Navesink Garden Club Announces Schedule For 2025-26 Season

RED BANK, NJ — The Navesink Garden Club (NGC) has announced its schedule for the 2025-26 season.

Founded in 1948 and a member of National Garden Clubs, Inc. and the Garden Club of New Jersey-Central Atlantic Region, the NGC serves the Red Bank community in various ways, ranging from weekly care and maintenance of the Beautification Planters throughout downtown to helping residents of The Atrium create individual floral arrangements.

For their 2025-26 season, the club's events will begin Sept. 9 with a Flower Show, and all meetings will take place at The Atrium, located at 40 Riverside Ave. Free valet parking is available.

The 2025-26 season schedule is as follows:

• Sept. 9: The NGC will be presenting a small standard flower show titled “LaBelle France,” which conforms to the standards established by National Garden Clubs, Inc. Awards will be presented and on display.
• The public is welcome from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. to view the horticulture entries that the club members will be exhibiting.
• Oct. 14: The public is welcome to join the NGC for a hands-on pressed flower botanical art program conducted by Mary Ann Russo. Attendees will learn how to create the ancient art of the Egyptians, the mediative art of the Samurai, and the respectable pastime of Victorian ladies. Attendees will learn the history of pressed flower art and then be invited to create their own artwork.
• The event will take place at 11 a.m. All materials will be provided for the project.
• Nov. 11: The public is invited to hear Chris Mumford speak on using herbs in food preparation. Chris Mumford has owned several local restaurants, including the former Mumford’s Culinary Center on Apple Street in Tinton Falls. His focus was on organic gardening at his restaurants, where he grew herbs and vegetables and incorporated them into his discussion, focusing on “Farm to Table dining.”
• The event will take place at 11 a.m.
• March 10: Speaker Angela Jeffrey will discuss “Terrariums: Gardens in Glass.” This will be a creative presentation that allows the viewers to gain an appreciation of the origin of terrariums and techniques for creating one of their own. Various types of harmonizing plans will be exhibited along with tips and tricks to make your terrarium truly unique. Both open and closed terrariums will be featured, as well as succulent terrariums.
• The event will take place at 10 a.m. Attendees can add to their indoor gardener expertise by learning to create gardens in glass to enhance their home or give as gifts.

In addition to the NGC’s other work and responsibilities, the club also helps with maintenance of the garden beds at No Limits Cafe (NLC), a restaurant employing adults with intellectual disabilities, located on Route 35 in Red Bank.

NGC volunteers with the NLC employees in the flower, herb and vegetable gardens, teaching them how to plant, grow and maintain the landscape. The herbs and vegetables are then used in the restaurant to create meals for public and private events.

To assist in the creation and maintenance of a nature setting adjacent to the Monmouth Museum on the Brookdale Community College campus, officials said an NGC member provided a grant to the museum.

The nature setting includes a Little Free Library for children, and the “Betty Jean & Karl Meyer Art and Nature Area” is a garden for visitors to experience art and nature in a natural setting.

Each year, the NGC offers a scholarship to a Brookdale Community College student who is pursuing a degree in horticulture, landscape design, or agriculture for an environmentally related field.

To learn more about the NGC, you can visit their website or contact Patricia Wotton at pwotton@comcast.net.