Garden club headquarters.

The day was rather dreary outside, but inside the gracious old house the atmosphere was warm and friendly. Shining silver trays held delectable tidbits of food on the Queen Anne dining table that was adorned with a vibrant arrangement of roses, iris, stock, snapdragons, and abelia in an heirloom silver epergne. Smaller arrangements of fragrant roses accented several of the other rooms. The laughter and lively conversation of the group (mostly ladies) mixed with the almost imperceptible clink of fine china and crystal as they drifted from dining room to parlor.

It was a gathering of Mississippi "garden club ladies," with this group in particular being a rather formidable one as it included a bevy of past state garden club presidents. The gathering was being held at the state headquarters of the Garden Clubs of Mississippi, Inc.--a stately home in Greenwood donated by a prominent local family for the state garden clubs' use.

The very first garden club in the United States was formed in 1891 in Athens, Georgia. In the intervening years, garden clubs and horticultural societies sprang up across the country, with the Greenville Garden Club, organized in May of 1922, claiming the title of being first in Mississippi. Recognizing the need for an organizational plan to bring the groups together, the Lauderdale Horticultural Society of Meridian and the Greenville Garden Club hosted a meeting at the Edwards Hotel in Jackson on July 19, 1929. They were, no doubt, influenced by the formation in Washington, D.C., of the National Council of State Garden Clubs on May 1 of that same year. Besides the host clubs, representatives from garden clubs in Jackson, Gulfport, Hattiesburg, and Leland came to the Jackson meeting, and within three months the Garden Clubs of Mississippi was federated. Mrs. Robert Henry of Jackson was given the honor and responsibility of being elected as the first president of the newly formed organization.

Today the Garden Clubs of Mississippi has 155 clubs and 11 councils with a total membership of 5,369. The state is divided into six districts which, in keeping with the garden club members' inclination to combine beauty with practicality, have been given the charming names of Hills and Delta, Tombigbee Valley, River Road, Southern Pines, Spanish Trails, and Natchez Trace. Melanie S. Gousset of Grenada serves as the current state president.

At the state, district, and local levels, garden club members throughout Mississippi learn about horticulture, landscape and floral design, and environmental concerns as well as actively participating in beautification, conservation, educational, and garden therapy projects. The Clower-Thorton Nature Area in Gulfport is a Land Trust project that is maintained by the Garden Clubs of Mississippi. In 1986 Mrs. Aida Glower Yates donated ten acres in memory of her parents J.C. and Mary Thornton Clower, with an additional two acres donated in 1994 in memory of the A.C. Hutton, Sr. family by Mr. and Mrs. A.C. Hutton, Jr. Located in the heart of Gulfport, visitors can study and enjoy (free of charge) native plants and indigenous wildlife along the nature trail winding through woodlands and wetland habitats and alongside picturesque Coffee Creek.

The Lanoux Youth Nature Camp is sponsored each year for third and fourth graders. This is a hands-on camp where they experience the natural wonders of their world--trees, wildflowers, birds, animals, water, and soil--in a way that will enable them to have a deeper appreciation and respect for the environment.

Garden therapy projects utilize working in and enjoying gardens as a way for elderly, ill, and handicapped persons to feel better about themselves and more in tune with life and their surroundings. The ongoing garden therapy project at the Mississippi State Hospital at Whitfield has focused on the Shadow Oak Campground, used by residents and their families. Members have donated time and resources to plant a rose garden, a sensory garden, and large areas of wildflowers; to put in place an amphitheater for outdoor classroom use, along with wheelchair walkways and a fishing pier; and to enhance the entire area with park benches, birdhouses, butterfly houses, and over 900 trees, shrubs, and plants.

Other projects for these busy women include providing college scholarships for students majoring in such areas as horticulture, forestry, and landscape design in addition to working with Habitat for Humanity to help landscape Habitat homes with hardy, low maintenance plants.

This list is only a sampling of the myriad of projects that have been undertaken by the Garden Clubs of Mississippi. Local garden clubs contribute to these activities on top of tackling their own endeavors of beautifying their communities, leading the way in civic involvement in environmental issues, educating children and sponsoring junior garden clubs, and developing garden therapy programs at hospitals and retirement facilities. "Individual clubs are a vital part of their communities, relates Bonnie Borne of Oxford, immediate past state president. "City officials regularly call on garden clubs when they need things such as plantings at highway interchanges and public libraries." And yes, garden club members still find time for participating in flower shows plus enhancing the beauty and enjoyment of their own homes with gardens and landscaping.

Lest you think that garden club members are only "women of a certain age," Melanie Gousset reports a membership of all ages and classifies them into three major groups. "The younger women in their 20s or so are interested in landscaping and learning gardening and flower arranging for their homes. They are also very active in programs for children," she says. "The middle group is still interested in things for their homes, but they are also branching out into city beautification and civic environmental concerns. They are equipped for participation in these areas through their involvement in the garden club. Our older group, and I mean 75 and up, still wants to learn new things such as container gardening for their sometimes limited living spaces. These women are also interested in historic preservation. They are our roots and give support and encouragement to our garden clubs."

It is fitting that such an active organization, involved in developing beautiful surroundings in personal and public spaces, should have a handsome building for their state headquarters. In 1981, the home of Anna Ward and Will M. Whittington (who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1924-1950) was given to the Garden Clubs of Mississippi by their children Mary Whittington Davenport, Bill Whittington. and Aven Whittington to be used for their headquarters.

Bill Whittington recalls, "We all had our own family homes, but we hated to put our parents' home on the market. By the rarest good luck, we discovered that Frances Pillow here in Greenwood was a one-woman search committee for a headquarters location."

The arrangement has proven to be beneficial to both parties as the Whittington family has seen the Georgian revival style house preserved, and the Garden Clubs of Mississippi has acquired a delightful location for state board meetings and other functions. Clubs from around the state regularly schedule meetings there, oftentimes enjoying lunch and a tour of the house, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Trusts.

Located on Market Street, the house was built in 1914 and designed by architect Bern Price of Birmingham, who Mrs. Whittington chose after seeing a house in Jackson that he had designed. That house, at 1515 North State Street, has been updated but remains strikingly similar to the Whittington house. The house is absolutely symmetrical with the exception of a porte-cochere on the east side, which was added in the 1920s. The substantial entrance hall with an impressive carved stairway is flanked by a parlor and dining room, all accented with deep wood moldings and exposed ceiling beams. The large windows include a double cross motif in their design. The first floor also includes a library, sunroom, breakfast room, and a butler's pantry adjoining the kitchen (featuring the original copper sink). The second floor has four bedrooms, two baths, and the third floor has a recreation room that was converted from attic space when the Whittington children were teenagers. (Only the first floor rooms are open to the publ ic.)

In time, the ladies who gathered at this lovely house for the garden club meeting said their goodbyes and drifted off to the other activities of their day, which included a seminar by a world-renowned floral designer. The casual observer might have seen the event as merely a social one for a group of women with nothing better to do than get dressed up and attend a coffee. Yet the lovely outfits and beautifully-coifed hair belie the fact that these women represent women all across the state of Mississippi who do impressive environmental, educational, and beautification work through their membership in local garden clubs. Pity the poor casual observer who would miss discovering that these capable, talented leaders have had the vision to motivate and encourage the membership to participate in numerous projects through the years so that the garden clubs continue to be viable service organizations, and not just tea-drinking social groups.