Our Standard Club Projects
New Welcome Garden at Dracut Town Hall
In 2019, we broke ground on our newest town garden... a Welcome Garden in front of Town Hall to be completed in 2020. To enhance the front of the new building, The Dracut Garden Club is in the process of creating a garden full of perennial plants (plants that come back each year), to provide a colorful welcome to residents and visitors. We have selected plants that will enjoy basking in the full sun and have included many native plants that will support pollinators necessary for survival. The plants will provide color, fragrance, and texture throughout the seasons for everyone’s enjoyment.
Garden Features
perennial plants (those that return each year on their own), many of which will be plants native to Massachusetts
plants that will attract pollinators
plants to provide visual interest throughout the seasons
a handicapped accessible pathway, inviting visitors to meander through the garden
a stone bench inviting visitors to relax and enjoy the sights and sounds
a boulder with Welcome Garden plaque
- How Can You Help?
- Register to provide a plant donation from your own garden (based on list below) to be delivered to DGC in spring, 2020.
- Make a general monetary donation or one for a specific plant, perhaps in memory of a loved one*.
- Spread the word to friends, family and neighbors!
The Dracut Garden Club PO Box 353 Dracut, MA 01826
*If this is in honor of someone’s memory, please include that information so we can note it.
If you wish to make a plant donation from your garden please contact:
Kathy Gauthier: 978-685-7306 email: dragau@comcast.net or
Janis Marcotte: 978-251-0837
Welcome Garden Plant List
(quantities are in parentheses, * indicates native plants )
1 Itea virginica* (sweetspire) (3) 3 purchased
2 Ilex glabra* (inkberry) (2) 2 purchased
3 Picea pungens* (blue globe spruce) (1) 1 purchased
4 Chamaecyparis obtusa (Hinoki cypress) (1) 1 purchased
5 Veronica peduncularis ‘Georgia Blue’(16)
6 Penstemon digitalis* ‘Husker Red’(9) LC has 9 to donate
7 Hemerocallis ‘Stella de Oro’ (daylily) (7) CP has several potted for us
8 Iris ensata ‘Variegata’(6)
9 Schizachyrium scoparium* (little bluestem) (2) 2 purchased
10 Eupatorium purpureum* (Joe Pye weed) (6)
11 Leucanthemum (shasta daisy) (9)
12 Rudbeckia fulgida* (Black-eyed Susan) (8)
13 Asclepias tuberosa* (butterfly weed) (5) 2 purchased; LC has a few small ones
14 Sedum spectabile ‘Autumn Fire’(2) KG has good-sized Autumn Joy she can donate
15 Echinacea purpureum* (coneflower) (7)
16 Liatris spicata* 'Kobold’ (5) KG has 1 group of purple liatris, not sure of species
17 Achillea millefolium* ‘Pomegranate’ (yarrow) (8)
18 Alchemilla mollis (Lady's mantle) (8)
19 Creeping Sedum (11) KG can donate several different kinds
20 Creeping thyme(15)
Foundation plantings:
21 Juniperus scopulorum* 'Wichita Blue ' (juniper) (2) 2 purchased
22 Hydrangea arborescens* 'Annabelle' (4) purchased 6 as they were smaller than anticipated
22 Hydrangea arborescens* 'Annabelle' (4) purchased 6 as they were smaller than anticipated
- With your support, we can create
a beautiful addition to our Town Hall!
Blue Star Memorial By-Way Marker
In 2014, our Club selected an all but abandoned, highly visible site in our Town of Dracut as we were preparing to begin the installation of a Blue Star Memorial By-Way Marker. The selected square was once dedicated to an Air Force Sergeant who was a Dracut resident. The site had been neglected for over 20 years. The flagpole and current marker identifying the square were deteriorating, and there was a lack of plantings and curb appeal. Once this site was approved by the Town for our Club to begin the project, we worked with our DPW to restore the square. We had the lawn reseeded, and the Town replaced the flagpole and current square marker with new ones. We also worked with the DPW to select a boulder from Town construction projects and identified the one we would use to insert the Blue Star Memorial By-Way Marker plaque. Continuing on in this project, we met numerous times with our DPW Director to create a garden plot by determining size, planting requirements, and restrictions (mainly height for traffic safety reasons). Once this was agreed upon, the DPW crew prepared our garden plot and we met with a local nursery to make our selection of plants. After securing plants (Boxwood, Veronica and Drift Roses) we began the task of designing and planting. The newly renovated Air Force Sergeant Daniel Robert Square is no longer a neglected triangular intersection within our town, but a beautiful restored memorial, not only for its original dedication, but re-dedicated as a Blue Star Memorial By-Way honoring service men and women past, present and future.
The dedication ceremony was held on July 16, 2014.
The dedication ceremony was held on July 16, 2014.
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| Tide Hill Korean Boxwood, Snow in the Summer, Veronica Tidal Pool, and Red Drift, Drift Rose |
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| Air Force Sergeant Daniel Robert Turner Square, Junction of Hildreth St. and New Boston Rd., Dracut, MA |
Arbor Day
Our annual celebration of Earth Day and Arbor Day, in which we dedicate a newly planted tree to the Town of Dracut.
Dracut Memorial Day Plantings
Locations: Town Hall, Dracut Library, Dracut High School Monument, & the Time Capsule
Junior Garden Club
Location: Brookside Elementary School
Grades: 3 & 4
The Junior Garden Club is involved with school and community plantings, as well as community service activities, including Celebrate the Earth and programs at the Dracut Library. The curriculum is based on scientific, educational, and mentoring in the areas of ecology, natural & physical science, and animal studies of decomposers, insects, & pollinators. Landscaping topics such as garden safety & tools, planting, pruning, planning, winterizing, and fostering of appropriate methods for garden maintenance in the school community are also covered. The club's curriculum topics and concepts provide an integral link to those covered in the elementary classrooms of grades 3 and 4.
This program is promoted by the Dracut Garden Club and is instructed by a Massachusetts certified elementary school teacher of grades K-8. Other volunteers to the program are DGC members who offer their assistance and knowledge of garden skills as often as possible.
Dracut Old Home Day
Location: Dracut High School Complex
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| DGC's table at Old Home Day 2012 |
Town Gardens
We provide ongoing maintenance & beautification for a growing list of locations throughout Dracut. Including:
Oliver J. Coburn House - Orpha Fox Memorial Garden
Moses Greeley Parker Memorial Library - Memorial Garden
Moses Greeley Parker Memorial Library - Front Garden
Dillon McAnespie Park
9/11 Memorial
Art in Bloom
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston holds an annual festival where works of art are interpreted in flowers by local garden club members and floral artists. For the past few years, Dracut Garden Club members have participated in this 3-day event which attracts more than 15,000 visitors, and is one of the most highly attended events at the MFA. Art in Bloom originated at the MFA in 1976 and has been replicated by museums across the country.
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| DGC members at the 37th annual Art in Bloom |
Annual Charity Donation
The Dracut Garden Club has chosen to support The Dracut Food Pantry with an annual donation. The mission of the Dracut Food Pantry is to provide short and long-term food assistance to Dracut residents who are struggling to put food on the table in this difficult economy.
Members have donated to the Dracut Food Pantry in lieu of sharing Christmas gifts for the past couple of years. There is power in numbers -- both in receiving and especially in giving.
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| Images credit: Dracut Food Pantry |
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