Flowers and people bloom, grow at the Waltham Garden Club

The Waltham Garden Club will host its Annual Plant Sale & Seed Giveaway at 65 Lexington St. (the parking lot behind the Elks Lodge) on Saturday, May 10, from 9 a.m. to noon.

The sale, now in its 17th year, raises funds for the club and its community events. It features plants for sale and free seeds —  along with gardening tips from club members.

“The beauty of most of the plants at the plant sale is that they come from the yards of our members so you know the plant/variety is hardy and can withstand the winter here,” said Courtney Ogg-Mancuso, the club’s president.

People coming to the sale will also learn about the benefits and activities of the 80-member strong club, which was started in 1941. The club has a speaker series, workshops and a newsletter for members. 

Meetings are monthly, except in the summer, when members organize trips to one another’s gardens and local garden shops. On a visit last year to Wilson Farms in Lexington, members were able to ask questions directly of the owner..

The club puts on popular events for families — such as Gardening for FUN at the Sheepshearing Festival at Gore Place, where members hide potatoes in mulch for children to find and hide again. The club also holds seasonal events for the community. For example, members plant flowers in planters on the Waltham Common in collaboration with the city’s Consolidated Public Works Department every spring and fall. And it puts up holiday decorations in City Hall every December. 

For Ogg-Mancuso, the club’s strength stems from its welcoming nature. She joined many years ago, when she was pregnant and mourning the recent loss of her mother. Looking for solace, she became interested in the club’s speaker series and “walked into a place of friendship and camaraderie.” 

Now more than a quarter of a century later, Ogg-Mancuso is in her second year of presidency, where she balances the club’s traditional activities with innovations such as decorating Gore Place for its House in Bloom in the fall.

Waltham resident Richard Laing, one of the newest members, agreed that the club is welcoming, calling it “a nice common-interest community.” He is especially appreciative of a dahlia workshop, where the speaker shared dahlia roots from her own garden, and a class on how to decoupage clay pots. 

Laing said the club is “nearly all women but very accommodating, cutting across all social, employment and income levels.” And, he noted, “it’s very cheap” to join.

Dues are $40 a year.