Kirtland Garden Club was started in 1976 by nine women from Roscommon and Crawford counties.
They looked into joining the Federated Garden Clubs of Michigan, but never went ahead to do that. When asked why once, they said there were too many rules to follow.
Early members are remembered as a group of free-spirited gals who loved flowers and gardening. Agnes McCredie, Winny Matheson, Hazel Dengler, Betty Thomas and Marie Babcock, to name a few of them.
The Club objectives were to “Stimulate knowledge of and support the preservation of natural beauty around us,” which remains our objective today.
We have monthly meetings designed to educate about plants and many aspects of gardening. We meet at the Houghton Lake Public Library in winter months with a speaker on garden related information, with coffee and cookies.
On field trips in summer, we visited places like, Dow Gardens, MSU and Meijer Gardens, lavender farms, daylily farms, Hosta gardens and Dahlia gardens.
In the fall we visited apple orchards, Maple sugar bush in spring. Wineries out on Mission Peninsula where we learned the job of a vintner, and Maple leaf goat farm and gardens.
And of course after the educational parts of our trips, we frequently visit nearby nurseries to see if there is just one more flower we just have to have. Don’t leave out lunch!
The club has taken on many garden projects in the community over the years! We designed the garden at the CRAF Center and still maintain it.
Other projects have been an area wide garden tour, booth at the Roscommon Art Festival where we sell plants and other garden paraphernalia. The 2024 Garden tour will be our 28th!
With our funds, we have supported local libraries to purchase gardening books. We have supported the Gahagen Nature Preserve, the botanical garden in Traverse City and Kirtland’s Warbler Alliance. .
For several years, we have been able to give scholarships to two seniors, one each from Roscommon and Houghton Lake High Schools. We added one for Charlton Heston Academy in 2024.
A number of our group have become Master Gardeners to expand our education and ability to share knowledge. The club has put on several all-day gardening seminars with five speakers.
Information for this history was provided by Barb Bishoff, Kirtland Garden Club member since 1994, Advanced Master Gardener.
