Tricia Scott has always been part of a local garden club—and often, she’s been the founder.
When Scott was a new mom living in Squamish, British Columbia, she and a friend bonded over their shared passion for gardening. They wanted to build a community through a garden club, a place where fellow gardeners could get together to make friends and exchange garden advice. They posted a sign: “Two women looking for some good dirt want to start a garden club.”
“It was something that would bring together people who have a common interest—you meet people that are completely different than yourself, but you have this one thing in common,” Scott said. “I found it was a really great way to meet people in the community … there’s something about a garden club that cuts through all those social barriers and financial barriers.”
She left British Columbia to move to New Jersey, leaving behind the garden club that still exists today (it’s now in its 27th year, Scott said). She immediately sought out a garden club, finding that her new hometown already had one. As she moved from place to place—to Evergreen, Colorado, next—she either founded or joined the garden club.
When Scott moved to Moab, again she found herself in a place with no established garden club. So she put an ad in The Advertiser, asking anyone interested in forming a garden club to meet at her house to decide what the club should look like.
This year, the Moab Garden Club is 13 years old. It works like this: anyone interested can join the email list (there are over 120 people on the list, Scott said) to receive information about meetings. The club tours a new garden each month, and participates in the annual spring Seed Swap.
“We share seeds, we share plants, we share produce, and there are some amazing gardens in Moab,” Scott said. “There are some that you can’t even imagine, and luckily people have been very generous as far as offering their places to have us.”
Gardeners offering tours are typically nervous about having the club tour, Scott said, but she always assures them that garden club members are “the most accepting and appreciating group you’re ever going to have in your garden.”
Touring gardens offers endless inspiration, Scott said, in every aspect. Gardeners in the club range from beginners to experts (Scott herself is an expert—her current garden is the fourth she’s started from scratch in her life), and are quick to offer each other advice regarding how to utilize native plants in a desert garden and how to keep plants alive in sandy soil.
The club is a community, Scott said. Members are enthusiastic about gardening, of course, but enthusiastic too about their friendships with one another—Scott recently went through a personal loss, and the club was “really, really good to me,” she said.
Members have also come together to help salvage each other’s gardens: when one member had to move homes, seemingly leaving his garden behind, the club helped him dig out and transplant all 250 of his plants.
The club has three rules, Scott said: no religion, no politics, and no pets.
“I’m so glad that it’s still going,” she said.
You can join the Moab Garden Club by emailing Scott at moabgardenclub@gmail.com.
