The Martha's Vineyard Garden Club, was established in 1924, and is the first conservation organization on the Island. We are an island-wide community organization of almost two hundred members (including many seasonal residents), who share a passion for gardening, conservation, and maintaining our unique environment. In addition, the Club is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization with a mission to protect and enhance the natural assets of the Island of Martha’s Vineyard by providing educational programs in conservation and horticulture; by encouraging community participation in and understanding of environmental problems; by supporting community efforts to protect our Island’s environment; and by taking a position on legislation affecting the environment. Our monthly meetings are both educational and social; our programs are varied and designed to meet personal, community and sustainability interests. All are welcome to be a member or guest of our club.
Our mission is to promote the knowledge and love of gardening and horticulture through the education of our Club and the Community. In this way, we can further effect, enhance and protect the beauty of our fragile Island and support the conservation initiatives that our Club was founded on in 1924. Your donations help the Martha's Vineyard Garden Club support its ongoing programs, our Club's Scholarship Fund, the Windemere Program and maintenance of the Old Mill through the Old Mill Preservation Fund. We thank you for your support.
A Historical View of The Martha's Vineyard Garden Club
Established in Edgartown in 1924 by Mrs. T. M. R. Meikleham and ten charter members, the Martha's Vineyard Garden Club was the first conservation-oriented organization on the island. Early members rallied around horticulture and embraced preservation efforts. This included planting trees, gardens, improving schoolyards, surveying and maintaining trees on public property, preserving stone walls, creating victory gardens, ragweed and gypsy moth eradication, removing caterpillars from the island vegetation, sharing information on plant diseases, participating in the island's ag fair, holding flower shows, banning billboards, advocating for zoning regulations and hosting horticultural and educational programs. The club continues to actively initiate and support efforts to preserve and beautify the island landscape.
Beginning in 1937 a building at the West Tisbury Mill Pond, now known as The Old Mill served as the headquarters to the Martha's Vineyard Garden Club. The club purchased the property in 1942 and established an endowment for its preservation in 1982. The club continues to manage the old mill property today. In 1984 the Martha's Vineyard Garden Club joined four other non-profit environmental organizations in the creation of the Mary P. Wakeman Conservation Center Trust. The Club now uses the Wakeman Conservation Center building on Lambert's Cove Road for its monthly meetings from October through May. These events include presentations on a wide variety of conservation and horticulture topics. In addition, the greenhouse at the Wakeman Center is used to propagate and grow plants for the garden club's annual, spring plant sale.
**Click here to read the above '1925' article in its entirety!
Below are some plants that the Greenhouse Committee is presently growing in the Greenhouse
which is located @ The Wakeman Center
which is located @ The Wakeman Center
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