History of Diggers and Weeders Garden Club
On Monday afternoon, October 24th,1932 Mrs. R.M. Ballantyne invited a group of ladies to her home, 30 Forden Avenue, to consider the possibility of forming a Garden Club. Mrs. R.J. Mercur gave a short informal talk outlining what Garden Clubs were for and what they could do. She spoke of their great usefulness in stimulating interest in gardens, in valuable exchange of hints and experience and in arranging competitions or small flower shows. Mrs. Ballantyne was elected as the first President.
After some discussion it was decided that the Club should meet on the first Monday of each month – to begin punctually at 3:00 p.m. and to last for one hour – it was suggested that time should not be wasted in private conversation or discussion among the members. Meetings should be at the homes of the members by invitation and they should be kept as informal as possible and therefore no refreshments should be offered. The annual fee was set at $3 and the number was limited to 20. A few subjects were proposed as suitable for discussion at meeting: winter tricks; fertilizers; sprays and fumigation; shrubs and birds; rock gardens and pools; native plants and wild flower preservation; lilies and orchids; putting the garden to bed. This list could be added to by the executive and read out at meetings to enable members to make a choice of topic for the next meeting. All this took place at the very first meeting and very soon new members were added and the number was raised to 25.
At the next meeting, a name was discussed and Diggers and Weeders suggested but it was not approved until the following Spring.. At the second meeting “winter tricks” was the topic and Mrs. Mercur suggested using grape hyacinth pods, leek(sic)heads, and hop elm for winter bouquets, some of them to be dipped in white paint. Mrs. Ballantyne brought Bermuda air plants which only requires to be pinned to a wall. Mrs. Mercur also encouraged the Club to cooperate with the community Garden League of Greater Montreal, a suggestion which was heartily endorsed. By the Spring, the Diggers and Weeders were already reaching out to two other Garden Clubs: the Junior League and Laurentian clubs which were invited to attend the first public meeting in February, 1933 at Victoria Hall, at a cost of 25 cents for non-members. A large and enthusiastic group attended. Topics for meetings included Canadian wild flowers (with slides) and the use of sprays and fertilizers and members visited various gardens including Mrs. Findlay’s on Bishop Street who told of her successes and failures in changing a city back yard into a miniature garden containing rock plants, wild flowers and bulbs. Even in the first year there projects; a library of useful books, a list of which was given to members, contribution of seeds for the community garden and planting suitable flowers for cutting to be given to hospitals.
Over the years, the Club has had many activities. One that took a great deal of time and effort was a garden at the Queen Mary Veterans’ Hospital. It was laid out by Rose Dunsmore and Sarah Stevenson, describing a scrapbook kept from 1951 – 1974 wrote, ”I can tell you how she did it, because I watched her lay out a garden at the Lethbridge Rehabilitation Centre to which the Diggers and Weeders contributed $100 in 1974. I was really ignorant when I picked Rose up early one morning because she had forgotten her blue wool. I wondered if she were going to knit on the way to the Lethbridge, but arriving at a small field beside the Centre I watched as Rose laid out the garden paths and flower beds outlined by stakes and blue knitting wool. When she had finished, the entire plan was obvious and the results of both the Veterans’ and the Rehab Centre gardens are there in the scrapbook.” The patients would work in the gardens as therapy and there was a garden therapist who organized this. Diggers and Weeders provided money for plants and seeds and the Junior League GC provided tools. Many members worked in the garden, some going twice a week to dig and weed. There is a 1967 photograph in the Scrapbook of our first contribution to Noel at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts – a bare –branched tree displaying all the gifts in the “Twelve Days of Christmas”. Hester Ross, Wendy Mackenzie’s mother, was President at the time and Betty Piper, Marjorie Close, Barbara Tucker and Nonie Brodeur were contributors. For many years Club members decorated the lobby of the Montreal General Hospital at Christmas and provided and care for plants in the various waiting rooms of the hospital.
Through the years, the Club has been involved in many projects. For years we looked after the garden at St. Margaret’s Home when it was at the corner of Sherbrooke S. and St. Laurent and when it moved we moved to the Prospect Belvedere House on St. Catherine St a project we still carry on. Flower shows have been especially important. The great Festival of flowers held at St. Andrew’s United Church on Cote St. Antoine Road in 1973 and 1975 were tremendous undertakings and brought great pleasure to many people. For our 50ieth anniversary in 1982 we held a flower show at the forest and Stream Club and in 1992 for the 60ieth, we had a wonderful Art in Bloom show at which each member chose a favourite art work and made an arrangement to compliment it. Trips have been a major interest, with many short field trips to view gardens, a number of 3 to 4 day trips in Canada and
Eastern U.S. and even a trip to England.
As we look back at our history of nearly 70 years, it is interesting to see how little our interests have really changed over the years. Getting to work in the garden and making beautiful arrangements with flowers continue to be our primary interests and our many fascinating speakers and workshop leaders bring us new knowledge. As Mrs. Mercur said at the first meeting, garden clubs have great usefulness in stimulating interest in gardens, in valuable exchange of hints and experience and in arranging competitions or small flower shows. The Diggers and Weeders have certainly borne this out.
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