Mario Bautista
The new SaddleBrooke Gardening Club (SBGC) is organized into four subgroups: Vegetable/Herb, Flower/Roses, Citrus/Fruit Trees, and Cactus/Succulents/Other. Initial subgroup meetings were held in August and September where like-minded gardeners started forming connections, learning from each other’s experiences, and suggesting future subgroup activities including home garden tours, presentations and field trips. Some members brought give aways to share with their subgroup including aloe vera plants, hens & chicks and rose magazines.
We learned a little about who we are, where we are from, how long we’ve been in SaddleBrooke, what we are excited to grow in our gardens, what we want to learn about and activities we’d like to participate in. A number of members have vast gardening experience in our unique climate and others are anxious to get started. We hope that several members will volunteer a tour of some aspect of their garden from worm or hot composting to raised beds to growing in numerous pots. Some garden by instinct and others take a scientific, carefully logged approach, while still others are somewhere in between. We have much to share and learn from each other and are excited to get started! The meetings were filled with an “electric enthusiasm” that made us appreciate that subgroups are key to this club’s success.
Subgroups will meet once a month to talk about current opportunities and challenges or once it cools down a little, go on a tour of someone’s garden or an offsite location. There is a schedule of future meeting dates/times on the upcoming events section of the website at bgardeningclub.weebly.com in addition to all the great gardening information available there.
Membership applications and information about the club and subgroup events can be found online at sbgardeningclub.weebly.com. Upcoming event dates are listed under the upcoming events section of the website. To have your name added to the email roster of the new SaddleBrooke Gardening Club, email SBGardeningClubAZ@gmail.com. Once you are on the roster, you will automatically receive all the club news and invitations to club events. Dues for a basic membership are $10 a year. Dues paid now include membership privileges through the end of 2025. This new club will reinvigorate your enthusiasm for gardening and make you a much more successful Arizona gardener.
