If you take a drive or walk down Fourth Street at almost any given time of the year you may notice how attractive the 13 planters are that line the streets. The Spring Creek Garden Club has a special hand in that project, among others that aim to enhance the streets of Salem for residents and those passing through.

The Spring Creek Garden Club was started in the late 1990s by Jim and Nancy Moenster and continues to maintain ongoing projects, as well as take on new ones year after year.

The 19-member club meets once per month on the third Tuesday at the Bonebrake Center of Nature and History, or at various club members’ homes.

The officers are elected to two-year terms. Currently serving as president is Loretta McClure; vice-president, Nancy Moenster; secretary, Nancy Midyett; and treasurer, Joyce Bradley.

Spring Creek Garden Club holds one fundraiser per year for resources to fund their entire year of projects. The Annual Plant Sale is held each May in conjunction with the community-wide yard sale. The club provides plants to finance the various projects in the city. Members propagate the plants and provide labor for the project.

Main projects of the club include Craig Plaza maintenance and the planters along Fourth Street. Robin Keeney is chairwoman for the planters, and the Moensters are committee chairs for Craig Plaza.

The downtown planters are very much a group effort.

“The summer plants are purchased by the Salem Area Community Betterment Association,” said Loretta McClure, club president. “The City of Salem waters the planters during summer months, and the Garden Club does plant maintenance and installs the winter greenery in the planters. For the last two years, SACBA has paid for the greenery, but the years prior to that the Garden Club furnished the greens. We also purchase and plant the spring bulbs in the planters.”

The plant material for Craig Plaza was mostly furnished by SACBA, with some assistance from the Garden Club. The Moensters, along with the club, maintain and design the look of the Plaza year-round.

Many of the bulbs and plants are ordered through Cahill Family Greenhouse in February to prepare for the entire year.

Other projects of the club include visiting the Salem Memorial District Hospital Long-Term Care Nursing Home twice a year.

The club visits in May and furnishes plants and labor to assist residents with planting hanging baskets and patio planters. In December the club purchases and delivers poinsettias.

The City Park flower garden and trees are yet another project of the Spring Creek Garden Club. “It furnishes plants and labor for the large flower bed at the city park and also designed the planting of trees behind the bed, and last fall donated two crabapple trees, one in memory of former member Midge Clark,” said McClure.

As aforementioned, the club meets at the Bonebrake Center and donates monetary support as well as maintenance help in the gardens.

“A project planned for 2015 will be moving and enlarging a hummingbird garden. New soil, plants and mulch will be furnished and planted by the club,” said McClure.

Previous projects the club has completed are building the stone wall at the city park flower bed, two flower beds at Salem Upper Elementary and a flower bed at Salem Middle School.

Current club members are Joyce Bradley, Jean Capps, Dorothy Evans-Weis, Robin Keeney, Rose Kinerk, Nancy Knight, Loretta McClure, Nancy Midyett, Nancy Moenster, Jim Moenster, Vernetta Nelson, Doris Ross, Diane Sensintaffar, Ginger Smith, Charles Whitmire, Shirley Whitmire, Johanna Zercher, Kathy Gordon and Bethany Brady.

Spring Creek Garden Club meets the third Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m., usually at Bonebrake Center of Nature and History. If meetings are held elsewhere, notice will be given on time and place. The club welcomes visitors and new members.