gathering with like-minded gardeners? Here are some tips on how to start a garden club.

How to Start a Garden Club

Organize the Group

Behind most successful organizations are thoughtful plans. Before you get your hands dirty with soil and seeds, grab a pen and some paper and draft up a plan for how to start a garden club. Answering these questions can be a great place to start:

• What should the structure of your club look like? Will members take turns leading the group? Should you appoint a president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer?
• What do you want to achieve as an organization? Your goal can be anything from planting a community garden to simply informing other gardeners about trade secrets. After you define your goal, create a mission statement.
• How often would you like to meet, and where can you meet?
• Do you need a website, or will a Facebook page or email list do the trick? There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach for communicating, so figure out what works best for your organization through trial and error.

Reach Out to Local Gardeners

Once you have a plan for your club, it’s time to find some members. When creating communication materials, you should always consider your target audience. In other words, in order to connect with other gardeners, you need to think like a gardener. Since you are most likely a gardener yourself, drafting up the right words should come naturally to you. Where and how do other gardeners spend their time, or where do you spend your time? What grabs their attention, or what grabs your attention? For example, if you spend a lot of time at the local plant nursery or botanical gardens, chances are, other gardeners frequent those places as well. Get permission to hang up informative flyers around those places. Rip-away flyers with the club’s contact information are convenient for interested people.

Social media is also a great way to spread the word. Research shows that people of all ages spend time on Facebook, so create a Facebook page for your garden club. Make an event page for your first meeting, and ask your friends to share the club’s posts on their personal pages.

Plan a Fun Kickoff Event

Use the first garden club meeting to give attendees a taste of the club’s personality. Make the gathering informative, but also enjoyable. One creative way to make it a memorable event is to pick a theme. For example, the theme could be a British garden tea party, a midsummer Scandinavian soiree, or a Hawaiian luau. However, don’t get overwhelmed by trying to make everything perfect, and don’t feel like you have to spend a lot of money. Rather than purchasing expensive wine, make a pitcher of water infused with mint from your garden. Instead of spending time and money on decor, create a lovely bouquet for the table’s centerpiece.

Make sure to tell people how they can join the garden club and what they can expect to learn at future meetings. You should also share the club’s mission statement and goals. You could also invite people to stay after meeting and create some garden crafts. You want people to leave feeling joyful, excited, and inspired to come back.

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