New Hampshire has long enjoyed a tradition of caring, and that generosity of spirit has been abundantly clear in the years since 1995 when donations to the Amherst Garden Club’s first Memory Tree were collected. Situated on the Village Common, the tree is illuminated throughout the holiday season with tiny white lights to honor important people in our lives, folks we have loved and lost.

This year, a new tree has been planted. The Baby Blue Eyes Spruce, still in its infancy, is a gift to the town of Amherst from the Garden Club, and the town has agreed the tree be a permanent Memory Tree. The willingness to give and share continues to flow and is still abundantly clear. The Amherst Garden Club has been a recipient of this generosity, as the Amherst Garden Center has donated the tree, and Amherst Earth Products has donated time, materials and labor to plant the tree in the Village Common.

For a small donation, anyone may have a loved one commemorated on the Memory Tree. The tree will be lit during the Amherst Tree Lighting Festival on Dec. 7, and will remain lit into the New Year. Names of those being remembered are posted on a large sign beside the tree.

Each year, money donated is used to fund worthy community causes that align with the mission of the Amherst Garden Club.

The club’s mission is to provide education, resources and networking opportunities to promote the love of gardening, civic landscaping and environmental responsibility. Last year, proceeds went to The Amherst Garden House Project and to the Master Gardener Free Seed Program that distributed seed packets to 175 schools and youth programs in New Hampshire.

Thank you for your support of this tradition and supporting our community. Please stop by to visit and enjoy the beautiful tree and read the names of those remembered.

Donations can be made via check, made payable to The Memory Tree/Amherst Garden Club, and mailed to P.O. Box 694, Amherst, NH 03031.

For more info, contact Barb Dalrymple at 603-345-7101; Deb Curran at 603-673-6339 or Andrea Maniglia at 603-801-7532.

The deadline for donations is Dec. 3.