close

Garden Club of Cape Coral | Getting to know … the Garden Club of Cape Coral

By SYLVIA SWARTZ 4 min read
article image -
Garden Club of Cape Coral members working in the Sands Park pollinator garden. PROVIDED

For many years, members of the Garden Club of Cape Coral have been contributing weekly articles on many and varied topics concerning horticultural and environmental matters that concern us here in our Zone 10A climate. For a change, I thought I would tell you a little about our history.

Did you know that the Garden Club of Cape Coral (GCCC) was the brainchild of the late Marty Ward and Beverly Ray in 1997? Marty and Beverly invited like-minded friends to form a garden club that would join both the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs (FFGC) and the national organization, National Council of State Garden Clubs – now National Garden Clubs, Inc. (NGC). There had been prior garden clubs in Cape Coral but none that committed to membership of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs.

Meetings continued in members’ homes, moving briefly to the Italian American Club before landing at Faith Presbyterian and ultimately, the Del Prado Episcopalian Church. Our first president was Sherie Bleiler, who remains an active member of the club.

In 1999, the city Parks and Recreations Department asked the club to plant the large cement planters that are still in the median of Cape Coral Parkway’s eastern section and the club continued to maintain these for several years until passing it back to the city in the early 2000s.

The club had a long relationship with Habitat for Humanity and, annually designs and installed he landscape at its Women’s Build home for a single mother. The club has won several FFGC and Deep South Garden Clubs awards for its work with Habitat.

GCCC maintains four civic gardens, the first of these being the Butterfly Garden at the Southwest Cape Library. The idea for this garden was the brainchild in 2001 of Ginny McCarthy (later president in 2004-2005). The garden has now been recognized by the Butterfly Association of America as a “Certified Butterfly Garden” and also by FFGC and Deep South Garden Clubs.

In 2008 the club began maintaining the Rose Garden at Cape Coral Museum of History – a tribute garden to the original Waltzing Waters gardens of 40,000 roses built by the Rosen Brothers. Our preservation of the Historical Museum’s Rose Garden has been recognized several times with FFGC’s and Deep South Garden Clubs’ Historical Preservation awards.

We are also involved in developing, planting and maintaining the city’s new Sands Park pollinator garden (see the photo of our crew working hard in the summer heat.)

Many people in the Cape are familiar with “March in the Park” (MIP). The idea for this came from our member Donna Conway, who suggested the club stage a vendor show with the club also selling plants. The first MIP in 2009 was staged in the Church of the Epiphany parking lot! The show is now a juried garden, garden art and plant show with multiple vendors. The venue is moving to Rotary Park this year since our former home, Jaycee Park, is no longer available. The proceeds of March in the Park allows the club to give annual Marty Ward Merit awards to qualified Cape Coral high-school students.

The years between 2015 and 2019 were very eventful Our meetings moved briefly to the Art League on Cultural Park Boulevard, we won multiple FFGC and Deep South Awards and in 2017 our first National Garden Clubs award – for the PowerPoint presentation “This is your Garden Club” – and we moved again to the Kiwanis building on Santa Barbara Boulevard. In 2019, the club’s website redesigned by member Lillian Peterson was recognized by FFGC’s De Palma Silik award and later by National Garden Clubs award. You’ll definitely want to check that out!

In 2020, the onset of the COVID years, to honor the Armed Services coinciding with Cape Coral’s 50th Anniversary, we installed a Blue Star Memorial Marker and garden at Eco Park, which we continue to maintain.

The club has now returned to its original meeting place, the Episcopal Church on Del Prado Boulevard. We meet on the second Tuesday of the month, September through May, at 5:45 p.m. What better way to start the new year … come join us; make new friends; enjoy educational gardening presentations at every meeting, and monthly special events trips!

Happy gardening!

Sylvia Swartz is a member of Garden Club of Cape Coral, Past President of the GCCC and Ways and Means co-chair. Visit us at GardenClubofCapeCoral.com. Like us on Facebook/Instagram.