The Boxwood Garden Club

March 22, 2022

boxwoodgc.org

The information that follows was gathered from Molly Carey’s history of the Boxwood Garden Club.

1995-2000

The Boxwood Garden Club saw the completion of a club initiative, chaired by Cissy Howell and Molly Hood, to fund a project for the James River Park System. The two-part project consisted of a scavenger hunt that directed students to find twelve “nature” items within the park, such as a needle from an evergreen plant, a rock smoothed by the river and something that was once alive; and the creation of two six-part, accordion-pleated handouts on the early summer and late summer wild flowers in the park.

The club’s new logo, a graduated, double-ball boxwood topiary set in a handled urn, was introduced and graced the cover of the March 1999 edition of the GCV Journal.

Boxwood shared the 1998 Common Wealth Award ($3,000 for second place) with the three partnering Richmond clubs for their work on the Richmond’s Library Park.

1999 GCV Annual Meeting

Boxwood hosted the 79th Annual Meeting of the Garden Club of Virginia on May 11-13, 1999, at the Jefferson Hotel. The three-day meeting began Tuesday with the Board of Directors luncheon and meeting at “Redesdale,” home of Ann and Charlie Reed. Cocktails were hosted by Scott & Stringfellow on Tuesday night in the hotel’s Rotunda, followed by a Dutch treat dinner in the Empire Room. Boxwood president Millie Stuckey welcomed attendees to the meeting and introduced co-chairmen Loretta Miller and Beese Craigie. She then introduced Mary Frances Flowers, who gave a brief history of the Boxwood Garden Club.

A lovely al fresco luncheon was held Wednesday on the grounds at Maymont where the Garden Club of Virginia presented the newly restored mansion landscape. Attendees were given guided tours of the Dooley Mansion and grounds.

Wednesday evening events at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts began with a cocktail party in the Center for Education and Outreach, hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Bruce C. Gottwald. The awards banquet followed in Marble Hall, beautifully decorated in pink to accent the pink marble, with topiaries of boxwood and pink roses adorning the dining tables and enormous floral arrangements on wrought iron stands placed around the room.

Box lunches on Thursday were graciously provided by James River, Tuckahoe and Three Chopt garden clubs at the Kent-Valentine House, which was decorated with gorgeous flower arrangements. The Annual Meeting was a glowing success, and Boxwood acknowledged the support of 18 local businesses for their monetary support and gifts in-kind.

2000-2005

Boxwood established its endowment fund in 2000 with a $15,000 initial deposit.

Club members consistently received InterClub and individual horticulture and artistic flower show ribbons. Pat Taylor won multiple rose horticulture ribbons and received the most coveted of all awards, “Queen of Show.”

In 2003, Boxwood funded Richmond Recreation and Parks Foundation for the Monument Avenue Tree Project, planting trees on a 13-block section of Monument Avenue from Roseneath to Staples Mill Road. Club member Mary Glen Taylor and her team worked with landscape architect Anna Galusha Aquino to choose appropriate trees for the project.

The club also contributed to the Friends of Bandy Field for habitat enhancement and participated in workdays to remove invasives and install a mini-wetland. The Boxwood Garden Club and the Tuckahoe Garden Club of Westhampton received the 2004 Common Wealth Award for an Environmental Educational Plan for Bandy Field Nature Park. This award secured funds needed for the environmental education of the student population and the broader community regarding wetlands and natural habitats by providing educational programs, materials and signage.

The club also planted a tree at Mary Munford School in memory of the victims of 9-11 attacks and sponsored a speaker at the Maymont Flower and Garden Show.

An ad hoc committee was formed in 2003 under the guidance of Jody Branch to review the questionnaires concerning membership issues. The history of Boxwood membership was researched and included age profiles, associate attendance at meetings and numbers of members in each membership category. Bylaws changes were approved to cap the Associate list at 30 members and to address resignation and reinstatement issues.

The 2003 Garden Club of Virginia Annual Meeting was a memorable one for the Boxwood Garden Club. Members Barbara Catlett and Mary Glen Taylor received GCV’s highest awards.

Barbara Catlett received the Massie Medal for Distinguished Achievement, the highest and most prestigious award given to a member or member club, for her dedication, guidance and devoted service to the Kent-Valentine House, GCV headquarters. For 13 years she oversaw the planning, construction, renovation and maintenance of the house which saw a 2,548 square foot addition. Barbara served as past president of Boxwood.

Mary Glen Taylor received the de Lacy Gray Memorial Medal for Conservation for her outstanding service in the dissemination of knowledge of Virginia’s natural resources and the conservation and wise development of these resources. Mary Glen, a member of multiple garden-related clubs and organizations in the Richmond area to protect and preserve treescapes, median and open spaces, also served as past president of Boxwood and was a recipient of the GCV Horticulture Award of Merit.

