Ninety years ago this month, a group of eager Marin gardeners formed the Novato Garden Club.

Meetings were held in members’ homes, the dues were 10 cents a month and the first official event was a garden party.

The goal was simple: to encourage people to learn more about how to create beautiful home gardens.

Last week, their successors, the club’s current members, celebrated this nine-decade achievement by throwing an indoor garden party.

Delicate camellia blossoms, fresh from a member’s garden, graced the tables. The pristine, colorful petals encircled the bases of tiered tea trays filled with flavorful tea sandwiches, sweet and savory scones, and decorated petit fours. A pack of seeds was placed at the place setting of each guest.

After lunch, board members and event organizers gathered to document the moment in photographs.

The club holds two annual fundraisers: its December holiday fair of handcrafted wreaths and handmade gift items and its spring blooms sale of well-rooted plants, vegetable starts, useful pots and decorative garden items, such as sachets of garden lavender, pine cone birdfeeders and ornaments.

They also offer an annual scholarship to a College of Marin student working toward a career in horticulture, agriculture or another related field.

And, every year, they donate to the Penny Pines program to help reforest the Eldorado National Forest.

Additionally, the group holds festive Christmas and Valentine’s Day luncheons, and a June picnic.

“Anyone can join the club,” said Karoline Esquivel, the board secretary and club publicist. “You don’t need to be a Novato resident. Two of our members live in San Rafael.”

One of them, Nancy Metzler, just moved to Marin from Nebraska. One of the first things she did was look for an active garden group to join.

She was an avid gardener in the Midwest and is learning how to garden on the West Coast. The clay soil here can be a little frustrating, she said.

She regaled the other guests at the table with stories of her childhood in Ohio, where she and her friends would ride their horses to the ice cream store. She also talked about the Midwestern state fairs, where gardening, sewing and food-preserving classes were well attended.The Novato Garden Club can oftentimes be a family affair.

Marita Frost, the club’s longest-standing member — who joined in 1974 — participates with her daughter, Kathrina.

“Her daughter joined a couple of years ago and was responsible for organizing all of the historical displays at the tea,” Esquivel said. “The other mother-daughter duo is Peggy Pasky, who joined in 2006, and her daughter is Nancy Cabaud, who’s our president.”

Rod Crow, of the City of Novato Public Works Department, was greeted at the tea by members who thanked him, and his co-workers who weren’t present, for their help in various tasks.

“The city provides the variety of greens that we use to make wreaths and other items for the Christmas fair,” Esquivel said. “They also support the club in a variety of city beautification projects.”

That includes maintaining the plants in the large planters on the corners of Redwood and Grant avenues in Novato. Until 1993, when the city and the North Marin Water District piped in water, members hauled water to the containers in buckets.

Over the years, members have helped the Novato Youth Center start a raised vegetable and flower garden, donated to the Lut Sutton garden project and purchased trees and shrubs for Pioneer Park, among other contributions.

The Novato Garden Club’s meetings are at 11 a.m. on the second Wednesday of the month from September through June. Dues are $40 a year and members must be active in the group. Go to novatogardenclub.org.

Show off

If you have a beautiful or interesting Marin garden or a newly designed Marin home, I’d love to know about it.

Please send an email describing either one (or both), what you love most about it and a photograph or two. I will post the best ones in upcoming columns. Your name will be published, and you must be over 18 years old and a Marin resident.

PJ Bremier writes on home, garden, design and entertaining topics every Saturday. She may be contacted at P.O. Box 412, Kentfield 94914, or at pj@pjbremier.com.