The Garden Club of Gloucester and Mathews

March 22, 2022

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In the Beginning …

The Garden Club of Gloucester was founded in 1928 by a group of ladies on the porch of Goshen, an historic home on the Ware River.

Its first major project in the late twenties and early thirties was to raise funds to build a wall and provide plantings around the historic court circle in the center of town in keeping with the historic colonial buildings. Until that time, buggies and early cars had pulled up right to the front of the courthouse and other buildings and the area was dusty and without any organized landscaping. The GCG partnered with the County and, with the advice of experts from Williamsburg (before it was Colonial Williamsburg), the county and GCG engaged men from the Civil Works Administration, an early FDR jobs creation agency, to build the wall. Today most people driving by would think that the wall is actually colonial. The club continues its traditions of plantings around the county, educational programs, and programs for Main Street beautification. Indeed, in honor of our 90th anniversary in 2018, the GCG donated funds for a fountain to go into a new pocket park on Main Street on the periphery of the Courthouse Circle.

Even though GCG did not formally join GCV until 1945, another major early activity was to be part of the first GCV Historic Garden Week tour in 1929. In Gloucester, the houses stayed open for a week that year and exhausted everyone — members and spouses alike. In subsequent years, the tours were cut back to two days and then finally to one. Except during WWII when the GCV stopped the tour temporarily, the spring of 2013 after Hurricane Isabel when the local tour was canceled, and the 2020 COVID-19 cancellation, GCG has been part of HGW since the beginning. Its waterfront homes in Gloucester and Mathews remain among the most popular on the statewide tour.

More Recently …

During the period of the nineties and into the 21st century in addition to its longstanding Daffodil Show and HGW, the club continued the following programs every year: Support of a local middle school student to attend Nature Camp; Christmas greens and wreath decorations for Sanders Assisted Living, the historic buildings on the Courthouse Circle, and the historic Botetourt building; planting and maintaining three large flower boxes at the corner of Main Street and Route 14; clean-up projects in coordination with the county; plantings at various places around the county ranging from the animal shelter to plantings along Routes 14 and 17, among others; an annual picnic as a fundraiser for the club; and an annual awards program. The club’s annual awards include one for service to GCV.

Every year our meetings have popular speakers who focus on practical talks about gardening, horticulture, environmental issues, flower arranging, and advice for entering GCV and local flower shows. GCV has been a source of information via other clubs for many dynamic speakers. The club also tries to feature our own members with special expertise either at meetings or in our popular Horticulture Column in our newsletter, The Bloomin’ News.

Community Activities

Gloucester Daffodil Show and Festival

Based in Gloucester County, known as the “Daffodil Capital of America,” the GCG has always had a focus on daffodils. In the early days of the club in the 1920s and 1930s, various flower shows took place that ultimately grew into the Gloucester Daffodil Show which was founded by the club in 1952 and accredited by the American Daffodil Society (ADS). While meeting the standards of the ADS, in later years the club also added some new activities such as a People’s Choice Award and club docents for the public to tour the show and explain the mysteries of competitive daffodil shows. Putting on the show involved all members in an elaborate and collegial range of activities — and also all spouses for set-up of risers and take-down. Equipment for the show was kept for many years in a member’s barn. The show attracted exhibitors from far and wide.

Meanwhile the annual two-day Daffodil Festival of the County started in 1986 and evolved to attract thousands. Over time, it became clear that the horticultural Daffodil Show needed to be part of the festival. The GCG membership made the tough decision to stop being the sole sponsor and operator of the Daffodil Show. The last show under the sole sponsorship of the GCG took place in 2014. Then a group of citizens, including GCG members, held discussions with the county, and in 2015 sponsorship of the show was undertaken by Gloucester County as part of the larger Daffodil Festival. Members of the GCG, along with members of other garden clubs and the Master Gardeners, serve on the ongoing committee for the new show, and it is working beautifully under the leadership of the county. The show continues to be accredited by the ADS. The substantial facilities involved are now handled by the county facilities staff as part of the festival. Thousands of visitors to the festival are learning more about daffodil cultivation, and the show still attracts many exhibitors from Virginia and around the region.

