come grow with us

Founded in 1926, we are 100+ enthusiastic & creative members who support making McMinnville a more beautiful place to live.

garden tour & faireSerenity Garden
horticulture scholarshipmembership | join

Welcome to the McMinnville Garden Club

conservation pledge

“I pledge to protect and conserve the natural resources of the planet Earth and promise to promote education, so we may become caretakers of our air, water, forests, land and wildlife.”

Our Mission: We envision a thriving community where every individual is passionate about gardening and has access to the knowledge, resources, and support needed to create beautiful, sustainable gardens.

Our goal is to inspire, educate, and empower garden enthusiasts of all ages and backgrounds. We achieve this through collaboration, sharing of ideas, and hands-on learning experiences.

Through engaging workshops, expert-led seminars, garden tours, and community events, we strive to cultivate an inclusive community of green thumbs who are committed to preserving nature’s beauty while promoting sustainable practices.

The McMinnville Garden Club's Annual Garden Tour and Faire

events

The Garden Tour is an opportunity to see behind the gates of five private gardens, soak up the beauty,
gather ideas for your own garden and get your gardening questions answered.

The Garden Faire showcases area vendors offering hanging baskets, herb and veggie starts, quality
perennials, garden art, and creative garden enhancements.

Create Life-Long Friends while Learning and Sharing!

activities

See Our Activities Schedule

Arts and Crafts

Get together with other members and learn how to make holiday wreaths, concrete leaf molds, color pour garden pots and petrified wood mobiles, among other things.

There is always something new to learn and to make!

Club Meetings

Visit a monthly meeting and see what we’re about!

Many of us joined the Garden Club to meet other gardeners, learn from each other and discover the techniques, plants, and nurseries that are most suited to our Willamette Valley location.

We also host informational speakers at our monthly meetings and work together to improve our community.

Field Trips

Join us in our travels! Together, we visit specialty nurseries including Thyme Gardens and Dancing Oaks, treasure hunt for thrifty, unique items to take home to our gardens, and explore, explore, explore.

On the way: Lunch, of course!

Horticulture Scholarship Program

growing our future

We are all about the future of planet earth, and what better way is there to sow into the future than educating our future experts!

Every year, we offer scholarships to three local students pursuing higher education in the fields of horticulture, forestry, botany and environmental studies.

Scholarships are made possible through public donations and Garden Tour proceeds.

Scholarship DetailsScholarship Donation

community projects & services

Enhancing the Livability of Our Community

Serenity Garden

At the Willamette Valley Medical Center – Enhance the well-being of the community, patients, their families, friends.

Third Street Cleanup

Spiff-up the scenic 3rd Street Downtown district prior to Linfield Universities’ Parents Day

West End Planting Care

Help maintain the plantings at West End of town.

explore our projects

The proceeds from our Garden Tour & Faire are reinvested within our community providing college scholarships, informational programs and garden art/horticultural community projects.  

We have funded public benches, hanging baskets, lamp posts, Yamhill County Historical Museum projects, the plantings at the West End of town, Third Street plantings, a Blue Star marker commemorating veterans at Evergreen Aviation Museum and given multiple college scholarships to Yamhill County students studying horticulture.

In addition we do community service projects such as maintaining both the Post Office and West End plantings, as well as the Public Library’s indoor plants, support the Community Garden’s Children’s area and do an annual spring cleanup of Third Street.

get involved

activity & event committees

There are currently twenty-four active committees that manage all McMinnville Garden Club operations. These range from Garden Tour and Garden Faire Coordinators to Parliamentarian, Serenity Garden and Horticulture Chairs.

We would love to have YOUR contribution. So, what are your skills? What would you like to learn? What would you like to teach us?

leadership

executive committee

  • Elaine Pollak

    President

    More about Elaine

  • Kay Fitkin

    Vice President

    More about Kay

  • Charlene Drake

    Treasurer

    More about Charlene

  • Dian Berg

    Secretary

    More about Dian

  • Welcome to the McMinnville Garden Club

    elaine pollak, president

    We are delighted you have decided to join us. My theme this year is “Cultivating Kindness.”

    Since 1926, our members have been dedicated to enhancing and sharing our knowledge of gardening, local beautification projects, and community service. We also award scholarships to deserving local students.

    We are part of the National Garden Club and the Oregon State Federation of Garden Clubs. The annual dues are $25.

    We meet on the third Monday of the month at the First Presbyterian Church at 390 NE Second Street, McMinnville from September through June. Social time is at 9:30 AM. Coffee is served and members bring treats to share. We also bring our own mugs to limit waste. The business meeting starts at 10:00 am followed by informative speakers at 11:00. We end with a raffle of items donated by members and are finished around noon.

