Flower girls: Colonial Garden Club celebrates 60 years of gardening

View larger image Karen Carter, vice president of the Colonial Garden Club, sniffs a carnation during the club’s recent meeting at the Inn at Vaucluse Spring near Stephens City. Rich Cooley/Daily Recommend This Print This Get E-mail News Alerts Buy Photos/Page Reprints * Breaking News If local news is breaking and you know about it: * Call Us: 800-296-5137 * E-mail Us * Upload Your Photos View larger image Brenda Miller, left, historian of the Colonial Garden Club, chats with Dale Watten of Winchester after she dropped off morning glory plants during their recent meeting at the Inn at Vaucluse Spring near Stephens City Rich Cooley/Daily View larger image Leah Brumback, left, and Karen Oleksa, right, both of Winchester, look through a club recipe book during their recent gathering at the Inn at Vaucluse Spring near Stephens City celebrating the Colonial Garden Club’s 60th anniversary. Rich Cooley/Daily View larger image Ann Goodman, president of the Colonial Garden Club, sits inside the Inn at Vaucluse Spring near Stephens City where the club recently celebrated their 60th annversary. Rich Cooley/Daily View larger image Dale Watten, of Winchester, carries a group of morning glories she planned to share with other members of the club at the meeting. Rich Cooley/Daily

By Jessica Wiant -- jwiant@nvdaily.com

STEPHENS CITY -- It might seem like an antiquated notion: Women joining a club by nomination only, meeting once monthly at each other's homes to discuss cultivating and arranging flowers and decorating museums for the holidays. But for the Colonial Garden Club -- and many other clubs like it -- it's still going strong after more than half a century.

"It's still relevant," said the club's vice president, Karen Carter. "For a woman's soul in particular, it's good to play in the earth. We're just a bunch of gardeners."

Members of the Colonial Garden Club of Winchester/Frederick County met for a luncheon at the Inn at Vaucluse Spring this week to celebrate 60 years since it was founded.

The club started with a couple of ladies meeting at the home of the club's first president back in 1951, according to its historian, Brenda Miller. Back then, members were required to have resided in the county for at least five years and pay $3 dues. Meetings started promptly at 2:30 p.m., she said.

One of its memorable events was a dance they organized in 1958 hoping to get Patsy Cline in attendance, but she didn't show, Miller said.

Nowadays, the club keeps 20 to 25 members at a time, and dues are $25. The group still meets once monthly and at each meeting there is a program -- on topics ranging from recycling to topiaries -- and a judged arrangement contest based on the prior month's program. Women also bring items they've grown on their own to be judged.

The club also does its fair share of community service, donating money toward different community areas for gardens or helping decorate homes for Virginia Historic Garden Week tours.

In honor of the club's 60-year anniversary, members also put together a recipe book, which they plan to sell.

For most members, gardening isn't a profession, but a hobby they simply would like to learn more about.

"Being a new person I have learned so much," Miller said.

They become friends, and do Christmas exchanges or bring garden-related trinkets or share seeds and plants with each other at meetings, according to Carter.

"It's thoughtful. We're all friends," she said. "There's lots to be shared among the different generations."

Members of the Colonial Garden Club range in age from 16 to those in their 90s. The youngest is Carter's teenage daughter, who was just approved as a member.
Members also range in interest, according to the club's president, Ann Goodman. Some are more interested in arranging than growing, for instance.

Goodman found out about the club from fellow church members after moving to Winchester several years ago. She'd belonged to a garden club in Tennessee prior to joining. Meetings have been a way to get to know people, and work on projects, which she said the club hopes to pick up more with in the future.

As member and former president Kathy Holliday pointed out, members might also be interested in drying and pressing flowers. For her, she said, the club has been a great source for sharing plants, materials and design ideas.

Carter's specialty, however, is splitting and transplanting perennials. Taking plants from different places gives her garden a story, she said.