Community Garden Club to celebrate 100th Anniversary with event on March 11

Who isn’t thinking about a garden these days? But if you’re at a loss when it comes to your (unmanicured) lot in life, or simply looking to start out, the Marlin Community Garden Club can help. Let’s begin with this.

The Community Garden Club in Marlin invites singles, doubles, family and friends to its 100th Anniversary celebration at the historic Allen House located at 305 Ward Street in Marlin, on Saturday, March 11, at 1 p.m.  

Meet the gardeners who consistently care for gardens throughout the city. Simply call Terri Glover at (254) 230-6228 and “come on down” for munchies, door prizes, several items offered in silent auction, and the magnificent presentation “Monarch Migration” by Charlotte Weiss. 

The Marlin Community Garden Club was founded in 1923 by Ida Pauleen Linthicum, who was inspired to organize the club after reading about the Philadelphia Garden Club, the first club of its kind in the United States. She also became its first president, with Mrs. J.B. Billingsley as the first vice president. 

The Marlin Community Garden Club was the first gardening club in the state of Texas and has actively existed for 100 years! It is a charter member of the Texas Garden Clubs, Inc.

Its motto resounds, “Thank God for a garden.” Its club creed states, “I believe in my community. I believe in her people, her boys and girls. I will endeavor to make this a more beautiful place in which to live. I believe in the preservation of our parks. I believe in trees and grass instead of ash heaps and tin cans, flowers instead of weeds.”

Throughout its one hundred years’ history, the Marlin Community Garden Club has hosted educational lectures focusing on a variety of different gardening topics, including garden design, floral arrangements, and botanical histories. The club continues to serve the community of Marlin by engaging in civic beautification projects of local parks, city and county buildings, and county hospital. 

What must one learn to grow a garden? A gardener must learn patience to give plants time to grow.

Beginning gardeners are often intimidated by the process of how to start a garden and care for it successfully—after all, there’s a lot involved. From amending soil with high-quality organic matter to pruning shrubs, the Community Garden Club offers the resources and learning experiences amongst fellow gardeners as a starting point, no matter what level of gardening experience one has. Soon a beautiful and bountiful garden emerges.

Gardening is about finding the right combination of sunlight, fertile soil, and water to make plants thrive. It’s also about fulfilling one’s passion and selecting plants one loves. Turn to local species. Not only are they beautiful, hearty, and sustainable, local plants and trees feed and provide sanctuary for critters in the area. By using native plants, one not only uses less water and fertilizers and pesticides, but there’s this whole ecosystem that when one plants natives comes back because it attracts different insects and birds. One can bring back all this nature by using native species of vegetation.

Every gardener makes a choice of how they want to take on their gardening adventure, from beginner to more experienced gardeners - all express the love of a garden to improve the earth.

Join in the celebration of 100 years of faithful gardening in Marlin. You are invited to the Allen House located at 305 Ward Street in Marlin, on Saturday, March 11, 2023, at 1 p.m. Contact Terry Glover at (254) 230-6228.

Marlin Community Garden Club Officers for 2021-2023 are President Terry Glover, Vice President Sheila Lawson, Treasurer Letitia Estep, Secretary Marjorie Fiola, and Parliamentarian Susan Byrd. Announcement of 2023-2025 officers will be made next month.