While the original Spruce and Columbine Garden Club was established in what Paula Brown believes was 1938, the club quietly disappeared for a number of years before the turn of the century, until a group of local ladies wanted to resurrect it in 2008. Brown, with Penni Philbrick, Doylene Garvey, Leah Christian and others knew the garden club had a good purpose.
Brown has a career history in gardening. In fact, her first job as a teen was working for a flower shop in Nucla. It ended up shaping her life’s work, and later she owned Willow Creek Floral in Ridgway. She also worked as a wholesale florist and broker in Colorado Springs. Flowers and gardening have a been such a big part of her life.
Brown and other ladies went before the Town of Nucla 18 years ago and asked for some money to get the Garden Club started back up, soon establishing flower pots on Main Street. Other ladies began to express interest in being part of it too.
The Garden Club then began hanging banners over Main Street, though they’ve taken a break for a bit on banners because of road construction and other things.
Now, the Garden Club often participates in community events too, holding fundraisers, like chili dinners, for something like West End Cowboy Poetry.
And, the Garden Club does award the Yard of the Month in the warm season. Depending on the water situation, awards can begin in May, but sometimes they start in June. The Garden Club ladies use a scoresheet and discuss yards that are well-kept. Award recipients receive that honor, a gift basket and a sign in their yard for that month.
Brown agreed the Yard of the Month award does encourage others to also take good care of their lawns, and sometimes things have gotten competitive, in a fun way, with property owners wanting to receive the acknowledgement.
Brown said the group is open to being part of other related improvement projects too. The Garden Club ladies love heritage gardens, and they’ve done events with the Apple Core Project before, learning to graft heirloom apple trees. Moreover, the ladies have had a lot to do with Volunteer Park at the top of Nucla, and the beautification work there.
“I’m proud of our little club,” Brown said in an interview last week. “It’s a good asset to the town.”
She agreed that Nucla’s abundance of water is definitely a blessing to keeping lawns and gardens. When she decided to move back to the area after being gone for some time, having raw water and a garden did have something to do with settling in Nucla once again.
The Spruce and Columbine Garden Club welcomes membership. This year, president is Penni Philbrick. Brandi Thompson is vice president, Chris Daniels is the secretary, and Brown is the treasurer. The group meets once a month, on the last Monday, at Hopkins Field. Brown said the doors are always open to new people.
The Forum asked Brown if she had a favorite flower. She said that’s too difficult a question for her to answer, but these days she is babying some peonies she took from her mother-in-law’s ranch. She thought peonies would be harder to take care of, but they’re doing OK, and they smell incredible.
Brown said all should check out the Garden Club’s Facebook page for more information, or attend to a meeting.
