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The Garden Magazine, June, 1922 



under the leadership of an able chairman; but of this more later. 



Excursions to various gardens significant for one reason or 

 another were made by motor. A member was appointed to 

 take charge of all transportation for these trips, and to her 

 others with cars reported the number of vacant seats available. 

 It was her duty also to let everyone know the place and hour of 

 meeting, and all were under bond to appear promptly. Again 

 the luncheon box and indispensable thermos bottle were in 

 evidence. Some lovely spot, preferably off the main travelled 

 road, was selected, and an enjoyable and often exceedingly prof- 

 itable hour was spent with always the chance of finding some 

 new wild flower or shrub. 



We were never refused an application to visit, in a body, 

 any garden, but invariably were received with the utmost cour- 

 tesy by the owner or his representative, and we found the pro- 

 fessional gardener full of valuable knowledge and obligingly will- 

 ing to share his findings with the amateur. 



Do not limit your trips to the private garden or estate but by 

 all means visit the nurseries in your neighborhood, where there 

 is a surprising amount to be learned and to be enjoyed. Here 

 again the busy professional seems never too busy to answer 

 questions about Roses, Chrysanthemums, Tulips, Dahlias — 

 whatever his hobby and yours may be! 



If so fortunate as to be within motoring or easy train distance 

 of a botanical garden such as the Arnold Arboretum near Bos- 

 ton, the New York Botanical Garden, or the Shaw Botanic 

 Garden of St. Louis, do not neglect the opportunity to see what 

 is being done there. A group of clubs might even join together 

 in a pilgrimage to one of these big centres of plant life with 

 much the zest of the crusaders of old. You will come back 

 to your own garden with a fresh sense of what it means as a 

 little link in the great chain of green and growing things that 

 loop the round earth, making it habitable and attractive for 

 man. 



The Rose Test Gardens, too, that have been established in 

 various cities through the efforts of the American Rose Society, 

 hold much of interest for the lover of this historic flower. The 

 National Rose Test Gardens not far from Washington, D. C., 

 are possibly the best known, though similar municipal ones on a 

 somewhat smaller scale flourish at Hartford (Conn.), Minne- 

 apolis (Minn.), and Portland (Oregon). 



Planning for Your Shows 



OH, THE wonder and joy of your first flower show! When 

 some brave member suggests the desirability of holding 

 a show, the unanimous outcry will be: "We haven't a thing to 

 exhibit!" Yes, you have; you will be surprised to find how 

 really creditable a showing you can achieve with but little, for 

 there may be entries of all classes from a single prize Rose to a 

 French bouquet. One of the most interesting and surprising 

 features is the variety and beauty that may be developed in 

 flower arrangement for the dining room, the living room, or my 

 lady's boudoir. 



The necessary data for the methods of giving a flower show 

 can be procured from the Garden Club of America — a national 

 organization ever ready with information even though your 

 club is not yet privileged to membership. 



Do your spring and fall planting with a view to having some- 

 thing really worth while for these exhibitions. In an incredibly 

 short time your club will be invited to join with others in giving 

 an exhibit. Never refuse ! Go in and do your best; through co- 

 operation comes experience and knowledge. Shortly the time 



will arrive when you bravely invite other clubs to take part 

 in your home flower shows. Preserve all ribbons and prizes 

 with care, for these should be among your most cherished 

 possessions. 



If your club be still in its infancy, you have before you a wide 

 field to choose from, and the subject of specialization for the en- 

 suing season should be given earnest thought and much dis- 

 cussion at club meetings. Encourage members to pursue their 

 hobbies wholeheartedly and, if possible, have several members 

 specialize in growing the same flower or flowers. Competition 

 has its uses in the garden as elsewhere and such specialized, com- 

 petitive cultivation means not only better shows but actual 

 gain in knowledge for the individual gardener. Mrs. Stout's 

 "The Amateur's Book of the Dahlia," for example, is a very 

 illuminating record of what may be accomplished by patient 

 and persistent pursuit along definite lines. 



Garden Clubs and Good Citizenship 



ONE of the very delightful features of a garden club is the 

 "exchange." Appoint a committee to promote and 

 handle the exchanging of seeds, plants, and bulbs, and let each 

 member be thoughtful enough to register with this committee 

 everything of which she may have a surplus. From this surplus 

 give not only to fellow clubmen but to fellow townsfolk, grad- 

 ually inspiring young and old with a civic pride that will act as 

 a sort of automatic stop-clock on vandalism. 



A practical way to further city planting is for each member to 

 agree to contribute one tree yearly, consulting your Park Com- 

 missioner (if you have one, and if not, urge the appointment 

 of a genuine plant lover for this office) as to varieties best suited 

 to the particular climate and environment. Enlist the services 

 and interest of the children from the start by allowing them to 

 throw earth about the roots when planting the trees and by 

 constituting them tree wardens. This will stimulate them to 

 resent and prevent vandalism; and civic pride cannot be too 

 early aroused. Make your garden club "Tree Planting Day" 

 so attractive that young and old will consider it a privilege not 

 only to donate trees, but to be present at the planting exercises. 



A bird sanctuary may appropriately be made the focus of 

 your civic planting, this giving the children of your town a 

 double interest. The sanctuary established at Fairfield, Conn., 

 by Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright, familiar friend of birds and 

 lover of all things out-of-doors, might well serve as a model. 



Have a wild-flower day in your schools and offer a prize for 

 the child who brings the greatest number of identified specimens. 

 Also teach the children that the wild plant should no more be 

 broken or uprooted than the Roses or Geraniums in their 

 mother's garden. Explain the necessity for this precaution — 

 the preservation of the species and the selfishness of needlessly 

 destroying beauty. Inculcate in their young minds the desira- 

 bility of not molesting roadside flowers and plants because of 

 the pleasure these give to countless passers-by — some children 

 of larger growth who run over the countryside in automobiles 

 might be taught this lesson as well. 



Whether one lives North, South, East, or West matters not 

 — everywhere there are spirits with kindred tastes. Get to- 

 gether now, organize at once, and you will find summer activities 

 come crowding about you. Upon the joy and spiritual elation 

 that comes to one handling the soil, I do not venture to touch 

 — this is the reward, intimate and exhilarating, of every gar- 

 dener as she watches seed, bulb, or plant her hands have put 

 into the earth, slowly rising heavenward. 



Editors' Note: Frequent appeals for help in forming new Garden Clubs, or with a view to infusing fresh activities 

 into extant organizations, has led us to seek experienced aid from those qualified to speak, and we feel that these two ar- 

 ticles will be of service, One is written from the forward-looking point of view of the pioneer: the other reflects the wis- 

 dom and philosophy of experience. 



The garden club movement has vindicated itself as a source of enrichment, not only in the individual lives of the active 

 participants, but also as a force for good in the wider life of community and nation, and it seems imperative to ask of this 

 great company of organized gardeners whither it is going, With so many possibilities at hand, little wonder that a diversity 

 of aim is found among even the leaders of the movement— every group of people has its ancestor worshippers and its 

 builders of history. The clubs in general are so very much alive, so continually adding to their numbers and their inter- 

 ests that one cannot doubt the foreward-lookingness of the majority of the leaders. 



Every day come pleas for help! Club Presidents and Club Members, gifted with a generous past, what can you tell 

 others of your hopes and aspirations for the future? Will you stretch out the hand of fellowship and further point the way? 



