Des Moines Founders Garden Club

Iowa Arboretum Restoration Initiative

A donation of $25,000 was made in 2020 to the Iowa Homeless Youth Centers’ Rooftop Gardens program. The program will serve transition-age youth who are at-risk or currently experiencing homelessness, providing employment opportunities, access to healthy locally grown foods and nutrition education. Goals of the program are: Break the cycle of poverty by providing guided work experience and a living …

The EveryStep Community Garden located at 3000 Easton Boulevard, Des Moines grows nutritious food available to new mothers and children who are part of the EveryStep 1st Five and Stork’s Nest programs. This collaborative project involves members of the public in various aspects of a community garden. In 2019, Des Moines Founders Garden Club donated $2,000o assistwith start-up expenses such …

The Des Moines Founders Garden Club chose to make the introduction of Disease Resistant Dutch Elm Trees to our community our centennial project. Our Mission Statement was: To study, grow, educate, evaluate, and promote this worthy tree. We partnered with the Brenton Arboretum and the City of Des Moines Department of Park and Recreation to achieve our goal.

This community beautification project involved planting nearly 50,000 daffodil bulbs in five parks over a five year period of time. The triangle at Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway & Cottage Grove Avenue, Ashfield Park, Ewing Park, The Jay Spence Shelter in Greenwood Park, and the Ding Darling Shelter in Birdland Park.

Members of DMFGC helped to develop the Des Moines Botanical Center which opened 1979. The Botanical Center has since been renamed the Greater Des Moines Botanical Garden. A donation of $25,000 was made by the club towards the first phases of the gardens built, planted and opened to the public in 2015. The club continues to donate time, talent, and financial support.

Greenwood Pond Double Site was the recipient of the 1994 GCA Founders Fund Medal. The Greenwood Pond discovery wetland is a joint public-private venture to create a native wetland demonstration area with wildflower woodland and prairie. The club, in cooperation with the Des Moines Art Center, helped build the Greenwood Rose Garden, educated neighbors about ecological issues with the Greenwood …

DMFGC has worked with refuge experts to collect, clean, and plant prairie seeds as a part of the Partners for Plants Program.

DMFGC made a gift of $50,000 towards the $2 Million, two acre gardens at the Norman E. Borlaug World Food Prize Hall of Laureates in downtown Des Moines. Janis Ruan, DMFGC member, was instrumental in planning the gardens that surround the 1903 former public library. The World Food Prize is the foremost international award recognizing individuals who have increased the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world.