The Rappahannock Valley Garden Club

March 21, 2022

The Rappahannock Valley Garden Club maintains a full and dedicated membership of 60 active members 15 associate members, three honorary members and an unlimited number of lifetime members. Strong and enduring friendships and leadership are found among each of the classes of membership at the club level.

 

Jeanette Cadwallender, former RVGC President, served as Garden Club of Virginia President from 2014-2016. During her term, the GCV launched its Centennial project, a five-year commitment to grant $100,000 each year to Virginia State Parks from funds generated from Historic Garden Week. Individual clubs partnered with nearby state parks to identify and meet specific needs. The RVGC worked with Caledon State Park and secured a grant for a new water station for use by humans and their pets while hiking in the park.

Within the community of Fredericksburg and the surrounding counties, RVGC is known for its Historic Garden Week tours conducted by “Gracious Commonwealth Volunteers” (wearing colonial costumes until 2019) and decorated with stunning floral arrangements.

The club’s conservation and beautification efforts are visible in the local GCV Restoration sites, other historic sites and parks throughout the area. The RVGC hosted a one-day conservation fair showcasing the community’s conservation partners and services and invited the public to learn about them. The club’s “Do One Thing” initiative began as an effort to encourage members to conserve and quickly spawned a Facebook page with public support.

The Rappahannock Valley Garden Club hosted the GCV’s Board of Governors meeting in October 1996 and the Annual Meeting, “Roots of Restoration,” in 2017. The club presented beautiful Daffodil Shows in 2005 and 2006 at the University of Mary Washington’s Jepson Center. Plans were made to host the Lily Show in 2020 and in 2021, but those were thwarted with the COVID-19 pandemic. The club willingly volunteered to host the 2022 Lily Show at Fredericksburg Academy in June. Held in memory of former GCV President and Garden Club of the Northern Neck member Helen Murphy, the event showcased stunning lily stems, artistic arrangements, and photography.

The Rappahannock Valley Garden Club has been instrumental in providing financial support, horticulture, floral arrangements and labor for several community projects throughout the years, including:

• decorated and delivered miniature Christmas trees for Mary Washington Hospital patients, small spring arrangements for assisted living residents and patriotic centerpieces for USO night at Historic Kenmore
• partnered with the Central Rappahannock Regional Library system to provide additional landscaping for the downtown Fredericksburg branch (a former Common Wealth Award finalist)
• created the LOVE Garden at the city entrance crossing of Routes 1 and 3
• placed a fountain and bench at Hurkamp Park
• served on the Plant Central Rappahannock Natives Committee, which created a native plants demonstration garden at Cedell Brooks, Jr. Park in King George County
• donated seed money for Downtown Greens (a community garden)
• rejuvenated the garden (1995) and donated funds for refurbishment of the garden shed at the Rising Sun Tavern (2020)
• participated in the GCV’s Mirror Campaign to restore the Kent-Valentine House mirrors
• partnered with the city to plant trees at Riverfront Park

Along with the various plantings in the area parks, members worked with community partner, Bloomia, and a member’s husband to plant tulips throughout the city. The club annually participates in Arbor Day observances, planting dogwoods on Washington Avenue, a pin oak in the Fredericksburg National Cemetery, a tree in Hurkamp Park after 9/11 and trees on the grounds of the juvenile detention center. The club partnered with a member’s son, who was working on a high school Senior project, to create a rain garden at the Bragg Hill Family Life Center, thereby beautifying a community space and mitigating run-off from the parking lot.

Through its Nature Camp Scholarship program, the Rappahannock Valley Garden Club has sponsored more than 25 area children and continues to send students to Nature Camp each summer.

The RVGC received the Common Wealth Award in 2014 for its work at Chatham Manor, helping to research and restore the original Ellen Biddle Shipman garden of 1921, commissioned by Mrs. Daniel Devore, homeowner, RVGC founder, and first club president. Additionally, the club partnered with the Friends of Chatham and the Rappahannock Rotary Club to restore the garden statue of Pan and to establish an endowment for the Chatham gardens.

Blossom Buddies, Botanical Bunches, Botanical Buddies and Bless My Bloomers

The Rappahannock Valley Garden Club remains committed to conservation and beautification through education and action, which often begin at very early ages. In 2000, the Blossom Buddies program was created by member Marion Zimmermann to teach members’ children and grandchildren the principles of cutting garden flowers and foliage, using simple mechanics in flower arranging, and creating small topiaries, wreaths, and tea cup arrangements. The latter decorated the tables at a Mother’s Day tea party. The more proficient students were later invited to join Mrs. Zimmermann and the Altar Guild at the Washington Cathedral in decorating the choir stalls for Christmas.

Raising funds for events and projects has always been a way to gather members for fellowship and fun. Members created and sold beautiful holiday arrangements and wreaths for many years. Biennial December auctions added to the funds and fun in subsequent years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, members gathered, socially distanced and masked, to create and sell Botanical Bunches, holiday bulbs curated in glass pedestals with beautiful ribbon. The club also benefited from the bulb rebate program through Brent and Becky’s Bulbs.

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, while challenging, provided opportunities for new ways of enjoying the garden club experience. The president established the COVID-19: Responsible Virginians Gathering Protocols committee, whose members kept abreast of all new information related to the pandemic and guided the club through the various stages of meeting together. During the first year, the club met monthly using the ZOOM video platform. The Botanical Buddies program (secret pals) made sure connections stayed strong and spirits were uplifted. Bless My Bloomers, the monthly newsletter created by the president, was filled with information about “events to come . . . or maybe not. . .”, links to programming that could be accessed online, club business, RVGC Recollections culled from the club’s history, and pictures of winning flower arrangements and horticulture specimens. Members continued to exhibit their flower arranging skills or their gardens’ bounties by photographing their exhibits and sending them in to be judged virtually.

The Rappahannock Valley Garden Club is proud of its contributions to its community and to the Garden Club of Virginia. It is equally as proud of the efforts by the membership to stay connected, share knowledge and talents, and provide leadership and mentorship to one another. Through gatherings at members’ homes and the UMW President’s home, flower arranging workshops, Historic Garden Week, and community work, members enjoy being together. The Rappahannock Valley Garden Club looks forward to celebrating its Centennial in 2024.

RVGC Presidents 1994-2024

1994-1996	Sarah Bass
1996-1998	Liz Thompson
1998-2000	Kitty Lee Wafle
2000-2002	Mary Wynn McDaniel
2002-2004	Jeanette Cadwallender
2004-2006	Anne Beals
2006-2008	Betsy Quarles
2008-2010	Betsy Carey
2010-2012	Laura Smart
2012-2014	Tricia McDaniel
2014-2016	Tricia Garner
2016-2018	Patsy Thompson
2018-2020	Kelly Johnson
2020-2022	Patti Lynch
2022-2024	Rennie McDaniel