A pink crinum on display at an earlier March in the Park. FILE
Looking for that perfect addition to your garden? Maybe an exotic plant or handcrafted art to complete your outdoor decor?
This Saturday, horticulturists can find an abundance of greenery to fawn over and take home as The Garden Club of Cape Coral presents “March in the Park,” its annual plant and garden art sale. This is the 18th edition of the club’s biggest fundraising event of the year which draws vendors from all across Southwest Florida.
“At our club, all of our members are very active, and nearly all of us have volunteered for March in the Park, pruning more than 1,000 to 1,500 plants,” said March in the Park Chair Nancy Finnegan.
This year’s edition of will feature 30 to 50 vendors, with more every kind of plant from which to choose. This sale will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Rotary Park and is to feature plants of all kinds, trees, shrubs, ground cover, native plants, and miniatures, to name a few.
Finnegan said there will be selections from those that thrive in the sun or shade, bromeliads, air plants, caladiums and more.
“We have a third booth, which has pots and gloves, and all kinds of garden equipment,” she said.
All plants are affordable and disease-free. All are labeled carefully with the name of the plant and their best growing conditions.
Garden Club of Cape Coral members work together to create a wonderful festival, which features gardening in all of its glory to the public, while simultaneously raising the funds needed by the club for its many community outreach activities.
Garden Club members will be dressed in bright, yellow shirts with the Garden Club of Cape Coral logo and decorated summer hats so they can be found by customers who have questions.
Garden art will include glass reflections, stepping stones, metal works, fish faces, and various planters. “Thrifty treasures” will also be available from garden club members. The incredible networking ability of the garden club allows for so many different selections to be available.
March in the Park is a great event for gardeners that are just getting started, to those with a fully developed green thumb.
Members who are also Master Gardeners provide advice on the best plants for your landscape and how to grow them.
“There’s about six Master Gardeners that will be there, and we have experienced people working at our plant booth, which is our main plant area,” Finnegan said. “Anybody that has any questions, they can ask anybody there.”
A free kids’ booth, with a face painter, will have activities and take-home projects for all ages. Live entertainment and opportunity drawings will be available throughout the day, with the Boy Scouts providing food.
Opportunity Tickets are sold by all members beginning in January and during March in the Park. First prize is a rain barrel, decoratively painted by a club member, and second prize is a garden cart loaded with potting soil, garden tools and supplies generously donated by a sponsor, Home Depot. These prizes are awarded near the end of the event. There will also be vendor prizes drawn every hour.
The Garden Club of Cape Coral is a non-profit organization and all proceeds go to club objectives which include: the Marty Ward Merit Awards in horticulture for local high school seniors (awarded each year), civic beautification, Habitat for Humanity Projects, local middle and high school garden projects, and to promote civic awareness of environmental and conservation concerns.
“The main reason we have these fundraisers is so we can give scholarships to high school kids, and we average about four or five each year,” Finnegan said. “We started having the kids come to our meetings and discuss their future plans, and it’s interesting to listen to them and know what their plans are. Whatever we can do to help offset the cost of their education helps.”
The Garden Club also makes annual donations to a variety of local schools that operate school gardening projects, as well as annual donations to SEEK (Save Earth’s Environment through Knowledge), an Florida Federation of Garden Clubs-sponsored conference on environmental matters for students entering grades 10 through 12.
Garden Club of Cape Coral members maintain the Rose Garden at the Cape Coral Museum of History and the Butterfly Garden at the Library in Southwest Cape Coral. The club also makes an annual donation to the Butterfly Garden at Rotary Park in memory of members who have passed.
The Garden Club of Cape Coral was established in 1997 and currently has in excess of 90 members that meet the second Tuesday of the month, September through May, at Epiphany Episcopal Church.
Rotary Park is at 5505 Rose Garden Road, Cape Coral.
For more information, visit gardenclubofcapecoral.com.
To reach CJ HADDAD, please email cjhaddad@breezenewspapers.com