The Centerport Garden Club is a working garden club with a range of committees who work within our community to improve the quality of our lives and those of our neighbors.
EDUCATION - IN HOUSE
Floral Design Study Group
The purpose of the flower arranging study group is to present fun, interesting and educational programs pertaining to flower arranging. Each month we will be exploring new concepts and ideas through lectures, demonstrations and outings. These classes not only keep us up to date with new designs and trends, but broaden our overall knowledge and understanding of flower arranging. They provide a foundation for those interested in designing and those preparing to enter and compete in flower shows.
Horticulture Study Group
The Horticulture Study Group plans outings and workshops that provide educational enrichment about growing and maintaining plants. The co-chairs provide one event, usually on the first Tuesday of the month, from March through November.
Horticulture Schedule: Displays & Talks
The Horticulture Schedule Committee writes the horticulture schedule for the little flower shows that we have at every meeting and the horticulture Schedule for our large flower shows. The little flower shows at our meetings are judged in accordance with standard flower show rules. These monthly little shows are a practice for our larger shows and an opportunity to share our horticulture with each other and learn about new cultivars and good gardening practice. Judges are chosen and awards are given.Topics of horticultural interest are presented to the membership by members of the club or the committee at this time in the meeting.
Conservation
Conservation at the Centerport Garden Club includes a range of activities. The Club participates in several community activities: the annual Littoral Society Beach Clean-up every fall, the Centerport Harbor Civic Association’s spring Clean-up along our harbor edges as well as trash removal at a local passive park. The Club has also worked at the local Nature Conservancy helping with native plants and invasive weeds. Additionally, the Conservation Chairperson speaks at monthly meetings on such topics as recycling, plastic bags, water bottle use, invasive weeds, etc. She also keeps the club informed of changes in local ordinances such as Tree Preservation.
Programs & Speakers
Speakers come to our monthly meetings to educate club members on topics ranging from horticulture practices, garden design, floral design, botany, botanical art, garden history, conservation, pest & organic solutions and other garden and design related subjects.
EDUCATION - COMMUNITY
Flower Show Coordinator
The Second VP serves as General Chairman of the Flower Show. By adhering to guidelines set forth in the NGC Handbook for Flower Shows, individual garden clubs have an opportunity to function as part of a larger, nationwide, gardening movement. Flower Shows are undertaken in an effort to: educate club members and the viewing public, to stimulate interest in horticulture and floral design, to provide an outlet for creative expression and to communicate NCG goals and objectives.
Junior Floral Arranging Workshops
Members of the CGC work in conjunction with the Harborfields Library to organize floral arranging workshops for youngsters four times a year. This ever popular program has brought floral design to hundreds of local school children.
Garden Therapy
Dedicated members work as a garden therapy group each month with special needs grade school children in the Harborfields School District. Floral designs, horticulture, and other related projects geared to their age and ability are taught and worked on with the students.
Veterans Garden Therapy
A group of women go once a year to LI State Veterans Home in Stony Brook. They work with approximately 36 patients. The Club provides all supplies and guidance needed to help the veterans make individual floral arrangements for themselves. Some also make arrangements for their wives, nurses, and friends. It’s a mutually gratifying experience for both the veterans and the club members.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Christmas Workshop
A Christmas workshop is held each year. All members participate in making wreathes for the community fire houses, the library, and the memorial parks together with arrangements and center pieces for our local veterans facilities.
Vanderbilt Rose Garden
The rose garden committee is responsible for maintaining the roses at the Vanderbilt Museum. We plant, weed and fertilize the garden from late spring until the late fall. Members volunteer to do a major cleanup in the spring and in the late fall. During the months from May to October we weed, deadhead and fertilize the garden on a weekly basis. Members are asked to volunteer for 1 or more weeks.
Vanderbilt Museum
Members of CGC are invited each holiday season to decorate a room at the historic Vanderbilt Museum.
Civic Beautification
The Civic Beautification Committee works locally to enhance the community. In keeping with the objectives of the Centerport Garden Club, the committee encourages civic beautification, community planting, and conserving the beauty of the area. Some of our projects include:
- Harborfields Library Circle
The primary work of the Civic Beautification committee is to do landscape design, purchase, plant and maintain the circular bed in front oft
he Harborfields Library, commonly referred to as the Library Circle. Maintenance includes weeding and nourishing the soil throughout the
summer as well as taking down the bed in the fall. This involves communication and coordination with the Library Director & their team of
landscapers and the library maintenance people need to be informed of the watering needs and some edging work. Planning the design
begins in April. Typically the planting is completed sometime after the 15th of May when we can be assured of appropriate weather conditions
for planting annuals.
- Grist Mill
The perennial plantings at the Grist Mill located in Centerport are kept neat from May until frost.
Centerport Memorial Park
Our donation of a Red Bud tree in observance of Patriots Day is located at the Centerport Memorial Park across from the Centerport Fire Department. The area around the tree is kept weed free & the tree pruned by members of the club.
Annual Community Plant Sales
The community plant sale is a great way to bring together the community with the members of the CGC and fundraise at the same time. Members donate plants from their gardens and flowering annuals are purchased from a nursery to supplement the tables.