By Kate Hill

Staff Writer

The Cazenovia Garden Club recently decorated the village for the 2019 holiday season with assistance from several Cazenovia College students and the Village of Cazenovia public works staff.

Each year, the club is responsible for hanging wreaths and garland, and for decorating the storefront window boxes, the Gothic Cottage, the Village Fountain, the Cazenovia Public Library, Carpenter’s Barn and the signs at both village entrances on Route 20.

The garden club also provides Christmas table centerpieces for the Cazenovia Village Apartments senior housing community room.

“Our members all live in the Cazenovia area and try to make it a welcoming and beautiful place for everyone to enjoy,” said Cazenovia Garden Club President Pauline Ireland. “It is a labor of love that is both rewarding and fun.”

According to Garland & Wreaths Chairperson Tina McMurtrie, decorating the village requires considerable planning and preparation.

“[The decorating process] includes cutting greens from the CPF property off Burlingame Road; preparing the greens; collecting dried plant material to add to the greens; spraying some plant materials to add color; decorating the hay racks and window boxes; buying new garland and bows (when necessary); . . . making bows; fluffing and hanging the garland; [and] preparing the wreaths with new bows and lights when necessary . . .” McMurtrie said.

This year, the wreaths are decorated with 68 new heavy-duty, weather-tolerant bows purchased using funds raised through the club’s annual sales and summer garden tour.

Earlier this month, the village public works staff hung the lighted wreaths on lampposts throughout the Historic Business District.

On Thursday, Nov. 21, garden club members and Cazenovia College students hung the garland on the downtown storefronts and the Village Fountain.

The college has been assisting the garden club with its decorating efforts since around 2005.

Club members prepared the wreaths and garland for hanging at Carpenter’s Barn, where the village has permitted the club to store the decorations for a number of years.

The garden club will hold its annual Holiday Plant Sale on Dec. 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Cazenovia Public Library Community Room.

The sale will feature wreaths, poinsettias, cyclamen, kissing balls, boxwood trees, arrangements, roping, custom-made wreath bows, and more. Proceeds will fund the club’s village beautification efforts, holiday wreaths and garland, and summer plantings. The sale pre-order form is available on the club’s website.

The Cazenovia Garden Club is a member of the Federated Garden Clubs of New York State, Inc., which is a member of the National Garden Clubs, Inc. — the largest gardening organization in the world.

Founded in 1949 and federated in 1960, the club’s mission is to stimulate interest in horticulture; develop home and community beautification skills; create an awareness of national and local conservation problems; inspire a desire to serve in these areas; and further the goals and objectives of the regional and national organizations to which it belongs.

The garden club currently has 68 active members.

In addition to providing the village with holiday decorations, members contribute to the Cazenovia community in a variety of ways.

The club provides and maintains plants at CAVAC, Carpenter’s Barn, the Gothic Cottage, Lakeland Park, Lorenzo State Historic Site, the Post Office, the village welcome signs, and in hanging baskets, planters and window boxes throughout the village.

Members plant and maintain the gardens at the Cazenovia Public Library and the Veterans Baseball Field and around the Village Fountain.

The club also makes an annual donation to the Cazenovia Preservation Foundation and the Lorenzo State Historic Site; donates pantry items and Christmas gifts to CazCares; coordinates the spring cleanup and mowing of the NYS parking area at the south end of Cazenovia Lake; supports the Cazenovia Tree Commission; and maintains a fund for the purchase of library books and educational materials pertaining to gardening and the conservation of natural resources.

To learn more about the Cazenovia Garden Club, visit cazenoviagardenclub.org/.