The Funny Thing about Follies
From The Garden Club of America Collection at the Archives of American Gardens

The Archives of American Gardens is a wealth of information for researchers and garden enthusiasts looking to understand trends in gardening history. Over 10,000 gardens and landscapes are documented in the archives; they illustrate the work of hundreds of landscape architects and garden designers. One unique gardening trend is the folly, constructed primarily for decoration, but whose appearance suggests some other purpose.

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In Memoriam: Clarissa S. Willemsen
Mrs. Alan M. Willemsen, Little Compton Garden Club, Zone I

Clarissa “Chris” S. Willemsen, an outstanding horticulturist and horticulture judge, GCA President from 1997-1999 and past president and member of the Garden Club of Morristown since 1975, died on June 20, 2022. She was also a member of the Little Compton Garden Club.

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A Comprehensive Approach
A Garden History & Design Minute from the Archives of American Gardens

Many gardens included in The Garden Club of America Collection at the Archives of American Gardens hold a proud distinction: they embody design principles developed by renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903). In addition to establishing a firm that had a hand in the design of more than 6,000 landscapes and gardens for over a century, Olmsted published influential theories about landscape design that transformed how people organized and maintained the outdoor space around them. Olmsted scholars have distilled Olmsted’s ideas down to a list of six design principles (‘ODP’s’). Here is Principle Six.

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PARKS: Where Nature Meets Community
Saint Paul GC Echoes Olmsted’s Vision

For over ninety-five years, the Saint Paul Garden Club (SPGC) has been celebrating Olmsted's vision of creating parks for people through its dedication to Rice Park, at the cultural center of downtown St. Paul, Minnesota. As early as 1927, founding SPGC members planted over 1,700 tulips in the park and today, club members continue to support the park by providing hundreds of hours of garden maintenance as well as expansive garden and seasonal urn plantings.

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Highlighting the History of Fourteen Gardens in Cambridge, MA
Cambridge Plant & Garden Club Published Cambridge Community Gardens Today

The Cambridge Plant & Garden Club recently completed a two-year project titled Cambridge Community Gardens Today, documenting and celebrating the diversity of the fourteen community gardens located throughout the city of Cambridge. The publication includes a brief introduction highlighting the history of the gardens in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Four pages are dedicated to each garden, with a short history, plot layout, description of the gardeners and what is grown. Numerous photographs include a drone shot showing each garden in its neighborhood location.

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Botanist, Botanical Artist, and Conservation Leader
The Heavy Mettle Behind the Eloise Payne Luquer Medal

Since The Garden Club of America’s inception in 1913, many of its strong leaders have shown their mettle while adapting to the times and staying true to the organization’s mission of education, conservation, and civic improvement. One such leader, Miss Eloise Payne Luquer, left a legacy as a botanist, a botanical artist, and a conservation leader. A founding member of the Bedford Garden Club (one of the founding clubs of the GCA), Luquer was honored by her club when it established and endowed a national medal in her memory in 1949.

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The GCA Celebrates National Pollinator Week
Bees, Birds, Bats, and Beetles

National Pollinator Week 2022 will be celebrated during the week of June 20-26. The annual event was initiated and is managed by The Pollinator Partnership. In 2006, the U.S. Senate’s unanimous approval and designation of a week in June as “National Pollinator Week” marked a necessary step toward addressing the urgent issue of declining pollinator populations.

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