By: National Gardening Association Editors
South Burlington, VT, January 12, 2005 - "Give A Garden -- Add Beauty to Life" is the theme of National Garden Month® for April 2005. This campaign is built on the simple premise that there is someone in your community who will benefit by receiving a "garden" from you! It can be as small as a container of geraniums for an elderly neighbor, or as big and elaborate as planting a garden at a local public park. The opportunity for making a difference through gardening is as wide as your imagination. The call to action is going out to individuals, schools, garden centers, and businesses everywhere. Wondering how you can participate? Here are some suggestions from the National Gardening Association (NGA).
Home Gardeners: Pick up a trowel and dig right in! Create two container gardens and share one with a neighbor. If you haven't tried to create a container garden before, National Garden Month offers the perfect opportunity! During the month of April, garden centers across the country will be presenting seminars on container gardening. Also, watch your local newspapers for National Garden Month® 2005 events at garden centers and botanical gardens in your community. Or you can get involved with one of NGA's many nonprofit partners who are working together with the National Gardening Association to provide plant-based education, encourage health and wellness, promote environmental stewardship, foster community development, and provide the tools and resources people need to help share the benefits of gardening with others. Learn more about NGA's partners by visiting www.nationalgardenmonth.org.
Educators: Use plants as a teaching tool. NGA offers myriad programs and tools for educators to use to engage youth in hands-on lessons across the curriculum. Sign up for free resources at www.nationalgardenmonth.org: Kids Garden News monthly e-newsletter, Growing Ideas quarterly print newsletter, and the "Grow and Give a Garden!" Activity Poster, sponsored by Dole Food Company, Inc.® and created by NGA educational staff in partnership with Weekly Reader. NGA's newsletters feature plant-based education activities and news, and the full-color poster features nutrition and gardening activities for use in classrooms. Also, visit the Web site to learn about NGA's Youth Garden Grants and an array of awards programs that support your plant-based education program with funds and resources.
Communities: Start a campaign in your town, city or state to join in "Give a Garden - Add Beauty to Life". Become active in an existing beautification or plant-based education project. Bring a National Garden Month® 2005 proclamation to your mayor or governor, encourage them to sign it, and send it to your local newspapers to create community-wide enthusiasm for sharing the benefits of gardening with others. NGA's sponsors and nonprofit partners for National Garden Month® 2005 are all working to add beauty to life through Give a Garden® programs that will be put into action this coming April. For a complete listing of these organizations, visit www.nationalgardenmonth.org.
Lawn and Garden Trade: Join the growing list of garden centers across the country and become an official National Garden Month® 2005 Garden Center. Each official garden center will receive a National Garden Month® 2005 promotion kit which includes a National Garden Month® 2005 all-weather banner, an easel stand with coupons presenting a container gardening recipe that consumers will want to fulfill at your garden center, a sheet of suggested "Give a Garden - Add Beauty to Life" activities to create educational opportunities for their public, and an industry fact sheet from the Research Director of the National Gardening Association that garden centers may quote for customer mailings or online presentations. NGA encourages the Lawn and Garden Trade to support plant-based education in their communities and schools, and has created turn-key Corporate ChampionsTM and Adopt-a-School Garden programs through NGA. Learn more by visiting www.nationalgardenmonth.org.
National Gardening Association wishes to acknowledge its premier corporate sponsors, MIRACLE-GRO® NURSERY SELECTTM, HILTON GARDEN INN®, SUBARU OF AMERICA, INC., BLACK & DECKER® and PROVEN WINNERS®, its Education Sponsor, Dole Food Company, Inc.®, and its nonprofit partners: Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Nutrition Network; Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR), a public service campaign of the Garden Writers Association; American Horticultural Therapy Association (AHTA); "Remember Me" Rose Garden; National Wildlife Federation® (NWF); Lawn & the Environment Initiative; North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC); America in Bloom (AIB); American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta (AABGA); and the American Horticultural Society (AHS).
The NATIONAL GARDENING ASSOCIATION (NGA), founded in 1973, is a national nonprofit leader in plant-based education. Our mission is to promote gardening as a means to renew and sustain the essential connection among people, plants, and the environment. To fulfill this mission, we offer publications and programs focused on five core areas: education, health and wellness, environmental stewardship, community development, and home gardening. For more information, visit www.garden.org.