Garden Clijb of Palo Alto

HISTORY

1921TO 2002

HISTORY

GARDEN CLIJB OF PALO ALTO

1921 – 1979

It was on a Wednesday, October 28, 1921, that Mrs. Frederick Wheeler invited elevenwomen to her home for a luncheon. After the meal, Mrs. Wheeler announced the objectof the meeting to be the formation of a Garden Club.

Mrs. CharlesW. Whitney was declared president of the new. Club and as the minutes State t "was called to, the chair". A secretary and a treasurer were duly elected anda motion was made, seconded and carried to appoint a committee to draft by-laws tobe submitted at the next meeting.

In less than two weeks, the next meeting of the ladies took place. The name, "PaloAlto Garden Club" was adopted and the regular meeting date of the second Tuesday ofthe month was set.

The Committee on By-Laws submitted their final draft for a constitution on January 10, 1922. A special meeting was held on January 24 and ten new names were submitted andaccepted for membership. These included two husbands. The first program, a paper onbulbs, was read.

The Garden Club, as conceived by those founding members, was to be more than just aclub in which to exchange garden and artistic ideas. The betterment of the surrounding Community was also a goal and the Constitution and By-Laws express their feelingsin Article II, Purpose and Activities:

The primary purpose of this club is to encourage an interest in gardening,horticulture, artistic use of flowers and plants, conservation of naturalresources, and allied; subjects; to educate the community in these subjects;and to assist in the beautification of public areas in the City ofPalo Alto and elsewhere, Said purpose shall be accomplished by grants offunds,educational programs, garden shows, practical work in gardening,planting and landscaping, association with related organizations throughoutthe world, and such similar activities as the Board of Directors and themembership shall select.

The first civic involvement came at the March meeting of that year. A Mrs. Beattyof the new club was appointed to consult with the Palo Alto Civic Committee consideringbuying a site for the new city hall that would be built in downtown. Palo Alto.

The practice of recessing during the summer months was established that first year, but the October meeting was,filled with ideas for civic improvements, so much so that atthe November meeting the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee recommended that theGarden Club not take the entire responsibility for the City. Library garden, butinstead assume only the responsibility of promoting the planting.

Barely a year old, had the Garden club had 48 members by december12, 1922, nineteen ofwhom were men.

Casting about for waysto implement the avowed purposes of the club, a flower exhibitand sale was given in March at, theCity Library 'The Club’s treasury remained minutehowever; dues were set at $1.00 a year and little money was realized from the firstflower exhibit.

In May of 1923, the Club went on record urging the city to ban real estate signs. This idea was not adopted until 40 years later.

October of 1923 saw the Club better organized. A garden calendar was prepared andread at each month's meeting and then published in the newspaper. A second flowerexhibit and sale was planned for May, 1924 and the City of Palo Alto Planning Commissionwas invited to meet with the Garden· Club to discuss the improvement of small parks.

In April, three weeks before the ~lower exhibit, dissension arose within the Club andthe entire flower exhibit committee resigned. The president then appointed an entirenew committee and the exhibit did come off as planned. The cause of the difficulty wasnot recorded in the minutes, but at the same meeting as the mass resignation, it wasnoted that the men of the Club would henceforth become honorary members and lose the privileges of regular members. Since that time the Garden Club has had no male members,except in an honorary capacity.

The profit made at the 1924 flower exhibit and sale netted the Garden Club $80. Twenty'Five dollars was immediately given to the City Library to buy books on gardening,followed by $30 in November, making a good beginning for this section of the Library.

Membership in the Palo Alto Garden Club was noted that June 1925 to be limited to 50members.

The first fourteen years of the Garden Club, meetings were held in members' homes. Thisposed seating problems even in large homes. Chair rental was a monthly expense thatcontinued until the Garden Club was eventually meeting in the Community House in 1935.

However, from its inception the Garden Club hoped for the use of the Community House anddonated one-half of the proceeds of the 1925 Flower Show for plantings .at the CommunityHouse.

The spring of 1925 several changes were made; the meeting date was permanently set as the first Tuesday of the month, from October through June; associate members,who in thattime constituted a waiting list,began to pay dues of $5 annua1ly,allowing them toattend meetings, but not participate actively in the club, and the Club had a bank accountof $241.29, of which $154 had been realized from the 1925 plant show and sale.

It had been assumed at the start of the Club that members would read papers and sharetheir expertise, but as the club developed, even in the first year, open meetings hadbeen proposed, and outside speakers on subjects ranging from civic projects to specializedgardening were invited occasionally to address the Club.

The Garden Club members visited, with pleasure, the Bourne Garden, now known as Filoli,on May 12, 1926.

