The Lynchburg Garden Club

March 22, 2022

lynchburggardenclub.org

From its beginnings, the Lynchburg Garden Club has existed to enhance the quality of life in the community with beautification projects, conservation efforts and promoting those qualities of graciousness that are part of a cultured community.

One of the club’s earliest and long-standing community projects began in 1936, when the historic Miller-Claytor House was moved to its present location in Lynchburg’s Riverside Park. The club elected to take on the development of a garden at the house and asked renowned Richmond landscape architect Charles F. Gillette to design the plan. The garden was planted in 1940 and cared for by LGC members. In recognition of its ongoing care of the Miller-Claytor Garden, the Lynchburg Garden Club received the 1947 Massie Medal for Distinguished Achievement. Some 10 years later the garden was restored to its original 18th-century design.

In 2003, the club enhanced the Riverside Park entrance with planting and signage; from 2004-2010, partnered with the City of Lynchburg to research Riverside Park history and create a master plan; from 2006-2010, created a gazebo garden, dedicated in 2010, that guides visitors down a series of steps to the park’s gazebo; from 2010-2011, provided additional landscaping at the park’s gazebo; from 2011-2012, added a stone patio to the side of the Miller-Claytor House with lovely plantings designed by Laura Sackett; and. in 2012, received $11,500 Common Wealth Award funding for its project to restore the Gillette garden and to install safety railings near the patio.

The club continues to maintain its extensive Riverside Park gardens in partnership with the City of Lynchburg.

Community projects in the early 1990s included the installation of two small gardens near Point of Honor, a historic property given by the City of Lynchburg to the Lynchburg Historical Foundation in 1968 for restoration and, in 1971, a bequest was left to the foundation to establish a local history museum. In 1976-1978, the Lynchburg Museum System was created, the house was restored and the house was opened as a public museum. The Garden Club of Virginia restored the landscape with a stone circular drive and grove-like tree plantings appropriate to the period, as well as a demonstration apple orchard and visitor center terrace and plantings. Updates to the property’s landscape continue to be provided by GCV with support from LGC members.

Roadside Biodiversity Garden

In 2019, the club partnered with Hillside Garden Club to create Blue Ridge Conservation, a joint committee led by Joy Hilliard and Judy Frantz, that is focused on conservation, education and native planting. In partnership with the City of Lynchburg, the Lynchburg Expressway Appearance Fund (LEAF), Crowther Landscape Architecture and Irvington Spring Farm, Blue Ridge Conservation planned and planted a three-acre pollinator bed along the US 501 Bypass in Lynchburg. The project received the 2021 Bessie Bocock Carter Conservation Award in 2021.

From 2008 to 2012, club members joined efforts, led by Heidi James, to remove the derelict Treasure Island bridge from the James River. Once the main access from the city to the 28-acre island owned by Liberty University, the steel and wooden structure was washed out by a flood in 1985, destroying the viewshed and creating a navigational hazard. Club members were vocal in sharing their concerns with city residents, creating a groundswell of support. Lynchburg city councilmen joined the efforts and met with Liberty University officials to share concerns in 2012. As a result, Liberty took action immediately to remove the bridge — a project that involved cutting the steel into manageable sections, using a crane to load the steel onto a barge, navigating the barge around the island to university property on the Amherst County side of the river, unloading the barge by crane and hauling the steel away. Heidi James was later awarded the de Lacy Gray Memorial Medal for Conservation for her leadership in efforts to remove the bridge.

In 2011, the club partnered with Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest and Hillside Garden Club to host German-British historian and writer Andrea Wulf. Her presentation included a discussion of her books: Founding Gardeners: The Revolutionary Generation, Nature, and the Shaping of the American Nation; and The Brother Gardeners: Botany, Empire and the Birth of an Obsession. The successful event attracted hundreds of attendees.

Club members successfully took a stand against the demolition of Villa Maria, a 1911 historic home that has since been beautifully restored by private owners.

