Bowling Green Garden
Club meets the first Thursday of each month at the
Houchens
Center or at the Bob Kirby Library.
Morning meetings begin with refreshments at 9:30 a.m. and the meeting
starts
at 10 a.m. Evening meetings begin at 5 pm with refreshments
and the meeting starts at 5:30 p.m.
Annual dues are $20 and guests are always welcome.
Please contact
BGGardenClub@gmail.com for information.
Reflections:
date unknown (from records found at the Houchens Center)
The Bowling Green Garden Club was
organized in March of 1934 by a group of prominent men and women who
were not only interested in their own gardens, but had the foresight
to instigate plans for the beautification of the city early in the
life of the club. Mrs. J. O. Carson was the first president.
As early as December 1934, it ws proposed that the club invite a
well-known landscape architect, R. S. Sturdevant, of Groton,
Massachusetts, and Nashville, Tennessee, to come to Bowling Green
and draw plans for the planting of Fountain Square Park. By the end
of the club's first year, the members had introduced plans to
beautify the entrances to the city and clean and beatify the old
cemetery and all city parks.
In April 1935, the club joined the
State Federation of Garden Clubs. Forty-three persons had
enrolled in the first year, becoming charter members of the club.
An early motto of the club was: "To
cultivate a garden is to walk with God" -(Bovee). The emphasis was
on horticulture and exchange. Yearbooks from the beginning
years of the new club indicate that most programs were on the
subject of the cultivation of flowers and shrubs. Members were
invited into the garden by the hostess of the monthly meetings,
weather permitting. Many members of the Bowling Green Garden
Club have established gardens worthy of wide attention. The
Courier-Journal gave Miss Margaret Hobson a prize for her garden in
the summer of 1935. During the Second World War, vegetable gardening
was a topic for club meetings. Mrs. G. D. Milliken, Sr., was
then president of the club.
A Memorial Garden dedicated to the
memory of Virginia Garrett (Mrs. Paul L. Garrett) is maintained by
the club on the former City-County Hospital grounds. Mrs.
Garrett was a long-time member of the club and a horticulture
expert.
The present membership of the Bowling
Green Garden Club totals 28. During the life of the club,
several members have served as chairmen of committees at the state
level, as well as served as State and District officers. The
club also has four members who served as president of the Garden
Club of Kentucky: Mrs. Earl Rabold from 1937 until
1939, Mrs. L. Jack Scott from 1989 until 1991, Mrs. Martha
Morgan from 1989 until 2001, and Mrs. Mary Keown from 2003 until
2005.
The objective of the Bowling Green
Garden Club is to stimulate knowledge and love of gardening among
amateurs; to aid in the protection of native plants, trees and
birds; to encourage home gardening and civic planting; and to work
for the preservation of Bowling Green's beauty.
BGGC Past Presidents
Mrs. J. O.
Carson
Mrs. Earl Rabold
Mrs. Martin Cardwell
Mrs. Earl Rabold
Mrs. Charles Stovall
Mrs. John Stout
Mrs. G. D. Milliken
Mrs. Charles Stovall
Mrs. O. W. Thompson
Mrs. J. D. Gregory
Mrs. John O'Connor
Mrs. L. J. Thurber
Mrs. W. R. McCormack
Mrs. Ward Sumpter
Mrs. E. Wallace Barr, Jr.
Mrs. Hunter Gingles
Mrs. E. O. Pearson
Mrs. W. G. Thomas
Mrs. Franklin Berry
Mrs. W. G. Thomas
Mrs. Willard Winkenhofer
Mrs. Carol Cooksey Maltby
Mrs. George A. Brown
Mrs. Robert Kirtley
Mrs. Louis Holzapfel
Mrs. Mulford
Lockwood
Mrs. Ralph Johnson
Mrs. Tera Flaherty
Mrs. L. Jack Scott
Mrs. William E. Neel
Mrs. Raymond Keown
Mrs. Frank Neuber
Mrs. Thomas Link
Mrs. G. Steve Murphy
Mrs. Ed Martin
Mrs. Frank Neuber
Mrs. Raymond Cloutier
Mrs. Frank Pittman
Mrs. Alice Kummer
Mrs. Dan Riley
Mrs. Kim Hampton
Mrs. Frank Pittman
Ms. Alice Kummer
Mrs. Martha Harkleroad
Mrs. Martha Morgan
Ms. Melanie Smith |
March
1934-Dec. 1934
Dec. 1934-Oct. 1936
Oct. 1936-Jan. 1938
Jan. 1938-Sept. 1938
Sept. 1938-Sept. 1940
Sept. 1940-Sept. 1942
Sept. 1942-Sept. 1943
Sept. 1943-Sept. 1944
Sept. 1944-Sept. 1946
Sept. 1946-Sept. 1948
Sept. 1948-Sept. 1950
Sept. 1950-Sept. 1952
Sept. 1952-Sept. 1954
Sept. 1954-April 1955
April 1955-April 1957
April 1957-April 1959
April 1959-Aprll 1961
April 1961-April 1963
April 1963-April 1965
April 1965-April 1967
April 1967-April 1969
April 1969-April 1971
April 1971-April 1973
April 1973-April 1975
April 1975-April 1977
April 1977-April 1979
April 1979-April 1981
April 1981-April 1983
April 1983-April 1985
April 1985-April 1987
April 1987-April 1989
April 1989-April 1991
April 1991-April 1993
April 1993-April 1995
April 1997-April 1999
April 2001-April 2003
April 2003-March 2005
March 2005-May 2007
May 2007-May 2009
May 2009-May 2011
May 2011-May 2013
May 2013-May 2015
May 2015-May 2017
May 2017-May 2019
May 2019-May 2021
May 2021-January 2023 |
