The Westlake Garden Club has gotten a great start on the gardening season for 2021. The morning of May 22 found several members at the club’s Hilliard Boulevard flower box getting the plants in the ground. Thanks to Cathy Garlitz and Marsha McEntee for selecting and transporting the plants and for planting them, along with Lavinia Cozmin, Marge Emblom and Anne Engel. Later that day, a group of members met on member Carolyn Steigman’s patio for the annual plant exchange where they brought divisions and whole plants from their own gardens to exchange for something different. There were also some house plants finding new homes. Thanks to Carolyn for providing the venue and to Kathy Bruening for organizing and providing refreshments. The garden club again provided a wreath for the Memorial Day Ceremony at Clague Park. Thanks to Carolyn Steigman for putting together the beautiful wreath this year. In a joint effort with the City and with a grant from the Cuyahoga Soil & Water Conservation District, the garden club launched a Pollinator Project at Clague Park. Members Deb Dougherty and Susan Baker worked with Cahoon Nursery to order appropriate plants. The City prepped the site and on June 4 garden club members planted the garden. The garden club hopes this model Pollinator Garden will encourage other groups, organizations, and citizens to plant similar gardens. Last year was difficult for everyone. The garden club Board met in early March at the library and once in the President’s driveway, and the general membership did not meet at all. When I agreed to share responsibilities of President this year, my goal was to, in some way, try to keep our members connected. The Board met via Zoom for three months and met in person in May. The April and May general meetings were held via Zoom with a speaker. The June meeting will be in-person when we will tour the new Westlake Community Services Center and we are planning to do mini-garden tours for the July meeting. And, as outlined above, we have started gardening together again. It is so good to see our friends and family face-to-face again. We are still practicing safety precautions and trying to keep everyone safe and well. Happy Gardening!
