Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Bella Vista Garden Club adapting to pandemic
Like most organizations statewide, the Bella Vista Garden Club suspended regular meetings due to the possibility of spreading covid-19 but, even without meetings, members have stayed involved.
“Gardens are beautiful this year. Our members and our neighbors have been very busy,” President Judy Jeffery said.
Two of the group’s major fundraisers were canceled. The card party had been scheduled for March 20 and the Garden Extravaganza was scheduled for June 6. But members managed to find a way to hold their annual spring plant sale, even while taking social distancing very seriously.
Rather than gathering member volunteers and customers together on a single Saturday in May, the plant sale was divided into two events, which were held partially online.
Many annuals, flowers and some vegetables had been planted as seeds in early February. When they were ready to move to outdoor gardens in April, the club used Facebook Marketplace to set up a virtual plant sale. The event sold out of tomatoes, zinnias and coleus.
Meanwhile, members were collecting perennials from gardens around Bella Vista and repotting them for sale. The pots are kept in sand beds to conserve water. Previous customers know that plants from the Garden Club will grow well in Bella Vista because they are from Bella Vista.
The Garden Club works closely with the wastewater treatment plant, which provides space, including some greenhouse space, for projects like the plant sales. Sale chairwoman Joal Miller said other clubs in the region can’t duplicate Bella Vista’s events because they simply don’t have space. The perennial sale began June 11 and concluded June 13.
However, for the first
time in years, the club won’t be giving out scholarships to college students studying horticulture this year, and the spring field trip to Wonders Of Wildlife National Museum & Aquarium in Springfield, Mo., was canceled.
Donations to other nonprofits will also be curtailed.
“It’s like a roller-coaster effect for the whole community,” Jeffery says. “You worry about having to reduce donations when you know that they are dependent on those donations.”
The spring luncheon was postponed until August.
The club doesn’t hold regular meetings in the summer when members are busy in their gardens, but the fall meeting schedule is already set up, Jeffery says, including all the guest speakers.
Both the club’s Facebook page and website are current. Although the Facebook page is a closed group, people with a genuine interest in gardening are usually accepted, Jeffery says. Portions of the web page are open to everyone. Between those resources, almost anyone can find the information they need to be successful, she promises. The website includes links that can address almost any gardening problem, plus a monthly “What to do in your garden” feature.
Members are wearing masks and taking care of several public gardens in Bella Vista, including the entrance to the cemetery and the Veterans Wall of Honor. The Yard of the Month is still awarded.
Balancing volunteers’ safety with a busy club schedule keeps the members of the Garden Club looking for innovative solutions.