Boxwood member Susan Flowers was recognized by GCV for her fifteen years of service as Historic Garden Week Administrator. A lovely article in the June 2003 edition of the GCV Journal congratulated Susan on her dedicated service. Susan has overseen many changes in the HGW office during her tenure — from typewriters and mimeograph machines to computers and publisher-quality Xerox machines; rotary phones to cell phones and walkie talkies; printed sales tickets to websites and internal ticket sales and dramatic increases in HGW ticket sales. It was indeed a wonderful meeting for the Boxwood Garden Club.

2005-2010

The Bandy Field Project was completed in 2007 with signage in place at the entrance to the park, and with an informative website up and running. bandyfield.org Club members participated in the dedication of Bandy Field as an official park in the city of Richmond on May 19, 2007, a momentous occasion for those who worked for almost a decade to save this 18-acre park from development. Mary Glen Taylor was honored for her dedication to preserving Bandy Field as a place of quiet beauty when all around her were talking of building and development.

To ensure its park status in perpetuity, the four Richmond area clubs supported a conservation easement developed by the Friends of Bandy Field in 2010 and have each written to Councilman Bruce Tyler encouraging his sponsorship.

Boxwood members continued to support Bandy Field with workdays to control invasive plants. In March 2014, after fifteen years of diversions and intrigue, a Bandy Field conservation easement was finally voted through City Council.

Boxwood established an ad hoc Strategic Planning committee and held roundtable discussions to solicit input for a new strategic planning report. A new membership category was added in 2006 — Life Membership — open to anyone who has been a member of Boxwood for 40 years or more.

With a generous gift from George Stuckey, husband of member Millie Stuckey, the club made a $4,000 gift from its endowment fund to the Garden Club of Virginia’s Support, Education, Events and Development (SEED) Fund in memory of Millie. Funds were directed to underwrite the cost of speakers at GCV Flower Arranging School over ten years.

The club’s annual holiday greens sale during this period saw numerous changes in an effort to increase revenues — the addition of vendors, themed ideas such as Ooh La La – French Holiday Decorating Ideas, decorative bow sales — and focused on best-selling items. The club completed a two-year funding pledge to Brookfield, a home for adolescent women, and pledged funds to the James River Extreme Stream project to stabilize and beautify the Horsepen Branch.

In 2009, Boxwood hosted the biennial, four-club joint meeting at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden with guest speaker Peggy Cornett, Director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants at Monticello.

Club historian Susan Overton searched under members’ beds, opened closets and searched car floorboards to gather the club’s historical documents and delivered them to the Library of Virginia. Scrapbooks, meeting minutes and other miscellaneous information are now living in archival storage splendor.

Club president Nancy Bowles presented a new Silver Award to the membership — the Boxwood Membership Award of Merit — to be awarded at the annual meeting to recognize an individual member for outstanding service and for generously contributing her time and talents in promoting the goals of the club.

Read a list of the Boxwood Garden Club award recipients.

The club engaged Margot Shaw for a fundraiser at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in 2009. She was hosted throughout her stay in Richmond by Cathy Lee and was honored the night before at a dinner hosted by Molly Carey. Margot spoke about “birthing the nation’s only floral lifestyle magazine,” and gave a floral arranging demonstration highlighting the use of everyday containers and simple arrangements. The fundraiser was a huge success.

GCV held its 2010 Symposium at the Homestead and eighteen Boxwood members participated in three days of tours, lectures, demonstrations and camaraderie.

2010-2015

Boxwood member Pat Taylor stepped down in 2010 from her role as GCV Rose Chairman after six years in the position. She was honored by the GCV Flower Shows Committee and the GCV Board of Directors by renaming the Mini Rose Award the Pat Wade Taylor Miniflora Cup, Queen of the Minifloras.

Boxwood began making plans to host the Garden Club of Virginia Rose Show in 2012 and 2013, co-chaired by Ann Sanders and Molly Hood. The club’s board approved a $15,000 request by the Rose Show committee for each show, to be supplemented each year by $3,000 from the Garden Club of Virginia.

Jil Harris and Ashley Farley announced the creation of a Rose Show blog. Numerous club members attended the 2011 Rose Show in Norfolk as trainees. The club made donations to the GCV Rose Show Honorary Award in honor of Co-Chairmen Molly and Ann; and to the GCV Rose Show Memorial Award in memory of Linden Gorman.

