Flowers and Fun

A group of women from the Dix Hills Garden Club gathered at the HHH Community Library of Dix Hills on Saturday to teach elementary school students how to make a floral centerpiece and to read them some stories. 

Half a dozen girls from Chestnut Hill, Otsego and Paumanok eagerly listened to the stories by garden club president Dottie Hanly and happily made their centerpieces, which were all beautiful. 

The club has been around for 37 years, since 1974, and they meet the third Tuesday of the month at 6:45 p.m. in Meeting Room A at the Dix Hills branch of the library. The 35 members meet seven months of the year: March through June and September through December. 

Their goal is to "stimulate the love of gardening among amateurs," said Phyllis Caldicott, a former president and 15-year member of the club. 

President Hanly, a former elementary school teacher at Forest Park for many years, enjoyed reading the stories to the children. 

"But that's not all we do," she said. They bring flower arrangements, like the ones the children made on Saturday, to elderly people who receive Meals on Wheels, six times a year on different holidays, including: Christmas/Chanukah, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving, Easter/Passover and the Fourth of July.

They also go to  the Vanderbilt Museum in Centerport and help decorate the rooms for different occasions and they also go to the veteran's home in Stony Brook to bring them flower arrangements.

"And now we wanted to try working with children and share our love of gardening with them," Hanly said.

Anyone who thinks they would like to become a member doesn't have to live in Dix Hills. Hanly said they have members from all around the area including Commack, Kings Park and Smithtown.

Interested people should call Hanly at 631-427-2641 or email her at dottiehanly@optonline.net. 

Or they can come to their next meeting, which is the third Tuesday in April, at 6:45 p.m., downstairs in room A. Barbara Jeanne Siegel, a former elementary school teacher in the district, will be on hand to show her beautiful watercolors of flowers, which she had made into note cards.