The Plaza was  planted on August 19th, 2005 -

A Big Thank You to All the Members who participated.

Lake Chapala Garden Club’s Community Outreach Project

The exciting renovation of the Ajijic plaza gardens began in 1996. Trudie Nelson, then president of the Lake Chapala Garden Club, spearheaded the project. Trudie worked with the support of her board and with past board presidents Becky Arthur, Jim Wehinger and Nancy Price. The concept was simple. The club would raise the funds for a garden renovation and provide financial support for continued maintenance. The municipality would help to provide the much needed labor support. The municipal president agreed and the project was born. Longtime resident Juanita Reed agreed to help as communications liaison between the club and local government and we were off! The tradition continues today with the club supplying funds and the municipality supplying labor.

The first step was a new design for the rather tired and run down plaza. Alejandro Treviño, a talented local landscape designer, created the concept for the overall look for the plaza. Generally speaking our concept was to provide a welcoming place for both locals and foreign visitors to visit and pass time. We wanted to increase the number of shade trees for visitors to the plaza and add a selection of flowers and trees native to our area.

Various fund raising efforts were initiated. We were pleased when the community stepped forward and supported this project in many different ways. Generous cash donations were given by local residents committed to support the project. Homes were opened in our community for fundraising gardens tours. Bake and plant sales were held. Without the grass root efforts, donations and volunteering of talent and time, the project would never have gotten off the ground. Many thanks.

The first stage of work began with the removal of dead trees and other plant materials; then new earth and compost were added to the totally reworked beds. The first day of planting was very exciting for us all. Viveros del Lago’s manager and co-owner Diego Pantoja donated hundreds of plants for the initial planting. We’ll always be thankful for Diego’s generosity and support. Mary Prud'homme, Harold Babcock, Sydelle Schwartz, Norine Rose, Becky Arthur, Nancy Price and many, many others came for the initial two days of plantings, some with their gardeners in tow to assist in the process. John Worthington, a local landscaper, coordinated on site with the help of Julia España, in charge of the gardeners from the Chapala municipality. Julia's son owns the local restaurant Manix. It was a wonderful community mix and a proud start to a new tradition.

The plaza project continues to be something we can all be very proud of. The funding continues largely from profits from the plant raffles held at the Lake Chapala Garden Club’s monthly meetings. The gardens are updated quarterly with plantings of seasonal flowers and the replacement of shrubs and trees as needed.

The Plaza Project won project of the year for the municipality in 1999 and happily our hard working Trudie Nelson continues as the coordinator for the project with the support of our current municipal president, Alejandro Aguirre.

Click on the photos button above to see recent photos of the plaza.

If you would like to participate in the next quarterly planting, just see Trudie at one of our meetings.