BY DAVE CHOATE
The Dunbarton Gardening Club is gearing up to sell residents some bright bulbs – albeit ones that will later grow into flowers.
Club member and Daffodils for Dunbarton program member Donna Dunn said the club is in its third year of a 10-year program designed to display flowers all over high-traffic sections of Dunbarton. By the year 2015, the 250th anniversary of the town, the club’s Web site states that they hope there will be tens of thousands of daffodils in bloom.
In early August, Dunn said club members will start a mass mailing around the town for anyone interested in buying bulbs and helping that goal.
“There’s a big sale coming up with all the bulbs we’ll be ordering directly from Holland. Then we’ll get the bulbs in on Oct. 1, all the bulbs will be delivered by the truckload, and we’ll start breaking them up and sending them where they need to go,” Dunn said.
In addition, she said the gardening group is planning to go door to door and find volunteers for help planting daffodils – the club’s signature flower – around Page’s Corner and Page’s Cemetery. Dunn said the effort is always worth it when vehicles roll by.
“We’re planting flowers in areas people travel quite a bit, first. Cars will literally stop, look at the flowers, and you see them smile,” she said.
The club will also be selling two new types of bulbs, which will join the John Starks and Molly Starks of years past. One will be called the Hadley Heritage, named after Alice Hadley, a chronicler of the history of Dunbarton. The other will be known as Remembrance.
Last year’s planting was at the corner of Clinton Street and Route 77, and those flowers will be blooming again in the spring. Dunn said the planting worked out extremely well last year, and she hopes for similar results from the Page’s planting this year.
Despite the work involved in planting so many flowers, Dunn said the club hasn’t forgotten how to have a good time while doing it.
“We keep adding to this every year, more daffodils for everyone to see. We’re having fun,” she said.