About Us

In 1924, there had been an unusually bad infestation of tent caterpillars in New Jersey and Mrs. Harold Hack, President of the Short Hills Garden Club, felt the garden club world should take some steps. She sent out letters of appeal to all garden clubs in the state asking for a fighting brigade to tackle this and future problems of a similar nature. Thirteen clubs responded and on April 1, 1925, she entertained representatives from these clubs at her home. A committee was set up to set in motion the formation of a federation of the garden clubs of the State of New Jersey. The thirteen charter clubs were: Basking Ridge GC; Clio GC of Roselle; the Dahlia Society of NJ; Englewood GC; GC of Essex Fells; Haddonfield GC; Madison GC; GC of Morristown; New Brunswick GC; Passaic Valley GC; Women Gardeners of Ridgewood; GC of Trenton; and Verona GC. By the end of the year, eighteen more clubs were added; New Jersey was the third state to form a federation of garden clubs.

The first meeting was held on December 15, 1925 at the Town Hall Cub in New York City and a Constitution and By-Laws were adopted. Mrs. Arthur M. Decker was elected President and three committees were formed: the Organization Committee; the Tent Caterpillar Committee; and the Lantern Slide Committee. Mrs. Henry V. Condict was elected Treasurer and she endowed the treasury with $10.00 from the GC of Essex Fells. A month later, the Verona GC added another $10.00 and this remained the account balance ($20.00) until the following summer. By September, there was $219.73 in the treasury.

Regular monthly meetings were held at the Y.M.C.A. in Newark. The first Annual Meeting was held in the Little Stone House in the garden of Mrs. F.A.C. Perrine, Trenton. The charge for the luncheon was $3.00 per plate.

The Garden Club of New Jersey became a charter member in 1929 of National Garden Clubs, Inc. which is a non-profit educational organization. Today, the Garden Club of New Jersey is a federation of over 100 local garden clubs throughout the state with more than 4,500 members.

This information was taken from “The Green Crusade” and “The Garden Club of New Jersey 1925-1985. Volume III, “The Green Crusade Continues” 1985 – 2010 has recently been beautifully completed by Jeanette and Loren Johnson who served on President Mary Warshauer’s Publication Committee as Chairs as they did everything as a team and Loren (Jeanette’s adoring husband) singlehandedly preserved our history in a flash drive to inspire us and future generations in the heroic commitment to spreading horticultural, environmental and creative knowledge throughout the Garden State. Please enjoy reading The Garden Club of New Jersey, Inc.’s illustrious history.