e National Garden Association 
Formed to promote the annual observance of National Garden Week 
Leonard Barron, F.R.H.S., President 
Honorary Vice-Presidents: J. Horace McFarland, Mrs. Francis King, Mrs. Russell 
Tyson, Mrs. Thomas G Winter, Mrs. Samuel Sloan, Mr. Frederick Newbold, Mr. 
Robert Pyle, Mrs. John D. Sherman. 
Cooperating Societies: National Plant, Flower and Fruit Guild; American Dahlia 
Society; American Iris Society; Ontario Horticultural Association; American 
Forestry Association; Women’s National Farm and Garden Association; Wild 
Flower Preservation Society; National Horticultural Society; The Agassiz 
Association; The School Nature League; Society of Little Gardens. 
HE National Garden Association has become a meeting 
place of interested garden-workers, each one bringing 
some worth-while tale of beautiful gardens, inspiring 
stories of community-beautifying, of flowers grown for 
the sick and helpless, of parks and play places established to 
bring beauty back to congested city districts. Each tells of 
some new way of broadcasting beauty, some unusual method 
by which the spirit of National Garden Week is being carried 
on throughout the year. 
b rom Chicago comes word of a most unusual garden club of 
3,000 members. This is the Utilities Garden Association, its 
loneliness. So—five years ago —1 saved every seed possible 
from my own flowers and secured also the names of women 
living in our loneliest sections. Then, at Christmas time, I 
made up gay packages of seeds, and sent them off with di¬ 
rections for their planting and care, with a cheery Christmas 
card saying that the seeds came from my own garden. Such 
letters of gratitude came, that every summer since that time 
1 have gathered more and more seeds, giving away last year 
over 3000 packages. Many of these women are now, in turn, 
saving their flower and vegetable seeds to give away.” 
members men of the various utility and public service companies 
of the city. An account of this, the largest Utilities Garden 
Club in America, was sent us by one of its founders, Mr. L. W. 
Nack, in a letter that we publish in full. It is worthy of serious 
consideration by every similar company in every large city. 
What this club has done in Chicago may be done elsewhere. 
The beauty they have brought into their city may be brought 
to other cities as well. Mr. Nack writes: 
The Garden Club originated at the Commonwealth Edison Company in 
1921. Four of us who were garden lovers believed that a garden league would 
be a success. We knew that a garden improves the home surroundings, keeps 
the family together, that gardening keeps us mentally and physically fit, and 
is a game or sport that all can play four seasons of the year. That spring, we 
held our first flower show, holding another in the fall 
and each succeeding year. Each year the number of 
exhibitors has doubled. 
Pleased with our first success, we invited employees 
of other public utilities companies to form an associa¬ 
tion. This has created a friendly rivalry between the 
companies, and the members are doing all possible to 
grow and develop better Iris, Roses, etc. We have so 
many members now specializing in these various flowers 
that we have taken steps to affiliate with the many 
national flower societies. 
We (the Edison division) publish “The Round Ta¬ 
ble,' 1 asixteen-page monthly bulletin containing timely 
garden articles. Our club library has books on garden¬ 
ing and all bulletins or booklets received are filed for 
use in the library. A special feature is our plan of 
collective buying. We buy only new and proved 
varieties of plants and have saved our members over 
$1700 in this way. 
A record to be proud of! A definite con¬ 
structive effort to make true the hope un¬ 
derlying National Garden Week—to ‘‘make 
this country a better and a more beautiful 
place to live in.” 
F ROM the results of these 3,000 workers, 
we turn to an account of the achieve¬ 
ment of one woman, Mrs. Willard Bayliss, 
Chairman of Public Welfare Department 
of the Minnesota Federation of Women’s 
Clubs. “ 1 am very glad to tell you a little 
about sending out flower seeds,” the letter 
runs, “for it is something that so many 
women could do so easily. In our big 
county of over six thousand square miles, 
our country women are so isolated. And 
flowers are the best sort of panacea for 
S O RAPIDLY are the wildflowers disappearing from beside 
the woodland trails the country over that the story of the 
work being done by the Girl Scouts of Portland, Oregon, is most 
heartening. For, not only are they helping in their own corner, 
but their example is so stimulating that other groups are emu¬ 
lating it. This new phase of conservation has been the gather¬ 
ing and sale of wildflower seeds. 
Last year, during the summer and fall, these Scouts on their 
hikes gathered seeds of more than 30 varieties of wildflowers, 
under the expert direction of their leaders. No rooted plants were 
taken, only the seeds. These were packed [in small, carefully 
labeled envelopes, each package containing brief cultural direc¬ 
tions and each guaranteed true to name. These were then 
sold and the results of this sale have been 
far-reaching. Not only did it bring funds 
to the Scout treasury, but it enabled any in¬ 
terested gardener to introduce these lovely 
wildings into his own garden. And this has 
been of interest not only to the people of 
Oregon; seeds have been bought in several 
other states and some even ordered from 
England. To any one desiring to have a 
wildflower corner in his garden,we would urge 
writing to these Girl Scouts of Portland. 
A VERY significant individual contribu¬ 
tion comes in this word from a Cali¬ 
fornia garden neighbor, Mr. E. Van Dyke 
of Oakland, whose employers presented 
him with a silver cup (picture at left) as 
a mark of their appreciation: 
“Our store is a very large one, many people come 
in every day, and I know some of them never see the 
inside of a flower garden nor have the least idea how the 
beautiful flowers grow, yet a vase of beautiful flowers 
stops them and in their own peculiar language, a soft 
whispering kind, I’m sure they are saying, “Take a 
look, it’s free.” I have flowers of some kind on the 
cases nearly every day in the year. During May when 
the Tulips were in flowering mood, 1 cut several dozen 
for the store, just so other people could see how nice 
they were. 
This may be an incentive to others who have lots of 
flowers and who do not grow them for a commercial 
enterprise, to choose one of their family stores and keep 
on their show cases a few cut flowers as often as possi¬ 
ble. It is not going to hurt anybody, it will do lots of 
good, and in the end make the world a better place to 
live in, and 1 know the storekeeper is not going to 
object, and ninety-nine in a hundred will help as much 
and as far as they can.” 
SILVER CUP AWARDED FOR 
COUNTER BOUQUETS 
Folk with all the country spread about their 
doorsteps can scarcely realize what a few 
flowers may mean to city-bound people. All 
praise to Mr. Van Dyke for the kindly im¬ 
pulse which won him a silver cup! (See text 
at right) 
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