In December of that year the Garden Club started a Christmas tradition for the City bypurchasing Christmas wreaths to hang from the "electroliers".' A total of forty-nine wreaths, costing $55 apiece, were bought.

The next three years were notable for many civic involvements. The Garden Club urged thecity council to appoint a Parks'" Commission and went on record favoring a Park Bond Issue in Palo Alto. The railroad crossings throughout the town, namely Embarcadero near the high school, Alma Street near the Big Tree and the crossing near Mayfield School, all werescenes .of accidents. The .Club submitted plans urging either depressing or elevating theroads ~~ these crossings. A recommendation that theC1tybeautify the entrances to Palo Alto was also made by the Club.

Books for the Library and plantings for the Library grounds were the main focus of fundsand $50 each year was donated for books relating to gardens and horticulture.

By 1929 the Garden Club through flower shows, plant sales and wise management, had over$250.00 in the bank. However, prudence and rising prices, made the Club raise the dues ofactive” members from $l to $3 a year.

The pattern of the Garden Club had, in eight years become essentially the same as it is today. The first donation towards conservation appeared in 1929, long before the word wasin common usage. The Club gave $100 to the California Commission to Restrict Outdoorthe following year the Garden Club became a member of the California Council forProtection of Roadside Beauty, a forerunner of the Roadside Council. This affiliationtied for many years and the Club was in the forefront promoting highway plantings andmost notably, lobbying for the roadside rest areas we now take for granted.

Another long term donation was begun in 1930 when $50 was given to the newly formed Savethe Redwoods League. Over many years the Garden Club has continued to support the League,not always as generously as in those first years, but steadily.

The Girl Scout House, located on the Riconada Park acreage near the Community House,received the benefit of the Garden Club in 1930. Plans for plantings were supervisedand a Christmas tree was planted by the Club near its door. In March of thefollowingyear, one garden club member began a gardening class for the girl scouts, with aboutfifty girls participating.

A Palo Alto hospital was being built and the Garden Club donated -$100 and supervisedthe planting of 'the hospital landscaping.

In May of 1931 the" Garden Club was asked by the City of Palo A1totoarrange the floraldecoration for the opening of the new city hall in downtown Palo Alto.

The Community House continued to require donations for furnishings and plantings, so the

Garden Club took the momentous of charging admission for their flower show in 1931;10 cents for adults and 5 cents for children. The spring, Fete as it was called, wassuccessful and the fall and winter of 1931-32 saw the Garden Club bestow more gifts:$50 was given to the American: Forestry Association, $50 to the Library in October andanother $50 the.fol1owing February. TheLibrary,first and foremost recipient of the Garden Club's generosity, now had a large selection of books pertaining to gardeningand permission was granted by the Club for the Library to loan the books to students aswell as to members of the Garden Club.

In January of 1932 the City of Palo Alto received its first of many gifts from the GardenClub. $500 was given to beautify Riconada Park. It was the Club's understanding thatthis money was to be used for plantings, but the city could not afford to have the groundat the corner of Melville and Middlefield prepared for planting, so the Club donated $450later in February of 1933 for the city to hire unemployed men to prepare the ground. TheCity could not seem to do this, so the Garden Club rescinded the $450 and held up the giftof the $500 until the City could or would come forth with a plan. This $500 continued tobe an issue between the Club and the City for the next three years.

After seven years of the Garden Calendar, members decided to begin what was called a roundtable discussion at each meeting. Led by a member, the round table in one form oranother was a program fixture for many years.

The Depression was beginning to be felt in California by the spring of 1932, but the Club'streasury was depleted and it was again decided to charge admission for the upcoming spring

Fete and the prices were raised to 25 cents for adults and 10 cents for children. A totalof $473.75 was taken in at the show; half of this $236.88 was given to the Community House.

In December of 1932, $300 was donated to the State of California for planting the Dumbartonunderpass area. A poor relationship developed between the Garden Club and the Stateengineer in charge of' the planting, and the use of the fund was disputed. In October of

1933 the State returned a 60 cent refund check to the Club. The Board, thoroughly annoyedwith the State's actions, destroyed the check.

The spring of 1933 represented the worst of the Depression and no flower show was held dueto the "business conditions". Preservation of the oak trees at the Southern Pacificstation cost $142. The Garden Club had noted to give $50 for the project. A Club memberand her husband gave the remainder to complete the project.

In May of 1933 the Constitution was amended to have the membership set at 75 activemembers and 35 associate members.

January of 1934 more gifts were given: $50 to the Library, $137 paid out for more landscapingwork at the SP station and $400 given to the City for a master plan for RiconadaPark. The Club also recommended the appointment of a landscape architect to the PlanningCommission of the City.

