Civic projects
The Garden Club of Mount Desert has several ongoing civic projects.
Charlotte Rhoades Park and Butterfly Garden
Charlotte Rhoades Park and Butterfly Garden is located in Southwest Harbor, where one of our members was the inspiration for its founding and continues to oversee its ongoing maintenance. Provisional and other Members of our club work alongside Master Gardeners in the garden each week in the summer months.
Growing Gardens, Growing Minds
In the summer of 2015, our club embarked on a new project, Growing Gardens, Growing Minds, with the Mount Desert Elementary school in Northeast Harbor. We helped to fund and build a greenhouse on school grounds where children could grow their own food from seed, and it would be served in the school cafeteria. The program has been enormously successful with grades K-8 across the entire school curriculum. Additionally, the successful Spring Seedling sale brings the school and community together to raise money for greenhouse needs. Other greenhouse projects include a pollinator garden to attract bees and monarch butterflies. In May 2019, this project was incorporated into an exhibit for the Garden Club of America's Annual Meeting in Boston. The exhibit was awarded the Ann Lyons Crammond Award for outstanding "extraordinary" Education Exhibit.
Marina Beautification Project, Northeast Harbor
In 2016, Garden Club of Mount Desert began a much-needed civic improvement project at the Northeast Harbor Marina, installing pavers and plantings around the Harbormaster’s Office and Information Center. Native flowering trees, shrubs and perennials were put in where there were none, and irrigation was added, resulting in an attractive Welcome Center for visitors arriving by boat. Spring bulbs have also been added by club volunteers over the past 5 years offering a cheery display of flowers in April and May. A monarch butterfly waystation was installed using native milkweed along with an interpretive sign offering conservation education to the public. Many tourists congregate in the Marina area, and an annual farmers market also takes place nearby. Thus, the improvements to landscaping have had a positive impact.
Spring Flowering Bulbs
Elsewhere around Mount Desert Island, Garden Club members have planted spring flowering bulbs at the Northeast Harbor Library, and in Southwest Harbor at the Veterans Park and Rhoades Park. The bulbs are much appreciated by local residents.
Garland Farm
Provisional Members also work in the garden and on other projects at Garland Farm, home to The Beatrix Farrand Society — this was Mrs. Farrand’s final home and garden where she lived from 1955–1959.
Wild Gardens of Acadia
The Wild Gardens of Acadia was a joint undertaking of both the Bar Harbor Garden Club and The Garden Club of Mount Desert. It is a 1/4-acre lot divided into 12 sections, each reflecting a typical habitat found on Mount Desert Island, and it now includes more than 400 indigenous plant species. The Wild Gardens was a GCA Founders Fund finalist in 2000, and it welcomes over 85,000 visitors each year.
Additional Club Projects
The Garden Club of Mount Desert plants a tree, shrub, or purchases a container or other garden ornament in memory of club members when they pass away. The locations are selected in conjunction with a member’s family. To date, well over 30 trees and/or shrubs have been planted and are overseen by our club.
At one meeting each summer, club members are asked to create a miniature arrangement suitable for a breakfast tray or bedside table. These are then taken to the Mount Desert Island Hospital, and to a rehabilitation/residential care facility on island. Finally, the club purchases bulbs and shrubs, etc. that are planted at schools and other special places on the island to be used as learning tools, or to add to the beauty of a special place.
Club members are making a concerted effort to reduce the use of plastic on the island and elsewhere. A club member donated metal water bottles with our logo to sell to members and other interested conservationists. And our most recent public event utilized recyclable plastic glasses, plates and napkins as part of this effort.
