History

The Novato Garden Club is the longest standing club in Novato.  It was organized on February 27, 1934. Mrs. Madge Wells was the first president. One of the first meeting’s recorded minutes was “a short talk on camellias”. After the meeting, eleven cents was collected on plant sales.” Dues were 10 cents per month and at the second meeting a committee was appointed to plan their first Garden Party.

In addition to creating interest in home gardening, the club created community projects. These projects in the first year included planting the depot oval, helping with school landscaping and planting trees along the old Redwood Highway.

In the same year, the Club also found time to enter exhibits in the Marin Country Club flower show and to hold a tea with a floral show in the old Novato Community House on De Long Ave. Community beautification remains an important goal of the Club’s activities to this day. The ongoing project of planting and maintaining decorative planters along Redwood Boulevard is one of our most visible endeavors. In 1993 water hook-ups to these planters eased the work of volunteers needing to haul buckets of water! Both the North Marin Water District and the City of Novato deserve credit for supplying the water to the planters.

Past Projects of Community Beautification:

  • 1960 Planting trees along Grant Ave.
  • 1965 Planting traffic islands on the old Redwood Highway.
  • 1967 Landscaping the Novato Community House.
  • 1970 Assisting in the purchase of shrubs and trees for Pioneer Park.
  • 1982 The completion & dedication of the Mabel Hartman Fountain.
  • 1997 Assisting in the designing and replanting of the Novato Library’s atrium i
  • 2014 Providing plants around the gazebo in Pioneer Park.

Many of the Club’s current activities are rooted in earlier traditions.

  • The Valentine’s Tasting Luncheon was first held in 1959.
  • The May Mart Plant Sale has been a fundraiser for the Club since in 1969.
  • The Christmas Bazaar first held in 1965 is now known as the Holiday Faire and became jointly sponsored with the City of Novato in 1967.