What Activities and Programs Does the Shippan Point Garden Club Offer?

The Shippan Point Garden Club is a community organization whose stated mission is to "stimulate interest and promote education in the areas of Gardening, Floral Design, Civic Planting and Conservation." Its programs fall into four ongoing activity areas — horticulture and design, civic planting, outreach, and conservation and education — plus a set of recurring public events. If you are considering joining, volunteering, or entering one of its community projects, the list below covers what the club says it actually does.

Horticulture and Floral Design

This is the club's core educational work. According to the site, members "cultivate and share the knowledge" in two related areas:

• Horticulture — growing and caring for plants and gardens.
• Floral design — arranging flowers and plant material.

The club also stages Flower Shows judged according to National Garden Club standards. These shows feature floral designs created by club members alongside horticulture specimens grown in members' own gardens. For someone deciding whether to join, this is the clearest signal of what membership looks like in practice: you grow and show your own plant material, and you design arrangements to a recognized standard.

Civic Planting

Civic planting is the club's oldest program — the site states it has run since the club's founding in 1925. It includes:

• Planting trees, shrubs, and flowers.
• Maintenance of flower beds in the Shippan community.

This is a long-running, place-based commitment rather than a one-off event, so it suits people who want regular, hands-on work in public spaces rather than only meetings or shows.

Outreach Projects

The club runs two distinct outreach strands:

If your interest is in education access or intergenerational work rather than gardening itself, these are the entry points to look at.

Conservation and Education

The club frames conservation as "preserving our natural world" and describes its projects as providing education in horticulture, environmental awareness, landscaping, and related areas. This overlaps with the scholarship strand (environmental studies) and with the civic planting work, but it is presented as its own program area.

Recurring Events Open to the Community

Beyond member programs, the club runs events that residents can take part in:

• May Market — an annual plant sale and fundraising event held on the Saturday before Mother's Day. It offers spring plants plus other items.
• Doors of Shippan — an annual holiday project in December, open to all Shippan Point residents, encouraging decorated doors for the season.
• Flower Shows — staged to National Garden Club standards, featuring members' designs and specimens.

The site also notes a Streetscapes of Shippan challenge to beautify the neighborhood, which drew many entries; a mailbox landscape design winner, Jennifer Bramlette, was announced.

How to Decide Where to Start

• Want to grow and show plants or design arrangements? Look at horticulture/design programming and the Flower Shows.
• Want regular outdoor civic work? Civic planting, ongoing since 1925, is the fit.
• Want to support students or work with seniors? The outreach programs are the relevant ones.
• Want a seasonal, low-commitment way in? May Market (spring) and Doors of Shippan (December) are open community events.

The site provides Join Us and Donate actions, and a For Gardeners – Helpful Links section pointing to horticulture, design, conservation, and resource pages, including FGCCT (Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut) resources and local events. Membership terms, dues, and meeting schedules are not specified in the available site content, so confirm those directly with the club before joining.