North Royalton Garden Club: A Bumper Crop

The North Royalton Garden Club, believed to possibly be one of the oldest established civic groups in the city, is also perhaps one of the most unique.
Established in 1941, the earliest members of the North Royalton Garden Club spent the organization’s formative years advising residents on the creation of Victory Gardens. These backyard and urban gardens had Americans across the nation learning to cultivate their own fruits and vegetables at a time when the government was rationing food items during World War II. Members of the local Garden Club also used plants as a way to remember those lost in the War, planting a memorial oak on the City Green. As the years passed, the North Royalton Garden Club evolved with the local culture, holding competitions for flowers and produce, and eventually starting a tradition in the 1960s that continues today, a yearly plant sale, now called Garden Fest. This year’s event will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. May 18, at North Royalton Christian Church, located at 5100 Royalton Road.
The North Royalton Garden Club is unique in the sense that its activities and focus constantly remain on the pulse of national, regional and local trends. As the city and its people evolve, so do the educational outreach efforts and activities of the North Royalton Garden Club.
“When recycling became a buzz word some 20 years ago, we started a recycling committee,” said North Royalton Garden Club President Pam Wetterau. “The club’s education component has always revolved around the changes that are going on in the environment.”
As folks around the country embrace the hot topics of “backyard vegetable farming,” “urban farming,” and the ultra-hip concepts of “farm to table” and “knowing where your food comes from” without the use of toxic chemicals and pesticides, the North Royalton Garden Club is in stride with those residents eager to learn more.
Wetterau has spent the last few months working alongside the children of Saint Albert the Great School to help them in their endeavor to transform a school courtyard space into a vegetable garden. Students there will donate the harvest to local philanthropic groups serving those in need.
“People are becoming interested once again in growing some of their own vegetables because of all the pesticide use, and while they don’t always have the access and ability to do their own gardening, I find people are still as anxious for the knowledge about gardening and that people are looking for more natural approaches to gardening and lawncare instead of using chemical treatments,” Wetterau said.
Its upcoming Garden Fest event will feature a large selection of plants with a concentration on deer-resistant varieties. Eventgoers will find hanging baskets, container/flower bed plants, herbs, perennials, vegetable and fruit plants, raffle items and informational booths and vendors selling garden-related items.
The North Royalton Garden Club holds meetings at the local library and regularly features an educational speaker. Past topics have ranged from organic lawncare, good bugs vs. bad bugs, container gardening, pollinators, soil composition, seasonal garden maintenance, and as perhaps a throwback to its earliest years, a master canner discussing ways to make the most of fall produce by canning and preserving crops. Many of the group’s members are master gardeners, a term that refers to someone who completed intensive horticultural training through The Ohio State University Extension.
The North Royalton Garden Club also plants and maintains gardens on the City Green and entry to Memorial Park, and participates in the North Royalton Community Garden, North Royalton Harvest Fest and the Holiday Lighting of the City Green. Members organize summer garden tours and award a yearly scholarship to a graduating North Royalton High School senior and can also lend their knowledge by serving as guest speakers for various groups.
The accolades don’t stop there.
Members donate produce to older adults, beautify local nursing homes with plants at Christmas and Easter and provide centerpieces for the annual Olde Timers Banquet. The civic group maintains a strong presence on Facebook, posting everything from upcoming events and meetings to gardening memes to relevant trend stories like those on pollution and conservation.
By SARA MACHO HILL
Contributing Writer