President’s Message (Lynette Jeffres, Riverton 2009-2010)
Greetings to all! I’ve been mulling around my official president’s message for some time and struggling with the right words. As I was out working in one of my flower gardens this evening, I was thinking about how many hardy, thrifty plants came from friends, old and new. The pink garden mum originally came from my mother’s yard…my first friend as a child and still one of my best friends. The comfrey, some fall asters and so many more came from Jenny, a dear friend who, before she passed, shared so many gardening tips and plants that her mother had shared with her. Several of them are almost 100 years old and varieties that cannot be found any longer in today’s gardening catalogs.
A group of my garden club friends, “The Mud Hens”, and I have shared time, plants, and talents in each other’s yards and the evidence of their hard work and care is abundant. Gardening provides a wealth of feelings and emotions—special and unique to each of us! Enjoy the moment as you “Sow the Seeds of Friendship” each and every day.
My theme for the 2009-2011 Wyoming Federated Garden Clubs, Inc. is “Sow the Seeds of Friendship”. I was pleased to know that it would relate well to the themes and projects of both National President Renee Blaschke and Rocky Mountain Regional Director Sandy Dennis.
The current national theme, “The World Around Us -Love It - Beautify It - Protect It”, speaks of befriending Mother Nature and all that she encompasses and treasuring it like an old friend. The projects President Blaschke has chosen “Golden Days” and “Beautify Blight” also work well with the friendship theme and encourage members to reach out their hands in friendship to gardeners who are no longer able to dig in the dirt or may not have anywhere to nurture plants along and to also join with community/youth organizations and work with them to beautify a blighted area of your community by planting a community garden. Community gardens encourage new friendships to sprout and older friendships to grow deeper roots as gardeners work together to produce vegetables & fruits to nourish the community. Not only do these vegetables and fruits nourish the bodies of the recipients but also the souls of the gardeners.
Rocky Mountain Regional Director Sandy Dennis chose “From Plains to Peaks, Our Gardens Grow” as the theme for her administration and her project is “What Trees Grow In Your Garden?” I think trees are a perfect extension of the hand of friendship. When you plant a tree, you truly are not planting it for just your current experience but for future generations to enjoy. Friends you’ve never met (and probably won’t ever meet) will enjoy the fruits of your labor for years to come. Each spring as Riverton comes alive with blossoms from the Hopa Crab trees sold by Riverton Garden Club members so many years ago, I smile and think of the friendship those forgotten ladies (and gentlemen) are still bestowing on us today.
My challenge to each of the members of the WFGC is for you to reach out your hand in friendship each and every day. The old song “Make New Friends, But Keep the Old,” truly has relevance in the world of gardening. You may not be meeting new people but reach out to those you already are acquainted with and get to know them better. We all have wonderful stories to share. One of my favorite things at the national meeting in Houston this May was the random seating assignments we had at each meal. It forced each of us to get out of our comfort zones and interact with new people. I met some delightful gardeners from all parts of the US and even one from Mexico City.
When you are at your garden club meeting, be sure to welcome the new members and guests with enthusiasm and sincerity and treat all of your “old” members with kindness. By reaching out and sowing the seeds of friendship, your garden will bloom with a great variety of flowers, friends, and treasured memories.
The next two years will fly by quickly! Keep track of the “seeds you sow” in order to have a yard stick to measure the changes you have made in your life, your family, your friends, your community and your club. Together we each can make a difference—one seed at a time!
Keep gardening and Sow the Seeds of Friendship
Lynette,
WFGC President
