June 2-8 is National Garden Week sponsored by National Garden Clubs. This is a week for your garden club to not only accomplish a community service project, such as planting a tree in a city park, but also to advertise the benefits of joining your garden club.
One of the easiest ways to advertise your club is to create a tri-fold poster showing your members in action accomplishing various community service projects and showing some of the interesting speakers at your club’s meetings. Provide information about your club’s meeting location, date, and time. If possible, have hand-outs for the public to take home with your club’s important information and a contact number to learn more about your club. Most libraries welcome tri-fold posters. You might place a tri-fold poster or hand-outs at nursing homes, community club houses, or other places where there is a lot of public traffic.
AFGC is focusing its attention on increasing membership throughout the state’s garden clubs. To attract new members, and younger ones, social media is the best way to show off your club’s special activities. Having a Facebook page, getting an article published in your local newspaper about your club’s special events, or speaking on a local radio program are a few ideas for attracting new members.
Garden clubs are special organizations whose members enjoy helping their community and learning about new and interesting gardening techniques at their monthly meetings. We need to share how fun and informative garden clubs are with people in our community in order to gain new members.
National Garden Week is a special time to really focus on meeting and getting to know members of your community that might like joining your garden club.
AFGC Members: Send your own blog and 1-5 photos of what your club does for National Garden Week to azgardenblog@gmail.com. Your blog will be posted. Sharing information with other clubs is the purpose of the AFGC Greenleaf Blog.
By Karen Bowen
Karen is the Pacific Region Butterfly Chairman and member of Yuma Orchid and African Violet Society.
Photo 1 Karen Bowen
Sponsoring a special event, such as Art in the Garden, invites the public to participate in a fun activity and to also learn about your club and meet your club’s members.
Photo 2 Karen Bowen
Pecan Grove Garden Club member, Betty McIntire, helps local Girl Scouts create floral designs for Yuma Co. Fair’s flower show. Moms of the Girl Scouts often joined the club after seeing their daughters create beautiful flower arrangements.
Photo 3 Karen Bowen
Purchasing and helping plant trees in your city’s parks and school grounds for Arbor Day is a great way to meet members of your community and invite them to join your garden club.
Photo 4 Karen Bowen
Garden club members, Mary Lou Milstead and Sharon Jessup, help set up tri-fold posters with information about each garden club during the annual Yuma Home and Garden Show. Thousands of people attend the show and stop by to purchase plants grown by garden club members and to pick up informational brochures about each garden club.
