Moscow Garden Club carries more than green thumbs

This month marks 65 years the Moscow Garden Club has been adding beauty to the city.

The organization began in 1949 when 21 local women gathered to focus on improving the quality of the Latah County Fair flower show.

Throughout the years the organization has grown, with 32 current members, and evolved to encompass a variety of objectives, with activities to promote and improve educational opportunities for civic beautification, gardening, horticulture, flower design, interest among youth and even wilderness survival.

Their work can be seen in various locations around town, from the flower barrels at the fairgrounds to the rosebushes in front of the Federal Building.

Along with a focus on flowers and vegetation, one of the big draws for women like Joyce Parr, club secretary and a member for the past 23 years, is all the friendships she's made over the years.

"One of the reasons that people go to the Garden Club is the social aspect of it, along with the garden tips that you get. I would definitely say that's one reason I stay in," Parr said. "It's not only local, we have the opportunity to go to district and state as well, so you make a lot of friends over that period of time."

The club provides the chance to be with a group of like-minded people who are interested in gardening, club President Anne Shearer said.

"We share ideas and we have a lot of fun. It's about education, a time to get together and socialize and contributing to the community," she said.

Monthly meetings, on the second Wednesday each month at the Latah County Fairgrounds, contain informative presentations by specialists and experts who provide ideas and suggestions for local members.

Presentations cover topics from master gardener techniques and edible mushrooms tips to the plight of bees and xeroscaping, which is becoming a more critical topic in the region, Shearer said.

Such educational aspects are one of the directives from the national organization behind the local club. The Moscow Garden Club is in the Clearwater District in the Idaho Federation of Flower and Garden Clubs, and part of the Pacific Region of the National Garden Clubs Inc.

"The presidents of those organizations pass down aims and goals that they would like garden clubs to cover. So air, water, forest land and wildlife are the areas they would like us to cover this year - or at least some of them. Obviously we can't do them all," Parr said.

The club also goes on garden tours around the area, occasionally venturing up to Spokane or down to Lewiston.

"We often go to up to Manito Park. We have a few connections in Spokane that can get us into private gardens. And we usually hit a nursery or two while we're up there," she added.

"(We look at) garden design, what flowers work in that garden, what kind of flowers we like and may want to buy and bring back to plant here," Shearer said of the purpose of the tours.

Along with the tours, they occasionally have picnics, nature walks and guided field trips to study things like wildflowers, mushrooms and surviving in the wild.

The club hosts an annual food drive and helps sponsor Christmas for Kids, contributing toys and money and helping to wrap gifts. They also organize an annual plant sale each May on the Saturday before Mother's Day, the proceeds from which go to the Hamilton Gardens and the University of Idaho Arboretum.

And, of course, they still work each year to ensure the Latah County flower show is stocked with award-worthy flowers and arrangements.

"That and the plant sale are kind of the two bookends of our year," Shearer said.

Whether for interest in growing prize-winning roses or just curiosity about trees, Shearer encouraged anyone who's interested to show up at one of the group's future meetings, which are open to the public.

"Anyone can have a garden," she said. "Even if it's just a pot on a patio, it's still a garden."

For more information, contact Shearer at annecshearer@gmail.com.

Bill McKee can be reached at 208-883-4627, or by email to wmckee@dnews.com.