Our 2025-2027 AFGC President, Jennifer Moreland, has a wonderful theme for her upcoming term, “Conservation is Key”. She asks all garden club members to “Go Wild! Go Green! Go Garden!”
What a fun goal for anyone who loves gardening. Go Wild not only by planting a variety of plants to feed both butterflies and their caterpillars, but by also planting “wild” native plants to provide food for our desert pollinators. Go wild by planting a new and interesting plant, or plants, you have never grown before. Add a creative piece of sculpture in your garden that you construct from pieces of old gardening tools or install a small bubbling fountain for soothing sounds and water for local birds and bees. Go Wild by adding something new in your garden and beginning garden projects that are outside your normal gardening activities.
Go Green by composting your vegetable scraps to make nutritious soil for your plants. Recycle your plastic pots and flats instead of throwing them in the trash. Harvest rainwater if you live in a location where it rains often and be mindful of the water you do use when watering your garden. Be waterwise to conserve our precious water. Add red wriggler worms to your garden soil to aerate the soil and provide free worm fertilizer for your plants. Go Green by conserving natural resources whenever possible.
Go Garden this fall and take time to enjoy being outdoors. Enjoy the scents of fall, the falling leaves, birds chirping in the trees and the cool breeze brushing past your face. Being in nature and taking time to slow down and enjoy the tranquility nature offers makes gardening better than any spa time. To top it all, the physical activity of gardening helps keep you toned and flexible. Also, attend your garden club’s meetings this coming year and participate in your club’s activities that bring the love of gardening to the public. Let’s All Go Garden!
By Karen Bowen, AFGC Blog Manager
Photo 1 Karen Bowen
Go Wild! Plant a Christmas Cactus for an usual native plant to add to your landscaping.
Photo 2 Karen Bowen
Go Wild! Plant a cassia popcorn plant (Senna didymobotrya) to feed pollinators. Its leaves and blooms smell like popcorn.
Photo 3 Karen Bowen
Go Green! Construct a worm farm or add red wrigglers to your garden soil.
Photo 4 Karen Bowen
Go Garden! Attend your club’s meetings and participate in their community projects. Sharon Jessup holds a cute birdhouse, one of hundreds that Pecan Grove Garden Club made for over twenty years to fund city landscaping projects.
