Wearing rubber boots and tromping around the grounds of her home on Bethlehem Pike in Chestnut Hill, Garden Club of Philadelphia member Lisa Madzin talks of cutting back the bamboo, planting more daffodil bulbs, and digging up part of the sloped backyard to recover a tier that’s been taken over by Ostrich ferns. 

Then she pauses, and says, “Elizabeth speaks to me about the garden.” 

“Elizabeth” is Elizabeth Price Martin, who in 1904 was living in the three-story house with a mansard roof – known then as “Edgecombe.” That year, on a beautiful morning in April, Martin met up with her neighbor, Ernestine Goodman, in the middle of “the Pike,” as it was called. They chatted about starting their gardens and considered the idea of creating a garden club. 

A month later, Martin, Goodman, and other prominent Philadelphia women met at the Andalusia mansion in Bucks County – the ancestral home of the Biddle family – for the first meeting of what would become The Garden Club of Philadelphia, the country’s oldest garden club, which is celebrating its 120th anniversary this year. They were part of a gardening craze that swept across the U.S. during the early 1900s – a fact that’s reflected in the motto of The Garden Club of Philadelphia – Furor Hortensis (translated as “Garden Mad”).

By 1913, Martin’s vision expanded, and she proposed merging several regional clubs – including the Philadelphia club –  into what is now The Garden Club of America, which she led until 1920. 

So imagine Madzin’s surprise when she learned at her first Garden Club of Philadelphia meeting that she, her husband, and their two sons were living in the house where Martin started the organization and raised her own family.

The days when Garden Club of Philadelphia members received engraved invitations to meetings are long gone. But as Madzin walks her grounds, pointing out the sundial, Chinese chestnut tree and irrigation system with terra cotta pipes that date back to those early days, she’s very clear that Martin’s legacy lives on. And not just in Madzin, but in all the other passionate gardeners who live in the Philadelphia area. 

Learning from history

A student in the Barnes Horticulture Certificate Program at St. Joseph’s University, Madzin has always been interested in gardening. But walking in Martin’s footsteps has taught her what it means to be a gardener – to design and dig a bed and to experience the joy of adding a new plant and watching it thrive. 

“It wasn’t until I put my hands in the dirt of this property that I learned how to garden,” she says.

Horticulturist, author, and speaker Jenny Rose Carey describes Martin as “a heroine” of the early gardening movement. Her influence extended well beyond her garden wall. She was the first woman to address the Republican National Convention and lobbied for civic plantings and the preservation of native plants and birds before women had even earned the right to vote in 1920.

“The Garden Club of America was incredibly forward thinking,” says Carey, whose Northview Garden in the village of Three Tuns, Upper Dublin Township, reflects her upbringing in the British county of Kent, known as the Garden of England. 

“In some ways, the early members have been overlooked by history because many of them were wealthy, white women who were not in need of rescuing,” she says. “But they were real trailblazers.” 

The GCA – a national leader in horticulture, conservation, creative arts, historic preservation, and environmental protection – now comprises 199 member garden clubs and almost 18,000 individual members.

The Garden Club of Philadelphia is one of 10 local clubs that are part of the Philadelphia Committee of The Garden Club of America. The group retains the characteristics of its civic mission. The PCGCA’s projects include its pocket parks initiative, which has led to the creation of small parks and community gardens in city neighborhoods with little green space. 

Breaking barriers

During the years Martin and her peers established these historic garden clubs, they were just as segregated as all the other civic organizations of the day.  

But then, in 1939, Harriet Wright Hines, who later became a civic leader and bank vice president, founded Our Garden Club of Philadelphia and Vicinity. It too has stood the test of time – and is now believed to be the oldest ongoing African American garden club in the U.S.

Known for their floral design and winning record at the Philadelphia Flower Show, OGCPV members meet at the New Covenant Church of Philadelphia campus in Mt. Airy. Since 1993, the club has created floral arrangements that are delivered to the Ronald McDonald House in West Philadelphia, which provides a temporary residence to families whose children are being treated at pediatric hospitals in the area.

The group’s president, Wilhelmina Jackson, who lives in West Mt. Airy, notes that the club’s civic activities reflect the members’ “sense of social responsibility.” 

“Flowers can really brighten someone’s day,” says Jackson, who worked in pharmaceutical sales at Bristol Myers Squibb for 26 years prior to retiring. “It means a lot to help families who are going through such difficult times with their children.”  

At this year’s Philadelphia Flower Show, OGCPV member Cynthia Wright won a blue ribbon in the horticulture class. The club also won a trophy named for the late award-winning horticulturist Rosemarie Vassalluzzo for garnering the highest number of points in the artistic class. The club was a runner-up for another award based on the total number of points earned for all competitive sections of the show. 

Tradition of camaraderie

The Chestnut Hill area is home to a number of garden clubs whose members meet to exchange information, work on projects, create Philadelphia Flower Show entries and enjoy each other’s company. 

The Chestnut Hill Garden Club, founded in the early 1960s, has about 25 active members who meet monthly from September through June. Judy Daly, who serves as recording secretary and programming coordinator, says the club has sponsored visits for its members to Andalusia, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and Laurel Hill Cemeteries and Arboretum.

Daly, who lives in Ambler, jokes about the condition of her hands. “If you look at them, you’ll know that I’m the person who doesn’t always remember to wear gloves,” says Daly, who joined the club eight years ago. 

In 1951, eight women in the Philadelphia area who had met randomly decided to organize a garden club. They called themselves – what else? – Random Garden Club. This spring, the club’s civic committee cleaned up, mulched and added new plants to a large bed at Keystone House, a hospice care facility in Wyndmoor. 

“Being part of a garden club really enriches your life,” says the club’s president, Mary Beth Casey. “The camaraderie is wonderful.” 

Tending the neighborhood

In April, members of five different clubs, including The Weeders and Wissahickon Garden Club, helped to fill the large brown tubs, storefront boxes, and hanging baskets that line Germantown Avenue and parts of Bethlehem Pike and Evergreen Avenue. The Chestnut Hill Garden District Fund provided the plants, which included yellow marigolds, hot pink verbena, and light pink petunias. Garden club members brought their gloves, trowels, and expertise. 

In 2016, a couple of friends created Garden Strollers, which hosts “pop-up” events instead of formal meetings. A member will host a gathering at their home on a Friday evening so participants can chat and check out the host’s garden. 

Miriam Fisher Schaefer, a member who lives in Chestnut Hill, says Garden Strollers “is the place we can casually use botanical names and no one thinks we’re being a snob – only precise!”

Carrying on the legacy

The story of garden clubs in the Philadelphia area is one of passion, creativity, and civic engagement. From the early pioneers like Elizabeth Price Martin to the dedicated members of today, these clubs have played a vital role in beautifying the region and fostering a sense of community.

As Madzin tends to what was once Martin’s garden, she and her fellow club members carry on a tradition that has endured for more than a century. Their love of gardening and desire to make a difference in their neighborhoods ensure that the roots of The Garden Club of America continue to thrive in Chestnut Hill and beyond.

Interested in joining a garden club? Horticulturist Jenny Rose Carey suggests you think about what you’re looking for in a club – camaraderie, opportunities to learn about gardening, concern for the environment – and match your interests with a club’s mission.

“I think the best way to find a club is to ask your neighbors,” says Carey. “If you walk around your neighborhood and see a lovely garden, drop a note in their mailbox and ask if they belong to a club.”