Fall of 1934 two new faces joined the Garden Club scene, both of whom became long timefriends. Elsa Uppman (later Knolls) ·began leading the round table discussions, supplantingthe members who had done this part of the program. She was to continue this featurefor eleven years and to be a guest speaker at the Garden Club until the present time.December of that year Albert Wilson gave his first program to the Club, speaking onJapanese plants and their use in California gardens.

The Club had, by this time, grown somewhat weary of the problems encountered in votingand rescinding the City of Palo Alto money for the planning and planting of Riconada Park,so in the spring of 1935 they finally noted to give $500 to Palo Alt? With no stringsattached. They also gave $498 to the Community House for furnishings.

This brought their savings account down considerably, but the Community House now offeredthem a meeting room rent free. While desirous of having a meeting place of their own, but wanting independence from the City,the Garden Club voted to instead pay the monthlyrental fee of $3 and began meeting at the Community House.

The usual gift of $50 was given to the Library that fall, and a Christmas decorationcontest was sponsored. The Club started planning for the largest Spring Fete yet to begiven in 1936, but a severe freeze forced a change of plans. Instead of a tree for ArborDay that year, $100 was given to the Red Cross for flood relief. The bank account shrankto $900 that spring.

Continuing supporting civic improvement, the Club paid out $35 to the Chamber of Commercefor Christmas greens for the city decorations, $25 to sponsor a new book on Californiatrees and $50 to sponsor flower arranging classes.

By February of 1938 the planned 1939 Exposition at Golden Gate Park was beginning to takeshape. The Club had a flower show that May' with 1,679 adults 811d740 children attending.

Profits were a discouraging $176. 96.

Ever generous, the Club donated $100 to a Dr. Good speed, who was leading a South Americanbotanical expedition, $234 to the Golden Gate Park Exposition and $275 for a scholarshipto the School of Gardening that had just been begun by Elsa Uppman.

Small wonder that the Garden Club was, becoming low on funds in 1938.

In January of 1939, dues were raised to $5 for active and $6 for associate members. Whilea fund raising event was scheduled for that spring, desperation indicated an immediateneed for assessing each member another $l per person. With all this, the balance on handin June of 1940 was $463.

The civic committee of .that year compiled a report stating that from 1934-39 the Garden

Club had contributed $3,065 to worthwhile activities.

One feature was begun in 1939 - the Plant Exchange, born out of frugality.

By 1940 Europe was at war and the Garden Club donated the proceeds of the 1941 springGarden Show to benefit the Red Cross, charging 25 cents this year for adults, with tea25 cents extra. Profits of $277 were realized.

The Garden Club celebrated its 20th anniversary with a luncheon for the founders andthe presidents that October.

War came to the U. S. and to the nervous West Coast. Camouflage plant material was discussed

The Club purchased War Bonds and Stamps with spare funds and one member organized plantmaterial by the truck load for Camp Roberts and worked tirelessly on planting for many ofthe mi1itary installations 1n the area.

Hospitality House, the Red Cross and the hospitals were all the beneficiaries of the hard working Garden Clubbers. Vegetable growing in vacant lots was promoted and it was foundthat sadly, in all the books given to the Library on gardening, none was on growingvegetables.

The Garden Club was giving its all, both in time and money. Even Save the Redwoods wasmissed one year, but garden materials, lectures, books on growing vegetables were givenfreely, as well as dish gardens and flower arrangements to hospitals in the entire area.Systematically 10% of the Garden Club income was put into War Bonds.

In a summary of minutes from October 1944 to May 1945 the secretary wrote, "Our work maynot have taken in as wide a scope as former years, but we have helped where it was mostneeded at present."

The war over and normal times returning, the Garden Club began to reassess the needs ofthe community. Elsa Uppman Knolls had taken a position as editor at Sunset Magazineand, now could only come as an occasional speaker. The round table discussions werecontinued with a Dr. Davis of Berkeley, but by the spring of 1946 were dropped.

Flower show at the Community Center entitled "Flowers Around the World" was a successfulevent of 1947,with city nurseryman George Hood helping the Club women.

October 1947, the Garden Club formally altered its name to be known thereafter as theGarden Club of Palo Alto.

A new fund raising was instituted in April of 1948. The Garden Club staged a garden tourof members' gardens, making $220 'W'ith270 people taking the tour. The, Club promptly gave$350 for landscaping Crescent Park Elementary School grounds and, $50 to help ··landscape thenew Red Cross building's grounds.

Another innovation was begun that December. Featured as the Garden Club's gift to the community, a Christmas show and demonstration of decorating ideas ·was ·held for membersand their guests.

A year later the Club had an extra $85 on hand as two speakers had refused fees. This

$85 became the first Audubon Camp scholarship. For the next 16 years, the Garden Clubcontinued to send deserving teachers to Audubon camp.