Community Garden Club of Marlin is not your average garden club
The Community Garden Club of Marlin transcends mere gardening. It embodies a holistic approach towards cultivating a deep-rooted passion for plants, fostering a sense of community, promoting environmental stewardship, and encouraging artistic expression.
The Marlin Community Garden Club (Garden Club) was the first gardening club in the state of Texas. It was founded in 1923 by Ida Pauleen Linthicum, who was inspired to organize the club after reading about the Philadelphia Garden Club. The Garden Club’s banner can indubitably boast what no other garden club can, “The Oldest Garden Club in the State of Texas.”
Throughout its 101 years’ history, the Community Garden Club has hosted educational lectures focusing on a variety of different gardening topics, including garden design, floral arrangements, and botanical histories. The club continues to serve the community of Marlin by engaging in civic beautification projects of local parks, city and county buildings, and county hospital. The Marlin Community Garden Club has enjoyed a long history in the city of Marlin and continues its monthly meetings.
There is nothing monotonous about these monthly meetings.
These consistently planned and held are reliable and, while sometimes challenging, are always encouraging. Here, for example, is a visit to the Oct. 15, 2024, meeting; Program: “Evolution of a Garden” by Ramona Watson.
“Once a garden full of lush and healthy plants, neatly trimmed and weed-free flower beds, lawns, and clearly defined pathways, the garden then sealed itself from human occupation and a raucous nature party soon ensued.” Garden Club gardeners were invited to “Come, help plan the return of this garden to its paradise state. Wear your garden shoes for this excursion!”
Ramona Watson welcomed members and a special guest to her garden. She explained the rise and fall of her garden, encouraging all to write down suggestions for restoration or change of the intriguing layout. And the captivating challenge continued, a quest for the explicitly green oasis, brimming with life and vibrant colors that captivate the senses and invites one to immerse oneself in its beauty. In the end, there was the invitation to pastries, fruits, nuts, and a beverage. A perfect garden club meeting had transcended!
Garden Club program summaries are printed in a yearbook for all members. Programs offer a wide variety of in-depth studies.
No matter what the interest is in horticulture, the Community Garden Club of Marlin strives to provide an education. For example: September: Permaculture, Winter Protection; October: Garden and Landscape Design and Winter Sowing; November: Conservation and Restoration Native Landscape; December: Party, Community Service; January: Organic Farming, Floriculture, Pollinators, Diet Nutrition; February: Interior Decorating; March: New Plant Parent, Indoor Plant Maintenance; April: Biodiversity Gardening, Fruit Planting, Family Nutrition; May: Garden Trivia/Education; and finally, Pilgrimages TBA. This is not your average Garden Club!
“Gardeners, I think, dream bigger dreams than emperors” (Mary Cantwell) Gardeners love and can do that anywhere! A gardener ought to be encouraged to dream, for it is he or she who creates, adapts, and grows the unique and heavenly places so important to us all. To undervalue that ability to dream big is to stifle imagination, and to prevent the creation of something that may to one person be unusual, but to another be beautiful, restorative, and life-changing.
You see, there is a passion in gardening that produces more than vegetables and flowers. In gardening, it is the individual that grows, wherever planted (or lives), to create a bit of paradise. Having a garden can be a wonderful way to grow one’s own vegetables, beautify one’s property, or attract local wildlife. One can plant a large garden in the backyard, or one can plant a small garden if one has a limited space. One can even plant a garden using nothing but containers.
Thinking about starting a garden but are unsure where to begin? Then there are several things that might help. Consider different garden types, prepare a garden plot and tools, select seeds and plants, and then plant the garden.
Certainly, questions can be addressed at a Garden Club meeting, but there is also an abundance of books at the public library as well as gardening guides online. Take note of the source, that it be an accredited Master Gardener program, University Horticulture program, or Certified Master Gardener.
In the Community Garden Club of Marlin, its members continue to grow. Its members are steadfast to meet civic responsibilities; they serve as volunteers throughout the community – they want to enrich their community - in addition to participating in the club’s varied projects. There is the Agri-Life Family/Consumer Extension, Palace Theatre, Falls County Hospital Auxiliary, Meals on Wheels, and even the Robinson Police Auxiliary. Civic responsibility calls to other members to serve in Lions Club, Marlin Animal Rescue Society, Rotary International, H.O.T. Sewing Guild, HomeSpun Quilters, and Historic Downtown Marlin Association. Some members volunteer at the Marlin Public Library, Retired Senior Volunteer Program (R.S.V.P.), American Legion Auxiliary, Central Texas Food Bank, and the Civil Air Patrol (C.A.P.). Still others serve as Neighborhood Litter Warriors, Essex County Mentors, and Volunteer Mediators. Some even open their homes to home tours at Christmas time. A popular proverb comes to mind: If you want something done, ask a busy person!
Officers for the 2024-2025 are President Susan Byrd, Vice President and Treasurer Letitia Estep, Recording Secretary and Historian Terri Glover, and Parliamentarian Ramona Watson. Meetings are held September through May on the third Friday of the month (with rare exception) at 2:00 p.m., at the Marlin Citizens Center, 104 Hays Street, Marlin, TX.
Start growing and do not stop!