Traveling down Route 113 from Newburyport to Haverhill, a driver passes small beautifully tended gardens at several road intersections, a larger garden in front of the GAR Memorial Library, annuals on the West Newbury Training Field, an herb garden behind Hill House, and peonies and other perennials at Ferry Lane Park – 10 West Newbury town gardens in all.
These gardens have been designed, planted, weeded and watered by the 80 members of the West Newbury Garden Club, a club celebrating its 90th year in 2026. In its first years, beginning in 1936, club members met in private homes. White gloves, hats, starched tablecloths and a membership waitlist characterized those early days – and annual dues were only 50 cents.
In 90 years, many changes have occurred. Now, the club happily opens its doors to all interested in gardening (even if not living in West Newbury) who are willing to work in diverse capacities for the club and town. Monthly meetings take place in the annex to the 1910 Building in the evenings so that working members may participate.
Flower shows, garden field trips, floral design presentations, lectures on gardening and conservation, and visits to members’ gardens keep club members busy.
This year’s lectures ranged from one on medicinal plants, to one on honeybees, to “Transforming Lawns and Gardens,” and there is always an evening in December to create wreaths for all of West Newbury’s town offices. The club also supplies two 30-inch Christmas wreaths to Anna Jaques Hospital and decorates a room in Newburyport’s Cushing House.
Thanks to the much-appreciated patronage of local gardeners at the May plant sale, the club has recently been able to offer two $4,000 scholarships each year to students planning to study in environmentally related fields and who reside in the Pentucket School District.
In fact, throughout the years, the club has awarded more than $100,000 in scholarships. Local gardeners may even have invited club members to dig in their own gardens in order to thin out mature plants and lift some of them for the annual sale.
Highlights of the Garden Club in past years have included decorating for the 2018 Town Bicentennial Gala and offering a workshop at that time on flower arranging, hydrangea care, and tips for novice gardeners. Members have participated in the Museum of Fine Arts “Art in Bloom.”
In the ‘80s, the c;ub supported the Merrimac River Watershed Council by sponsoring a boat trip on the river to raise money for the council. Even earlier, the club decorated the former U.S. Navel Hospital in Chelsea every July, August and Christmas holiday.
To offer its membership even greater access to horticultural expertise and garden viewing, West Newbury’s club joined the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts in 1953. Recently, the West Newbury club has focused on the importance of native plantings and pollinating gardens.
Membership in the club not only guarantees getting one’s hands dirty; it also provides time for socializing before each lecture and at the beginning and the end of the year when members stock tables with pot luck offerings and sit down to delicious dinners. To celebrate the 90th anniversary, the club is creating a cookbook, full of recipes sampled in the half hour before lectures and presentations begin.
There is so much to learn about the small and larger environment, about gardening, and about the many people in the community. Anyone interested in a lecture or thinking about joining the club is welcome to come to the annex on the first Thursday of the month.
Karen Clagett is a member of the West Newbury Garden Club.