What started as a small seed has now grown into a full branched club with flowering projects and dedicated gardeners. The Point Roberts Garden Club is open to everyone and has roughly 35 current members.
Lucy Williams reestablished the garden club in 2006 when the community found out the garden tour was dissolving. The club was previously run by Margo Wallace, but had disbanded after her death in 2004 according to Williams. The community didn’t want to see the tour disappear, so Williams helped gather the interested parties, put them in a room together, and let them decide the next steps.
“"Officially I started the second club but mainly through observation and bringing people together,” Williams said. “I just watched and saw what was needed to help organize it.”
That initial meeting was right in the middle of the horrible storm on February 4, 2006. Homes and roads were flooded in lower areas, and member Rhiannon Allen mentioned having to wade through thigh-deep water to get to the community center. However, the storm didn’t stop the gardeners from attending the meeting.
Since that fateful meeting, there has been a lot of growth. Instead of the sole focus being the garden tours, the club also works on a wide range of activities from plant sales to guerrilla gardening, to beautification projects and more.
The most recent plant and garden sale was on May 18 at President Kimberly Butts’ house. They sold plants, tools, garden décor and soil. By the time they packed up, they only had one table of plants left and all the soil had been spoken for.
“The garden sale went well,” Jane Donaldson, the garden club’s treasurer, said. “We had a new venue this year, so we are glad we got as many people as we did.”
The sale is how the club gets a decent amount of their funding since their Garden Tour has been placed on hold since Covid.
The Garden Tour takes around a year to plan, so there is potential for it to restart in 2026. The club usually selects eight or nine gardens for the public to self-tour with a teatime for refreshments and relaxation in the community center. Past years had roughly 300 to 600 people attending each tour.
Butts wishes more people knew about the club because they are a lot of fun and they love to share everything garden related.
“Everyone is so nice and there’s no agenda other than helping people with their gardens and learning,” Butts said. “We are a supportive and social club where everyone loves to garden.”
At meetings, they sometimes have guest speakers speak on topics like noxious weeds and invasive species, while other times they get to bring in and show off their favorite gardening tools. Members can also contribute to a newspaper column in the All Point Bulletin to spread knowledge about interesting gardening information.
One of the beautification projects they are working on is along Tyee Drive. This is a long-term project with continual maintenance and planting involved, especially during these spring months when gardening kicks into gear.
A fall project that involves the community is guerrilla gardening, specifically using flowering bulbs. People can come pick up the bulbs for free and plant them in visible areas along streets.
One of the benefits of joining is having a space where community members can catch up with neighbors and learn new gardening tactics. During summer months, their meetings can be found in members’ gardens where they enjoy having creative discussions and giving advice.
“We are a great social club,” said Rhiannon Allen, the garden club’s secretary. “We like each other and have fun together. We like visiting each other’s gardens and going to new gardens too.”
Point Roberts is an incredible climate for almost all things gardening. The West Coast marine climate makes it possible to grow a variety of plants since there is ample light and water with mild seasons year-round. Butts also mentioned the added benefit of having local beekeepers to help with pollination.
However, the soil can be more difficult to work with because of its coarse and rocky texture. Gardeners can improve the soil by buying bagged soil from the hardware store or getting it in bulk to bring across the border.
It’s a good thing the Point Roberts Garden Club is here to help anyone with their gardening needs. They love to educate people on plants and growing here in the community, while their work parties and projects keep Point Roberts beautiful and blooming.
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