There's a Kid In My Garden! A Post by Thea McGinnis PLUS! a drawing!! See Below!!

If you’ve ever sat down with a gardener, dollars to donuts, they will tell you pretty quickly that they caught the garden bug from a family member – usually their grandparent(s) or parent, aunt or uncle.  While my mother wasn’t into gardening, when we moved to the ‘country’ from New York City, I helped her plant bulbs, iris and marigolds, and she took great pride in her flowering shrubs. My friend Dorinda’s grandmother swept her right into the family tradition of gathering to decorate the church and make the bridal bouquets from their gardens for their family weddings.

The curious child at your knee, watching your hands move, asking questions, leaning in to see what you’re digging at, or what you’re looking at inside that flower bud – touching, smelling, eating - that’s how children begin their relationship with gardening.

When they aren’t right down in the dirt with you, they are also learning all about science and nature in school and in after school activities, too.

I’m very proud of the partnership my garden club has with our local school district.  Our club sponsors two programs in two elementary schools.

One school has a junior gardener program for second grade boy and girls.  Working with the classroom teacher, our club member volunteers from our Youth Activities Committee execute an age appropriate curriculum once a month. The topics each month include seeds, pollination, birds, animals, the seasons, crafts, and culminates with a floral design project in time for the children to bring home for Mother’s Day.

Our other monthly program involves a pre-school class with challenges at another elementary school, with the club members of our Horticulture Therapy Committee. Our monthly lessons include reading aloud about a particular topic related to plants, animals and nature.  Creative lessons include making food for birds, planting seeds, the seasons, the sun and so much more.  Committee members create lesson plans that include dressing up as animals and write books. The children love it.

As well received as our programs are, I cannot discount the joy our club members receive working on our Youth and Horticulture Therapy committees. They are probably the most popular committees our members sign up for each club year, and probably one third of our club’s active membership are involved in these programs.

There are many ways garden clubs can get a Youth Activities committee started. With the many competing after-school activities, junior garden clubs might not be practical in your community. Asking around, I got a good idea what other clubs are doing.  Partnership with organizations like local schools, libraries, Pre-K schools, PTA’s, and Scouting is a good start. The Girl Scouts has a native plant merit badge that would be a great opportunity for club members to get involved in.  Clubs can also offer an age appropriate floral design program. Partnering with a school or a library that has a children’s garden is also a great opportunity to apply our knowledge and experience in the garden. It also creates an opportunity to include a Youth section in your next flower show.

Most school districts have a volunteer liaison that will work with you to find a school with teachers happy to incorporate a junior gardener type program into their lesson plan.  It might be more practical to do a monthly or quarterly gardening program, depending on the size of your club. A Youth initiative in your club can easily blend with your Plant America initiatives, too.

National Garden Clubs, Inc. offers lots of information and support to clubs that want to initiate or restart their footprint in the community with a Youth oriented program.  I can’t think of a better way to foster and enrich children’s lives than being in a garden club that’s a go-to organization in your community.  Here’s a link to NGC’s Youth activities page. As you develop your curriculum, keep in mind that NGC offers two children’s books that would be a great addition. Click ->here<-
for more information.

I also recommend my friend Sharon Lovejoy’s Camp Granny for project ideas and activities you can do with your junior gardeners – or your children, grandchildren, and even the children on your street.

My mass of zinnia flower bed, right outside my front gate, that is a major attraction for birds, bees and butterflies, is a source of endless fascination to the kids on my block.

Feel free to leave a comment and share what your Club’s Youth Activities projects entail.  All commenters will be eligible to win a copy of Camp Granny. The drawing will close December 20, 2018.



Thea McGinnis is a gardener and writer, blog mistress, and a member of District III's Rock Spring Garden Club in Arlington, Virginia. 

Photography by Sarah Farr

National Garden Club Schools - Shedding Light On A Lifetime of Learning - Thea McGinnis

National Garden Clubs'  (NGC) mission is to provide education, resources, and national networking opportunities for its members to promote the love of gardening, floral design, and civic and environmental responsibility.

Members are privileged to have NGC schools available to encourage our personal life long passion and learning endeavors.  NGC schools include Gardening Studies, Environmental Studies, Landscape Design and Flower Show.

NGC schools offer challenging and rigorous curriculum to their students.  Each school consists of four courses, with expert instructors and speakers addressing topics and key areas of each subject category.  Completion of the four courses for a particular course, plus testing, lead to NGC Consultant certification or accredition as a Flower Show Judge.  So, why am I telling you this?

