Garden Create Advocate
Photo: M. Salas
Our Purpose Statement
“The 21st-centry garden club member is an active environmentalist, a historic preservationist, a horticulturist, a floral designer. She or he uses social media; restores, improves and protects the environment; and engages meaningfully with the broader community. . . . Those who have no awe for nature feel no need to respect or protect it.” Dede Petri, Garden Club of America President, 2017-2019
To stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening and to promote an interest and active participation in horticulture, civic improvement, conservation, floral design and photography by means of educational meetings and advocacy.
FUNDRAISER
November 11, 2025
Timuquana Country Club, 4028 Timuquana Rd., Jacksonville FL 32210.
A percentage of the proceeds allows the Late Bloomers Garden Club - through its civic projects, grants and scholarships - to continue to enhance the Jacksonville Community.
Get excited for what’s in store from our list of incredible vendors. Your shopping experience will not disappoint. The Boutique will have a variety of 13 vendors from jewelery to gardening, apparel to giftware, and stationery to art.
BOUTIQUE
open to the public 9a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
HONORARY CHAIR
Jeff Meyer, Honorary Member of the Late Bloomers Garden Club and co-founder of the Farm at Okefenokee, Read about Jeff, regenerative farming, and community living at The Farm at Okefnokee.
LUNCHEON SPEAKER
DREW ENGLISH, High Hampton, Cashiers
November 11, 2025
10a.m.
CORPORATE SPONSORS
The Late Bloomers Garden Club has given over $382,500 in grants and scholarships since its inception in 1999.
Photo: Vaughan Lee Griffin
SHOWCASE -
2023-2025 Grants Cycle
GRANT TO THE JACKSONVILLE ARBORETUM AND BOTANICAL GARDENS TO CREATE A NATIVE PLANT INSTALLATION INSIDE THE ENTRANCE TO THE GARDENS. GRANT TO STANTON HIGH SCHOOL GARDEN CLUB. TWO SCHOLARSHIPS TO STANTON HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS.
TIPS AND INSTRUCTIONS FROM OUR MEMBERS
THE NATURALIST’S BLOG
A person who studies natural history is called a “naturalist” or “natural historian.” Natural history encompasses scientific research of living organisms in their natural environment but is not limited to it, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. We garden club members often are amateur naturalists.
It is that initial curiosity or biophilia that lead to the expansion of the fields of botany, biology, zoology, etc. Ironically, today, even as these disciplines wane, scientific methods have yielded the most astounding findings. We hope you will be inspired.
THE BAMBOO PROJECT - An one-day environmental art installation
The Late Bloomers GC collaborated with the Cummer Museum of Art & Gardens, the Garden Club of Jacksonville, and the Botanical Garden, UNF Jacksonville, in a temporary bamboo environmental art installation at the latter site on April 26th, 2025 and the two former sites on April 19th, 2025. Four large-scale bamboo floral designs were created by Club members under the direction of Laura Haley, and five large-scale figurative bamboo sculptures were designed by Rhonda Gracie (Horticulturist, UNF) and Marianne Salas (Late Bloomers GC) and fabricated by Rhonda and Marianne with the assistance of UNF Botanical Garden volunteers and UNF grounds staff.
LATEST NEWS
The Late Bloomers Garden Club will be collaborating with six Duval County high schools to offer scholarships to seniors who will be pursuing college studies in disciplines that fall within the Club’s purpose statement.
Photo: Ms. Salas
Civic Involvement
Late Bloomers GardenClub is a member of Riverfront Parks Now. Our Civic Improvement Committee advocates for a cohesive and vibrant new Riverwalk.
Our Horticulture Committee Organizes Weed Wrangles at Walter Jones Historical Park
Our Horticulture Committee Participates in Clean-up of the Late Bloomers GC Butterfly Garden on the Emerald Trail La Villa Link
Photo: M. Salas