Akron Garden Club dedicated the Christine and Bob Freitag Garden in Cascade Locks Park in 2022, completing a two-year installation on a site along the Ohio and Erie Canal Towpath Trail.

The garden is planted in Ohio native species that bloom from April through September, including violets, asters, coreopsis, columbine, prairie dropseed, and purple poppy mallow, with many propagated by club members. The garden is a Garden Club of America (GCA) Partners for Plants (P4P) project in cooperation with Summit Metro Parks and Cascade Locks Park Association (CLPA). The Freitags started Friends of Metro Parks and were founding members of CLPA. Christine established the P4P program while serving as GCA first vice president, prior to becoming president of the GCA from 1992-1995.

Photo courtesy of Candy Grisi

Thanks to a proposal by Akron Garden Club, Ohio Sea Grant and The Ohio State University’s Stone Lab were honored by The Garden Club of America for outstanding clean water research and educational leadership, receiving the prestigious Margaret Douglas Medal.

The medal recognizes notable service to the cause of conservation education and was awarded at the GCA’s 2023 Annual Meeting in Columbus. For more than 40 years, Sea Grant and Stone Lab have worked to protect the environment of Lake Erie and the Great Lakes and provide water quality research to the nation.

Photo courtesy of Ohio Sea Grant and The Ohio State University’s Stone Laboratory

Akron Garden Club, through the Akron Community Foundation, established the Akron Garden Club Endowment Fund 20 years ago to support local community projects. Consider a gift to this endowment in commemoration of the centennial of the club’s founding in 1924.

A successful campaign to raise the endowment to $1 million is this generation of members’ great legacy to the club and community. Follow this link to make a tax-deductible gift, and thank you for your generosity in supporting the club’s purposes in gardening, conservation, civic improvement, and education.

Photo credit: Ylanite Koppens on Pixabay