OUR MEETINGS

Our meetings are generally held at 6:00 on the third Monday of each month, September through April, with several meetings held on Zoom only.  Check this website for details. 

 

Our programs cover a wide range of topics.  (See “Past Programs” for a sampler.)  In addition to the featured talk, meetings give our members a chance to chat, catch up on news, and hear announcements of upcoming programs and events.

 

Our venue for in-person meetings is The Center, located at 208 West 13th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues.  The Center is easily reached by subway, and is a short walk from the 14th St stations of the 1,2 and 3 trains (at 7th Ave), the A,C,E and L trains (at 8th Ave), and the F,M and L trains (at 6th Ave)

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OUR PUBLICATION

Our widely praised newsletter, The Urban Rock Gardener, is published five times a year. 

We welcome contributions of articles and photo essays from all members.

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OTHER MCNARGS ACTIVITIES

Our annual Spring Plant Sale, usually held the first or second weekend in May, is an eagerly-anticipated event, featuring a wide array of plants from the gardens of our members and several specialty nurseries.  Stay tuned for information about the 2025 sale.

 

The Tri-State Meeting, held in October, is an all-day meeting with several other chapters, featuring programs in the morning and afternoon, plant sales with several specialty plant vendors and a plant auction.  This year's Tri-State meeting will take place on Sunday, October 20 at the New York Botanical Garden.   See the HOME page for information about this year's meeting.

 

Tours of public and private gardens have always been a highlight for MCNARGS members.  In June we enjoyed a tour of a Bushwick neighborhood where we visited two unique home gardens as well as the Starr Street community gardening and artwork streetscape.

 

Meet-Ups: We've recently begun having more informal Meet-Ups which have been very popular with our members, friends and family.  In April several of us visited the West Side Community Garden Tulip Festival and in late May we spent an evening at the Merchant's House Museum, where the longtime curator of the garden, MCNARGS member John Rommel, treated us to refreshments in the beautiful garden and gave an unexpected tour of the interior of this historic home.

 

 

OUR HISTORY

MCNARGS was founded by Larry Thomas in 1987, after a pivotal bus trip run by the Horticultural Society to several outstanding rock gardens in Connecticut. Larry met a few people on that trip, already members of NARGS, who were enthusiastic about having a local chapter.  He then enticed others to support the cause, and MCNARGS came into being.

 

Early meetings were held at the Horticultural Society.  In 1994, MCNARGS was officially incorporated and, in 1995, only eight years after forming, the chapter hosted a very successful national meeting of NARGS at the Roosevelt Hotel.  Soon we had to find a new meeting place, moving downtown to the Greenwich House Music School. We subsequently relocated several more times and, in 2016, began meeting at the Midtown Education Center of the New York Botanical Garden, on West 44th Street.

 

In 2006, the chapter hosted a second NARGS annual meeting, bringing in speakers from overseas and the West. We have run numerous garden tours both within the five boroughs and further afield. Our annual spring plant sale attracts many gardeners and contributes a sizable portion to our yearly budget.

 

Our monthly meetings are the core of MCNARGS activities, whether in-person or virtual. We enjoy first-rate presentations on a wide variety of subjects, and we meet up with both beginning and expert gardeners.

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