THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511110148
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COVER STORY
SOURCE: BY JANIE BRYANT, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 115 lines
We believe in the preservation of roadside beauty and the protection of our city grounds and streets. We believe in trees, God's first temple, in grass instead of ash heaps and tin cans, flowers instead of weeds.
- From the garden creed of the Garden Clubs of Virginia
TRAFFIC WHIZZES BY North Truxtun, a quiet neighborhood that backs up to Frederick Boulevard, one of the busiest thoroughfares of the city.
A few pieces of trash mar the curb on the other side of the boulevard. But at the entrance to the neighborhood, three members of the Community Garden Club are working their magic on a median bursting with the golden hues of plump marigolds and lacy white sweet alyssum.
The seeds of that roadside flower show were actually planted 60 years ago when the late Lelia J. Triplett - better known as the Mother of Garden Clubs - added the Community Garden Club to her list.
Triplett, a Portsmouth newspaper woman who worked tirelessly to help beautify the city, founded more than 100 garden clubs in her lifetime.
The Community Garden Club, started in the former downtown Lincolnsville neighborhood, was the first club started for black women during the days of segregation.
That neighborhood is gone now, but the club started there is carried on by nine women who live in various neighborhoods throughout the city.
Those members recently celebrated their 60th anniversary at a banquet where they honored Triplett and former members who made their club possible.
And while they paid homage to those former garden club members, they also hoped for some new ones.
In 1990, the club membership had dropped to three. A caption under their photo said it best: ``Will we survive?''
That was the year Odessa K. Baker was elected president of the state organization.
``Our club was dying,'' she said. ``I thought, `I can't be president of the state and not have a garden club.' So we just went out and begged people to join.
``And we got really good members, too,'' said Baker, who is currently interim president of the club.
Baker, a retired science teacher, joined the club about 40 years ago and, at 79, she figures she's the only one who remembers the 20-some members that made up the club in its heyday.
Because the garden clubs were segregated in the early years, they still come under separate district and state organizations, Baker said.
White clubs came under the umbrella of the Portsmouth Area Council of Garden Clubs and the black clubs formed under the Portsmouth-Chesapeake Council of Garden Clubs.
Merging the two has been talked about, especially on the state level, Baker said.
``But somehow or another when you have your own gang, seems like you stick with that gang,'' she said.
``I guess we should,'' she added. ``Then we could help each other out getting ideas.''
But both councils work hard to make their neighborhoods and the city as a whole cleaner and more beautiful, even if there has been no merging of their efforts.
Because members are spread throughout the city, the Community Garden Club was not bound by neighborhood loyalties when they went looking for a beautification project three years ago.
The patch of earth they decided to adopt was at the median where Killian Avenue and Bagley Street fork together at Frederick Boulevard.
Emma Shuler, treasurer of the club, found the site even though she lives about a quarter of a mile away in Truxtun.
``I suggested to the group that we should do something for the community and that spot would be a nice spot to have a flower garden and they agreed on that.
``It was just plain rocks and sand, hard dirt,'' Shuler remembered.
The city agreed to their plan and sent in a crew to help dig up the grass and weeds and lay down the mulch.
Each year, new plants and flowers have been added to the site - from Japanese holly and juniper to yucca, impatiens and celosia.
They take turns weeding and watering, and Baker admits she can't sleep if she knows those flowers need a drink.
In the dry, hot days of summer, she often loads her car up with 20 gallon jugs of water and heads for the adopted median.
In the week before their anniversary celebration, members were busy planting bulbs for spring and pansies to add color in the winter months.
A woman drove by while they worked and stopped, a smile spreading across her face as she praised their work. Later, another motorist stopped to give them a thumbs up.
There are other signs that people appreciate their work.
Members found that as busy a roadway as Frederick Boulevard was, people didn't seem to litter in their pretty flower spot.
Of course, the highway did bring other problems. Three times a truck or car has crashed into the bed.
But the flower bed has proven as resilient as the Community Garden Club that cares for it.
Season after season, it comes back and gives the city a little more beauty. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by Mark Mitchell
Community Garden Clubbers Carey, left, Odessa K. Baker and Mildrew
W. Evans work the plot they adopted in the median where Killian
Avenue and Bagley Street fork together at Frederick Boulevard.
Beulah Stower Carey plants pansies that will brighten the landscape
for motorists all winter. The rewards are the smiles and waves from
appreciative drivers passing by.
Marigolds, left, bring warm golden color to chilly fall days, and
bulbs, below, are ready to plant to ensure spring beauty.
by CNB