District Meeting – October 5, 2012 – Charlotte

 

The Davidson Horticulture Symposium – March 6, 2012
Where does the passion for gardening come from?  What inspires us to dig into the dirt and discover anew each season?  The 28th Davidson Horticultural Symposium takes us on a journey to uncover the roots of our passion for the garden; to explore what has inspired gardeners over the years.  Hosted by the Davidson Garden Club. For more information, view the Davidson Horticulture Symposium press release.

Village Garden Club, Cherryville, NC    Celebrates 60th Anniversary

photo by Michael E. Powell/The Cherryville (N.C.) Eagle

 Judy Barnes (left) gives Village Garden Club charter members Wilma Metcalf (center) and Gwen Putnam (right) a certificate of recognition from the Garden Club of N.C., honoring the club’s 60th anniversary. 

The newspaper article below about the 60th Anniversary of Village Garden Club was written by Michael E. Powell, Editor of The Cherryville Eagle.  The article and photo were used with the permission of Gemini Newspapers, Inc.
Mr. Powell may be contacted at:   michael.cherryvilleeagle@gmail.com

Garden Club celebrates 60 years of working with beauty
It’s something to celebrate 60 years of making people’s lives (and yards) beautiful.  That’s just what a group of 20-plus young at heart Cherryville women have been doing since first taking up spade, shears, and gloves in 1952. They hope to continue that tradition as they continue sailing along in the 21st century.

Cherryville’s The Village Garden Club met at the Community Center Wednesday, January 18, 2012, to not only have their regular meeting, President Jean Skibo said, but to hear a bit of history from charter members Gwen Putnam and Wilma Metcalf. The two are the only remaining charter members of the club.  Also on hand, to offer a word or two of praise was guest speaker Judy Barnes, of Charlotte, President of The Garden Club of North Carolina, Inc.  With Barnes was Barbara Miller, also of Charlotte, who is the District 3 Director.

Barnes said the club has long been on the state organization’s radar and noted it was an honor to speak to them. She thanked the club members for being wonderful supporters of the state club and noted how they made a “wonderful difference” in the state.

When it was Putnam and Metcalfe’s turn to speak, both remembered that first initial meeting.

“We first met at the Cherryville Country Club,” Putnam said. “We talked about organizing a club to focus on civic beautification and promote gardening.” In addition to Metcalfe and herself, Putnam said the original list of members included Mary Frances Mauney, Jane Dellinger, Vida Dellinger, Dorothy Rudisill, Ethel Summer, Lela Hobbs, Bess Payne, Lura Mauney, Eva Summer, Verner Rudisill, Blanche Houser, Bessie Summer, Prue Houser, Christine Houser, Zona Falls, Clarke Hoyle, Doris Butler, and Jo Horton.

Fifty years later, in 2002, Bobbie Rudisill penned a short history of the group, titled Fifty Years of Beautification. In that short paper Rudisill said the club has been pursuing its purpose of “promoting civic beautification and encouraging amateur gardeners.” She noted the little town of Cherryville has reaped the benefits of the club’s successes and endeavors.  It is to the club’s credit that the “cherry” was put back into the town’s name, Cherryville, by the planting of many flowering cherry trees.  Rudisill said that within two years of its founding the club undertook planting cherry trees and within five years over 700 trees had been sold and planted throughout the town.

Many years and many projects later, Rudisill said that anyone driving through Cherryville looking at the yards and public buildings could see the work done by the club and its members over those 60 years.  ”We are very proud of what we’ve been able to do for our town,” Putnam said.

Metcalfe said the women of the original club met once a month in each other’s homes.  In addition to the flowering cherry trees and other projects, Putnam mentioned the club hosted fund-raising ventures as well.  ”We would host bridge or canasta parties to raise money to purchase the various plants we wanted,” she said. “During our 50th anniversary, we planted 21 cherry trees in honor of our original 21 members.”  Metcalfe, who moved to Cherryville in 1950, gave of her artistic talents by painting the front cover for the club’s yearbook.  ”It has been such a blessing for me to have been a part of all this,” she said.  As she reminisced about some of the past members, Metcalfe laughed and told those assembled that she and Gwen were the “youngsters” of the group then.

Barnes brought to the club’s attention the possibility of sponsoring a Blue Star Marker, which is a marker honoring the memory and deeds of an area’s veterans, past, present, and future. The cost of such is roughly $4,000, Barnes said, and mentioned she and the state club would try and help the Cherryville club, should they decide they would like to try again in getting one.

It is the club’s hope to continue on into the future with new members joining with the old to help carry the club forward the next fifty years and more.