Peoria Garden Club (PGC) members, L to R, Pat Thomason, Phyllis Baylor, and Lynn Heath pictured at Alpha Park Library in Bartonville by some of the plants provided by the Club. Beautification throughout the community is one of the PGC’s objectives.

Deep roots in plants help sustain them through droughts and other hazardous weather and conditions. For a club devoted to beautifying the community through flowers and plants and trees, roots are also very important. The Peoria Garden Club (PGC) can trace its roots back to 1924, marking nearly 90 years of beautifying the area. While some of the details and particulars have changed, such as meeting places and projects, the goal remains constant: Beautification, Conservation and Education.

The Club currently has about 200 members. They meet the first Thursday of the month from September through May, but not January. Club President Lynn Heath of Bartonville explains there are no meetings in the summer as members are too busy working in their own gardens. Meetings were originally held at a home on Moss Avenue, and later at Lakeview, but because of their recent closing, meetings are moving to the Peoria Public Library North Branch at 3001 W. Grand Parkway, behind Menard’s

Lynn has been a member since 2004 when a friend gifted her with a membership after her retirement from teaching. While she says the majority of members are retired, people of all ages are most welcome in the club. “We want to encourage new membership. Our members come from Kewanee, Tremont, Washington, East Peoria, Bartonville, and Peoria. We come from all different walks of life and backgrounds.” A love of gardening and beautification is the commonality among members.

Meetings start at noon with tea or coffee and cookies, and a business meeting begins at 12:30 p.m. The program is at 1:00 p.m. Members may bring a guest. Recent programs have included Fairy Gardens; Planning an all-seasons garden; All about herbs; Perennial of the year; Dazzling Christmas arrangements; Ponds for Gardens; and many others. One Christmas season’s pro gram included high tea. Nearly all the programs have a speaker.

Workshops are held on the third Tuesday of the month and are available to members only. Some workshops involve an outing or making a craft item. Bus trips are once a year and most recently the group went to the Botanical Gardens in Chicago. Last year they visited Trudy Temple’s Garden in Hinsdale, Illinois and in 2013 a visit to the St. Louis Botanical Gardens is planned.

The Garden Club’s objectives include creating and encouraging an interest in the development of all phases of gardening; helping in the beautification of the City of Peoria and surrounding areas; aiding conservation and environmental preservation; encouraging educational workshops; and giving financial support to those projects that promote particular objectives.

Each year $5,000 is budgeted for civic projects. Flowers are planted at the Civic Center annually; trees were planted at Easter Seals and Thomas Jefferson school for Arbor Day; an educational program on bulb planting was held at Richwoods High School with special needs students; and a $1,000 scholarship was awarded to a horticulture student at Illinois Central College. Continuing projects include: money donated to Bel-Wood Nursing Home for therapy gardens; monetary donations to various non-profit organizations in the Peoria area for their landscape projects. (Three different neighborhood plantings have received a Peoria’s City Beautiful “Iris Award” after Peoria Garden Club funding). Operation Sunshine Project donates a flower basket to members, family members or friends who have an active relative in the military serving overseas. The Pettengill-Morron Historical Home is decorated inside by members for the holiday season, and the Fragrance Garden outside is maintained through spring, summer and fall pruning and clean-up.

Monies are raised for such projects through a Green Acres Sale on the first Saturday of May at Metro Centre. Plants are dug mainly from members’ gardens and are potted.  Every other year is a garden walk alternating with a flower show.

“I have learned so much from the Garden Club,” says Lynn enthusiastically. While some members have spacious garden areas, others live in an apartment or condo. “Big yards are not necessary to have beautiful gardens,” she says.

Mary Christiansen has been a Club member for over ten years. “My friend was a member and she always said how much she enjoyed it so I joined also. The club includes some of the nicest people you’d want to meet. They are willing to share tips on gardening, and they are a lovely group of friends to have.”

Lynn is convinced that “gardeners are happy people. I’ve met so many nice friends through the Club. We’re all either gardeners or have a love of flowers. We like nature and want to know more about it and gardening. And an offshoot of the Club are the friendships that are formed.”

Yearly memberships for the Peoria Garden Club are $25. For additional information, please call Lynn Heath at (309) 697-2195 or visit their website at peoriagardenclub.com.