Ellsworth Garden Club

www.ellsworthgardenclub.org/home

Ellsworth Garden Club Geographic Area: Most of our member are from Ellsworth, Trenton, or Lamoine.

All the gardens we maintain are in Ellsworth, but we have some activities in Trenton and Lamoine each year.

Ellsworth Garden Club Activity for June - Oct 2024

Adding to the six public gardens club members maintain in

Ellsworth, we elected to take on another project. The garden at the entrance

of the Cordelia Stanwood Homestead (Museum) in the Birdsacre Sanctuary

was badly overgrown and unattractive. We cleared out the beds

and replanted with a variety of “bird friendly” shrubs and flowers, consistent

with the mission of Birdsacre as an avian sanctuary. By spring 2025 we expect

to have photos showing off the fruits of this year’s effort.

Ellsworth Garden Club

A Green Plan for Ellsworth

n January 2017 the Ellsworth Garden Club initiated a green planning process through a very well attended public forum. Out of the input from that forum and substantial written submissions a citizens initiative evolved with the following clear vision, mandate and mission:

Our Vision: Ellsworth Will Become a Model Green Community

Our Mandate: To create a phased plan that will help the community realize this Vision

Our Mission: To provide Ellsworth with a phased and ongoing smart plan for creating and maintaining a functional, welcoming and thriving community ecosystem in which people-friendly green objectives are situated within and motivated by attention to the needs and benefits of the full biodiversity of our environment.

FMI:

https://sites.google.com/view/ellsworthgardenclub/ellsworth-green-plan?authuser=0

BUTTERFLY AND HUMMINGBIRD GARDEN AT BIRDSACRE

Winner of a $1000 rant from the National Garden Clubs, Inc and Principal Financial Group and a $300

President’s Project Grant from the Garden Club Federation of Maine.

At the request of the Stanwood Bird Sanctuary, the Club began in late July of 2008 to landscape McGinley Pond at Birdsacre, the

home of Cordelia Stanwood, the pioneering ornithologist.

The primary focus of this project was on natural landscaping around the pond with native species which would attract

hummingbirds and butterflies. The Club was fortunate to receive a $1000 grant from the National Garden Clubs, Inc and Principal Financial Group to

support this project. It was the largest grant received by any Club from this fund in all of New England.

In the summer of 2009 the Club will continue further planting and develop educational programming for Ellsworth’s 3rd and 4th grade students both in the classroom and on site. In the spring of 2008 the project received a GCFM President’s Project Grant to support this dimension of the project.

REFURBISHMENT AND RE-INSTALLATION OF THE BLUE STAR MEMORIAL MARKER

On September 10, 1972, the St. Croix District installed a Blue Star Memorial Marker in Ellsworth at the junction of

Routes 1 and 3 as part of the NGC program to recognize the contributions of service men and women on our national

highways. During WWII families placed blue stars in their windows as a sign that they had family members serving in

the armed forces.

In the summer of 2008, the Maine Department of Transportation contacted the Ellsworth Garden Club

indicating that the marker had to be removed from that location because of construction that significantly changed

the traffic flow and available land. When it was deposited with the Club it became clear that the marker was in need

of refurbishment and thanks to a generous contribution from the St. Croix District the Club has sent the marker for

refurbishment. The Club is also in negotiation with the City of Ellsworth to help with the design and planning of a scenic

turnout and welcome kiosk to the city where the marker could be placed for maximum exposure.