The 2012 club year began in September with club members immersed in last minute Rose Show details. The Quintessential Rose took place on October 3-4, 2012, at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens. Members worked long, hard hours and produced an extremely successful show, with members Kay Clary and Lisa Caperton winning ribbons at the show for their rose specimens. The 2013 show was held October 2-3, 2013, also at Lewis Ginter. The club made donations to the GCV Rose Show Honorary Award in honor of Co-Chairmen Molly and Ann; and to the GCV Rose Show Memorial Award in memory of Janet Dennis, Anne Miller, Leezie Laughlin and Harriet van Houten. Two successful Rose Shows and an exhausted membership happily closed the book on The Quintessential Rose!

2012 Rose Show Photos

2013 Rose Show Photos

The greens sale continued in 2011 and 2012 with increasing profits. The 2012 sale strained the membership after an exhausting 2012 Rose Show and in a “momentous decision,” the 2013 greens sale was canceled to give bone-weary members a rest after its second Rose Show. To replace the lost revenue, the club decided to host a spring event featuring author Danielle Rollins.

Capital Trees

capitaltrees.org

Club President Jane Cowles reported that the 2009 GCV Conservation Forum in Charlottesville featured speaker Rachel Flynn, the City of Richmond’s Director of Community Development. Her talk revealed that Richmond was lacking 500 trees for 500 empty tree wells. That need resonated with the four Richmond area clubs, which joined together to develop a plan to restore the urban tree canopy in the gateway area of the 14th and Main Street intersection. Eight thousand dollars was raised from the four clubs to help fund the project. At the May 2010 GCV Annual Meeting, the first Bessie Bocock Carter Conservation Award in the amount of $5,000, was presented to the four clubs for the project.

The project was officially named Capital Trees, and members Jane Cowles, Mary Glen Taylor and Jody Branch served on the steering committee.

By 2011, Capital Trees had a new website, capitaltrees.org, with comprehensive project descriptions, photographs, architectural drawings, people and groups involved in the project, funding sources and an opportunity to donate.

Phase I of the project was completed in 2012. Funding was received and grant requests written by Sarah Jane Wyatt to the Jackson Foundation and the Robins Foundation to support completion of Phase II, up 14th from Main to Broad Street. Scenic Virginia also contributed to project funding.

Capital Trees received the 2015 GCV Common Wealth Award second place for the Canal Walk at Dock Street.

Capital Trees completed Phase 1A of the Low Line Project just in time for the 2015 UCI World Road Cycling Championships held in Richmond, September 19-27. The First Lady of Virginia, Dorothy McAuliffe, named the Low-Line Project one of Virginia’s “treasures.”

Mary Frances Flowers, former president of the Boxwood Garden Club and former President of the Garden Club of Virginia (1970-1972), passed away March 16, 2010.

On March 22, 2011, Boxwood hosted “Flowers with a Southern Flair — A Morning of Flower Arranging with Sybil Brook Sylvester” at the University of Richmond Jepson Alumni Center. Sybil, a renowned floral designer from Birmingham, Alabama, treated attendees to a wonderful demonstration of simple flower arrangements, technique ideas and tips of the trade, all delivered with her good-natured humor, charm and southern drawl. Cathy Lee beautifully arranged all the details of her visit as well as hosting her for her time in Richmond and organizing dinners, luncheons and “helper bees” the day of the event. Pre-event dinner was hosted by Jane and Don Cowles at their home for Sybil and the event committee. The event was a huge success with funds contributing to community projects.

In the spring, Boxwood joined its three sister Richmond-area GCV garden clubs in hosting David Howard, Prince Charles’s organic gardener at his Highgrove estate in England. Proceeds from Mr. Howard’s lecture at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts supported the joint Capital Trees Project. Additional funds were raised from a private tour with David Howard at Tuckahoe Plantation.

75th Anniversary

After 75 years, the Boxwood Garden Club members continued to bring home ribbons and accolades from GCV and VMFA flower shows — InterClub artistic and horticulture and individual artistic and horticulture.

After researching the viability of a Boxwood Garden Club website and electronic storage site, Molly Carey presented a proposal to the board and membership requesting funds to create a website and funds to maintain it annually. Approval was given, allowing the club members to access records in the “electronic file cabinet from anywhere in the world, if we really need to.” Boxwood.org was launched and included a directory of all members and their contact information, “so we don’t have to carry around our Green Book all the time anymore!” In addition, gardenclubboxwood@gmail.com was created, a new official email for disseminating information to club members and to use for meeting notices and RSVPs.

The club’s 2012 annual meeting was held at the Kent-Valentine House, followed by a seated luncheon in the first-floor parlors. President Cathy Lee regaled attendees with fun facts and interesting tidbits from the club’s history. Programs from the many activities and events throughout the years were available and included a copy of the telegram announcing the club’s acceptance into the Garden Club of Virginia in 1951.

