Michael Kraft
Many nonprofits focus on providing spaces for people to come together, practice something they love, and build community. As a society, we desperately need such things, which is why the Fortuna Garden Club makes for a good story. I interviewed Janet Green, one of the club’s leaders. She says “You can talk all day about gardens and just have fun. It brings people together for sure. “
I know the club best as a fan and annual attendee of their Daffodil Show, a two-day event that occurs every year in the second half of March. Janet says that “people don’t really recognize what this is. People come from out of state and up and down the coast. There are table after table of perfect peak blooms.” People who like scientific organization would find it appealing, with the scores of taxonomic classifications that are the same worldwide. You’ll leave having seen the difference between the jonquilles and the tazettae. Or, if you just like pretty daffodils, that’s great too. And there are cookies. The show is free, but the club does raise funds by selling daffodils. Pro tip: if you want to buy daffodils, plan to get there on Saturday morning for the best selection.
Other longstanding events include the June Garden Tour, where they visit various gardens and then have a potluck at Rohnerville Park. There is a secret garden tour in July. Last year, a Founders Grove tour happened during Women’s History Month, which provided an opportunity to learn about the women who were involved early on–so early on that they weren’t allowed to drive–in the movement to save the redwoods.
Janet points out that, as with most garden clubs, activities go beyond planting trees on Arbor Day. It’s a fun, social activity, and attendees are not required to be gardening experts. “We have people who put plastic flowers in their window boxes, but they still appreciate a beautiful garden.”
Many people would be surprised at how big the club is, with 124 members. People say it’s fun because they do so many different things. One more example: “clipboard tours” to places like the McKay Community Forest with an expert mushroom guide and Flower Stream Farm, a peony farm in Briceland, where club members toured among 1000’s of peonies that were in bloom.
Monthly meetings fall on the second Wednesday of every month, from 1 – 3 p.m. Janet says that this year the club’s meetings are focused on horticultural aspects. Recently, club members made hyper tufa planter pots, which involves mixing cement with peat moss, forming the pots, and planting them.
Club members also participate in broadly-gardening-related civic projects. If you’ve been in Fortuna for the Auto Expo or Apple Harvest Festival, you’ve seen some of their work, because they take care of Fortuna’s adorable bulb-out street gardens. Different members are assigned to different street corners. They also provide scholarships to high school students who plan to study something garden-related in college. They make financial donations, such as to the Open Door Community Health Center propagation benches in their greenhouse and to the Fortuna Senior Center, where they supported the purchases of galvanized feed troughs for planting. At those monthly meetings, there is a passing of a donation box. This year’s funds will go to a demonstration garden. “We’re looking at things in the community where we can assist.”
I asked Janet what her personal favorite flower is, and she replied, “whatever’s in bloom now.” At the time we spoke, that was red bread seed poppies.
To get involved, Janet invites you to come to a meeting or one of the club’s activities. You can find information and reach out to the group on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/665648921220160. It could just be the brand of fun, and a bit of community, that you’re looking for.
Michael Kraft writes the Good Work series, volunteering on behalf of the Northern California Association of Nonprofits (NorCAN). NorCAN supports connections between people and organizations that work every day to keep our communities healthy and strong by offering professional development, board support, networking connections and more. Learn more at https://norcal-nonprofits.org/. To nominate a deserving nonprofit organization to be profiled, email michael@kraftconsultants.com.
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