The Mountain Garden Club
has been serving Highlands, NC since 1979.
The purpose of the Club shall be to aid in the protection and conservation of our natural resources, encourage civic beauty and
roadside beautification, stimulate the study of the fine art of gardening, and cooperate with other agencies furthering the interest
of horticulture and conservation. As a Not-for-Profit 501c(4), the Club strives to be a good citizen of the community.
What We Do:
Fund Local Scholarships and More!
Each year, our dedicated members dig and pot hundreds of mountain-hardy plants for the club's major fundraiser, an annual plant sale, held on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend at Highlands' baseball field.
This very popular event generates money to fund college scholarships and vocational scholarships - the majority of which are awarded to Highlands' students, and local conservation and educational projects.
Currently, in 2025, we have six students that we are partially funding for all four years of their college education!
The Mountain Garden Club also tends several community gardens, including the Eckerd Living Center at the Highlands-Cashiers Hospital, the Highlands' Elementary School, and the Highlands' Historic Old Jail. We also volunteer our expertise on community projects, enhancing the Highlands' landscape. Locally, we are best known as the dancing ladies in the annual Highlands' Christmas Parade!
Highlands' Historic Old Jail
The Mountain Garden Club added a new garden surrounding the Old Highlands'
Jail on Maple Street in dedication to Wiley Sloan, who passed away in March 2020,
for his dedication to helping the community. Locals love our resident jailbird J.B.
He comes out to enjoy the holidays and special events!
Eckerd Living Center Gardens
Each week during the growing seasons, the Mountain Garden Club lovingly tends
to the gardens for the residents at the Eckerd Living Center to enjoy. These
beautiful blooms put a smile on the faces of the ELC workers and residents.
They love to watch the flowers grow and to come outside to greet our
gardeners. We maintain several gardens with new plantings, weeding, potting,
dead-heading, watering, and all the TLC that goes into growing spectacular
Dahlias and plants.
Jill Hargis runs the weekly captains and design of the garden, and the gardens
have never looked so beautiful! Ann Maxwell is our Dahlia guru, and her blooms
are second to none.
Highlands Elementary School
The completely renovated Butterfly Garden at Highlands Elementary School is spectacular! The many varieties of plants are in full bloom. Take in the beauty and the fruits of labor of love by Mountain Garden Club members, Sara Noah and Ross Gronfield. They removed the old overgrown plants, created a walkway, and garden for the children.
Highlands Christmas Parade 2024
This year, our high-stepping dancers took a trip down Candy Cane Lane!
It was a beautiful day for Highland's annual Old Mountain Christmas Parade on December 7th, 2024. Big thanks go out to
Ester Gooch our choreographer, and Midge Rothermel for her lovingly hand-made costumes! This was the 26th year the Mountain Garden Club has danced in this hometown parade.
Grooving at the Old Jail
‘JB and the Dahlias’ celebrating ‘Flower Power’ for 2024 Dazzling Dahlia Show!
Led by Ginny Dunwody and Wanda Cooper, this year's festivities included JB and Bodacious dressed in their Flower Power finery! Many of our members helped decorate the old jail, and most brought the blooms from their gardens! Thanks for another great display from MGC!
2024 Plant Sale
MGC Members at the pot-o-lot where we pot, water and store all of the plants that we dig in early Spring. Here's part of the team (L-R): Caroline (our president), Midge, Ellie, Molly (pot o lot czar), Paula, Laura, Lisa and Debby.
MGC Members are all smiles before the gates open. We love when husbands and partners join in to help us at our big annual fundraiser. (L-R): Jimmy and Tabby, Susan, Donna, and Mozelle. It's all hands on deck for the sale!
