The Garden Club of New Jersey, Inc.
A Member of
National Garden Clubs, Inc.
President’s Message
2019-2021 GCNJ President, Jeannie Geremia
My President’s Theme “Paths to Discovery through Outdoor Learning Centers”
We are in the process of learning the ways in which we must now communicate – refining our computer skills so that we can better utilize the internet as we develop virtual programming, hold meetings and run workshops. We are approaching with positive attitudes so that new paths to discovery and learning can be created.
Pollinator and wildlife projects that we envisioned being established as templates for use in Rutgers Gardens, our GCNJ Headquarters, are on hold as we must follow state guidelines to keep people safe. We are elated that people are spending more time outside of their homes – in their gardens – being exposed to the wonders of nature and discovering what has always been there – the beauty and awesomeness of the flora and fauna. I confess that I am enthralled with my gardens, with the numerous birds nesting in them and with the pollinators that are feasting on the nectar and pollen.
Now, I ask for your help. Please reach out to educate the public by advocating for the passage of New Jersey State Senate Bill S92 that seeks to authorize the issuance of Protect Pollinators License Plates. Yes, a Pollinator License Plate!!!!! The three official New Jersey State Pollinators – the Goldfinch, the Honey Bee and the Black Swallowtail Butterfly – will all be featured on the license plate educating the public to the importance of growing our pollinator population that are responsible for a third of the food we eat, including fruits, vegetables and flowers.
Contact your local legislators in the New Jersey State Senate and Assembly and ask them to support and/or sponsor this important bill, joining Senator
Christopher ‘Kip’ Bateman and Senator Linda R. Greenstein, Senate Bill S92 Co-Sponsors. We can do this just as we worked to get the Goldfinch as the New Jersey State Bird in 1935; the Red Oak Tree as the State Tree in 1950; and the Black Swallowtail Butterfly, the State Butterfly in 2016.
Onward and Upward!
Our lives depend on a healthy environment!
Jeannie Geremia
President of GCNJ
CLUB HIGHLIGHTS
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“Garden Club’s Butterfly Habitat Thrives”
A healthy garden has a wide range of bees, birds, and butterflies. The Birds and Wildlife committee of the Garden Club of Long Beach Island, chaired by Bonnie Brodman of Barnegat Light, works towards healthy gardens through a variety of preservation projects and public education.
One of those is the butterfly garden in Barnegat Light. According to the club, the monarch butterfly population is down 53 percent and has been designated as requiring protection. As a result, the committee has concentrated on improving its habitat in our area.
At the start, the committee filled large planters with milkweed and nectar plants for caterpillars and butterflies and distributed them throughout the island. Then, in 2018, Barnegat Light borough acquired land for a public park and gave the garden club an area to manage specifically for butterflies. The borough prepared the garden with soil, irrigation and installation of appropriate plants including butterlfly bushes, St. Johns wort and black eyed Susans… the club has added many flowering plants. These have included shasta daisies, coneflowers, phlox, loosestrife, rose of Sharon…
Its location is on West Seventh Street, opposite Kubel’s. The garden won the Garden Club of NJ’s East Orange Silver Trophy award as well as third place from the Central Atlantic Region in 2019.
Our History
“MIGHTY THINGS FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS GROW”
– John Dreyden
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.
Nancy Gahtan
GCNJ Historian
GCNJ Objectives and Executive Board
GCNJ
Objectives
- To coordinate the interests of the garden clubs within the state and to bring them into closer relationship by association, conference, and correspondence.
- To aid in the protection and conservation of our natural resources.
- To cooperate with other groups furthering the interests of conservation and horticulture.
- To encourage civic beauty and roadside development.
- To study and teach the arts of flower arranging and horticulture.
- To raise funds to support educational, charitable, and scientific causes.
The Garden Club of New Jersey Executive Board
2019 – 2021
“Paths To Discovery Through Outdoor Learning Centers”
Date Recorder
