Members of the Meaford garden Club worked through the rain last Wednesday, cleaning up Fred Raper Park in preparation for spring planting.

The Garden Club has adopted the park and looks after the garden around the gazebo on Meaford's waterfront.

"It's very satisfying," said Marilyn Boulanger, who was busy raking leaves and litter left over from the long winter.

The Meaford Garden Club started out as a small group of interested gardeners and has grown to 75 members. "We've capped it at 75 because anymore would be too unwieldy," said Boulanger, who is a past president of the group.

"We're an 'interest group,' " she said. "We haven't joined any horticultural societies because we didn't want to have to follow any rules - we wanted to make out own rules."

The club holds monthly meetings featuring guest speakers, they hold a plant exchanges among members as well as a plant sale on opening day at the Meaford Farmer's Market. They also conduct an annual bus tour in addition to volunteering their time to look after Fred Raper Park.