Hillbilly Gardeners Garden Club

Club Facts

Hillbilly Gardeners was chartered 57 years ago. It is a member of National Garden Clubs, Inc., Central Region, Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri, Inc.(FGCM), Southwest District and The Springfield Council of Federated Garden Clubs (SCFGC)

Membership: 27 members, some are also members of the following organizations, Botanical Sosiety of Southwest MO-3, Hosta Society-2, Iris Society-4, National Chrysanthemum Society-1, Ozarks Regional Lily Society-11, Southwest MO Arrangers Guild-3, Water Garden Society-2, Friends of the Garden-8, Master Gardeners (MG)-3.

2011 Theme: The 3 Rs of Gardening-Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

Monthly Meetings

Monthly meetings are held on the first Wednesday of the month, mostly at the Botanical Center (BC). Social gathering begins at 12:30 p.m., the program at 1:00 p.m. and the business meeting, that usually lasts for an hour, at 1:45 p.m. There is no meeting in August. The December meeting is a Christmas potluck luncheon held at a member 's residence with a program entitled "Bring Your Garden to Your Font Door"  followed by a short meeting.

Programs & Tours

A wide variety of programs focusing on botanical names, low cost and container gardening, conservation, flower design, horticulture, environment, creating a beautiful edible garden and landscaping are presented at each meeting.

Garden Club Tours are held from March through October. A one day tour of 5 member gardens is scheduled in May.

Non-member tours include: Brentwood member Michelle Lowell's garden in the spring, spring tour of the Close Memorial Park, summer tour of the MG demonstration garden.

Projects in 2011

1. The purchase of 10 bricks at the Close Memorial Park "White Garden", 9 bricks will be inscribed with 2011 members names (3 names per brick), the 10th brick will be inscribed with Hillbilly Gardeners 2011
2. Conservation through recycling, reduced energy and water usage, mindful use of basic products needed in daily living and the use of reusable and washable cloth shopping bags made by members out of donated scrap materials

Ongoing projects and donation

1. Planting and maintenance of 1/4 of the SCFGC perennial bed, north of the BC
2. Butterfly and Hummingbird beds planting and maintenance at the Living Memorial Park, E. Vincent Avenue, Springfield
3. Monthly Garden Therapy at the Magnolia Nursing Home, 1502 W. Edgewood, Springfield. Donated flowers are arranged and distributed to the residents
4. Habitat for Humanity Home-Every year, for the last 10 years, at least 1 house is landscaped by members. Majority of the plants are purchased by the club, the rest is donated by members. The homeowners participate in all the phases of of the project including the planting and the selection of plants, creating a basic gardening learning experience
5. Donation at the December Christmas luncheon meeting is collected and matched by the treasury, if it has enough money. The total amount, which averaged $350.00 in the last 2 years, is donated to the local charity "Care to Learn" that helps Springfield schools needy children
6. "Eural Simpson Award" at the Ozark Empire Fair for the top award in Flower Design. Eural was a charter member of HG and had inspired many current flower design judges; Blue Star Memorial, FGCM Scholarship Fund, State World Gardening/Disaster Fund, Friends of Nathanael Greene Park, Conservation Fund, etc.

SCFGC Annual Flower Show has always been supported by HG. Its members have participated in all its facets including show chairmanship. HG will continue to help in any way it can to ensure its success.

Hillbilly Gardeners will continue to support the endeavor of other garden clubs. It participated in the Ever Green (EG) "Tour of Tables Tea" at both times EG had it and will do so again this year.