    Outside of our meetings we also get together to enjoy field trips, crafts, march in the Holiday Parade and visit member’s gardens in the summer.

    Our annual fundraiser is the Garden Tour and Faire on the second Sunday in June. It takes a lot of volunteers but we all pitch in and have made the Tour and Faire one of McMinnville’s premier events.

    With the monies raised we maintain the plantings at the post office and the West End Garden across from the bowling alley. We water and maintain the indoor plants at the McMinnville Library and once a year clean out the tree wells on 3rd Street. We donate to the Community Garden which raises produce for the Food Bank.

    Currently our main focus is developing a Serenity Garden outside of the Cancer Treatment Center at the Willamette Valley Medical Center. We have accomplished a lot but many steps remain before completion.

    We work together, enjoy each other’s company and strive to make McMinnville lovelier and a little better.

    So welcome and thank you. We look forward to working with you and getting to know you.

    Frequently asked questions

    Here are some answers to questions you might have. Need more information?

    Send us a note

    Contact us

    • What are some of the fun things to do with the McMinnville Garden Club?

      There are monthly arts and crafts events, where up to 20 members meet at one of the organizers homes and make fun things. Some of the most recent projects have included, rock mosaics, holiday wreaths, bug hotels, and pumpkin arrangements.

      We also have field trips to many places including, quilt exhibits, nurseries, home and garden shows, and participating in the McMinnville Holiday Parade as the Rakettes!

      The clean ups around McMinnville are work, but they are fun also. We are a very active club!

    • How many members are there in the McMinnville Garden Club?

      There are usually between 80 and 100 members and approximately 50 attend the monthly meetings. So we feel we have a strong, active club.

    • When and where does the McMinnville Garden Club meet?

      We currently meet on the third Monday, September through June at the First Presbyterian Church in McMinnville, at 390 NE Second Street. We encourage members to attend starting at 9:30am for social time, then the meeting starts at 10:00am. Most months we have a speaker that starts at 11:00am until 12:00am.

    • What do you do at the meetings?

      We have social time starting at 9:30am where members can get some coffee or tea and there is almost always treats the members have brought! The meeting starts at 10:00am and the officers and committee chairs give reports about activities, projects or other club business. We have a short break and most meetings we then have a speaker give a presentation from 11:00am until 12:00am. Our members bring plants or garden items to give away, so each person in attendance receives a ticket and there is a drawing at the end of the meeting and many members go home with something fun!

    • How much are the dues and where does the money go?

      Dues are $25 per year. $7.50 of that goes to the District and State Federation of Garden Clubs, of which our club is a member. The rest of the money goes to paying the minimal costs of running the club (rent for meeting space, speaker fees, printing, committee expenses, etc.).

    • How does the McMinnville Garden Club raise funds for projects?

      The club has two main fundraisers each year which give us the funds to do all the projects. They are the Garden Tour and the Garden Faire which are currently held the Sunday before Father’s Day in June.

      The Garden Tour is four to five private gardens that the homeowners open up for us to sell tickets and give tours. The homeowners are there to answer questions, but the members are also there to assist the homeowners and the people attending the Tour.

      The Garden Faire is held in downtown McMinnville and is a gathering of many vendors selling plants, garden art and other items. It is free to attend, but we receive money from the vendors for space fees.

    • How much does the McMinnville Garden Club give out in scholarships?

      The Club awards three $1,000 scholarships to Yamhill County students who are attending colleges in Oregon and majoring in horticultural-related programs.

    • What kinds of projects does the McMinnville Garden Club do for the community?

      Our current ongoing projects include:

      Maintenance at the West Entrance and the Post Office consisting of cleaning and trimming, plantings and adding bark dust as necessary.

      Care for the indoor plants at the McMinnville Public Library by watering and replacement as necessary.

      Conduct an annual Spring Cleanup of Third Street including trimming the ivy and adding bark dust. This has been a long-term commitment for over 25 years.

      Our newest project is the Serenity Garden at the Cancer Treatment Center behind Willamette Valley Medical Center. We provide hanging baskets by the Cancer Center and are making a beautiful and restful garden for patients and staff to enjoy.

    • Can I make a donation to the Serenity Garden Project?

      Certainly!

      If you would like to make your donation via credit/debit card, Donate Here

      If you prefer using a check, it should be sent to:

      McMinnville Garden Club Serenity Garden
      PO Box 386
      McMinnville, OR 97128

      You will receive a letter which can be used for your taxable dollars.

      If you are a member of a service club that would be willing to have a presentation given at one of your meetings, please contact us below

      Thank you for your support. We have a lot more we hope to achieve, as more funds become available.

      Don’t forget to drive by the site to watch it develop!