The Hampton Roads Garden Club

March 22, 2022

The Hampton Roads Garden Club was organized in April of 1932 by Miss Elizabeth Ivy who had a lovely garden which she was eager to share with the public. She had always been keenly interested in the Garden Club of Virginia’s Restoration Projects. During one early Historic Garden Week she opened her garden to the public and collected a small fee, planning to contribute it to the Garden Club of Virginia. When she was told GCV could accept money only from member clubs, she put her mind to becoming “one of them.” She gathered her likeminded gardeners, organized a garden club in 1932, and on May 12, 1937, the Hampton Roads Garden Club became a member of the Garden Club of Virginia.

Miss Ivy’s determination and “can do” spirit lives on within the Hampton Roads Garden Club today. Members are known as creative, enthusiastic ladies who cherish their gardens and cheerfully undertake any task put before them. Whether it be flower arranging, landscaping, conservation or event planning, members are happy to help each other and approach each task with solidarity of purpose.

Community Projects

From 1996-2000, members of this community-minded club decorated the chapel at the VA Hospital in Hampton at Christmastime; in 1997, donated to the historic landscape plan for St. John’s Church Cemetery Hampton; in 1998, donated thousands of daffodil bulbs and Scotch Broom to VDOT to be planted in the median on Interstate 64; and in 2002, planted trees at fire stations in Newport News, Hampton and York County to honor victims of 9/11.

Peninsula Fine Arts Center

Enjoying a long-standing relationship with the Peninsula Fine Arts Center, HRGC donated to the restoration and beautification of the Memorial Garden (1996-2014); restored and beautified the Margaret Alexander Garden (2008-2014); created and submitted Common Wealth Award applications in 2010 and 2011 for the renovation of the Memorial Garden showcasing rotating sculptures created in collaboration with Eastern Virginia Medical School for the new Healing Arts Project; and donated new granite seating walls at the entryway and entry garden (dedicated 2011).

Mariners’ Museum and Park

From 2014-2019, HRGC created and made possible the complete restoration and beautification of “Monument Hill” at the entrance to the Mariners’ Museum at Museum Drive, and from 2015-2021, donated to the landscaping and beautification of the museum’s south courtyard, adding a sprinkler system, outdoor lighting enabling evening events and up lighting for a special tree.

Virginia Living Museum

The club donated to the Children’s Learning Garden at the Virginia Living Museum in 1998; and in 2007, donated an “education box,” the EnviroScape Wetlands Model, to the museum to help educate children on the function and value of inland and coastal wetlands.

Other Community Projects

HRGC provided funds in 2002, and again in 2018-2019, to improve landscaping at the Hampton History Museum. In 2003, the club donated to Christopher Newport University for the creation of an on-campus garden to honor Alice Marshall Wertheimer, HRGC conservation chairman for sixteen years. The garden was dedicated in 2005. In 2016-2017, the club provided for enhancements to the Ft. Monroe entrance with landscaping improvements and a rose garden.

Conservation Projects

In February 2021, club members participated in the Great American Bird Watch, and in 2022, successfully partnered with the Huntington Garden Club to initiate and encourage action by the City Council of Newport News to submit an application to become the 11th Bee City in Virginia. HRGC maintains membership in various Conservation Organizations, such as Scenic Virginia, Chesapeake Bay Foundation; plays an active in the Peninsula Council of Garden Clubs; and sponsors one or two campers each year to Nature Camp in Vesuvius.

Fundraisers

An important fund-raising activity for many years has been the annual poinsettia and holiday greens sale. Not to be overlooked are the fund-raising bus trips:

• Bus trip to the Philadelphia Flower Show 1996-2016
• Bus trip to the DC National Cathedral Flower Mart and Mt. Vernon 2017-2018
• Spring bus trip to Charleston, South Carolina 2019

The club has a knack for attention-grabbing themes when hosting fund raisers. In-club fund raisers for the 2016 Rose Show included: “Blooming Night of Fun Auction” in 2010; “Ladies Night Out Auction” in 2011; “The Art of Picnicking” in 2014; and a silent auction in 2015. Others were “HGW with Flowers after Hours” in 2015-2022; “Sip and Shop” in 2018; “Contactless Sip and Shop” in 2020; “Blooming Zoom Auction” in 2020-2021; and a Zoom wine tasting party in 2021. Amazon Smile and Brent and Becky’s Blooming Bucks are ongoing.

Another creative club initiative that began in 2021 is “You’ve Been Bloomed,” where large wooden painted flowers are placed in the yard of an honoree.

Noteworthy Programs

A membership meeting was held October 5, 1999, at the Kent-Valentine House in Richmond. Historic Garden Week Executive Director Suzanne Munson welcomed us and led a tour. Bessie Carter, then GCV President, presented, “Why do we have garden clubs?” and offered her views on the history of landscape and the use of flowers. She was very approachable and much beloved. She was subsequently awarded both the de Lacy Gray Conservation Medal and the Massie Medal for Distinguished Achievement. The Bessie Bocock Carter Award was established by the GCV in 2009. It is given annually to fund conservation or environmental protection within the Commonwealth of Virginia.

2012 offered two outstanding programs: a bus trip to Kaplan Orchid Conservatory at Old Dominion University and a meeting to create flower arrangements to complement selected artwork. A visit to the Brock Center in Virginia Beach, headquarters for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in 2017 was especially informative. Club members always enjoy flower arranging tutorials. And in honor of Hampton Roads Garden Club’s 90th birthday in 2021-2022, past club presidents shared recollections of their presidencies.