The anniversary committee, chaired by Molly Carey and Nancy B. Gottwald, planned a beautiful cocktail party at the Country Club of Virginia in 2012 to complete the festivities. Susan Overton produced a 20-minute DVD showing photographs of Boxwood members throughout the club’s 75-year history. Guests were given a copy of the DVD, Boxwood’s newly printed history and a box of truffles tied with ribbon citing “Happy 75th Boxwood.” It was an exciting ending to a great year and even better 75 years!

The club’s semiannual cocktail party was held at Anne and Garnett Hall’s lovely home and was a wonderful way to celebrate an amazingly busy year for our members. The club’s 2013 Annual Meeting was held in Williamsburg.

Boxwood’s 2014 annual meeting was held at Lavender Fields Herb Farm in Glen Allen, where members enjoyed an interesting walking tour, lecture and luncheon.

The 2014-2015 club year “blissfully began without a Rose Show to host,” and GCV President Jeanette Cadwallender appointed Boxwood members to fill state level positions: Missy Buckingham, GCV Parliamentarian; Kay Tyler, Kent-Valentine House Chairman and Cathy Lee, 2020 GCV Centennial Chairman. Boxwood was congratulated for being in the top five GCV clubs participating in the annual fund.

Boxwood hosted Gracious Living and Stylish Entertaining at the Jepson Alumni Center. Featured speaker Danielle Rollins regaled attendees with stories of her parties and soirees while she demonstrated beautiful floral arrangements. She sold and signed her new book “Soiree- Entertaining in Style.” Fourteen members created eight tablescapes demonstrating a wide variety of styles, decorating techniques and fun which were judged by Danielle. Six vendors sold their wares and donated 15% of their sales to Boxwood. Door prizes were won by attendees donated by two local businesses. This fundraiser netted almost twice what the annual greens sale had in the past. For this reason, the sometimes beloved greens sale was officially cancelled.

2015-2020

GCV Flower Show awards and VMFA accolades continued to roll in for Boxwood members. Sally Witt and Vickie Blanchard opened their lovely gardens in June 2015 for members to relax after a long garden club year. The Boxwood executive board hosted members at C Street in Carytown for Christmas cheer where members generously donated garden and horticulture-themed books to George Mason Elementary School library as a Christmas philanthropy. Kay Tyler shared her lovely home for Boxwood’s biennial cocktail party.

The 2016 annual meeting was held at Grelen Nursery in Somerset.

The club’s website was given a new look by Mercer Taylor, and the Fit4Kids arranging team of Molly Hood, Vickie Blanchard, Loretta Miller and Janice Whitehead made twelve arrangements using edible materials for a fundraising event held at Pasture.

The 2017 annual meeting was held at Pearl Adamson’s lovely home, where members enjoyed an elegant luncheon and relaxing camaraderie after a busy year.

Boxwood member Missy Buckingham was elected at the 2018 GCV Annual Meeting to be the Garden Club of Virginia First Vice President.

A successful fundraiser featuring Birmingham floral artist Sybil Sylvester was held at the Westwood Club. Proceeds from this fundraiser supported selected projects at Peter Paul Development Center in Church Hill — Enhancing the Community Garden with more fruit bushes and trees and landscaping the new playground. Club member Anna Aquino was instrumental in leading the project and keeping members informed. She procured a grant from the Tree Stewards for Peter Paul for 7-9 trees that were planted in and around the playground. Anna was honored by members with donations to the tree fund. The club received the coveted GCV Common Wealth Award for its project at Peter Paul, and Anna Aquino received the GCV de Lacy Gray Memorial Award for Conservation.

Missy Gullquist shared her lovely home for the club’s spring cocktail party, and the 2018 annual meeting was held at Belmont in Fredericksburg. Members enjoyed tours of the gardens, home and studio of artist Gari Melchers, as well as a lovely box lunch.

The members stayed active throughout 2018 and 2019 — attending GCV events, participating in holiday arranging workshops and supporting Peter Paul and Capital Trees with active participation and generous funding. The COVID-19 pandemic that began in early 2020 shut down in-person meetings, and Zoom meetings became the norm. Members began sharing their beautiful spring photographs. As a result, the club added a photography option to its monthly exhibits.

Boxwood Garden Club Member Awards

Boxwood Garden Club Donations 1995-2020

BGC Presidents 1995-2021

1995-1997	Muff Nolde
1997-1999	Millie Stuckey
1999-2001	Missy Buckingham
2001-2003	Molly Hood
2003-2005	Jody Branch
2005-2007	Ann Sanders
2007-2009	Nancy Bowles
2009-2011	Jane Cowles
2011-2013	Cathy Lee
2013-2015	Liz Price
2015-2017	Robin Johnson
2017-2019	Kathryn Angus
2019-2021	Nella Timmons