The Garden Club of St. Petersburg, Inc.
New Meeting Location
Email Address
The Garden Club of St. Petersburg, Inc.
New Meeting Location
Email Address
The Garden Club of St. Petersburg, Inc. will be celebrating its 100th anniversary November 2028.
The Garden Club of St. Petersburg is the great oak that grew from an acorn, an idea conceived by Mrs. Walter L. “Flora” Wylie, the co-founder and first President of the Garden Club. Formerly a talented pianist, Mrs. Wylie transferred her interest to gardening when her husband, Dr. Walter Wylie, became a Board Member of the City Parks Department. She recognized the need for a local organization devoted to civic improvement and horticultural study.
The group began in November of 1928 with 47 Charter Members officially organized on the circle plan begun by Mrs. Arthur Cummer of Jacksonville, then President of the State Federation of Garden Clubs. Mrs. Wylie was the local President from 1928-1930 and reelected for the years 1934-36. The first year began with two circles – North Shore and Heights. The number was doubled in 1929 with the addition of Jungle and Magnolia Circles. The club was federated in 1930 with seven circles including Oleander, Pinellas Point and Palmetto, which in 1933 became Green Fingers circle.
The first meetings, teas, and flower shows were held in the Snell Isle Woman’s Club. Later, a Garden Center was established in the old Chamber of Commerce Building and, for the first time, there was space for books and materials needed by the club for its activities. Two years later, the Garden Center was moved to the old County Health Department and then to Room 9 in City Hall. At each transfer, there were always more volumes to move. Today with digital technology the books have been donated to local libraries.
The first Flower Show was March 18 – 23, 1936 at the Boyd Hill Nature Preserve. The Garden Club of St. Petersburg continued to have an annual Flower Show to finally be held at the 500 Sunset Drive S location until the City invited the Garden Club to Green Thumb Festival.
The War Years interrupted development of the Garden Club with the result that in 1943 there were only 10 circles and 300 members. The club furnished plans and bought plants for landscaping projects at Snell Isle Woman’s Club, the Crippled Children’s Hospital, Mirror Lake, the Yacht Club grounds, North Mole, the Public Library, the Coast Guard Station, the St. Petersburg Junior College grounds, City Hall, and Crescent Lake Park. It also actively protested the erection of billboards within the city limits.
During the 1950’s, the South Side of St. Petersburg was trying to beautify their surroundings. The Lake Maggiore Improvement Association had a dream of lining Lakeview Avenue South with jacaranda trees. It became a reality via suppers and fish fries; they bought over 200 trees, each 5-6 feet tall, and presented them to Boyd Hill, then Superintendent of Parks to plant. However, the City did not have enough money to care for the trees so the Association cared for the them and were invited to form a new Lakewood Garden Circle as part of the Garden Club. In years to come, the trees would reach, touch and form a canopy overhead during blooming time.
Also, during the 1950’s, St. Petersburg was heavily infested with Oleander caterpillars and the Club enlisted the help of schools to rid the area of the destructive pests. In 1953, twenty fire dollars ($25.00) was offered to the school that brought in the largest number of dead caterpillars to the Club judges.
A fundraising drive was started in 1954 to build a Garden Club Center, as the club was growing and needed a permanent home. After many requests to City Council, in June of 1956, City Manager Ross Windom recommended that City Council give the Garden Club a lease to use the municipal property at 5t’ Avenue South and Sunset Drive, now known as Coconut Park. The Club was dedicated March 29, 1958. During this time the Club had 1,135 members and 40 circles. In 1978, the original 50 year lease expired and ownership of the building went to the City. GCSP is currently under a 3-year lease agreement.
Quoting from the scrapbook of 1958 – “The object of this club shall be: To promote an interest in gardens, to stimulate the study of wild flowers and native plants, to work for the preservation and conservation of our natural beauty and resources, to cooperate in all efforts for civic beautification and to establish, care for and maintain the Garden Club of St. Petersburg as a model exhibit of the planning of flowers, shrubs, trees and the preservation of natural beauty.”
On the grounds of a high school in Takamatsu, Japan is a spot called “The St. Petersburg Garden” where seeds, all the way from our city, are planted and cared for by the young citizens of this St. Petersburg’s sister city.
After the Garden Club was organized in November 1928 and federated in January 1930 (became part of Floridia Federation of Garden Clubs), it was then incorporated in 1950, and incorporated as a 501(c)(3) Non-profit in 1971. The Garden Club of St. Petersburg is affiliated with the National Garden Clubs, Inc. within its structure as follows: Deep South Region, Florida Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc. and District VIII.
In the 1980’s, the FFGC established the first Floral Design Programs, the Wekiva Youth Camp, and guidelines for Butterfly and Botanical Gardens, all of which are still key elements in our Garden Club focus.
The Green Thumb Festival of St. Petersburg established on April 11, 1986. It was originally created by the city’s Parks Department as an Arbor Day celebration at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve. In 1992, The Green Thumb Festival was moved to Walter Fuller Park to accommodate growth. April 1994, the City of St. Petersburg invited the Garden Club of St. Petersburg to host the Flower Show at the Green Thumb Festival! This year the Green Thumb will be celebrating its 40th year. This is the Garden Club’s largest Community Outreach program.
The 1990’s saw the beginning of a significant shift in garden club focus, from FFGC to our own GCSP. There was a shift from active civic improvement to an educational focus. This educational focus remains today as our mission to promote an interest in and appreciation for horticulture and gardening, floral and landscape design, and conservation of our natural resources. We achieve this by providing educational, charitable, youth-mentoring, and social activities, for our members and the wider community.
The Blue Star Memorial Marker in Coconut Park was dedicated on Veterans’ Day, November 11, 2014. It joined multiple other gardens within Coconut Park maintained by Garden Club of St Petersburg Members including Japanese Garden, Butterfly Garden, Native Garden, Bromeliad Garden, and Tropical Garden. There is also a Blue Star memorial at Bay Pines Park, based on the Garden Club of St Petersburg recommendation in 2015.
In 2022, with fewer books and more information available on the internet, it was voted to donate all remaining books to the library and redesign the Garden Club of St. Petersburg library into a Bridal Suite for wedding rentals.
In September 2024, our beloved Clubhouse and grounds sustained significant damage from Hurricanes Helene and Milton. The building restoration process is expected to take up to two years. Work began almost immediately on restoring the grounds, with support of grants, donations, and many hands..
