I had a neighbor that was involved with some kind of pond club. They had a set weekend where all the members would go around and visit a certain house to see that pond and pond environment. I think you could do a similar thing, for the garden topic.

You may also want to set up seminars where the members can speak about a topic that they like or want to teach about. Otherwise, I think just coming together for cake and chatting every month will not give enough reason for people to come. Of course, I'm talking about the way people in a large urban area might think, so maybe the citizens in your area would feel differently.

Gardenper- It is a small town, so there's already a lady's club, a historical society, a book club, a knitting/crochet club, a poker night...you get the idea! LOL

I think seminars would be too formal and difficult to get anyone to drive 25 miles from town...but I do like your pond example. That's a great idea!

Annette- Thank you for the ideas! I like the idea of choosing roses one month and perennials or vegetables the next. We also want to promote organic gardening, beneficial bugs, etc. but not be 'anti-spraying' either.

There are some noxious weeds around here that have to be sprayed (unfortunately) that would invade the farmlands. So, we want to encourage organic, but not come across so adamant that we discourage people from coming. The best way to win people over (especially in a small town) is to show them the alternative works, but also be accepting of their ideas, too.

Thank you both for the responses! :)

Here's a hint for you, I was at our local horticultural society meeting last night, our guest speaker was Linda Gilkesona a renowned entomologist, who spoke on pests and diseases and how to control them organically. The best plant to attract beneficial insects is Sweet Alyssum, plant it amongst your flowers and veggies to draw them in. She said about the garlic/onion/ soap recipe... the only thing in it that works is the soap but this will do in the beneficials as well as the nasties. Another hint about mildew.... humidity is the culprit, hosing down your roses a couple of times of week helps, mildew doesn't like wet foliage. A very informative meeting, I really enjoyed it.

Annette

This sounds like so much fun ! I agree with the above . My one thought was maybe have the dessert assigned to a different person each month ? Then there's only the cost for the person that one month. Is there a panera in your town? Mine has a private room that you can use and I'm sure as long as y'all purchased coffee or what not you can use it . I don't believe it costs anything to reserve it .
On a side note , Annette I am glad you mentioned sweet allysum . I threw seeds in with my roses in pots and I hope they bloom soon and attract those beneficial bugs you speak of , because something is eating my rose leaves just awful !

I think it might be fun to do some themed meetings, such as in spring, everyone takes a field trip to a nursery and pots up a mixed annual container, or you could research simple garden accessories to make on Pinterest, such as the glass plate flowers, and either have a craft meeting to actually make the item, or just everyone researches ideas and shares them with the group. Then it s up to each person if they want to make the item or not. I like the garden tours idea, preferably in late spring or early summer when plants are at their peak. A plant swap could also be a nice way to get participation and benefits everyone. That's the kind of club I would like to join!

ravensfan62 hit on the idea that crossed my mind reading the posts above--select a variety of topics with some hands-on participation by members.

One topic that hasn't already been mentioned is garden design. I frequently come across design questions on various forums here on GW and not just from beginner gardeners. Not all gardeners can easily "see" their finished garden beds and flounder around just adding plants at random. Featuring garden design, soil preparation & maintenance, discussing mulch or weed suppression/removal/containment would be topics that nearly all gardeners have in common.

The above discussions & related Q&A would likely lead to other topics that interest serious or casual gardeners.

Asking folks to provide feedback following club meetings/sessions would indicate where members are looking to see the club's direction down the road. I taught a forum about growing from seed via winter sowing and was impressed with insightful feedback from attendees.

I think touring each other's gardens would been a great start. Every time I go to a new garden I get so many ideas about design, hardscape, plant combos, etc.....maybe the person whose garden is toured that day makes the goodies. The other gardeners would also be able to give ideas about problem areas in the garden. Let's face it, we all have those and sometimes a fresh set of garden eyes is just the ticket for a great idea. Then after the tour and swapping of ideas sit for refreshments and have a garden chat, and maybe as others have mentioned there's a specific topic for that day. If that person is willing maybe some plants could be dug up and brought home by other members, so the swapping happens in a round-robin fashion, one gardener at a time as the giver of plants. And if they don't have anything to swap/give, that's OK too!

I'm not sure about this, but I know master gardeners have to do hours of service. My mom does native plant tours on her garden for MG groups and gets hours for that. I'm not sure if you invited a MG to speak if they could get credit. They're a wealth of knowledge about all sorts of topics and might be thrilled to have a group to speak to.

You could cover all in one fell swoop. Tour, eat and chit-chat, have a lesson and then finally maybe dig some plants to go. Of course, that depends what length of time you think the meetings should be. I find there's never enough time when I'm in the midst of other gardeners!

Maybe depending on whoever is around during winter months you could still meet each month at each other's houses for garden crafts or just have cozy garden chats with seed catalogs spread all over the place!

Sound like you guys are going to have a wonderful time. Do you have any ideas on how many people? Or how you'll "invite" people to join? I've always wanted to do round-robin garden touring of GW member's gardens in the area but have never put it out there to try to coordinate. So glad you and your mom and jumping into getting something going!

Thank you all for the wonderful ideas! :)

I wish all of you could be here, because that would be so much fun! My mom did think it would be fun to talk about garden design (especially in the early spring) and maybe even have a garden book swap. Trade in old books or duplicates and get something 'new' for you.

The other idea was to take turns helping in each other's gardens. So many of our gardeners are single gals, who are retired...and not all of them have much help. We were thinking we could spend about two to three hours a Saturday at someone's home (let them provide refreshments) and then move to the next place the following Saturday. If too many people wanted to participate, we could form more than one 'group' to work in.

I think Thyme's idea would be so fun...especially for gardens already looking nice! Then the rest of us would have something to aspire to, as we work in our own gardens. Then towards the end of summer (or the next year) maybe some of the 'newbies' would want to have the tour at their homes :)