In preparation for the club’s 2022 centennial celebration, the club partnered with the City of Lynchburg in 2019 to install native perennial plantings at a new city gateway sign on Route 29 North; sustaining members raised funds to plant 25 sugar maples on Peakland Place to replace those lost in a tornado; and Blue Ridge Conservation began efforts to attain Bee City USA status for the City of Lynchburg.

Garden Club of Virginia

Three members of the Lynchburg Garden Club have served as President of the Garden Club of Virginia over the years: Anne Glass, 1942-1944; Pat Leggett, 1994-1996 and Mina Wood, 2000-2002.

LGC has been well-represented on the GCV Board of Directors and as Committee Chairmen.

Mina Wood: Recording Secretary, 1996-1998; 1st Vice President, 1998-2000; President, 2000-2002; Personnel Committee Chairman, 2002-2004; Restoration Committee Chairman 2004-2006; Symposium Committee Chairman, 2006-2008.
Jocelyn Connors: Conservation Committee Chairman 2004-2006; Massie Medal Committee Chairman 2006-2008.
Kay Van Allen: Horticulture Committee Chairman 2006-2008.
Betsy Worthington: Speaker Series Committee Chairman 2006-2008; Recording Secretary 2008-2010; Common Wealth Award Committee Chairman 2010-2012; Corresponding Secretary 2012-2014; Treasurer 2014-2018; Restoration Committee Chairman 2020-2022.
Heidi James: Historian 2010-2012; Conservation Awards Committee Chairman 2018-2020; Horticulture Committee Chairman 2020-2022.
Catherine Madden: Director at Large 2011-2013; Horticulture Committee Chairman 2016-2018; 2nd Vice President 2018-2020; Daffodil Day Chairman 2020-2022

The Lynchburg Garden Club hosted the Garden Club of Virginia Lily Show in 2003 and 2004 at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College.

2004 Lily Show Photos

The Garden Club of Virginia held Horticulture Field Day in Lynchburg in 2005 and again in 2018.

2005 Horticulture Field Day Photos

2018 Horticulture Field Day Photos

In celebration of the Garden Club of Virginia’s centennial project at Virginia State Parks, LGC partnered with Hillside Garden Club to support a project at Holliday Lake State Park in 2018.

Historic Garden Week

The LGC hosts its annual Historic Garden Week tour in partnership with Hillside Garden Club, averaging over 1,000 visitors each year. LGC programs throughout the year focus on the tour and include what to plant, how to gather plant material and floral arranging. Members’ gardens provide about 95% of the floral and foliage material used in HGW arrangements.

Every club member participates. Friendships are formed and much accumulated knowledge and long-developed skills are shared. Seasoned members shepherd new members in the hope they will soon be able to do the coveted dining room table arrangement.

Garden Club of Virginia Awards

The 1995 Dugdale Award for Meritorious Achievement in Conservation was presented to LGC’s nominee, T. Ashby Watts, for his leadership role in landscaping the Lynchburg Expressway.

The 2012 Common Wealth Award to Lynchburg Garden Club for its project at the Miller-Claytor House Garden, a historic home and garden located in Riverside Park. The award was used to restore the gardens Charles Gillette designed in 1936 and to install safety railings near the patio.

The Anne Duvall Miller Massie Perpetual Trophy is named in honor of an LGC member and is awarded annually at Daffodil Day for the best entry of five different pre-1940 daffodils.

Most recent Horticulture Award of Merit recipients are Foxie Morgan in 2003, and Kay Van Allen in 2004.

LGC Presidents 1995-2021

1995-1997	Patty Fox
1997-1999	Trudy Christian
1999-2001	Betsy Worthington
2001-2003	Archer Hunt
2003-2005	June Britt
2005-2007	Catherine Madden
2007-2009	Heidi James
2009-2011	Ferrell Nexsen
2011-2013	MayMay Gay
2013-2015	Elizabeth Hutter
2015-2017	Suzanne Johnson
2017-2019	Mary Byrd Denham
2019-2021	Jenny Tugman