Dorthy Yard 

On a gloriously sunny day this past November, I attended Flower Show School (Course II) and found it exceptionally challenging - yet fascinating and exciting.  Our  Flower Show School instructors are both accredited Master Flower Show Judges. Dorthy Yard from Pennsylvania and Janice Hamlin from Florida, travel around the country to lecture, guide and show students the various aspects of judging horticulture specimens and floral designs.

Arlene Stewart weighing the qualities of her needled specimen

Students evaluating specimens. Robin Hammer examines evergreen foliage

 We were thoroughly instructed on Course II level Flower Show Procedure -We learned about growing, designing, staging, exhibiting as well as judging, based on specific qualifications and guidelines encapsulated in NGC's Handbook for Flower Shows.

Instruction included judging the condition, grooming and staging of plant material

 In addition to our wonderful instructors, a host of National Capital Area Garden Club (NCAGC) judges joined our activities and provided designs to simulate a flower show, for student evaluation, practice and test judging. Their designs varied -  from NGC Traditional designs to Creative design styles.

Babs McClendon, NCAGC FS Judge, giving students design advice

The Design portion of the curriculum reviewed the Elements of Design, creative and traditional design techniques, the designer's frame of reference, using the color wheel, and the six Principles of Design. Every aspect of a design is touched upon so that we can begin to learn to train our eyes in evaluating  qualities such as conformance and design principals of balance, rhythm, scale, contrast, dominance and proportion. Selection and organization of components are important. And most important - Distinction - because this is where the designer's creativity and superiority in all respects is revealed.

Note how lighting, background and underlayemphasize different aspects of the designs 

The dynamic balance of Creative designs challenge your imagination 

Unique Creative designs using unusual dried plant materials such as gourds

The students I attended Flower Show School with found the challenges within the course rewarding. It was wonderful to meet garden club members from other regions who traveled to attend. New friendships were forged as we worked together. I cannot thank Dorthy and Janice enough for their incredible patience and generosity and I'm very grateful for NCAGC's Judges' Council for conducting this course.  Seriously, folks. Everyone should attend this school or any of the other three NGC courses.

Accredited Master Judges Poss Tarpley, FSS Course Registrar (l) and
(r) Sandi Smith Piccirillo, State Flower Show Chairman for National Capital Area Garden Clubs, Inc.

If you are interested in more information about joining a garden club or attending an NGC school, leave us a comment or please click here-->  National Garden Clubs, Inc. website

National Garden Clubs continues to set the direction for American floral designing and raise the bar for both exhibitors and judges. May we use the information presented to us in this book as we continue to educate both our members and the public in floral design, horticulture and NGC objectives. "Embrace Gardening's Tapestry" Kitty Larkin, President, 2005-2007, National Garden Clubs, Inc. - from the Handbook for Flower Shows 2007 Revised Edition

Photography by Thea McGinnis

What's Our Mission?

Teamwork matters. Jo Sellers, National Capital Area Garden Clubs, Inc. President (2015-17) and her board at the June 20 NCAGC Leadership Conference held at the National Arboretum.  l. to r. Shirley Nicolai, Joyce Skoglund, Robin Hammer, Lydia Barbour, Danielle Barbazon, Audrie Whitney, Cherie Lejeune, Anne Bucher, Poss Tarpley, Jo Sellers, David Healy, Paula Knepper 

What’s Our Mission?

Welcome to National Capital Area Garden Clubs Blog.  We are here to talk about our Clubs. And gardening. And landscape design. And floral design. And environment. And conservation. And civic responsibilities.  And how our clubs all work both independently and together in our commitment to the mission of our organization within our communities.  The National Capital Area Garden Clubs, Inc. mission is:

(1)  to coordinate the interests and activities of garden clubs, plant, horticulture, and speciality societies within in the Metropolitan Area of the District of Columbia, in accordance with the Certificate of Incorporation in 1958 and

(2)  to provide education, resources and national networking opportunities for its members to promote the love of gardening, floral design, and the civic and environmental responsibility, in accordance with the Mission Statement of the National Garden Clubs, Inc.

When you go back to look at the mission statement of your particular garden club, you will see that it reflects NCAGC’s mission and the mission of Central Atlantic Region. And National Garden Club, Inc.'s mission. And that’s important because every activity we do - work in community parks and gardens, local schools and senior centers, community beautification programs, plant sales, program speakers, flower shows, attending symposiums, floral design education events - they reflect back to your club’s mission and NCAGC’s mission.