The new board of the Idyllwild Garden Club are (from left) Treasurer Dianne Johnson , 2nd Vice President Toni Berthelotte, Secretary Bronwyn Jones, 1st VPs Antje Banks and Joy Allgeier, and President Gary Parton. Photo courtesy Gary Parton
The new board of the Idyllwild Garden Club are (from left) Treasurer Dianne Johnson , 2nd Vice President Toni Berthelotte, Secretary Bronwyn Jones, 1st VPs Antje Banks and Joy Allgeier, and President Gary Parton.
Photo courtesy Gary Parton

The Idyllwild Garden Club, under returning President Gary Parton, is offering an appealing menu of speakers, field trips and an instructional DVD library to attract new members.

“We’ll have a speaker and program each time the club meets and a field trip every month,” said Parton. It all begins noon Tuesday, April 4, with a welcome tea and lunch. Bruce Watts will discuss wildflowers of the San Jacinto Mountains and Shannon Ng will talk about a project to create a seed library at the Idyllwild Library. The April field trip will visit the Carlsbad Flower Fields.

Club meetings are at noon the first Tuesday of each month and are normally held at the Idyllwild Community Presbyterian Church on North Circle. The May meeting will be held at Parton’s Alpenglow Gardens on Fern Valley Road. He calls this program “All About Lilacs.” The May field trip is to the Sherman Library and Gardens in Corona del Mar.

Additional field trips are scheduled to include the Huntington Library and Gardens in San Marino, the James Reserve, the Living Desert in Palm Desert and apple picking in Glen Oaks.

Parton is particularly excited about the club’s lending library of instructional DVDs offering how-to information on a wide variety of gardening subjects, including forest gardening, gardening during water shortages, seed starting, herb gardening, container gardening, topiary gardening and gardens of the world.

The 2017 Lilac Celebration will be held on Saturday and Sunday, April 22 and 23 at Alpenglow Gardens. The “destination event” high tea is on Saturday, April 29.

Parton believes there is a “high probability” the 2018 International Lilac Society Convention will be held both in Idyllwild, and the Huntington Library and Gardens. “There will be about 90 people from all over the world — the most knowledgeable people in the world that know about lilacs,” said Parton.

Parton is hoping, with the new offerings of talks and trips, to restore the club membership to previous levels. He is particularly interested in bringing in people willing to be active in promoting and participating in the club’s activities and events. “The club’s programs and field trips are being put together by Antje Banks, Joy Allgeier and Wendy Read,” said Parton.