June 14, 2003

Saint Paul Pioneer Press

GARDEN CLUB HOSTS ANNUAL MEETING AND FLOWER SHOW

By Marge Hols - Columnist

ROOTED AND GROWING

What: “Rooted and Growing, A Small Flower Show,” presented by Saint Paul Garden Club

When: June 19, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and June 20, 10 to 11:30 a.m.

Where: Science Museum of Minnesota, 120 West Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul.

Admission: Open for public viewing, no charge

Information: Garden club, (651) 451-1852; Science Museum, (651) 221-9444

Entering any competitive flower show can be intimidating, but entering one in which exhibitors are expert gardeners from 18 garden clubs in 7 states is downright terrifying to this first-time participant.

What if mealybugs miraculously appear on my prize houseplants the day before the show? Or my garden takes the week off and fails to bloom? Or my cut flowers flop just as the judges approach? Such are thoughts nagging at the minds of Saint Paul Garden Club members as we prepare to host the Zone XI Annual Meeting of The Garden Club of America.

The flower show, “Rooted and Growing,” will display floral arrangements with ethnic themes, horticultural entries of cut flowers and houseplants, and garden photography.

Now in its 76th year, the Saint Paul club was founded in 1927 by 30 women from prominent St. Paul families, including Mrs. Horace H. Irvine, Mrs. John Ordway, Sr., Mrs. Albert Schuneman and Mrs. Frederick E. Weyerhaeuser, Jr. Club members targeted city beautification, planting 1700 tulips that first year in Rice Park in downtown St. Paul.

Today’s 60 active members still focus on city beautification as well as conservation. Members volunteer hands-on gardening help, planting tubs of annuals in Rice Park and wildflowers at Swede Hollow Park.

“The garden club brings together women who have a passion for gardening and beautifying the areas in which they live,” says club President Priscilla Brewster of St. Paul.

“We provide funds for seven or eight projects each year. We’re the sole supporters of the plant therapy program at Saint Paul Children’s Hospital. Children nurture a plant while there and can take it home when they leave.” Other grants have supported Phalen Lake Poetry Park in St. Paul, a Native American garden at Gibbs Farm Museum in Falcon Heights and research on bush clematis at the Landscape Plant Development Center in Chanhassen.

Susan Cross of White Bear Lake provides a nugget of institutional memory. Her grandmother, Arlene Griggs, was a founding member of the club and her mother, Arlene Griggs Mills, also belonged. As a child, Cross recalls seeing a delectable arrangement at a club flower show. The stems in a big vase of flowers were surrounded by strawberries.