https://blueridgegardenclubva.org/about daily 1.0 2023-05-15 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/1632063157041-QQIJQ5AF59NLFG6B45HH/BRGC+History+photo+update+2.jpeg About - OUR HISTORY: HIGHLIGHTS The Blue Ridge Garden Club has a long history of community service and has been recognized by the Garden Club of Virginia for various contributions and accomplishments over the years. Member Louise Gilliam, the 15th president of the Garden Club of Virginia (GCV), received the Massie Medal, the GCV’s oldest and most prestigious award, in 1960 with her husband, Frank, for “their inspirational success as horticulturalists and good citizens.” Our first club president, Mrs. William H. Cocke, was the first recipient of the Massie Medal in 1929. The club received the Massie Medal in 1977 for the Bertha Townes Memorial Garden. The club has won two Common Wealth Awards — in 1980, for landscaping the entrance to the C&O (Chessie) Walking Trail, and in 1996, for the Roots and Shoots Intergenerational School Garden. The Blue Ridge Garden Club, with the help of the Garden Club of Virginia, has been vigilant since the 1920s in preventing dam construction, road expansion, logging, commercialization and other threats to Goshen Pass. In 2015, the club successfully nominated Virginia Military Institute (VMI) and Washington and Lee University (W&L) as recipients of the Elizabeth Cabell Dugdale Award for conservation — VMI for its maintenance of the Chessie Nature Trail and W&L for its initiatives in sustainability, including energy efficiency. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/1618517176487-IZGRNS9MJBI051P685QN/Early+Spring+Dogwood.jpeg About More recently, Blue Ridge Garden Club members are active in maintaining the Veterans Memorial Garden; selling wreaths to raise funds to support charitable, civic, and educational projects, both locally and across the state; and supporting the mission of the Garden Club of Virginia (GCV). Member Barbara Walsh serves as the executive director of the Rockbridge Area Conservation Council, helping the club to remain ever vigilant about conservation issues. October 1, 1925 Blue Ridge Garden Club founded April 23, 1930 Blue Ridge Garden Club joins GCV Club Flower The Iris https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/1618498350411-CB1MF6QUH0OTPCGA7JIC/GCV+Logo_jpg.jpg About - The Garden Club of Virginia exists to celebrate the beauty of the land, to conserve the gifts of nature, and to challenge future generations to build on this heritage. The Garden Club of Virginia has 47 member clubs across the Commonwealth, with a total membership of more than 3,300. https://blueridgegardenclubva.org/projects daily 0.75 2024-10-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/1629231067452-JWIB1AZFAZ0W7O2TP9JM/W%26L+Holiday+Wreaths.jpeg Projects - Annual Holiday Wreath Fundraiser Each fall, the Blue Ridge Garden Club hosts its annual Holiday Wreath and Greenery Sale for the local community. Net proceeds from this sale fund the club’s charitable, civic, and educational projects including: Boxerwood Nature Center and Woodland Garden Nature Camp Friends of the Chessie Trail Rockbridge Area Conservation Council Natural Bridge State Park Scenic Virginia Valley Conservation Council https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/1614873686364-FVN7B7PIJANUU3FL3NKW/Veterans+Memorial+Garden.jpeg Projects - Veterans Memorial Garden The Veterans Memorial Garden Courthouse Square, Main Street Lexington, Virginia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/8a85cdd0-0864-4dfc-9839-6d1a5d6c9250/Veterans+Garden+Lexington.jpeg Projects Blue Ridge Garden Club members are honored to plant and care for the Veterans Memorial Garden, which is centrally located in the heart of historic Lexington. The garden provides a beautiful tribute to veterans and serves as a lovely community gathering place in downtown Lexington. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/1618500013206-4J9DI7VWH46A1P83T21A/Natural+Bridge+Approach-update.jpeg Projects - Natural Bridge State Park The Blue Ridge Garden Club continues to enthusiastically support and celebrate improvements to the Natural Bridge State Park. The Garden Club of Virginia celebrated its 2020 Centennial with the completion of a five-year, $500,000 grant to Virginia State Parks projects and programs. The Blue Ridge Garden Club was happy to support Natural Bridge State Park in successfully applying for and receiving a substantive GCV grant during each year of the five-year program. The GCV support has truly had a big impact, greatly enhancing the park experience for students and visitors alike! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/1618500237022-KS6JIAALYMUZTYP0RH1Q/Interactive+Classroom-Natural+Bridge.jpeg Projects Natural Bridge State Park wisely spent the GCV grant awards to create an impressive indoor interactive classroom that served over 9,000 students during its first year of operation alone. Facilities include a digital microscope, aquariums, a predator caller, binoculars, animal pelts, snake skins, bones, skulls, and antlers. Through a program called Base Camp, the park expanded its focus on interpretive themes, such as the James River Watershed, the biology of native wildlife, the significance of pollinators, and the importance of maintaining dark skies at night. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/1614873463902-9IZQNC1GVWNULF4UJRKZ/Roots+n+Shoots+Scarecrow+Garden.jpg Projects - Roots and Shoots Intergenerational School Garden The Blue Ridge Garden Club has supported the Roots and Shoots program at Waddell Elementary School in Lexington, Virginia, since the program’s inception over 20 years ago. Co-founded by Molly Brown (a Blue Ridge Garden Club member) and her late husband, Dirck, the Roots and Shoots program’s goals include uniting generations and creating a partnership between community groups, individuals, educators, parents and students while educating young children through hands-on gardening. Its flagship school garden at Waddell Elementary was refurbished and reopened in fall 2016. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/1618499849002-NV0766JM70D5HPN0SMGV/Roots+and+Shoots+Garden.jpeg Projects Beyond classroom education, and in the words of its founders, the Browns, “The friendships developed between the older Roots and the younger Shoots help to promote positive attitudes between the generations.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/1627414395233-SQR8R82DTL3P0INKXGH1/Flower+Baskets+on+Main+Street.jpeg Projects - Hanging Baskets of Flowers For 25 years, hanging baskets of flowers have appeared on Lexington streets, welcoming visitors and beautifying downtown. These baskets are a gift to the community from the Rockbridge County Council of Garden Clubs, which is composed of local garden clubs including the Blue Ridge Garden Club. The Council’s annual plant sale, typically held on Mother’s Day weekend, helps each club fund this project. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/1627415287597-1M39RQYLBVB8DQADND5N/Flower+Baskets+on+Main+with+Jane+Brooke.jpeg Projects - . . . add a Cheerful Pop of Color! The Blue Ridge Garden Club joins the other local clubs to provide the ivy geranium baskets, which are regularly watered by the city’s public works. Thanks to the partnership between the County Council of Garden Clubs and the Lexington Chamber of Commerce, nearly 50 hanging flower baskets add a cheerful pop of color to Lexington streets throughout the summer. https://blueridgegardenclubva.org/events daily 0.75 2025-07-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/a856a020-05ce-4d0e-9d04-58f666d5711f/HGW+2025+photo+sub+site+2.jpeg Events https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/86db2778-e214-4976-bbdc-767f40660bb4/HGW+Webpage-Jardin+2.jpeg Events - 2025 Historic Garden Week in Lexington, VA On May 3, 2025, visitors enjoyed a walking tour featuring five distinctive homes and their picturesque gardens, each located on historic Lexington brick walkways within a few blocks of downtown Lexington’s charming shops, art galleries, and restaurants. The homes reflected a variety of exterior and interior architectural details dating from 1824 to the present and included recent renovations that creatively blended old and new in simple, innovative, and classic ways. The tour was also within walking distance of two renown colleges, Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute. Brochure: Historic Garden Week in Lexington, May 3, 2025 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/09c30ff3-c4c6-4bc2-8048-d6c72eeb35c5/Staunton+HGW+2024+update.jpeg Events - Blue Ridge Garden Club assisted with the 2024 Tour in Staunton, Virginia Blue Ridge Garden Club members assisted the Augusta Garden Club in hosting its 2024 HGW tour, which featured cottages and stately colonial revivals nearby Staunton, Virginia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/68e76d0d-c5b9-4f64-917f-07af65ba8d0e/Belfield+photo+%281%29.jpeg Events https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/c9540440-24ed-491c-bce3-56d8e9e523fc/Staunton+Tour+Photo.jpeg Events - Blue Ridge Garden Club assisted with the 2022 Tour in Staunton, Virginia Blue Ridge Garden Club members assisted the Augusta Garden Club in hosting its 2022 HGW walking tour, which encompassed homes and gardens in nearby Staunton, Virginia. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/ff649d19-d6d0-4ad2-9063-12916da970b2/Flowers+and+a+Gardeners+Hat.jpeg Events - 2021 Tour in Lexington, Virginia: Through Garden Gates Old and New On a biennial basis (in odd-numbered years), the Blue Ridge Garden Club hosts an Historic Garden Week tour in our local community — either in downtown Lexington or the surrounding Rockbridge County. On April 24, 2021, for example, our tour — Through Garden Gates Old and New — featured three private gardens in downtown Lexington, as well as the grounds at historic Thorn Hill just south of town. Each garden was distinctive, ranging from a compact, soothing space tucked away off Main Street, to an expansive estate with panoramic views. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/a047f754-e6bd-483c-b9a0-763f683339d4/Rockbridge+County+Council+Garden+Clubs.jpeg Events https://blueridgegardenclubva.org/donate daily 0.75 2024-10-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/603a5faeb81d5532a0a3e206/1618501313581-03HILLV5ZXPQ6QNQLY16/HGW21_LockwoodMcLaughlin_Lexington_Small_11.jpeg Donate - Donate Now The Blue Ridge Garden Club appreciates donations to help sustain our long history of community service and support. The Blue Ridge Garden Club is a 501(c)(3) organization and gifts to the club are tax deductible as provided by law. https://blueridgegardenclubva.org/new-page-1 daily 0.75 2025-10-05