Rhododendron Garden Club News – June 2024

After my Dad’s death in 2008, my husband and I moved to Mentone from Florida to care for my mother. We attended Howard’s Chapel, and Dianne Kuehl casually mentioned one Sunday that I should come by on the second Tuesday to visit the Rhododendron Garden Club (RGC). I responded with a polite “Thank you so much” with no intention of following up.

I looked back on the Ladies’ Garden Club of Clifton in Jacksonville, Florida, which was an invitation-only club and not once in 26 years had I been asked. Additionally, the Officers’ Wives Club meetings were not ones of joy. Plus, my former sister-in-law’s mother was a flower show judge and she was scary! Spending all day, day after day, with a woman I could never please changed my mind pretty quickly, and suddenly the RGC was looking pretty good.

Monthly meetings were fun and informative, and the women were pretty awesome. The first flower show was a blur and totally confusing, but I was so hooked I became a flower show judge! What were the Northeast Alabama Federation of Garden Clubs (NEAFGC), District ll, Garden Club of Alabama, Deep South, and the National Garden Club that kept appearing at the end of each Groundhog article? The RGC belongs to and pays dues to all these groups.

A flow chart would have been helpful, but here goes…

Cherokee Rose, Fort Payne, Rainsville, and RGC formed the NEAFGC with the purpose of having a flower show every fall at the DeKalb County VFW Fairgrounds. This year’s flower show will be Oct. 14-19. A plant sale each spring funds the show, so thanks to all who responded to the Facebook and Mentone Neighbor to Neighbor pleas to purchase member-grown horticulture. The sale was a total success! Other years have included leftover plants from the DeKalb County Master Gardeners and were greatly appreciated.

Local clubs report their activities to a district director, who gives those reports to the executive board during fall meetings and at the spring convention. Bragging about the club’s accomplishments is satisfying, and hearing what other clubs are doing can be inspirational. Alabama has eight districts. District ll has RGC and other clubs in the northeast area of the state.

The Garden Club of Alabama (GCA) was organized in 1932 with 71 delegates representing 50 Alabama clubs. Their stated goals were to “coordinate the interests of garden clubs in the state, to be a clearinghouse for information on all subjects pertaining to garden clubs, and to support and cooperate with the national council established for the purpose of national service in the floral and cultural world.” Today, 62 clubs and 1,000 members belong to GCA.

Individual states then belong to one of the seven regions. Alabama is in the Deep South region with Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Once a year, the Deep South Convention is held in one of those states, awards are given, and states with the most awards have bragging rights until the next year.

In 1929, 19 state federations saw the advantage of joining together to address common concerns, such as groundwater and parks, organizing into the National Garden Club, Inc., or NGC (not to be confused with the GCA). Another group concern in 1929 was the Quarantine 37 Act, regulating nursery stock that prohibited the importation of Dutch bulbs. Don’t mess with focused women on a mission! Today, all 50 states have garden clubs, with a membership of 190,000. The NGC has lovely headquarters in St. Louis at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.

Convention. Symposium. Scholarships. Awards. Blue Star Markers. Conservation. Flower Shows. Topics for another day.

In 2008, the RGC had eight members. What a journey it has been, losing folks to death and moves and suddenly having more folks than space. Twenty-eight and counting and evolving to include men and even members under the age of 50, maybe even 40! Hope springs eternal. All are welcome. It’s a family with all the warts and love.