Albuquerque Garden Center is toasting 50 years - find out more about the celebration

Take off your sunhats and put down your shovels, it’s time to celebrate 50 years of the Albuquerque Garden Center.

On Friday, June 20, from 4:30-8:30 p.m., the center will be toasting five decades of horticulture, education and community.

Connie Wenk, president of the Council of the Albuquerque Garden Clubs, said that when the council saw the anniversary was approaching, they wanted to celebrate not only recent successes, but also the vision the early leaders had when the center was established.

“(We) thought of all the things that have gone on, how it has grown, and how the clubs have evolved, and the impact we have with other nonprofits in the community …” Wenk said. “And we said, ‘You know, let’s stop and celebrate this.’”

The garden center opened in 1975, but plans for it had been in development for years beforehand. The Council of the Albuquerque Garden Clubs was established in 1950 and in 1967, plans began to create a permanent meeting place to continue their mission of educating the public on horticulture matters and providing a space for garden clubs to meet.

The council worked with the city to obtain land to create the center, with much back and forth on location, until finally breaking ground in February 1974 on a plot of land at Los Altos Park. According to the garden center, when the land was given to them, the city commissioners said, “Give those ladies the weed patch at Los Altos!”

Since then, that “weed patch” has grown into the lush gardens it is today, with meeting rooms, event venues, a horticulture library and more. Which is what the council wants people to see at the celebration.

“It’s just about enjoying each other’s company. Enjoying the fruits of 50 years’ worth of labor,” Wenk said. “And at the same time, letting more of the community see what goes on there, see what we have to offer them.”

In a Sept. 10, 1972, issue of the Albuquerque Journal, an article was published “Garden Center ‘Dream’ Near Realization for Council” where “three of the most intimately involved” were interviewed, Mrs. Donald R. Wood, 1972 council president, Mrs. George Dolittle, 1972 Garden Center Chairman, and Mrs. John Torrens, a past council president.

The women are quoted discussing what the center is for: “The three women interviewed stressed the center really is needed not only by the garden clubs and council but also by the public in an informational and educational sense.”

The garden center remains, to this day, owned and operated by the council. The way it is run is a unique distinction among most garden centers, which are typically operated by local governments.

Wenk says that it is common for members of the community not to realize the center exists, the council refers to it as one of Albuquerque’s best kept secrets. Events such as this get promote the center to the community and draw in people.

Wenk finds that once hooked, volunteers jump in, wanting to do everything from caring for the garden to building maintenance, to working with nonprofits, to teaching.

“You get hooked, and everybody finds their way that they want to contribute. They find what they love the most,” Wenk said.

Albuquerque Garden Center is toasting 50 years - find out more about the celebration