GCV Recognition and Events

The Garden Club of Virginia presented Horticulture Award of Merit to Jody Petersen in 1996 and to Tyra Freed in 2015. Sally Harris became a GCV accredited Flower Shows Judge in 1998.

The Hampton Roads Garden Club hosted the 60th and 61st GCV Annual Rose Shows — “Audrey Hepburn: A Retrospective,” in 1996, and “Bouquets to Broadway: A Tribute to Rogers and Hammerstein,” in 1997.

The club hosted the 87th GCV Annual Meeting on May 8-10, 2007, at the City Center Marriott in Newport News. GCV Recording Secretary and Huntington Garden Club member Ann Gordon Evans recalled a 2005 conversation with Joanne Prillaman, then president of the Hampton Roads Garden Club, about plans for HRGC to host the upcoming 2007 Annual Meeting. The conversation went something like this:

Joanne: “We’re going to hold the 2007 Annual Meeting at the Marriott Hotel in City Center.”

Ann Gordon: “There is no Marriott in City Center.”

Joanne: “The Wednesday evening banquet will be held at the David Student Union at CNU.”

Ann Gordon: “There is no David Student Union at CNU.”

Ann Gordon admitted thinking that planning the Annual Meeting had gotten the best of Joanne, adding, “I thought she was hallucinating.”

Joanne proved to be clear of mind, and with co-chairmen Anne Harrison Harris and Sally Harris at the helm, the 87th GCV Annual Meeting was indeed held at the Marriott in City Center, and the banquet at the David Student Union at CNU. Six HRGC members hosted lunchons in their homes for attendees, and much to everyone’s amazement, the club managed to arrange a hard hat group tour of the CVN 77 George H. W. Bush Aircraft Carrier, then under construction at the Newport News Shipbuilding. Featured speaker was Bly Straube, then Senior Curator for the Jamestown Rediscovery Project.

HRGC hosted the 78th GCV Annual Rose Show, Romancing the Rose, in October 2016.

Members of the Hampton Road Garden Club participate in all GCV hosted events and have won numerous ribbons at GCV Flower Shows.

GCV Restoration and Grants

For several years, Hampton Roads Garden Club member Pi Lake had encouraged the GCV Restoration Committee to award funds to restore the property of Historic Lee Hall Mansion in Newport News. Lee Hall was the home of Richard Decatur Lee, built three years prior to the outbreak of the Civil War. It served as headquarters of Confederate Generals Magruder and Johnston, but by May 1862, Union troops occupied the lower Peninsula and Lee Hall itself, after a skirmish on the property. Upon their return, the Lees found that their property had been seized by the Freedmen’s Bureau. It was restored to Lee after he received a pardon from President Andrew Johnson in 1865. However, without slaves as a labor force or his mill, which had been destroyed by Union troops, Lee was unable to turn a profit and was forced to sell. The city of Newport News purchased the property of fifteen acres in 1996, and the original house and brick kitchen are open for tours. Earthworks found on the property were constructed during the Civil War skirmish.

The Hampton Roads, Huntington and Williamsburg garden clubs began collaborating in 2016 to obtain funding for landscaping at York River State Park through the Garden Club of Virginia’s Centennial project.  As a result, the park received a grants for landscaping in 2018, landscape refurbishment in 2019, and installation of a pollinator meadow in 2021.

Numerous Hampton Roads Garden Club members have served on GCV committees from 1996-2022: Midge Eason, HGW District Chairman, 1997-2003; Anne Harrison Harris, Chairman of Board of Governors and Annual Meetings, 2008-2010 and District 3 Director at Large, 2018-2020; Sidney Jordan, District 3 Director at Large, 2016-2018 and Chairman of the Board of Governors and Annual Meetings, 2018-2020; Allison Clock, Conservation and Beautification Chairman, 2020-2022 and Horticulture Chairmen, 2022-2024.

HRGC in the News

The Hampton Roads Garden Club’s strong community connections have been reflected time and time again in local news outlets: The Daily Press has photographed the club’s daffodil and scotch broom plantings on Interstate 64 and printer articles featuring Alice Wertheimer and Alice’s Garden; member Judy Hall arranging for HGW; member Allison Clock, premier arranger and artist; member Gay Huffman; and numerous HGW tour articles.

The GCV Journal has featured Alice’s Garden, the “Monument Hill” restoration at the Mariner’s Museum, the bus trip to the DC National Cathedral Flower Mart and Mt. Vernon; and the work done at York River State Park. The Hampton Roads Garden Club’s arrangement for the 2012 Board of Governors meeting in Suffolk was featured in the Suffolk News Herald. And the club was featured in the 2013 and 2017 GCV Year in Review. The club’s HGW tour is frequently featured on the Hampton Roads Show.

HRGC Presidents 1996-2020

1996-1998	Mary Dame Broad
1998-2000	Maureen Hutchens
2000-2002	Debbie Tanner
2002-2004	Frankye McAdam
2004-2006	Gay Huffman
2006-2008	Joanne Prillaman
2008-2010	Martha Field
2010-2012	Jane Cooper
2012-2014	Susan Armfield
2014-2016	Marsha Amory
2016-2018	Anne Harrison Harris
2018-2020	Dale Banning