The Elizabeth River Garden Club

March 22, 2022

elizabethrivergardenclub.org

The Elizabeth River Garden Club was organized in April 1927 in Portsmouth’s Trinity Church Parish Hall. The club’s mission at that time was to beautify the city. The club has broadened its vision to include conservation of the city’s resources, fostering the knowledge of horticulture and flower arranging, and preservation and restoration of the city’s parks and gardens. Sponsored by the Nansemond River Garden Club, the ERGC became the forty-fifth member of the Garden Club of Virginia in 1975, and its members have since that time devoted many years serving on GCV committees and the Board of Directors.

One of the club’s earliest projects focused on the city’s first downtown public park, Swimming Point Park. That was followed by the planting of pin oak trees along the city’s main streets. As early as 1938, the club was campaigning against the erection of unsightly billboards. When the historic Portsmouth Courthouse was renovated in the 1970s, the club became interested in improving the courtyard and, with encouragement and support from ERGC, the Garden Club of Virginia chose the landscape surrounding the courthouse and courtyard as a restoration project in 1980.

For many years the club has supported the creation and maintenance of the Friendship Garden in Portsmouth City Park.

Conservation and Beautification

Portsmouth’s Hoffler Creek Wildlife Preserve was the club’s focus during the early 2000s when ERGC provided funds for solar panel restoration at the preserve’s Outdoor Pavilion and Creekside Lab, and provided funds and manpower to provide entrance landscaping.

The club has supported the Elizabeth River Project since 2001, with funding for miscellaneous projects. Club members create flower arrangements and provide assistance for the organization’s major donor luncheons and its Moon River Suppers. The club also endorses that organization’s River Star Homes initiative.

Paradise Creek in Portsmouth was once so polluted that the EPA named three Superfund sites in this area. One shore has been transformed by a partnership between the Elizabeth River Project and the community into an urban oasis, Paradise Creek Nature Park. ERGC received the GCV 2018 Common Wealth Award for its project to create an outdoor classroom in the park, “Urban Garden Invites Youth to Dream a Different Future.”

The Elizabeth River Garden Club plan for an outdoor classroom is the second phase of landscaping around the new UVA-designed River Academy building. Children will go from the academy to the adjacent outdoor classroom where native flowers, shrubs, trees, a sensory garden and outdoor art will enliven their learning experience. They can view a solar-powered building with cisterns to provide water for plants and with sustainable materials used throughout.

Club members have worked to eradicate invasive plant growth in the park and have planted a secret garden of 200+ native plants around an American Elm in the park’s Fox Trail area.

The club has supported the Portsmouth Service League with landscaping at the Woman’s Club of Portsmouth and, at Cedar Grove Cemetery in Suffolk, has created and maintained the scatter garden, provided memorial wreaths and planted dogwood trees and bulbs at the grave site of former First Lady of Virginia Grace Phillips Pollard, who was instrumental in dogwood plantings throughout Virginia. The club has provided Christmas decorations at Hill House Museum and the 1846 Portsmouth Courthouse. Frequently recruited by courthouse flower guild chairman, ERGC member Jean Knapp, members place flowers in the Portsmouth Arts & Cultural Center galleries each month and during special events.

The club has received blue, red, yellow, and white ribbons in InterClub classes at GCV flower shows, and several members are trained flower show judges.

Historic Garden Week

ERGC began partnering with the Nansemond River Garden Club in 2010 to host Historic Garden Week in Virginia, with each club assuming the lead in alternating years. The lead club selects tour properties and is responsible for the tour brochure and other printed materials. In 2015, the Franklin Garden Club joined the partnership.

Garden Club of Virginia

ERGC hosted the Garden Club of Virginia’s eighty-ninth meeting of the Board of Governors on October 14-16, 2008.

Held at the Renaissance Hotel in Portsmouth, the meeting was co-chaired by Tricia Halstead and Judy Perry. Member Pam Kloeppel hosted the GCV Board of Directors at her home for a lovely luncheon on Tuesday, October 14, prior to the board meeting. Following the board meeting, the club hosted a beautiful evening on the Elizabeth River aboard the “Carrie B.,” providing cocktails prior to a Dutch treat dinner.

Elizabeth River Garden Club President Sharon Knowles welcomed attendees to the business meeting on Wednesday morning. Following business reports, member Judy Perry introduced Randi Strutton, founder and Executive Director of the Hoffler Creek Wildlife Preserve, who presented an informative program about the preserve and conservation of Virginia’s natural resources. The meeting was adjourned for the afternoon and attendees were invited to club members’ homes for lunch, followed by a tour of the preserve.

