By JESSE GRAHAM
GARDENS in the Upper Yarra area are set to benefit after a community group pledged to give away hundreds of dollars to help the area grow in a recent meeting.
The Upper Yarra Garden Club met on 20 January for a special meeting at one of the member’s gardens, and they had pledged $500 to give to two other community groups and $1000 to charity.
President of the club, Joy Llewellin, said the members of the club had voted earlier on the matter of where some of their raised funds would go.
She said the group wholeheartedly agreed to donate $1000 to disaster recovery in the Phillipines through the Red Cross and to give $250 to both Men’s Shed and the Upper Yarra Museum in Yarra Junction.
Mrs Llewellin said the money would be to assist with gardening ventures, such as the Upper Yarra Museum’s cottage garden.
Over 50 members of the club made their way to Willowbank in Hoddles Creek for the monthly meeting, with a demonstration on camellia propagating from Garden Lovers’ Peter Bethelson.
The evening was supposed to double as a chance to hand-over funds to the community groups – however, neither recipient arrived to collect the money.
This didn’t put a dampener on the evening, though, and Mrs Llewellin said the attendance of 55 members was one the club’s best ever turnouts.
“It was a very enjoyable evening – everyone took a tray of cuttings home and enjoyed a get-together barbecue,” she said.
“It was the best evening the club has ever had.
“A lot of people had never been to this member’s home – it’s always good to go to a new place and see the garden.”
