Garden Club getting in full bloom

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With the lingering cooler weather, many gardeners have gotten a late start.

But not the Buds Garden Club in Somerset.

The 22-member group is in its third year, and they recently finished a fund-raising plant sale on May 10, just outside Sophia’s Coffee.

“That’s our big moneymaker,” Ruth Steiner, club president, said. “We raised about $350; that’s better than last year.”

The club members donated perenials for the sale to raise money for guest speakers and various community projects throughout the year .

One of their projects has been landscaping around the big stone at the new Somerset Town Hall on Rivard Street. They have also donated money for flowerpots for the Old Town Hall.

Anyone who is interested in gardening may join for a $10 annual fee - the first meeting is free. Steiner said some members don’t even have a garden of their own.

“We have some older members who live in apartments,” Steiner said. “They used to garden, but they don’t get to play in it anymore, except with this club.”

The group meets the second Monday of each month, usually around 6:30 p.m. Where they meet depends on what they are doing that month.

“On June 9 Lowell Peterson is going to have a demonstration on different bird baths,” Steiner said. “That one will be at his house so he won’t have to lug all his stuff around.”

After the demonstration, the club will carpool to Stillwater to tour a peony garden.

Aside from a member who works at the Home Depot’s garden center, Steiner said the club members are not professional gardeners.

“We have some people who have fabulous rock/koi/vegetable/flower gardens at home, and we have some people who just have wild grass in their yard that they don’t mow,” Steiner said.

“We’re a laid-back group, and we have fun.”

For more information about Buds Garden Club, contact Ruth Steiner at 715-246-2686.

Tags: somerset, garden, club