Conservation = Do Your Part

The Nantucket Garden Club is a member of the Garden Club of America.

The purpose of the Nantucket Garden Club is to promote better knowledge and love of gardening, plants, flowers and horticulture, to contribute to the beauty of Nantucket and to support conservation initiatives that protect the island’s fragile and historic environment.

This summer club on the resort island of Nantucket off the Coast of Cape Cod has members from throughout the U.S. who spend much of their vacation time in service to the Nantucket community and take responsibility for long-term civic projects.

The Nantucket Garden Club sponsors three annual events that are a major part of the community calendar on the island.
Late April the island comes alive with spring. Yellow daffodils bloom along roadsides and in gardens everywhere. Daffodil Weekend has been held for more than 45 years and now includes an antique car parade, festive store windows, elaborate tailgate picnics in Sconset, and the Daffodil Flower Show. The flower show is co-sponsored by the Nantucket Garden Club and the American Daffodil Society and features a wide variety of daffodils and wonderful spring arrangements. This island-wide welcome to spring now brings thousands of visitors for the Daffodil Weekend in April. The Nantucket Garden Club continues the daffodil bulb planting project along roadways and bike paths and involves the local school children in growing bulbs for the flower show.

In July the Nantucket Garden Club in collaboration with the Artist’s Association of Nantucket, the Nantucket Arts Council and selected Nantucket town galleries  presents Art And Blooms Gallery Walk. This event showcases well-known local artists and Nantucket Garden Club flower arrangers who will interpret a chosen work of art in each gallery with creative flower arrangements. The Art with Blooms Gallery Walk  brings new excitement to our Nantucket art scene and is open to the public free of charge. In alternating years, the Club hosts the Community Green Thumb Flower Show, a GCA Show, which features flower arrangements by members and local residents, horticulture entries as well as photography. This show is well attended by visitors and residents.

In August the Nantucket Garden Club conducts its annual fundraising event that is anticipated each year by everyone on the island. For more than 60 years, the Annual House and Garden Tour has become the venue to have a glimpse of many historic and new homes and gardens on the island. Each year a different neighborhood is selected…from ‘Sconset to Monomoy to Brant Point. The Garden Club members provide exquisite flower arrangements to compliment the rooms in the homes. The event is held on a Wednesday afternoon in August and is well attended. The revenue from this major event supports the local community in conservation projects (see Grant information), local scholarships and provides club educational programs and conference expenses.

The Nantucket Garden Club maintains the historic Hadwen House Garden and assisted with funding the Atheneum (library) garden/park in the downtown historic district. The picturesque and often photographed Main Street fountain is seasonally decorated with colorful plants throughout the year by the Garden Club members. Four major scholarships are awarded annually to Nantucket High School graduates for advanced study in horticulture, landscaping, ecology, environmental studies, and conservation. Efforts by members in local and national conservation is a current focus of the Nantucket Garden Club.