The Federated Garden Clubs of Vermont (FGCV) and its member garden clubs — including the Middlebury Garden Club — will partner with five nurseries and garden centers for Vermont Garden Club Day 2022 on Saturday, May 21. This first annual event will be a statewide celebration of gardening, garden clubs and some of Vermont’s finest nurseries and garden centers.

This event aims to reinforce the partnership between Vermont garden clubs and their members and Vermont garden centers, which bring both traditional and exotic plant materials to the public. This partnership event will encourage citizens to take an interest in the beauty of private landscapes and community civic spaces, either on their own or through membership in one of Vermont’s local garden clubs.

One of the participating nurseries is Rocky Dale Gardens at 806 Rockydale Road in Bristol. The others are Horsford Gardens and Nursery at 2111 Greenbush Road in Charlotte, as well as nurseries in Manchester, Dorset and Rockingham

The garden clubs will be at Rocky Dale Gardens 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on the 21st, during a weekend when waking Vermont gardens are beginning to burst into spring color. Veteran and nascent gardeners alike will be flocking to garden centers to seek out vegetable starts and annual plants, new shrubs and trees to replace those that didn’t fare well over the winter and to source plantings for areas in their gardens that are in need of a new look.

On that day, garden club members will have display tables with publicity materials about gardening, conservation, and club projects, offering helpful hints on design, native plants to consider and the important role plants play in the ecology of our Vermont landscape.

The FGCV consists of 15 local garden clubs in Vermont and was established to promote and aid in the protection and conservation of our state’s natural resources, assist garden clubs in Vermont, and encourage educational programs in the fields of horticulture, ecology, forestry, landscape design, environmental studies and floral design. Projects run by the FGCV include an annual scholarship award, civic beautification initiatives and youth gardening programs. FGCV is a member of The New England Garden Clubs Inc., and a member of The National Garden Clubs Inc.

Comprising more than 700 members, the FGCV garden clubs are an asset to the communities they serve. Individual clubs sponsor garden tours of local prominent private gardens, provide scholarships for high school and college level students, and conduct educational programs for the public on topics ranging from conservation to floral design.