At that time the GCG also expanded its activity with the Daffodil Festival by launching two new programs in partnership with the nonprofit Arts on Main located on Main Street: (1) Art and Flowers Show, where arrangers are inspired by works of local artists and interpret them in arrangements; the art and arrangements are displayed together for the two days of the festival, and (2) Children’s Flower Arranging Workshop, where children create their own arrangements featuring daffodils picked from GCG member gardens and with coaching from members. This past year that program attracted 65 children.

Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) Teaching Marsh

In 1999-2000 with support from the Garden Club of Gloucester and others, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science launched the Carl Hershner Teaching Marsh, a one-acre tidal wetland demonstration area in Gloucester Point. The marsh is part of a Living Shorelines program at VIMS that educates the public about nature-based approaches to shoreline protection for the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and streams. VIMS has maintained and restored the teaching marsh after storms so that it continues to serve as a key element in public education programs for all ages. The living shoreline stabilization techniques and plantings not only protect shorelines and infrastructure, they also conserve, create or restore natural shoreline habitats and ecosystems, consistent with the overall conservation goals of the Garden Club of Virginia. The long-term impact of the teaching marsh was recognized by GCV when it included the program in its Centennial exhibition.

Holiday Decorating

The annual Christmas decorating project of buildings on Main Street was later enhanced when the club took on the task of decorating all the new lampposts on Main Street with lighted garlands from top to bottom in cooperation with the Sheriff’s office and the assistance of the local prisoners. This was later taken over by the county as there seemed to be concern about the ladies climbing up ladders along Main Street. Launching the Christmas season is always festive with the decoration of the Sanders Assisted Living public areas and with wreaths made for all the residents’ doors, and of the historic buildings on the Courthouse Circle and the historic Botetourt building across from the circle, once a hotel and now the Gloucester County Museum. The county fire marshall finally insisted that the club stop using natural greens in the Assisted Living facility, but it was able to continue natural greens on the exterior of the county buildings.

Planters at Intersection in Downtown Gloucester

The beautiful plantings in the three very large planters at the intersection of Main Street and Route 14 were one of our most highly visible projects for years as everyone coming through Gloucester or commuting from Mathews or Gloucester across the York River would see the flowers and flowering trees. Teams of club members planted and watered throughout the year. During these years the club collaborated with Brent and Becky’s Bulbs which provided the bulbs, with the Women’s Club which provided the hoses, then later with the car wash on the corner which provided giant hoses. The original project was initiated in association with the Chamber of Commerce over thirty years ago by James Morgan whose family owned the local drugstore and soda fountain. The Boy Scouts also helped with repairs when cars hit the boxes. This program ended in 2020 when a car damaged the remaining boxes and at the same time VDOT announced plans to redesign the intersection which would no longer accommodate the planters.

Nature Camp and Educational Funds

For many years the funds to support a Nature Camp camper were raised through Club plant sales. Then in 2000, the club was fortunate enough to benefit from a bequest from Jane Williams, a longtime member. These funds were set aside to support educational projects including the campers. Over the years, it has become clear that the Nature Camp experience has been transformative for many kids and has also had an impact on their life decisions including career choices in the environmental field. The first camper was Brent Heath who later became a counsellor, and of course the rest of his horticultural story is history! In recent years, the club has cooperated with Gloucester and Mathews counties middle school science teachers to identify children.

GCV Events in Gloucester

The eighty-third Board of Governors meeting, chaired by Petie Matheson and Betty Barr Ould, was held in Gloucester on October 8-10, 2002. The Board of Directors met for lunch and board meeting on October 8 at White Marsh Plantation, the beautiful, historic home of Connie Ingles. Following the board meeting, cocktails and the Dutch treat dinner were held at “history-filled Warner Hall and water’s edge, to wine and dine and walk on ballroom floors where George Washington learned to dance.”