Cocktails and the awards banquet were held at the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, where beautiful floral centerpieces were cleverly designed to feature sports equipment. 2008 BOG Photos

ERGC hosted the Garden Club of Virginia’s ninety-ninth Annual Meeting May 7-9, 2019.

The board of directors was invited for a lovely luncheon on Tuesday at the home of Luana Hugel. Board members then traveled to the Portsmouth Renaissance Hotel for the afternoon meeting. Attendees gathered on Tuesday night aboard the “Carrie B” for a beautiful sunset cruise with entertainment and a Dutch treat dinner. Optional tours on Wednesday morning included a trip to Paradise Creek, a tour of Virginia International Gateway Terminals, and a walking tour of Olde Towne Portsmouth. Lunch followed at the delightful Anderson-Wright Rooms and Garden.

President Jean Gilpin called the meeting to order at the Renaissance Hotel following lunch and introduced meeting co-chairman Martha Perkins who welcomed attendees. The Elizabeth River Garden Club President Betty Jo Gwaltney introduced Mayor John L. Rowe, who welcomed the GCV back to Portsmouth, as the Board of Governors was hosted in Portsmouth in 1931.

Jean thanked ERGC President Betty Jo Gwaltney, co-chairmen Martha Perkins and Shirley Sondej, and all club members for hosting the meeting. She noted the lovely evening prior on the Carrie B. and proclaimed, “Today marks the day we begin celebrating our Centennial!” She then recognized former GCV Presidents in attendance and presented each with a GCV Centennial scarf.

The meeting was adjourned following a presentation by GCV Landscape Architect Will Rieley and attendees were invited for cocktails at the lovely home of Pam and Peter Kloeppel, followed by the awards banquet at the Renaissance Hotel. The Massie Medal for Distinguished Achieved was awarded to Judy Perry, The Elizabeth River Garden Club. The de Lacy Gray Memorial Medal for Conservation was presented to Anne Beals, The Rappahannock Valley Garden Club.

The meeting resumed on Thursday morning. Jean thanked The Elizabeth River Garden Club and congratulated medal recipients.

2019 Annual Meeting Photos

ERGC has participated in flower shows at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Chrysler Museum of Art; assisted the Jewish Museum and Cultural Center with its landscaping; sponsored flower arranging workshops; organized bus trips to GCV’s Horticulture Field Day, the Kent-Valentine House and the White House at Christmas; and supported HGW tours around the state. Individual members have presented educational programs to other organizations and have served on boards and committees in the community, including the Elizabeth River Project, Hoffler Creek Wildlife Preserve, Portsmouth Federation of Garden Clubs, Portsmouth Service League and the Portsmouth Girls Club. Members Lynn Wiggins and Judy Perry have each been named the First Citizen of Portsmouth.

Twice a year the club has a plant exchange where club members share their plants with other club members. Annual awards are presented to members who achieve excellence in flower arrangements and horticulture. In 2017, the club established the Honor Our Own award to honor a club member for outstanding service to ERGC and the community.

The Massie Medal for Distinguished Achievement was awarded to Judy Perry in 2019. The Horticulture Award of Merit has been awarded to many individual members of ERGC over the years, most recently Linda Pinkham, 2004; Uta Rowe, 2009; Romayne Byrum, 2013; Wanda Russo, 2014; Maggie Sue Creamer, 2015; Linda Patton, 2016; and Jean Knapp, 2000. The club received the 2019 Common Wealth Award ($10,000) for its outdoor classroom at Paradise Creek Nature Park, a public park created by the Elizabeth River Project. Annual Meeting attendees toured the park in 2019, when ERGC hosted the meeting. ERGC’s nominee, Randi Stratton, founder and director of Hoffler Creek Wildlife Preserve, received the  2006 GCV Dugdale Award for Meritorious Achievement in Conservation.

The Elizabeth River Garden Club members continue to share knowledge of horticulture, flower arranging, preservation, conservation and restoration, moving forward into the 21st century with service to the community.

ERGC Presidents 1994-2020

1994-1996	Patricia Halstead
1996-1998	Martha Frances Fortson
1998-2000	Randy Ruller
2000-2002	Gayle Channel
2002-2004	Stephanie Moreland
2004-2006	Pamela Kloeppel
2006-2008	Sandy Canada
2008-2010	Sharon Knowles
2010-2012	Jean Shackelford
2012-2014	Dottie Lindley
2014-2016	Ellen Upton
2016-2018	Martha Perkins
2018-2020	Betty Jo Gwaltney