The Garden Club of the Eastern Shore

March 22, 2022

The Garden Club of the Eastern Shore, possibly a reflection of its unique location, lovingly refers to its members as “from heres,” who are born and raised on the shore, and “come heres,” who are not truly natives but perhaps having spent most of their adult lives on the shore.

Membership demographics have changed over the years with increasing numbers of women with working hours and demanding careers, making mid-day meetings challenging. GCES has adjusted meeting and program schedules to provide flexibility.

Community Projects

The Garden Club of the Eastern Shore has been active within the shore community and has nurtured long-standing relationships. The club provides annual grants for improvements and beautification of grounds of Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital, has contributed funds for mammogram equipment and has funded nursing scholarships. Most recently, the club funded improvements to the landscape adjoining the cancer center with new plantings visible from the infusion room. A club committee maintains the planters at the hospital entrance, providing an uplifting display as patients and visitors pass.

When Historic Garden Week was canceled in 2020 due to the pandemic, club members rallied to express gratitude for first responders. They coordinated with the hospital’s staff and “masked up” to create a Flower Flash at the hospital’s main entrance. Materials were gathered exclusively from members’ gardens, and the result was a stunning flower display that surprised and moved hospital staff and visitors alike.

GCES has supported a small children’s camp, Camp Osprey, established by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and the Fisherman Wildlife Refuge; provides an annual scholarship to send a shore resident to Nature Camp in Vesuvius; helped establish a garden for culinary classes at a local high school; held conservation workshops called Project Wild for science teachers; and provides landscaping, horticulture and flower arranging books annually to the local library in memory of deceased members.

The club supports the Eastern Shore Community Services Board with landscaping and the installation of bird feeders at six facilities. Established in 1971, the Board provides support for mental health, developmental disabilities, substance use and prevention services, where they are needed, in locations throughout the shore.

GCES donates to the Bank of Cheer, a long-standing Christmas tradition on the shore to deliver food to hundreds of residents in need of assistance and provides Christmas bulbs for a local retirement home. The club provides gift certificates for residents of Eastern Shore Coalition for Domestic Violence and, with three additional shore garden clubs, created and helps maintain a kitchen garden and play area at the facility. This project included the solicitation of donations from local nurseries and businesses.

The club supports Ker Place, a historic home and garden in Onancock, and frequently schedules club event at the site. A restoration project of the Garden Club of Virginia, the project included new fencing, perennial plantings, installation of outdoor lighting and walkways – with ongoing updates and consultations as needed. Each year club members decorate a Christmas tree on the lawn at Ker Place, joining other community organizations who decorate trees throughout the mansion. All are lit throughout the season and bring numerous visitors to the historic site. The club frequently schedules club events on-site throughout the year. GCES celebrated the GCV Centennial in 2020 by gifting a bench to Eastern Shore Community College and by providing financial support to Kiptopeke State Park, a GCV Centennial grant recipient.

Fundraising efforts to support the club’s community projects have included the sale of orchids, sales of reusable grocery and produce bags, and an ongoing partnership with Dogwood Branch Consignment Shop of the Eastern Shore Historical Society to share profits of donations by GCES members.

The club produces a quarterly newsletter, Blooming Bits, and has plans to establish a web presence in late 2023 or early 2024. Members of GCES have ventured far from the shore for numerous educational field trips — Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond; the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in Winston-Salem, NC; Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC; Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library in Delaware; Anne Spencer House and Garden in Lynchburg; Ladew Gardens in Monkton, MD; and Colonial Williamsburg.

The Garden Club of Virginia 2003 BOG

Eastern Shore hosted GCV’s Horticulture Field Day on May 19-20, 2010, with full capacity of 130 members in attendance. Tuesday’s visits featured woodland gardens with rare native and exotic plants, seaside landscapes with perennial borders and a pasture with a small herd of nanny goats. Attendees enjoyed an Eastern Shore clam bake on Wednesday evening. Tours continued Thursday after a visit to the Barrier Island Center. Four gardens featured views of marshlands, perennial and mixed borders, cutting gardens, vegetable gardens and herb beds.

2010 Horticiulture Field Day Photos

The Garden Club of the Eastern Shore hosts a Saturday Historic Garden Week tour on the shore each year that is steeped in tradition. The tour offers a significant boost to the local economy, bringing visitors from points north and south during the “off-peak” tourist season — a plus for local shops. restaurants and hotels.

Garden Club of Virginia Awards

The Massie Medal for Distinguished Achievement was awarded to Katty Mears in 2000, and the de Lacy Gray Memorial Medal for Conservation was awarded to Suzanne Wescoat in 2009. The Horticulture Award of Merit has been awarded to many individual members of GCES over the years, most recently Claiborne Dickenson, 2002; Evelyn H. Nock, 2005; Carolyn Jones, 2007; Cynthia Hall, 2012; and Susie Brown, 2017. The club received the GCV Common Wealth Award in 2002 for its Community Garden at Cape Charles Central Park. Previously received funds supported the local library and Port Isobel.

The club spent closing months of 2020 planning to host the GCV Board of Governors in 2023.

GCES Presidents 1995-2021

1995-1997	Betty McGraw
1997-1999	Joanna Snyder
1999-2001	Fleet Davis
2001-2003	Millie Mason
2003-2005	Claiborne Dickinson
2005-2007	Susan Stinson
2007-2009	Ellen Lusk
2009-2011	Tata Kellam
2011-2013	Lit Dodd
2013-2015	Susie Brown
2015-2017	Susan Henderson
2017-2019	Wendy Walker
2019-2021	Traci Jones