Village Gardeners to kick off season Monday

On Monday, the St. Joseph Village Gardners are kicking off their 2019 season.

Member Samuel Furrer said the group’s first meeting this year will take place at the St. Joseph-Ogden Greenhouse.

“We’ll hear about that exciting new facility and the ag and horticulture programs,’ he said.

The meeting will start at 6:30 p.m.

The group meets April through August and often takes a short trip to an area garden or has a program in St. Joseph.

The main project of the group is maintaining the community garden spaces in the village.

Furrer said any age can join.

“The Village Gardeners is a group of area residents with an interest in gardening,” Furrer said. “ Our membership is made up of gardeners of all different interests and capabilities.”

Furrer said some members have extensive gardens and others have a few small containers of plants on their patio.

No need to feel intimidated if you have only had house plants and they died,” Furrer said. “An interest in gardening is what people share, not necessarily expert gardening skills.”

The group has a membership of 40 residents who receive the monthly newsletter. Of those 40, 20 or so are very active in the group.

“We appreciate it when people are more active and contribute to the group’s efforts of maintaining the community garden spaces within the village,” Furrer said.

The group maintains gardens on the Grand Avenue Islands, the intersection of Rt. 150 and Main, the lamp post planters downtown, the Municipal Building, the Hackler Park Gazebo, the Kolb Park sign, the Sports Complex and the High School Veterans Memorial, in addition to smaller planters and places.

Members are also welcome to suggest and coordinate a monthly meeting place as the group likes to visit different places for their monthly meetings.

“We sometimes visit a nice garden in the area, we’ve visited area daylily farms, butterfly gardens, learned to make a fountain for the garden, visited the Pollenatrium at UI, and more,” Furrer said.

The group’s May meeting is always at Schuren Nursery and Garden Center where they plant the village’s lamp post planters, followed by social time and a short program.

Anyone can attend a meeting. If a person wishes to formally join the group they pay a small fee.

$5 per year with electronic version of the newsletter,
$9 per year with hard copy of newsletter sent via US Mail.
Send membership due to Carolyn Corn
PO Box 17
St. Joseph, Illinois 61873