What began as a gathering in people’s homes blossomed into a horticultural group intent on preserving and protecting the villages’ natural beauty.
“In past years it was a traditional garden club, and one of four in the Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow area,” Little Gardens of Tarrytown President Monique Kozlowski said.
Founded in 1924, the club focuses on beautification projects that include annual plantings and holiday decorations for public spaces in the village.
As membership increased, the group split into different neighborhood clubs: the Sleepy Hollow Manor Garden Club- started in 1931, the Philipse Manor Garden Club – now more than 80 years old, and the Hill & Dale Garden Club- begun in1951.
While house-hunting in Tarrytown seven years ago, Kozlowski noticed a bird bath near the train station which has since been removed. “That little sign really sold me on the community and meant a civic pro bono group is doing something for the village,” she explained.
Little Gardens member, Beverly Jansen, remembers the birdbath and the pocket gardens that formerly decorated the train station with daffodils, forsythia, tulips, junipers, holly and blue spruce. “They reached from the beginning of the train station to the far edge. YAI clients assisted us in planting,” Jansen recalled.
When MTA refurbished the train station in 2007 as part of its Capital Program, plants maintained by the Little Gardens were transferred to Sleepy Hollow High School’s atrium prior to its renovation. Around that time, members Carolyn Swenson and Maribeth Bischof thought about planting native foliage across the street from the The Historical Society.
Six years ago, on June 1, 2008, “The Native Plant Garden” became reality via a grant from the Principal Financial Group, matching funds from Tarrytown, and donations from The Rotary Club of the Tarrytowns, Westover Landscape Design, Agro Landscaping, and others.
“The evolution of garden clubs is about horticulture and conservation, and for a long time they were the only viable means for women to work in their communities,” Kozlowski said. “We (Little Gardens) were one of the first clubs to hold meetings in the evening to recognize that women were working in the evening.”
Now coed and with 24 members, and with the Neperan Park garden its primary project, Little Gardens collaborates with the community on numerous projects including:
• Decorating a Christmas tree at Phelps Memorial Hospital
• Delivering poinsettias to patients at its hospice center
• Decorating and distributing wreaths to village facilities like Neighborhood House, Tarrytown Village Hall, Tarrytown Volunteer Ambulance Corps, Tarrytown Music Hall and post office
• Planting sunflowers at the Historical Society with help from the Little Buds Brownie troop
• Planting and maintaining foliage in front of the Veterans Memorial at Patriot’s Park with help from Girl Scout Troops 1319 and 2423
“The village donates flowers, and the veterans are pleased with this generous deed,” Jansen said. Last December, Pearl Harbor and World War II veteran Armando “Chick” Galella placed a Christmas wreath decorated by the Little Gardens at a plaque in Horan’s Landing in memory of his friend, serviceman William Horan, who died at Pearl Harbor.
Coming soon are a Clean-Up Day at Neperan Park on May 3 co-chaired by Nancy Stedman and Mary Hartman, and a 90th anniversary celebratory exhibit, “Nine Decades of Nurturing,” at Warner Library throughout May. For information, email nstedman@verizon.net.