The Garden Magazine, June, 1922 



247 



for the club? A step on the right path is the custom of holding 

 as many meetings as possible in the garden, as has been done 

 by the Garden Club of Spring Lake, New Jersey, and occasion- 

 ally by other groups. The term " Board of Gardeners, " used 

 by the Garden Club of Michigan, of which Mrs. Francis King 

 was one of the founders, is a reminder in directive management, 

 worth considering more frequently. 



In the programmes, the interests of the various clubs may 

 be seen reflected "in variety." Some groups are still plodding 

 along throughout the year with perennials, or some other type 

 of vegetation; but, more and more, other subjects related to 

 gardening are being introduced, from the practical topic of 

 clothing for working, to the last word in the poetry of landscape 

 architecture. Are we becoming less self-conscious of the actual 

 planting because we have in a degree perfected ourselves, so 

 that we are awakening to the harmony of our subject as a whole 

 — just as the musician forgets his fingers after his scales have 

 prepared him for the playing of a masterpiece? If we are sure 

 we have done enough practising of horticultural exercises, then 

 the diversity of the programmes means progress. 



Is Cooperation Gain or Loss? 



HOW is it with the flower shows? These conspicuous feat- 

 ures of the garden clubs have definitely advanced in 

 classifications for exhibits, and in the quality of material. 

 Moreover, from having been usually private semi-social affairs, 

 the shows have progressed (at least in some places) to the point 

 of admitting the public free; or if an admission is charged, the 

 receipts go to some philanthropy. Still further — the public 

 may even be invited to enter exhibits, as at one of the finest 

 club flower shows, that of Short Hills, New Jersey; or there may 

 be a community competition, as has been arranged by another 

 progressive club, The Bedford, New York. 



Another signal of pronounced progress is in the increasing 

 spirit of cooperation, which is said to require " the highest form 

 of intelligence." Thus, in a few sections of the country — in 

 northern New Jersey, and Westchester County, New York — 

 several clubs unite in holding a flower show. In Virginia there 



is a state federation of a number of clubs which is worthy of 

 imitation elsewhere, in order that common problems of soil, 

 climate, etc., may be more efficiently solved. A woman of 

 national prominence in the affairs of garden clubs said very 

 lately that things point toward greater cooperation with the 

 horticultural societies. This is already begun, noticeably in 

 Massachusetts, California, and New York, at flower shows. Is 

 it a mark of progress, or a lack of interest, however, where, as 

 occasionally occurs, a club has no show of its own? Is it not a 

 mistake to lose the identity of the club in this way? Does co- 

 operating with a horticultural society, valuable as it may be, 

 take the place of the club's own show? 



A many-years member of a well-known garden club, when 

 asked what she regarded as the greatest advance made by the 

 garden clubs, replied: "Conservation." This looking outside 

 one's own garden and caring for the public good is indeed a 

 long step forward, and the list of civic and other activities is 

 lengthening continually, until the original purpose of a garden 

 club blooms in a new form each year. A woman long in a 

 position to understand the inner life of many of the most ac- 

 tive of the clubs remarked that "the social side is passing." 

 Would not the loss of a certain personal touch be a backward 

 move? Is it not possible to preserve the broadening view and 

 still maintain an intimate, friendly (not artificially social) ele- 

 ment in the clubs? Each club has a distinct personality, and 

 if the poet spoke truly when he said: "Show me your garden, 

 provided it be your own, and I will tell you what you are like, " 

 may not the sentiment be equally applied to the clubs represent- 

 ing us and our gardens? 



Does not a vision of the future for garden clubs include a 

 desire to humanize the use of gardens by changing them, at least 

 in part, from mere plantations — no matter how beautiful — to 

 places of rest and .inspiration? Surely the garden stimulates 

 social-mindedness and friendly intercourse as nothing else does, 

 and no progress of the gardens or their clubs can be of the highest 

 type if they pass into over much technicality and too imper- 

 sonal existence. Does not the chief charm of a club, like the gar- 

 den where it grew, lie ever in the personal and broadly human? 



II. KEEPING STEP WITH SUMMER 

 FANNIE M. CHAPMAN 



Of the Englewood (N. J.) Garden Club 



Some Suggestions for the New Club by an Active President 



HEN we organized in the spring of last year, the im- 

 mediate question was not "what shall we do?" but 

 "which shall we do?" for summer lay just ahead with 

 its numberless, alluring, bewildering possibilities! 

 Our first move was more fundamentally wise than perhaps 

 we, in our infancy as a garden club, altogether realized at the 

 time. The happy inspiration came to invite a competent land- 

 scape architect to frankly criticize our gardens. A very in- 

 teresting and helpful day it was — we put our lunch, and our 

 pride, in our pockets and visited, if I remember aright, twenty- 

 one gardens of members. When, where, and how to plant; how 

 to plan a new or rearrange an old garden — concrete examples 

 and comparisons fully and intelligently discussed by someone 

 who knew, drove home in a vivid and unforgettable way some 

 of the things at least that make the really "good" or "bad" 

 in gardening. We learned (what we amateurs are perhaps too 

 often inclined to overlook) that no amount of luxuriant bloom 

 can ever rectify basically false design, though it may sometimes 

 incline us to forgive it ; and that the canons of taste are the same 

 in a garden as elsewhere — beware of clutter and of meaningless 

 planting! 



Summer Meetings at Home and Afield 



MEET at least every second week during nine months of 

 the year and in pleasant weather let it be always out-of- 

 doors. Mid-morning (eleven o'clock) seems, for obvious rea- 

 sons, the logical hour for summer meetings. Take a box lunch- 

 eon and go to the garden of some member — there is always 

 something delightfully informal in these open air gatherings. 



Never hesitate to have the club come to your garden because 

 you "have no flowers." We all go through the apologetic 

 stage, but remember that true garden lovers are not inclined to 

 be over critical, and take your turn ! The hostess usually pro- 

 vides a hot or cold drink, but thermos bottles may easily be 

 substituted. 



After transacting the business of the day, some member pre- 

 sents a paper, or others tell of experiences connected with their 

 garden work. These out-of-door luncheon meetings have 

 proven so friendly that the shyest member comes impatiently 

 to wait her opportunity to be heard. 



Sometimes our meetings are held in the woods or fields, for 

 every well regulated garden club has a wild-flower section 



