Steinbach is one of the fastest growing cities in Manitoba and is the hub of economic activities in southeastern Manitoba, servicing a surrounding population of close to 90,000. It is surrounded by rich farmland and the tradition of growing things also supports an interest in gardening. Private gardens are everywhere, but we also enjoy our city’s lovely, well maintained public parks and plantings.

The Steinbach & Area Garden Club was formed only 12 years ago and has grown to more than 140 members, representing not only Steinbach, but a surrounding area of 18 different communities. We’re a very active club with a full schedule of events throughout the year, including excellent speakers at our club meetings, our annual discounted greenhouse shopping night in May, garden tours, and of course, our highly anticipated Gardener’s Dessert Evening, held annually in April.

Our gardeners are passionate about their own gardens and value personal knowledge gained at garden club meetings. However many of our members also volunteer their time to garden in the community and to teach others about gardening.

Our club’s mandate is to promote interest in horticulture and act as a source of horticultural information. Therefore we also promote and support our local community garden and a thriving Junior Gardeners program. Two local garden centres conduct the classes with over 40 Juniors in each location! Conducting composting workshops in the community and gardening workshops for immigrant gardeners also provides information about additional aspects of gardening.

SAGC’s community project is to carry out all the gardening responsibilities at the Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV). Last summer, 50 of our members planted, composted, watered and weeded there, volunteering many hours of their time. While working in the beds, we met visitors from over 50 countries! It is wonderful how a common interest in lovely flowerbeds can overcome language barriers. MHV also hosts in excess of 4000 school children, visiting from all over southern Manitoba. We are pleased to include the gardens at this location on the Friends Steinbach garden tour.

Environmental stewardship is important to us, and recently we were delighted to host Sara Williams in Steinbach to talk about this topic and to promote her new book, Gardening Naturally. As a Club, we believe we have influence, and should advocate for the health of our gardens. Lately, the practice of fogging for adult mosquitoes has become an issue in our community, and our Club has actively been lobbying against this, believing it to be detrimental to the ecological balance in our gardens. Promoting healthy gardens by encouraging our members and the general public to register for ‘no fogging zones’ has been a priority.

Whether you are already an avid gardener or are just getting started, we hope you will consider becoming a member of our Club. We look forward to meeting you soon! Until then, welcome to the SAGC’s website and we trust it will inspire you to undertake and achieve great things in your own yard and garden.

SAGC President,
Karen Loewen