Garden Club of Virginia Membership News

November 2019

Greetings!

Please join me in thanking all of the members of The Garden Club of the Northern Neck for hosting the 100th Board of Governors meeting. Attendees were able to view the work of GCV as tours highlighted our new garden at Stratford Hall as well as our Discovery Center at Westmoreland State Park. I hope that all of you will have the opportunity to travel to the Northern Neck and visit these special sites.

Congratulations to The Boxwood Garden Club whose project, the Peter Paul Development Center, is the recipient of the 2019 Common Wealth Award. GCV is proud to be part of this community effort.

Our committees are hard at work planning programs and Centennial events. I thank all of them for their enthusiasm as we continue our year of celebration. Clubs are busy hosting fundraisers and celebrations honoring GCV’s 100 years. It is an exciting time to be a member of the Garden Club of Virginia.

In November, as we enjoy the beautiful fall color and cool weather, our thoughts begin to move to Thanksgiving. I give thanks for family, friends, and for each and every one of you who devote your time to GCV. Enjoy the beginning of the holiday season!

Warm regards,

GCV Member Photography

Stratford Hall (click image to enlarge)

Penny Dart

Warrenton Garden Club

Summer ends, and Autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always and a full moon every night; and thus, he would never know the rhythms that are at the heart of life.

~ Hal Borland

Mark Your Calendar

Friday, November 1

Bessie Bocock Carter Application Deadline

Saturday, November 2

Party in the Park, Princess Anne GC

Monday, November 4, KVH 10:30

Artistic Design Committee

Wednesday, November 6, KVH 10:30

Member Club Historians

Thursday, November 7, KVH 10:00

HGW Marketing

Thursday, November 7, KVH 12:30

HGW Committee

Monday, Nobember 11, KVH 10:30

Horticulture Committee

Sunday, December 1

Massie Medal Deadline

VA State Parks Deadline

2019 Common Wealth Award Winner

Peter Paul Development Center and Playground Enhancement

“Peter Paul is an outreach and community center serving Richmond’s East End. Founded in 1979, it is the oldest community-based agency continually serving East End children and families. We live our promise and programming through our purpose statement—Educate the Child, Engage the Family, and Empower the Community.”

In 2018, members of The Boxwood Garden Club voted unanimously to partner with Peter Paul Development Center to create a garden space in the vacant lot adjacent to the center. More than 70% of the club’s membership has donated to this project to transform the vacant lot into a playground and green space for the community’s children.

Boxwood’s plan is to plant trees for shade, natives along the property border and throughout the green space and playground. The addition of synthetic turf is planned for inside the playground, which would aiding in conservation goals by reducing water and chemicals. The goal is to provide a cherished spot where children and families can interact with a simple and beautiful green space and to become an educational resource to the students attending the center.

The Boxwood Garden Club President Nella Timmons, GCV President Jean Gilpin and GCV First Vice President Missy Buckingham

Welcome Home

Portraits of Horace and Elizabeth Kent, who built the Kent-Valentine House in 1845, returned home this month thanks to a donation from their great-great grandchildren, J. Kent Brown and Duane G. Brown. The Browns wanted their ancestors to reside where they would be appreciated and recognized as a part of the Kent family history as well as Virginia’s history. In addition, the Browns gave the Garden Club of Virginia portraits of Elizabeth Kent’s mother and brother, Hettie Smith Baldwin and Lt. Russell Baldwin, U.S. Navy. The Baldwin portraits now hang in the back parlor which is part of the original footprint of the house. Horace and Elizabeth Kent’s portraits welcome visitors in the front parlor.

We are thrilled to have these portraits which connect us to the early history of the Kent-Valentine House, and we are excited to share them with you on your next visit to Richmond.

Member Club Activities

The Garden Club of the Middle Peninsula & The Garden Club of the Northern Neck

The Garden Club of the Middle Peninsula and the Garden Club of the Northern Neck will host a symposium on pesticides on Tuesday, November 19, at Christchurch School in Christchurch. The Honorable W. Tayloe Murphy, Jr. will open the meeting. Mr. Murphy has been a leading voice for environmental interests for decades, playing an instrumental role in the development of key legislation, regulations and policies in the commonwealth. He was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1982-2000, and Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources from 2002-2006 during the administration of Governor Mark Warner. Other speakers include Paul W. Bodenstine, an agronomist who focuses on balanced plant nutrition and the role it plays in plant production and health. Wynne Miller, Acting Deputy Office Director for the EPA Office of Pesticide Program, and Tim McCoy an Associate in the Virginia Tech Pesticide Programs will also present at the symposium.

The event is free and open to the public. For more information, visit gardenclubofthemiddlepeninsula.com .

The Garden Club of Norfolk

Winchester-Clarke Garden Club

Members of the Winchester-Clarke Garden Club recently celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the Garden Club of Virginia by dedicating a park bench at the Abrams Creek Wetlands.

Winchester-Clarke Garden Club was awarded the Garden Club of Virginia's 2019 Bessie Bocock Carter Conservation Award with a grant of $7,000 to preserve the Abrams Creek Wetlands and the rare plants and the unique ecosystem in the 25-acre preserve.

Little Garden Club of Winchester

The Little Garden Club of Winchester is collecting plastic bottle caps and delivering them to nearby Powhatan School. As part of the ABC (A Bench for Caps) program at Green Tree Plastics, the caps are exchanged for benches made out of the recycled material. Shown are Ryan Gilpin (left), 4th grade teacher, and Lee Slavin, 3rd grade teacher, leaders of the project, on the newest bench. This has been a great way to educate and involve the students in recycling.

For more information, see greentreeplastics.com .

Richmond Garden Clubs

The four Richmond Garden Clubs of Virginia - The Boxwood Garden Club, The James River Garden Club, Three Chopt Garden Club, and The Tuckahoe Garden Club of Westhampton - celebrated GCV’s Centennial on Tuesday, October 22, 2019 at 10:00 am. The eve nt was scheduled to be held at the Low Line Green, but due to inclement weather it was held at The Woman’s Club. The Low Line, 5.5 aesthetically and environmentally-friendly rehabilitated acres along the James River and the Kanawha Canal, is the latest collaborative project of the four Richmond garden clubs and its sister non-profit organization, Capital Trees.

The Green is the project’s final phase and of particular historical significance because President Abraham Lincoln entered the city here on April 4, 1865, after Union forces captured Richmond.