CREATING YELLOW TRUMPETS OF SPRING
Laurelwood Garden Club plants daffodil bulbs to enrich arts and culture
FITCHBURG » Members of the Laurelwood Garden Club took out their shovels, trowels, and gloves to continue its annual Civic Beautification Project on Oct. 15.
For the past 14 years the club has planted 1,000 daffodil bulbs each year throughout the city of Fitchburg in such places as the Fitchburg Art Museum’s Courtyard, the Rotary Boxes, The Sundial banks, the Fireman’s Memorial, Gateway Park, Coggshall Park, The Cancer Center at Burbank Hospital, Under the “Welcome to Fitchburg’ signs, Leominster Carter Park, Monument Park, Renaissance Park.
“The club started this project when The Garden Club of America encouraged all clubs in the country to plant daffodils in civic areas,” said Julie Palioca, public relations coordinator of the Laurelwood Garden Club and chairman of the Civic Beautification Program. “This will make a total of 14,000 daffodils bulbs planted in the Fitchburg area.”
This year the bulb planting took place on Main Street, and along the Mill Street Corridor where the city and the artists have been revitalizing that area.
This bulb planting site was made possible with the help of Joe Ferguson, director of ReImagine North of Main, responsible for community revitalization and economic development work.
‘Members are excited to be back together. We realize the importance of continuing our programs which are geared to improving the environment and focusing on the art of gardening.’
– Julie Palioca, public relations coordinator of the Laurelwood Garden Club and chairman of the Civic Beautification Program
ReImagine North of Main is a partnership — local businesses, government, nonprofits and, most importantly, residents — committed to making a collective impact, and dedicated to improving the quality of life in their neighborhood.
“The ReImagine North of Main partnership is taking an active role in the beautification of the Main Street commercial district in Fitchburg,” Ferguson said. “When the Laurelwood Garden Club reached out to us with this opportunity to add plantings to Mill Street, we were absolutely glad to accept their offer. This type of community partnership is the way things get done in downtown areas across the country, and we hope to continue working with the Laurelwood Garden Club as our downtown revitalization program advances over the coming years.”
Palioca said the club also welcomed the opportunity to be a part of this project and believes that these daffodils will add to the artistic development that is already underway to improve the experience for the foot-traffic and visitors in the area.
“We were thrilled to have had the chance to enhance and bring another part of art to that area,” Palioca said. “… in the spring, these daffodils will produce rays of bright yellow bouquets of beauty.”
Bulbs were also planted at Moran Square where the Spanish War Monument is located at Lunenburg and Summer streets. This site was made possible with the help of the Fitchburg Department of Public Works.
In addition to daffodil bulb planting, members maintain a 19th-century horse trough in Renaissance Park on Main Street that they converted into a memorial planter in memory of Julia Casey, a longstanding, dedicated member of the club.
“This planter is filled with a large display of floral beauty and can be seen during the summer months,” Palioca said.
“Our mission has always been to beautify the city of Fitchburg so that passersby can appreciate the outdoor garden display that attracts lots of butterflies and pollinators,” she said.
This was made possible by a grant from the Fitchburg Cultural Council.
The Laurelwood Garden Club awards a scholarship each year to a high school student pursuing a higher education majoring in horticulture, floriculture, landscape design or architecture, conservation, forestry, agronomy, city planning, environmental studies, land management, botany, biology and related subjects.
Applications can be obtained beginning in January at the school the student is attending. The club is now holding its monthly meeting at a new location, the Fitchburg Senior Center, at 14 Wallace Ave. Monthly meetings are held on the second Friday of the month at 9:30 a.m. from September through June with speaker programs and workshops.
“Members are excited to be back together,” Palioca said. “We realize the importance of continuing our programs which are geared to improving the environment and focusing on the art of gardening.”
Palioca also believes that getting back together couldn’t have come at a better time.
“I think that many people took up gardening during the pandemic,” she said. “Flowers, a single stem, a bouquet, a large floral display, can uplift your spirits, improve your mood and for a moment we can escape and take the time to appreciate the fullness of nature.”
For more information on the Laurelwood Garden Club, contact Palioca at 978537-7630.