Purpose/Mission
Building relationships through our interest in gardening and nature. Our motto is: We Grow, We Conserve, We Beautify.
Meetings
3rd Thursday of the Month at 6:00 pm, usually at the Plainwell Ransom Library. Serving the Plainwell – Otsego area.
Programs for 2026-2027
Monthly programs include speakers on various horticultural or environmentally related topics, or field trips to special gardens or other facilities that feature horticultural, landscaping, or environmental programs.
July 23/ Trip to Blue Horizon Nursery – Meeting afterwards @ Plainwell Ransom Library, 6:00 PM
August 20/Tour Maria’s Garden, Otsego – 6:00 PM, meeting afterwards in her garden
September 15/KGC Field Trip to Meijer Gardens to see Chululy Glass
September 17/Orchid Selection & Care, Charles McGowen, Pres. Kalamazoo Dunes Orchid Society, Plainwell Ransom Library, 6:00 PM, meeting afterwards (Open to the Public)
October 1/Field Trip to Sarett Nature Center, Benton Harbor, all-day event
October 5-6/Central Region Zoom Meeting, Kalamazoo Council House
October 15/ How to Make Your Garden Good, Dairy Doo, Plainwell Ransom Library, 6:00 PM, meeting afterwards (Open to the Public)
November 2-3/NGC Environmental School Course, W.K.Kellogg Biological Station, 3700 E. Gull Lake Dr, Hickory Corners, MI (Open for Public Registration)
November 19/Designing Abundance with Permaculture, Graham Towerton, Plainwell Ransom Library, 6:00 PM, meeting afterwards (Open to the Public)
December 4-5/73rd Holiday Greens Sale, KGC, Portage Zhang Community Center, 203 E. Centre St, Portage, MI (Open to the Public – Fundraiser)
December 10/How to Make Evergreen Roping, Deb Royale & Bunny LaDuke; Annual Holiday Potluck, Royal Estates Sr. Park Community Room, 8300 Ravine Rd, Kalamazoo
January 21/The Garden Guru, Alysia Babcock, Plainwell Ransom Library, 6:00 PM, meeting afterwards, (Open to the Public)
February 18/Management & Care of Roses, Wenke Greenhouses. Plainwell Ransom Library, 6:00 PM, meeting afterwards, (Open to the Public)
March 18/Colors, Textures, and Layering in Landscaping, Nancy Webster with Rockin Yards, Plainwell Ransom Library, 6:00 PM, meeting afterwards, (Open to the Public)
April 22/Arbor Day Tree Project, St. Margaret School Community Room, 736 Farmer St, Otsego, 3:00 PM, working project, meeting afterwards
May 1/District 3A Conference, TBA
May 7& 11/Work Bee (Annual Spring Clean-up Days), Plainwell, Otsego, KGC House, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM, work days
May 15/Spring Plant Sale #1, Nancy Lewis home, 1941 Cygnet Dr., Otsego, Set-up time 7:30 AM, Sale 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM (For everyone to come, open to the Public)
May 22/Spring Plant Sale #2, Otsego Farmers’ Market, Church of God Parking Lot, Set-up 7:30 AM, Sale 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM (For everyone to come, open to the Public)
May 20/Programming TBD, KGC Council House, 5333 N. Westnedge Ave, Kalamazoo, 6:00 PM, meeting afterwards
June 7-8/MGC Annual Conference, Lansing Area, Details TBA
June 15/Kalamazoo Garden Council – Annual Meeting, Location & Time TBA
June 17/Meeting & Installation of Officers, Royal Estates Sr. Park Community Room, 8300 Ravine Rd, Kalamazoo, 5:30 PM
Community Activities
The club works with local community officials to provide horticulture and landscaping support within the communities of Otsego and Plainwell.
CURRENTLY:
- We maintain a popular Seed Library at the Plainwell Ransom Library. Seeds are free, along with helpful gardening information.
- We will be growing vegetables in one of the many community raised beds at the Ransom Library and donating the harvested produce to local food banks.
- Our members maintain and enhance several community gardens and Blue Star Memorials in both Otsego and Plainwell and receive continued support from both cities.
- Each year we actively participate in the annual Kalamazoo Garden Council’s Greens Sale by making projects to sell, making fresh Holiday arrangements, or by volunteering to work the event.
- Every other year, we are involved in the Kalamazoo Garden Council’s Flower Show. This is open to the novice as well as the experts, and many walk away with ribbons.
