The story of George Perry & Sons and the business of growing watermelons will be the first featured topic when the Manteca Garden Club holds its first meeting in September after the summer hiatus.

Members will close the 2010-2011 club season today when they hold the installation of new officers at a luncheon to be held at the Main Street Café on West Yosemite Avenue.

Being seated as the club’s president for the second year in a row is Rita Canales. Paula Elias, who previously served as secretary, is moving up to be the new vice president. Pam Dias will be the group’s secretary, and Elizabeth O’Fallon, who previously stepped up as temporary vice president, will be replacing Marion Golisano who is finishing her term as club treasurer.

The garden club’s new season will begin on Sept. 17 with the first meeting to be held in the John McFall Room of the Manteca Public Library. The program portion of the meeting will feature a guest speaker from the George Perry & Sons who will be talking about the business, the growing of watermelons and how to pick the best watermelon. She will also share some recipes, said upcoming club vice president Paula Elias.

“All speakers are set for the year and we have lots of field trips planned for club members,” she said.

Even now, she added, “we are looking forward to finding wonderful gardens for our next garden tour, the second Saturday in May. The garden tour committee is already in place and ready to start working.”

The garden tour is the club’s major fund-raiser during the year. All proceeds go to the group’s many beautification projects in the community – the memorial rose garden at the Manteca Senior Center, some of the landscaping at the newly renovated and expanded Manteca Library Park and the veteran’s memorial monument in front of the library, to name just two – and to the scholarship awards given to graduating seniors in the Manteca Unified School District.

The club always welcomes new members.

For more information about the club and its many projects, log on to www.mantecagardenclub.org. The club is a member of the National Garden Clubs, Inc., the Pacific Region of National Garden Clubs which includes the states of Washington, Arizona, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii and California, the California Garden Clubs, Inc., and the Valley Lode District which is comprised of seven counties.