Springfield Garden Club wins First Place awards

The Springfield Garden Club was honored with five First Place awards when the 16-club Federated Garden Clubs of Vermont held its annual meeting on June 3 in Rutland. Awards were presented for work accomplished between May 1, 2024 and April 30, 2025.

The Springfield Garden Club received the following First Place awards:

• Club Yearbook (45-69 members).
• Education, sponsorship of public talk by Charlie Nardozzi in March of 2025.
• Ongoing Project That Has Merit, management of gardens at the Routes 10/106 intersection, Springfield Plaza, Blue Star Memorial, Town Hall, Plant-it-Pink Memorial Garden and Eureka Schoolhouse.
• Social Media, Facebook.
• Window Boxes and Containers, planted for the community.

A Certificate of Merit for Garden Therapy was awarded for work done by Ann Herrick at the Adult Day Care center on River Street, which fulfilled part of SGC’s mission to provide gardening as a healing therapy. Herrick, along with a few of the center’s caregivers, provided a seasonally themed activity every month for approximately 10 clients. Projects included mini-pumpkin arrangements at Halloween, planting mini-shamrocks in tiny flower pots in March and small arrangements in teacups for Mother’s Day.

Seeds were started indoors last spring to plant in raised-bed gardens during the summer. Clients helped with each stage, including watering and harvesting. Herrick also coordinated with the center’s activities director to maintain a planter out front that was filled with seasonal plantings.

Deb Smith earned a coveted Golden Trowel Award for her significant contributions to the SGC. She has worked on many committees, including the Holiday Market, the Meals-on-Wheels floral arrangements and the Hostess Committee. Smith is also the head of the crew that manages the Blue Star Memorial Garden and is on the Junior Gardening Committee, where she leads a garden club for students at Union Street School.

Click here for the SGC’s website or here to visit its Facebook page.