Morrison Garden Club celebrating 75th year

MORRISON — The Morrison Garden Club is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year.

Founded on Dec. 10, 1948, the Morrison Garden Club is charged with taking care of the grounds at Odell library, Veterans Park, and the planters near Illinois 78.

Members also volunteer for Morrison’s annual Paint the Town and care for the plant life in Morrison year round. Their work can be found across town, with the Garden Club being responsible for paying for the landscaping at the hospital entrance and maintaining the entrance sign to Morrison.

President Sharron Moore said the club is first a “fun group,” and a mix between a volunteer group and social club.

“We try to help out where we can,” she said. “We’ve had tree programs in the past, and we also feature gardens every month in the summer. Thanks to this being the 75th anniversary, the person that gets chosen gets a $75 gift certificate to Spangler’s.”

Volunteerism is a huge component of the club, according to Moore.

“I’m really looking forward to planting more trees. We have some funds given us in a trust from Margy Haines, and it is specifically for trees and flowers in Morrison,” Moore said. “That is how we did French Creek Park. Most of that money came from that fund, and we originally planted 500 trees.”

The club on July 11 authorized a donation of $750 to the high school greenhouse, and it is the eventual goal of the club to start a scholarship for students in agriculture or horticulture.

“We do a lot more financially now because we have some money to spend, and it needs to go back out to the community,” she said.

Currently, the biggest event for the Garden Club is the plant sale at Odell Library.

“We get plants donated to us by community members, and we bring a lot of plants from our own yards,” she said. “We get together and pot them all. Then we set up by plant types, sun, and shade. We can’t thank enough the people we see come in every year. They come out with cartloads sometimes, and this year was our biggest sale yet. We opened the sale at 9, and there were maybe 50 people waiting outside.”

In the early days, the Garden Club used to hold flower shows in the fairgrounds, and hosted competitions and showings.

“[It’s] everyday, hard-working women in our gardens,” Moore said. “We recently joined the Illinois State Garden Club, and they hold a lot of events that we’ve gone to.”

The club is always looking for new members.

“A lot of us are older, so I want to grow the club by doing more activities,” she said.

For those interested in joining, membership dues are $10 a year. Newcomers are welcome to join the monthly meetings at Odell library and introduce themselves.

“It keeps us involved in the community,” club member Jan Mayes said. “It helps us learn what is going on in the community and keeps us involved in those events. It’s a method of volunteering that helps us just as much.”