Welcome to the
Adirondack Garden Club
Non mihi soli laboravi
“I have not labored for myself alone.”
The Adirondack Garden Club's mission is to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening, to aid in the protection of native plants and birds, and to encourage civic planting, and the conservation of our natural resources.
Its purpose is to serve charitable, educational, scientific, literary, and cultural ends, including the conservation of plants, shrubs, and trees native to the Adirondack region; the creation of both wild and cultivated gardens that reflect their natural environment; the encouragement of gardening throughout the Adirondack area; and the promotion of civic beautification and conservation.
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About US
Since 1928
The Adirondack Garden Club, originally called The Essex County Adirondack Garden Club, was founded in 1928. In 1933, the club joined The Garden Club of America, a volunteer, nonprofit 501(c)3 organization comprised of 200 member clubs and approximately 18,000 club members throughout the U.S.
Current members hail from all around the North Country — Clinton, Essex, and Franklin counties, covering a geographical area stretching from the shores of Lake Champlain westward beyond Lake Placid and Saranac Lake to Tupper Lake, an astonishing 1,824 square miles and two separate USDA climate zones.
passion for gardening
Looking back, we see a strong organization committed to the delights and hard work found in all aspects of gardening, the magic and mysteries of horticulture, the delight in floral design and garden restoration and environmental conservation of this uniquely held Adirondack region.
public service & education
Our founders started what we continue to this day: public service and education, partnering with others who share our gardening passion and raising awareness of conservation issues within our region.
conservation
Our organization’s involvement in civic and conservation affairs is well-illustrated by the motto on the club’s seal, “Non Mihi Soli Laboravi,” meaning Not for myself alone have I labored, is a fitting tribute to all gardeners.
grants & awards
The Adirondack Garden Club awards grants from the club’s 1928 AGC Founders Fund to nonprofits making a positive impact on the Adirondack environment..
our recent
Projects
Through research and education, conservation, activism and hands-on involvement, we’ve tackled many projects since 1928. Each committee contributes to the mission and vision of the Adirondack Garden Club through their continued contributions not only to community projects but to the maintenance and longevity of the club.
Below you’ll see a summary of our current and past projects:
Essex Quarry Nature Preserve
During its operating lifetime, the Essex Quarry (and surrounding forest) was overrun by invasive non-native plants. Working with its new owner, Champlain Area Trails, which purchased the property in 2020, the Adirondack Garden Club is striving to remove invasives such as Buckthorn and Honeysuckle, and to replant native wildflowers and sedges. The restoration of the Quarry’s unique ecosystem is funded by a P4P grant from the Garden Club of America.
Families First Native Garden
Families First is a countywide agency that works with families facing mental health challenges. Garden club members designed the garden beds and walkways on the Families First property, prepared the soil and put down landscape cloth. Native plants were placed in the beds. Garden club members have been thrilled to see Monarch caterpillars on the milkweed that was planted. The club will continue to maintain the Family First gardens, weeding and watering when necessary and ensuring the beauty and health of the site.
Past Projects
• Worked with the Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program to promote public understanding of invasive garden species
• Stopped aerial spraying for black flies, instead encouraging Bti (Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis)
• Organized five conservation partners in the Adirondacks to present a Farmer's Market educational gathering called "Dig It"
• Restored, maintained and planted the public Colonial Garden at the Adirondack History Museum in Elizabethtown for 46 years
• Identified outstanding area gardens for the Garden Club of America directory
• Spearheaded GCA Zone III Acid Rain Resolution
• Established a Nature Fund for financial assistance for students, teachers, and organizations for environmental conservation
• Awarded our logo to gas stations and wayside stands meeting our scenic standards.
• Sponsored the development of thirteen town garden clubs in the Adirondack region
Available
Grants
& Awards
ELLEN LEA PAINE MEMORIAL NATURE FUND
The Adirondack Garden Club Ellen Lea Paine Memorial Nature Fund was established in 2005 to give financial assistance to individuals and not-for-profit organizations – including schools – involved in programs whose purpose is to study, protect and enjoy the natural environment within the Adirondack Park. The funds reqests are considered and distributed by the ELP Committee.
The Ellen Lea Paine Memorial Nature Fund Application deadline is May 1, with funds distributed June 1. Email contact@adirondackgardenclub.com for details.
Last year’s awardees of the Ellen Lea Paine Memorial Nature Fund were the Adirondack Land Trust, Ausable Freshwater Center, Boquet River Association, Creative Kitchen Gardens, and Little Peaks Preschool & Early Childhood Center, for projects ranging from erosion work on an active trail, creating riparian buffers along waterways, creating native plants seed sources, and both launching and supporting gardening projects to grow food for kids and low-income families.
1928 AGC Founders Fund
The AGC Founders Fund was established in the 1980s to provide grants to nonprofit organizations, including schools, that run programs focused on making a meaningful impact within the Adirondack environment. These Funds support aims to promote knowledge and appreciation of gardening, protect native plants and birds, encourage civic planting, and support the conservation of natural resources.
1928 AGC Founders Fund Application deadline is June 15, and funds will be distributed July 15.
Email contact@adirondackgardenclub.com for details.
Founders Fund grants were awarded in 2025 to the Adirondack Trail Improvement Society (ATIS), North Country Community College, Town of Waverly Museum, Champlain Area Trails (CATS), Pendragon Theatre, Westport/Wadhams Community Alliance, and Flowers Plus! Committee, and the Garden Club of America’s Scholarship Fund. Those projects included trail maintenance and repair projects, creation of landscaping and native pollinator gardens, including developing protection from deer, and funding students pursuing research in the fields of botany, conservation, landscape architecture and pollinators.
FRANCESCA PAINE IRWIN CONSERVATION FUND
The Francesca Paine Irwin Conservation Fund was created in 2013 and used for project-based conservation funding requests. These requests are reviewed by the Conservation Committee and forwarded to the Executive Committee for approval and distribution.
our rich
History
Illustration by Anne Lacy Trevor
On a hot August afternoon in 1928, Miss Sarah D. Lowrie and Mrs. Seymour DeWitt Ludlum hosted a lunch at Hills Garden House in Keene Valley, formerly the property of the famous guide, Old Mountain Phelps. With advice from Susan Hand, a Committee of Invitation brought together twelve women selected because they were true amateur gardeners and “represented the leading families whose influence counted most in County life.”
This was the era of the Charleston, Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, and bathtub gin; Herbert Hoover was president and the Scopes trial for teaching evolution was just ending; Hirohito, Mussolini, Hitler and Chiang Kai-shek were on the rise, and Amelia Earhart became the first female to fly across the Atlantic.
Essex County, the second largest county in New York State, was widely represented by these founding members: Miss Mary Foote, Port Henry; Mrs. Augustus Hand and Mrs. A.J. Wadhams, both of Elizabethtown; Mrs. Arthur R. Masten, Tahawus; Mrs. Augustus G. Paine, Jr., Willsboro; Mrs. Stephen Pell, Ticonderoga; Miss Sarah D. Lowrie and Mrs. Seymour Dewitt Ludlum, both of Keene Valley; Mrs. Henry Rogers, Ausable Forks; Miss Mary Eddy, Westport; Mrs. George Ladd, Wadhams; and Mrs. Wallis Craig-Smith, Upper Jay.
During our 90+ year history, the club hosted the 1973 National GCA annual meeting, a Summer Institute for 500 delegates, NY State Zone III Conservation Retreats and the 2013 GCA National Affairs and Legislation/Conservation Field Trip.
Visit the link below to learn more about the history of the Adirondack Garden Club.
“Weeds are flowers too, once you get to know them.”
