HARDY PLANT CLUB HISTORY
By
Phil Cook
The Hardy Plant Club will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2004. Because I hosted the first organizational meeting, I have been asked to write a bit about the history of the club.
The stimulus for founding the HPC was a suggestion by Beal Hyde (UVM professor) that there should be a men's garden club along the lines of the women's garden clubs scattered about the area. A local garden club seemed like a great idea but I wasn't so keen on limiting it to men. Instead, I thought that it would be great to appeal to serious gardeners who were experimenting with hardiness and willing to gamble and to collectors who were specialists in certain groups of plants. The initial invitiation was sent to those who were local members of plant societies such as the American Rock Garden Society, the American Iris Society, etc. In turn, those who received invitations were asked to spread the word and bring along others who might be interested.
The first meeting was held in July (or was it June?) 1984 at Poker Hill Gardens. About 25 or 30 people responded to the invitation. It was a great pleasure to meet some of the gardeners for the first time. Following arrivals, there was a tour of the then-new rock garden on the hill (now returning to blackberries and maple saplings), a brown bag lunch, a discussion of how the club might function, and a plant sale. The sale netted about $75 and provided the initial funds for a newsletter and mailings. After the sale, the group migrated to nearby Village Gardens in Fairfax to appreciate the wonderful display garden of perennials there.
I don't feel that a detailed listing of "officers", activities, etc. over the years is necessary here. The basic organization of the HPC has not changed much since the first year of its existence. The program chairperson [presently a committee of three], the membership secretary/treasurer, and the newsletter editor were positions that were established early on. The informal nature of the organization has been maintained and membership dues have barely kept pace with inflation. Activities such as garden visits, speakers, and the annual potluck supper have continued. There have also been some periods of apathy. Fortunately, I feel that the past few years have seen a "sprouting" of new growth led by enthusiastic officers and a greater participation of the membership.
There is, and probably will always be, some degree of divergence of interests within the HPC. Native plants vs garden cultivars and plant collections vs garden design represent two examples. While most of us are probably somewhere in the middle when it comes to our own gardens, we usually lean toward one end of the spectrum. Personally, I look for botanically or horticulturally interesting plants in a garden and the design is secondary. Others look upon plants as fulfilling a function in a design. The HPC has accommodated these and other diverse interests over the past twenty years and I hope that compromise and balance will continue in future programming.
(Excerpt from The Hardy Plant Club Bulletin April 2004)
