Archive: Around Town

The Ithaca Garden Club is marking its 90th anniversary with an exhibit in the Tompkins County Public Library, 101 East Green Street. The exhibit runs through August 30 and highlights the Ithaca Garden Club’s contributions to public gardening and landscaping projects in and around Ithaca.

The exhibit also includes a display of Club members’ favorite gardening tools, conservation tips relevant to the public, and a map displaying the location of the Club’s many civic development projects around Ithaca.

Founded in 1922, the Ithaca Garden Club began with 45 members and now often reaches its official limit of 130 members. It became a charter member of the Federated Garden Clubs of New York State, Inc. (FGCNY) in 1924 and is a member of the National Garden Club, Inc. The Club belongs to VI District, Inc. of FGCNY along with clubs in Broome, Chenango, Cortland, Madison, Onondaga, Oswego, Otsego, Tioga and Tompkins Counties totaling about 1100 members.

Civic beautification projects, financed by the Club’s fundraising efforts, are at the heart of the Ithaca Garden Club. The Club supports design and installation of gardens and landscaping projects in prominent non-profit and municipal spaces in and around Ithaca.

Recent projects include Sciencenter’s landscaping, the Ithaca Children’s Garden, the Museum of the Earth’s Gorge Garden, Hangar Theatre landscaping, the September 11th Memorial Garden at the Cayuga Heights Fire Station, the Stewart Park Memorial Flagpole Garden, Cayuga Medical Center landscaping and gardens, hardscaping for the front garden at Beech Tree Care Center, the Spiral Garden at Hospicare, the Cancer Resource Center of the Finger Lakes garden, and Alex Haley Pool landscaping.  In addition, the Club has planted trees over many years throughout Ithaca as part of the Club’s annual Arbor Day celebration as well as hundreds of forsythia bushes.

Club members make, donate and install winter holiday decorations at several Cayuga Medical Center facilities every year. They also have created floral arrangements for Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art’s “Art in Bloom” events.

An annual award by the Ithaca Garden Club recognizes the work of individuals and non-commercial entities who design and maintain gardens that beautify downtown Ithaca.

v8i32