Mary Hart called the Board of Governors to order Wednesday morning at the historic, Ccolonial courthouse building in Gloucester and introduced Peggy Bowditch, president of The Garden Club of Gloucester, who described a “reverence for the past.” She continued, “You meet today in our 1766 courthouse, the oldest courthouse in continuous use in the United States. John Clayton, an internationally known botanist, served as clerk of the Gloucester court from 1720 to 1773.”

GCG historian Sarah Finney followed with a brief history of the club. She pointed out the brick wall and sidewalks in the historic courthouse area — funded by the club’s first project in the early 1920s. She also described a project begun by president Maude Perrin MacKubin in the 1930s, offering a prize to the child who killed the greatest number of tent caterpillars. “Method of proof and number killed is not noted.” Sarah continued, “Today I am wearing a part of my history with the Garden Club of Gloucester. In 1976, when I was president, I went to my first GCV meeting in Virginia Beach. When I came home, I told my husband that I could not possibly continue as president without an ultrasuede suit as 99% of the ladies present at the meeting had them on.”

Attendees were treated to lunch at Wareham Farm, home of Barbara and Peter Hunt, and Five Gables, home of Emily and George Barbee, followed by choice of an afternoon bus tour of historic sites and gardens at Rosewell, Lisborne and Elmington, or a river tour by boat on the Yorktown Lady.

Cocktails and a lavish awards banquet were held al fresco that evening at Goshen, the historic home of Adriane and Edwin Joseph overlooking the Ware River. Clam shell place cards and floral centerpieces of cattails, bittersweet and roses adorned each table. The 2002 Common Wealth Award was presented to the Garden Club of the Eastern Shore for their “Community Garden Central Park” in Cape Charles.

For the third time in its history, the GCV Daffodil Show came to Gloucester for two years in 2012 and 2013. The show took place at Ware Academy, and the GCG had all hands-on deck to support the show and work with the GCV Daffodil Committee. The club hosted many exhibitors from out of town and suspended its own show for two years while putting on the GCV show. In preparation for hosting the GCV Show, the GCG planted over 2000 daffodils the previous fall in front of Ware Academy to welcome visitors and exhibitors the following spring.

2012 Daffodil Show Photos

2013 Daffodil Show Photos

In 2017 Gloucester hosted the annual GCV Horticultural Field Day featuring Brent and Becky’s Bulbs, the gardens at Five Gables, Auburn, Belle Terre and Dunham Massie, and the quail habitat and pond at Elmington. The day was a spectacular display of Gloucester’s garden resources. View photos.

Local Beautification

Among the planting installations and beautification projects in these years was the landscaping of the new building for the local animal shelter, the Gloucester-Mathews Humane Society. This project received recognition from the GCV as one of the finalists for the Common Wealth Award in 2010.

In 2016 the club raised funds through a raffle to purchase and donate two large metal daffodil sculptures by artist Jeff Fetty at either end of Main Street. The prize for the raffle was a year’s worth of monthly flower arrangements for the winner’s home provided by garden club members. The sculptures are now landmarks for residents and tourists alike announcing our daffodil heritage to all who drive by. They also complement the work of the Main Street Preservation Trust, a trust that supports business development and beautification of Main Street, and the Main Street Association of local businesses. The GCV featured the work of Gloucester’s Main Street economic development and beautification efforts in the 2020 virtual Conservation Forum on “Urban Landscapes.”

Following in its tradition of beautifying the Courthouse Circle and Main Street, in 2018 in honor of its 90th Anniversary, GCG contributed a fountain for people and animals at a new “pocket park” across the street from the Courthouse Circle. See below for more on the 90th Anniversary and GCV Centennial activity.

