Boulder’s leading garden club reaches 100 years
In 1923, Bertha Mumma, wife of a local physician, established the Boulder Garden Club and served as inaugural president. Mrs. Mumma was active in the Boulder Woman’s Club when she founded the Boulder Garden Club with the intention of continuing city beautification projects as well as promoting home gardens.
At 100 years old, the club has a track record of making significant contributions to our community.
Right off the bat, club members pitched in with city landscaping projects, built a rock garden, and labeled trees and shrubs at Chautauqua Park in the 1920s, according to newspaper reports.
The club became affiliated with the National Council of State Garden Clubs, Inc. and the Colorado Federal of Garden Clubs in 1930. During the Great Depression they donated trees for a Works Progress Administration planting effort along Arapahoe Avenue. Responding to national need, the club promoted Victory Gardens during World War II.
After the war, club members logged hundreds of volunteer hours building and maintaining the Andrews Arboretum, a space on Broadway established by one of their members.
A civic-minded group, the beautification of Boulder remained a priority. Money for projects came from spring plant sales and summer garden tours. In the winter, a Christmas Home Walk featuring seasonal trees, wreaths and centerpieces was a popular fundraiser for a number of years.
Other Boulder garden organizations came and went. In the 1940s the Newcomers Garden Club, the Country Garden Club and the Boulder Valley Garden Club were active. Gardens Tomorrow was another popular club, formed especially for amateurs. Foothills Garden Club was formed in the 1950s as was Spade and Trowel Garden Club which Boulder Garden Club sponsored for young women gardeners.
They also sponsored a junior garden club though a local elementary school.
When men wanted their own group, the Men’s Garden Club of Boulder was established, in 1962. And, Boulder Organic Gardening Club was formed during the counterculture years.
Boulder Garden Club often partnered with the other groups to hold events like an annual Garden Institute which featured lectures on flowers, plants, birds, water, and land use.
The club took on all manner of projects, too many to list, benefiting all ages. They helped improve landscaping for the Boy’s Club and at Attention Homes for teens. They planted in parks, delivered flowers and plants to the mental health center and nursing homes, taught gardening to the homebound, and promoted garden therapy before it became a trend. Over 200 birthday bouquets a year, prepared by club members, are delivered with Meals on Wheels, a service the group has maintained for decades.
Environmental stewardship was promoted from the early days of the club with education, student scholarships, and a conservation pledge to protect and conserve natural resources. In the 1970s, $1,500 was donated toward a native plant garden near the main library on Boulder Creek. In past years the club motto was “See Beauty, Cultivate Beauty, Live Beauty,” but it has evolved to “Changing with the Climate.”
Trees growing throughout the community are the club’s living legacy. For a century, they have enhanced Boulder’s landscape by donating dozens and dozens of trees. “Everyone walks under those trees,” Connie Farnbach, past president and current club historian says. “Some of them have been providing shade for a hundred years.”
Considering our warming planet, shade is no small thing. The club recently donated a Swamp White Oak tree (lifespan, 300 years) which will grow to provide a cool spot at the East Boulder Community Center for generations to come.
Visit bouldergardenclub. org for more information about membership, events, and current projects.