THE FOLLOWING IS A NEWS GAZETTE STORY BY JENNIFER BAILEY
DANVILLE — For many, gardening is a form of relaxation and source of pride and joy.
“I live for it,” said Danville Garden Club quasi-President Linda Fecker.
Garden clubs also are important to beautifying cities, Fecker said.
The Danville Garden Club is celebrating its 100th anniversary with a special luncheon program June 4 at Harrison Park Clubhouse in Danville. About 60-65 attendees are expected and will be sporting hats at the event. ‘
There will be a presentation by Lori Thomas titled “Hats for Fashion, Fun and Memory Makers,” focusing on the original garden club members wearing hats and tying it all back to the club’s history and memories. Scrapbooks and older photos will be on display at the event.
The club currently has 68 active members from Vermilion County and the Covington, Ind., area.
Fecker, who is from Danville, said when she moved into her Hoopeston home, she felt “fatigued” with all the pea gravel in the backyard and was thinking of how was she going to make a garden. The first year, she made paths with the gravel and planted things but has since removed the gravel and laid down bricks.
“I have a kind of a semi-formal garden, and I have borders all around. I have had two weddings in my garden,” Fecker said.
She’s also proud of her pond and bridge that she researched to match “the color of Monet’s bridge.”
Garden club member and Vermilion County Museum Director Sue Richter has country garden with two plots. The northern one was more of a shade garden until last June’s windstorm, while the southern one is a sun garden. Her husband, Don, plants vegetables and all the dahlias, sunflowers, zinnias and gladiolus. Sue plants the beds and pots. Even with a rock garden, Richter said she likes to work with the shapes and textures.
“Gardening is my relaxation,” Richter said.
She said a lot of their trees and other plants have come from other family members’ gardens, which makes it special.
Fecker, floral manager at County Market north in Danville, has been involved with the garden club since the 1980s. She was invited by a friend andFecker became an immediate board member.
“My main contribution was, I was the one who originally had the idea for the Danville Make It Bloom,” Fecker said. “It would not have gone anywhere without Diane Byrket pushing it.
“The purpose of the Make It Bloom — the mission, so to speak — was that when you plant a garden in front of your house, you’re beautifying the city,” she added.
For the contest, all the gardens were judged from the street. Fecker said prizes ranged from $300 the first year to $3,000 the last year.
Richter, also involved with the club for 40 years, said you can still pick out the Make It Bloom homes, because they are still keeping up their gardens. Fecker said the city contest worked because next-door neighbors created gardens, too. Both said they’ve really enjoyed their time with the garden club.
“I like the people I met a lot, and I like being part of a civic organization,” Fecker said. “We do the planters in downtown, we do Boys & Girls Club” flower-design work.
The club also works with students at schools.
“I just enjoy being part of something that makes something better. You’re either part of the problem or you’re part of the solution,” Fecker said.
Richter said she was in the herb group first with the herb garden at the museum. She said they had great educators. She presents programs now, and for arrangements, she stresses to use what you have.
She said the talent they have in the group is “unbelievable.”
They keep the members informed about area horticulture projects.
History, looking to futureThe initial six founding women of the club met at the YWCA in 1924. Civic leaders invited six more to be charter members. The club’s goal’s were civic improvement and beautification of the city.
According to the club’s history, membership was limited to 60 in 1927 but opened to active gardeners and those interested in gardening in 1928. One of the first activities was to form a flower guild to provide flowers for the Old Ladies Home, Lake View Hospital and St. Elizabeth Hospital.
The 1920s was the era of garden parties and featured soft music and lantern light for a moonlit night. A tour of each garden occurred before dark, with tea following and a program speaker, according to club history.
In 1929, the club became a part of the Garden Clubs of Illinois, founded in 1927. The Danville Garden Club is three years older than the state organization and became independent of the state group in 2013 to make sure money stayed local.
The first flower show was sponsored jointly by the Danville and Roselawn garden clubs and the home department of the Women’s Club. Garden club members planted throughout Vermilion County, including in downtown Danville, parks, Veterans Affairs Illiana Health Care System, churches, schools, the Vermilion County Museum and the Danville Public Library.
At one time, the city had three garden clubs. In addition to the Danville and Roselawn clubs, which have since combined, there was the Red Bud Garden Club. Hoopeston also had a garden club.
The club has awarded numerous scholarships to Danville Area Community College horticulture students.
It has also bought and distributed many red bud trees. Between 1958 and 1963, the club worked with others in trying to beautify Danville by planting 37,450 red bud and dogwood trees. In 2007, another red-bud planting project resulted in 600 trees distributed to students.
The Danville Make It Bloom contest began in 1997. Entries grew from 100 the first year to more than 260 in 1999. The program continued for about 20 years.
The club also supports Arbor Day through Danville’s Leaf A Legacy program.
In 2000, the Petal Pushers study group took over the floral pines and poplar trees on Denmark Road and in other areas.
According to the club, the first school flower show was in 1934. The club won a central regional prize for the Stoney Creek planting project, which began in 1938. The first Victory Garden Vegetables and Floral Show was in 1943.
Annual garden tours continued each summer. The club has supported Keep Vermilion County Beautiful, the Douglas Discovery Garden, the rain garden at the former Baum Building site downtown, the Vermilion County Conservation District and others. Quite a few members have gone on to become Master Gardeners. Five of the club’s eight study groups remain: Camilla, Four Seasons, Petal Pushers, Potpourri and Creative Gardeners.
The main club meets every other month at the Danville Public Library in winter months and Harrison Park Clubhouse or other locations during warmer months. The club also has an annual picnic. Meetings are during the day, but they’d like to have some more programs on Saturdays. Dues are $25 a year. The club is run by a steering committee and has a secretary and treasurer.
Richter said in the future, they’d like more couples to join, especially retirees, and men. There also had been a men’s garden club. They’d also like to get more younger families involved and have programs to take children to gardens around the county.
For more information about the club, Richter can be reached at the Vermilion County Museum.
