Want to get outside and make friends, too? Join a garden club!
If you follow our advice from the previous post and visit the Fort Worth Botanic Garden this month, you may notice a charming mid-century building, surrounded by flowers and walking trails, just across the park road from the main parking lot. This building — officially 3111 Old Garden Road — is the headquarters of Texas Garden Clubs, Inc.
If you get visions of ladies in hats serving tea among rose bushes when you hear the words "garden club"... well, the Texas Garden Club association dates back to the late 1920s and the foundations for the headquarters building were laid in 1959. So there have been hats and rose bushes along the way. But the modern garden club movement covers a wide range of outdoor interests and practices. And it’s not just for the ladies anymore. It’s for EVERYONE. Texas Garden Clubs is now an umbrella organization covering nearly 400 smaller neighborhood or special interest clubs, councils and affiliates throughout the state.
One of those clubs might be in your neighborhood — or your older loved one’s neighborhood. And it might provide just the kind of agreeable, undemanding sociability that we could use more of in these crazy, impersonal times.
We have provided a link below for the Texas Garden Club find-a-club web page. On that page, the DFW area is divided into two districts: District II for Tarrant County and surrounding areas and District X for Dallas County and surrounding areas. Currently, the District II page lists over 40 member clubs, including the Greater Fort Worth Herb Society, which takes care of the garden at the Log Cabin Village and the Fort Worth Orchid Society, which helps care for the orchids in the Botanic Garden conservatory.
If you or your older loved one are looking for a social experience more than a plant-specific experience, consider dropping in on one of the listed neighborhood garden clubs instead. For instance, the recently reconstituted Wedgwood Garden Club in southwest Fort Worth serves a group of semi-suburban neighborhoods a few miles south and west of the Overture Home Care headquarters.
The Wedgwood Garden Club is a welcoming, fun group, with members of all ages. There is a small fee for annual household membership, but no other requirements. You do not have to have a garden, though a willingness to talk about gardens — and occasionally get your hands dirty at plant sales or workshops — is a plus. Each year, the club members present spring and fall plant sales, attend regular educational talks and workshops, and organize monthly local park trash pick-ups. The WGC has officially “adopted” two neighborhood parks and the members take care of spring and fall plantings at the Wedgwood branch of the Fort Worth library. This May, the WGC is hosting two main events: a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new library entrance garden on Saturday, May 14 and the always-popular Wedgwood Garden Tour on Sunday, May 15.
If this sounds like a group where you or your older loved ones could find that easy-going neighborhood camaraderie that used to be such a big part of our lives — but is increasingly hard to find these days — check out the find-a-club page below and find the right club for you.
NOTE: because of the cost of web hosting, many of the smaller neighborhood groups organize socially around Facebook pages instead of websites. If a club on the Texas Garden Clubs list does not have a website link, try searching for it on Facebook. You’ll probably find the club you’re looking for — and maybe a bunch of other socially-minded local groups as well!
If you or your loved one want to try out a garden club outing before joining, come to the Wedgwood Garden Tour on May 15. If you need assistance with transportation or companionship during the tour, give Overture Home Care a call at (817) 887-9401 to find out how our compassionate caregivers can help.
LINKS:
Texas Garden Clubs
https://texasgardenclubs.org
Find a Texas Garden Club group near you:
https://texasgardenclubs.org/find-a-club
The Greater Fort Worth Herb Society Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/GreaterFortWorthHerbSociety
Fort Worth Orchid Society
https://fwos.club
Wedgwood Garden Club Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/wedgwoodgardenclub/