News


Club Awards

Garden Club Announces Youth Award Winners

Two students win First Place, state-level contest honors…

The Smokey Bear Poster Contest continues to be a favorite activity for Ms. Susan Raven’s third grade class at Pemetic Elementary School. Lanah Rose Baesmann’s (Grade 3) poster won First Place in our local BHGC contest. Her entry also won First Place in the state level contest (Garden Club Federation of Maine).

The Youth Poetry Contest theme was “Sing with the Songbirds-Exploring the Glory of Nature.” We recognize Ms. Kristen Braun, first grade teacher at Trenton Elementary, for her continued encouragement and participation in the poetry contest. Two young poets earned First Place honors and their recognition ceremonies were held in May 2022.

Read more….

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Bar Harbor Garden Club Garden Tours

The Bar Harbor Garden Club offers biennial garden tours on the odd-number years.  Our garden tours serve as fundraisers that support a variety of Community Projects, as well as fund college scholarships for Horticulture and Environmental study students.

A Tour of ‘Fine Island Gardens’: The 2021 garden tour offered a cluster of four private Bar Harbor gardens plus a garden nestled on its own elevated perch with views of Frenchman Bay, and a community sustainable farm. The 1.6 mile walking route was easy for most people. And for those who needed a ride, we provided a shuttle service.

The 2021 garden tour was a huge success! From all accounts our guests, garden owners and volunteers had a very enjoyable time!! The garden owners worked hard to prepare for this tour and over 100 volunteers took part to make the tour a success.

The outpouring of support from our local businesses was outstanding. We even created a Transportation Sponsor category to acknowledge the generous support received by Oli’s Trolley, Darling’s Auto Group and Stanley Subaru. Thanks for supporting our July 2021 Garden Tour!

2023 BHGC Garden Tour on Saturday, July 15, 2023.

Please view our photograph-collections from past garden tours.


Wild Gardens of Acadia Recognized

The annual meeting of the Friends of Acadia took place at the Bar Harbor Club on July 10, 2019. Several awards were presented that evening including an award for Excellence in Volunteerism that was presented to the Wild Gardens of Acadia volunteers. In presenting this award Geneva Langley, supervising gardener of the Wild Gardens reported on the large amount of volunteer time and energy invested in the recovery of the Garden after the near devastating conditions of the winter of 2018 in which flooding and several feet of ice caused significant damage to the gardens.

Visitors to Wild Gardens recognize these gardens as a special place, but it is only made possible by the efforts of many hands.  We thank our club members who have volunteered their time for the 2019 growing season, and those members who donated plants to their annual plant sale in June.  Proceeds from this plant sale help fund the operations and upkeep of the Wild Gardens of Acadia.

Wild Gardens of Acadia at Sieur de Monts Spring, Bar Harbor — These gardens were founded in 1961 by the Bar Harbor Garden Club and Acadia National Park. The Club makes a donation towards the garden support. The Club also provides BHGC Volunteers. Learn more…


Thanks for supporting our July 2019 Fundraising Events

The Bar Harbor Garden Club would like to thank our community for their support of two July fundraisers: this was the 30th year for the Club serving pies at the Fourth of July Seafood Festival, and a Tour of ‘Fine Island Gardens’.

The garden tour was made possible because of the people who graciously shared their gardens with us, and the generous help we received from so many volunteers and sponsors.  Please contact us (tour@barharborgardenclub.org) if you know of a lovely garden in the community for, we’re always on the lookout for upcoming garden tours.

Also, in July, the garden club proudly commemorated their Eighty-Fifth Anniversary. Today, our year-round garden club has grown to one-hundred members. We have no residency restrictions, offer interesting programs on various topics the second Thursday of the month from September through May (our club year), and may organize field trips in the summertime. The communities we serve include the towns of Bar Harbor, Mount Desert, Southwest Harbor, Tremont, and the nearby town of Trenton.

Present and former Club Presidents. Left-to-right: Betty Crawford, Dianne McMullan, Janet Meryweather, Barbara Loveland, Floy Ervin, Jane Sanderson, Phyllis Mobraaten.

We thank the Mount Desert Islander & Ellsworth American Newspapers for including our articles promoting these fundraising events and our monthly programs, in addition to reporting some of the ways the Club supports the Community.


2022 Community Events

View NEWS & EVENTS related to: Community-Events

May 24, St. Croix District Annual Meeting at St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church, 134 State Street, Ellsworth.

May 30, Memorial Day Observance at Blue Star Memorial Marker, Route 3, Bar Harbor, Time: 11 AM.

June 5-11, National Garden Week.

June 11, Wild Gardens of Acadia Plant Sale at Softball diamond on Park Street, 41 Mt. Desert St., Bar Harbor; Time:  9:00 – Noon.

June 15 – 16, GCFM 90th Annual Convention, Sheraton Hotel at Sable Oaks, South Portland, Maine. Hosted by Stroudwater District.

July 4, BHGC Pie Sale, Bar Harbor Rotary Club’s Seafood Festival on the Athletic field.

August 25, Farm to Table Harvest Luncheon and Tour, Beech Hill Road; Time 12:00 noon – Rain Date:  September 1.

Oct 18-19, New England Regional Garden Club Annual Meeting. Held in Nashua, New Hampshire.

Nov 1, GCFM Fall Conference. Held at the Augusta Civic Center.

Nov 11, Veterans Day Observance at Blue Star Memorial Marker, Route 3, Bar Harbor, Time: 11 AM.

Nov (TBD), Christmas decorating at Woodlawn Museum, 19 Black House Dr., Ellsworth, Maine.


Regional and National Club Newsletters

Garden Club Federation of Maine (GCFM)

View recent GCFM Newsletters on the Garden Club Federation of Maine website.

Ongoing GCFM projects: Blue Star Memorial Program, Civic Beautification, Planting and maintain community areas with Garden Club assistance, Conservation, Environmental, Garden Therapy. Clubs offer garden-related activities and programs for persons of all ages who are physically, mentally or emotionally challenged, Habitat for Humanity, Horticulture.

Educational workshops are offered on:  native plants, invasive plants, endangered species, pruning, growing, composting and pests.

Do you want to know how to subscribe to receive the digital version of the GCFM Newsletter?  Click here for details…


National Garden Clubs, Inc. (NGC) 

View recent NGC News & Events on the National Garden Clubs website.

NGC Mission Statement:  National Garden Clubs, Inc. provides education, resources, and national networking opportunities for its members to promote the love of gardening, floral design, and civic and environmental responsibility.

Theme:Plant America‘:  The theme for President Gay Austin’s administration is Plant America, a singularly focused initiative on gardens and gardening. Both a call to service and a description of what NGC clubs do, Plant America supports the main reason that people say they join a garden club – to learn about gardening!

Environmental Concerns & Conservation:  We call on all our members to help us identify “Innovations in Conservation” — creative solutions to our environmental problems that could be helpful to our membership in their regions, states, municipalities, and their home gardens.

Water Conservation Projects:  Water Issues Abound Locally and Worldwide
Too much, too little, too polluted, too inaccessible. Over 1.5 billion people do not have access to clean, safe water. Almost 4 million people die each year from water-related diseases! Horrifically, a child dies of a water-born disease about every 15 seconds.

National Garden Clubs, Inc., as an organization, has been focusing on water-related issues for some time, but now we must increase our efforts to shift public perception of the value of water.


Paul Parent Garden Club Newsletter

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You can also E-mail your questions to Paul Parent at GardenClub@PaulParent.com.