During the early afternoon of September 22, Garden Club of Newtown members had hoped to be celebrating the 65th anniversary of their club’s founding.

Members of the club did share some time together that Tuesday afternoon, but it was for a different purpose. After three tries, the 2020 celebration has been rescheduled to spring 2021. That week 16 members and one special guest of the club instead gathered outside the home of member Mary Thomas, who hosted “Sharing The Abundance.”

Thomas opened the early afternoon program by welcoming fellow club members, who sat around tables — tables that had been set apart from each other, with all guests wearing masks — in the back yard of the home she and her husband live in near the center of town. Some members arrived with plants to share, while others seemed happy just to be joining fellow garden and plant enthusiasts for one of the club’s largest gatherings in months.

Thomas talked about some of the perennial plants on her property. She invited the club members to help themselves to a few of them: clippings of daylilies, hostas, white snakeroot, chives, goatsbeard and astilbe were all offered to new homes. Thomas volunteered her husband to help with the removal of some of those plants.

Peg Townsend arrived with a beautiful wreath she had made featuring hydrangea from her home garden. Kits with wreath frames, wire picks, and directions to create similar wreaths were made available for members interested in creating their own.

Louise Zierzow also arrived that sunny afternoon with plants to share. Those offerings joined a growing pile of hand tools and pots that were on a table, set up for guests to share among themselves.

Following the brief presentation, the garden club’s members began catching up with each other. Many stayed seated, conversing in person after months of phone or electronic contact. Others took advantage of the host’s invitation and began walking around the property, seeking the perfect planting to take home.