For over 50 years, Chula Vista has held our Annual Arbor Day Project. This is a major activity where each year five hundred tree seedlings are selected, purchased, bagged with soil, and presented to all 3rd graders in Otsego and Plainwell schools. Coordinating with the school administrations and teachers, a presentation is provided on flash drives, along with the seedlings, for teachers to educate the children about the value of trees, information about the tree they were receiving, and some tips on how to plant and care for their new tree seedling.
IN THE PAST:
- In 2018, working with the City of Plainwell Parks & Trees Commission, Chula Vista initiated a landscaping plan for a fern garden area within Hicks Park in downtown Plainwell. More than 300 bare-root Christmas ferns were ordered and planted by Chula Vista members, friends, and City workers. The ferns continue to flourish and enhance the beauty of the park.
- The director of the Otsego Dept of Public Works (DPW) has attended Chula Vista meetings and worked with Chula Vista on the Otsego Blue Star Memorial Garden and to develop a pollinator garden, along the walking trail by the Kalamazoo River and in front of the Otsego DPW building.
- In 2018-19, Chula Vista members partnered with the Plainwell Department of Public Works (DPW) employees to plant 75 flower boxes for the bridges in the City of Plainwell.
- In 2021, Chula Vista arranged with the City Parks & Trees Commission and the Plainwell DPW to have an Eagle Scout (nephew of Chula Vista President) construct and donate 12 new very long baskets to hold massive plantings of annual flowers on the bridges and to allow expansion of the Plainwell community flowers project to an additional bridge.
- National Garden Clubs, Inc., has made three children’s books related to gardening available over the past several years. Chula Vista has distributed them to all public and elementary school libraries, in both Otsego and Plainwell, including the latest one, Network with Nature.
Committees
- Arbor Day
- Awards
- Care and Concern
- Community Gardens
- Fundraiser Spring Plants Sale
- Greens Sale Swags Project
- Membership
- Memorials
- Newsletter
- Nomination and Policy
- Programs
- Publicity, Facebook, & Other Social Media
- Seed Library
Officers
- President: Cathy McAuliffe
- Vice President: Jennifer Williams
- Secretary: Becky Johnson
- Treasurer: JoAnne Beertema
- Council Directors: Jaci Dalke
Club Highlights
Fiscal Year: July 1 – June 30 | Organized: 1956 | Federated: 1960
Chula Vista Garden Club, organized in 1956 in the Plainwell and Cooper (B Avenue) area, began with 10 members. These ladies were new homeowners, and they wanted to learn more about flower gardening. Amy Vandegiessen, flower show judge, encouraged these ladies to become federated — which they did in 1960, and this prompted them to join the Kalamazoo Garden Council.
Over the years since then, our numbers have grown to between 35-40 members, and many of our members have been active in Kalamazoo Garden Council and Michigan Garden Clubs activities and leadership.
The 1970’s were active times for us. We had many educational programs on topics such as wildflowers, orchids, environmental pollution, etc. For the Greens Sale, we made terrariums, floral arrangements, and candle holders. For the bicentennial, we planted beds of red, white, and blue flowers in downtown Plainwell and at the local hospital. It was in Spring, 1976 that our club began giving trees to local third graders to celebrate Arbor Day and to teach the students to respect and care for the earth. This project has continued and grown annually for 46+ years. We now give away about 500 trees and develop and provide a program on trees to 3rd graders in all Otsego and Plainwell schools.
We are proud to have 4 NGC Accredited Gardening Consultants (1 Master), 1 NGC Accredited Environmental Specialist, 7 NGC Accredited Landscape Design Consultants (1 Master); 11 State Life Members, and 2 National Life Members. We also have 8 Master Gardeners, including 5 Advanced Master Gardeners.
We have a plant sale each year where members donate plants from their own gardens. Community members look forward to this annual plant sale, and the club earns money to use for projects or donations to gardening-related causes.
The Kalamazoo Garden Council (KGC) Louise Adams Beautification Award is named after our member, past club president, and past KGC President, Louise Adams, who was instrumental in organizing this award. Our Club has participated in this program each year since it has been in existence.
We participate in the Kalamazoo Garden Council’s annual Greens Sale by making greens arrangements for sale at the event. It is a festive time of year, and everyone enjoys the activity. The funds earned benefit the Kalamazoo Garden Council Greens Sale, and it is the culmination of the club’s major contribution to the event.