GCG 90th Anniversary and GCV Centennial

In support of the GCV Centennial partnership with Virginia State Parks, the GCG partnered in 2017 with Belle Isle State Park on an educational summer program at the then future site of the Middle Peninsula State Park on the York River near Rosewell. The project received a grant from the GCV Centennial grants program. (Ultimately this state park was expanded to include the Timberneck historic site as well as the property next to Rosewell and was named Machicomoco State Park.) The 2017 summer program included a series of activities: Slimy Science; Tree Talks Hike; Aww Shucks, Oysters!; Ways of a Waterman Hike; Archeology in a Box; and the Power of Powhatan Hike, all attended by a mix of children and adults. Club members, along with members of the Williamsburg Garden Club, toured the new Machicomoco State Park landscape and facilities in 2021.

The GCV Centennial exhibit at the Virginia Center for History and Culture in Richmond featured the aforementioned teaching marsh project at VIMS, developed with support of the GCG and other donors.

In 2018 in honor of its 90th Anniversary, GCG contributed a fountain for people and animals at a new “pocket park” across the street from the Courthouse Circle. The club also donated two trees in the park in honor of the 2020 GCV Centennial.

GCG celebrated its 90th birthday with an elegant luncheon at White Hall, home of Marianne and Charlie Banks. The event committee went over the top on spectacular arrangements and table décor. Brent Heath was the speaker. The club made a special effort to get older members to attend and had over 80 people in attendance, including the Carol Steele, County Director of Parks and Recreation, who accepted GCG’s check for the fountain for the pocket park. Brent shared many memories of working with the garden club and commended the members on almost a century of community activities. The big hit of the day was a 300-image video history of club members and activities that was shown during the luncheon. Continuing the 90th anniversary celebration, the following spring the club had a walk-about tour of the gardens at Goshen, home of Adrianne Joseph and the location of the founding of the club. The gardens had been devastated by a tornado a few years before and were being restored and rethought by and Adrianne and Rick Daggy, formerly a lead gardener at Colonial Williamsburg. These restored gardens will be featured in an upcoming HGW.

The Upside of COVID-19

When COVID-19 hit in 2020, club members were challenged to keep active on projects and communication. Board and membership meetings were initially conducted by email or conference call until members learned to Zoom for a year and then switched to hybrid meetings. The most creative and rewarding new initiative to come out of this was the launch of “Club Connections” where members provide photos of their plants and flowers, share information, or ask questions of each other about horticultural issues. The photos have been spectacular and brought shared beauty into our lives during a trying time. This program is so popular, informative, and enriching that the club is continuing it for the future. It is coordinated by our data manager. All communications go through her to the whole club.

GCV Journal Contributions

Over the last several years, GCG members have published six articles in the GCV Journal on subjects as varied as mahonia, the children’s arranging program, a humorous piece on an arrangement disaster for a GCV show, and articles about GCV Conservation and Environmental Studies Fellows.

Other Noteworthy Events

In 2010 the GCG joined Virginia’s First Lady Maureen McDonald in support of the Louisiana First Lady Supriya Jindal’s campaign to provide school supplies for children of families affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Members filled 75 backpacks which were then delivered to the Governor’s Mansion in Louisiana by a truck from Pride of Virginia in Callao.
An important initiative in 2022 in terms of the management of the club was the application and receipt of non-profit status by Google which provided free use of its Google Workspace platform. Through this, the club set up secure access for all members and created shared drives to manage archives, records, and information sharing more efficiently on Google Drive. In addition, the club switched to Google Sites to host a revamped newsletter, archived versions of which are stored on the shared drives.

Looking to the Future

Club members are always on the lookout for new civic outreach projects and look forward to many more in the coming decade as GCG approaches its 100th birthday in 2028.

GCG Presidents 1995-2020

1994-1996	Shirley Robinson
1996-1998	Kitty Wilson
1998-2000	Nicoll Cadwalader Brinley
2000-2002	Louise Whitley
2002-2004	Peggy Bowditch
2004-2006	Rebecca Bottomley Meeker
2006-2008	Susan Morck Perrin
2008-2010	Ann Abbitt Hohenberger
2010-2012	Carole Evans White
2012-2014	Lynn ely Hornsby
2014-2016	Jean Franklin Johnson
2016-2018	Shannah Parks Cooper
2018-2020	Anne Alexander Marshall