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The club meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month, September through May, at the activities building at Roswell Area Park, 10495 Woodstock Road. Information is online at www.roswellgardenclub.com.
If you’re having a bite in a Roswell restaurant and wind up near a group of women with soil smeared on their shirts and caked on their sneakers, there’s a good chance you’re next to ladies of the Roswell Garden Club. The organization’s 40-plus members pride themselves on being a club that’s not afraid to get down and dirty in the name of community beautification.
“We’re not a lunch garden club; we’re a working garden club,” said Debbie Vann, the current president. “We get out there and work, then we go to lunch looking really dirty.”
The grassroots group has been making Roswell a bit lusher since it was formed in 1951 as an offshoot of the Roswell Women’s Club.
“Some members wanted to do more with floral design and landscaping,” said Vann. “The first project we took one was fixing up the town square. We’ve put up the gazebo and two benches there, and we donate funds for the upkeep. If someone calls and asks us to help with a simple project, we will - and if we take it on, we take care of it.”
The club maintains and supplies the plants for gardens at Barrington Hall and Smith Plantation, two of the city’s historic homes. At Barrington, they restored a neglected boxwood garden, planted a vegetable garden, cleaned up the butterfly and hydrangea gardens and put in a pink garden to honor cancer victims. They also work on landscaping at the Roswell Adult Recreation center and were recently asked by the Visitors Center to take over care of their side garden.
But their energies aren’t restricted just to planting and weeding. On Oct. 12, they’ll sell jams, jellies and baked goods and provide free activities and crafts for kids at Smith Plantation’s Fall Farm Days. They’ll then move onto decorating the Smith house inside and out for the holidays and trimming the official city tree on the square.
Selling homemade goodies and hosting a spring plant sale enable the club to supports its endeavors and to make donations to causes such as Habitat for Humanity and the Ronald McDonald House. But it’s not all hard work; the group has monthly meetings the feature interesting speakers and often head out on garden tours.
“It’s fun!” said Carolyn Herndon, who joined in 2006 after seeing photos of the club in action. “I’ve made a lot of new friends. Anyone can join; no special knowledge, just an interest is required.”
Member Hilary Boyle joined the club a year after moving to Roswell from England in 2005.
“I love it because I have always been an avid gardener,” she said. “As a London native, it’s in my blood.”
The club’s friendship and comraderie were the draw for Vann.
“When I first moved here in 2002, I had quit working, and a neighbor invited me to a meeting,” she said. “It was a great way to get out and make new friends.”
Each Saturday, we shine a spotlight on a local neighborhood, city or community. To suggest a place for us to visit, e-mail H.M. Cauley at hm_cauley@yahoo.com or call 770- 744-3042.
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