Several months ago, the Punta Gorda Garden Club, a member of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc. and the National Garden Clubs, Inc. Deep South Region, responded to a request from the Bernice A. Russell Community Development Corporation, by making plans to redesign the existing landscape and add a new garden at the Blanchard House Museum, 406 Martin Luther King Boulevard, Punta Gorda.

New plants, trees, and shrubs were planted, and cement edging and irrigation were added to the beds. All plants were either donated by Home Depot and Powell’s Nursery or purchased by the Garden Club. The hard work of preparation and planting of the new garden was accomplished with the help of Team Depot, a community outreach group from the Punta Gorda Home Depot store. Home Depot also donated mulch and Butwell Stone contributed topsoil.

To finish off the project, the Punta Gorda Garden Club’s Youth Projects program added a mural to a wall along one side of the Military Memorial Garden. Garden Club member Jill Kennedy coordinated the artwork that was painted in bright colors with the assistance of neighborhood children who also added various Florida wildlife to the design. As the plants along the wall grow, the mural and landscaping will begin to blend together, creating an image of what Florida looked like before development changed the landscape.

This endeavor is part of the community projects that the garden club enjoys doing throughout Punta Gorda and is an example of how the club will continue to "Celebrate Gardening" which is the theme of President Carolyn Honour’s administration. To learn more about the PGGC, go to their website at www.pggc.org