2 April 1914: The Garden Club Keeps Busy

On this day in 1914, the Society section of the Athens Daily Banner published news from the recent Garden Club meeting, noting that low attendance due to the poor weather meant many decisions for the group had been postponed until their next meeting on April 15th.

Among the questions left undecided was the "Garden Club Vegetable," and the "Garden Club Plant" for exhibit at the Garden Club show this fall; further discussion of Rose Fete in June and sweet pea exhibit. Two prizes were offered for the most attractive back yard.

The group also appointed a committee to ask the Mayor and City Council if they wanted the Club to beautify the grounds around the new City Hall, after having been declined in the past.

For future meetings, they announced that Professor Guy W. Firor, a Horticulture professor at the Georgia State College of Agriculture, would give a lecture on "'The [sic] relation between vegetables and soil'...that is, the kind of soil best suited to different kinds of vegetables."

The Garden Club in Athens began in January of 1891, and was the first garden club in the United States. By 1928, the Garden Club of Georgia was created, and in 1929, 13 state garden clubs came together to form the National Garden Clubs organization. Beyond member education and enhancement of their own gardening, both the state and national organizations also emphasize conservation, preservation, environmental protection, civic beautification, and public education.

The Garden Club of Georgia is also active in a variety of community service pursuits, such as gardening therapy for the mentally ill; historic preservation and establishment of historic markers around the state; watershed protection and conservation advocacy; litter control and highway beautification; and providing landscaping, homeowner education, and free lawn and gardening tools for Habitat for Humanity projects. Formerly headquartered at the Founder's Garden on the UGA campus, in 1998, the Garden Club of Georgia moved into their headquarters building on the campus of the State Botanical Gardens.

Learn More:

• Athens Daily Banner, Feb. 27,1914 - May 31, 1914 on Microfilm in the Heritage collection.
  
• Ladies Garden Club, Athens, Georgia, Organized 1891: America's First Garden Club prepared by Mrs. Madison G. Nicholson in the Heritage collection.
• 1912-1913 Athens City Directory in the Heritage collection.
• Garden History of Georgia, 1733-1933 by Loraine M. Cooney in the Heritage collection.
• Tree Registry: Athens and Clarke County, Georgia by the Junior Ladies Garden Club of Athens, Georgia in the Heritage collection.
• Grandmother's Garden: The Old-Fashioned American Garden, 1865-1915 by May Brawley Hill in the general collection.
  
• The Handbook for Flower Shows: Growing, Staging, Exhibiting, and Judging by the National Council of State Garden Clubs in the general collection.
  
• The Azalea Region of the Garden Club of Georgia.