The Garden Club of Wilmington has a direct connection to the very beginnings of the GCA. Elizabeth Price Martin, the great aunt of our member Evie Scott, co-founded the Garden Club of America and served as its first President from 1913 until 1920. She was named its Honorary President in 1921, served as a Director until 1925, and remained an active GCA member until her death in 1932.
Mrs. Martin envisioned the oak as the symbol of the GCA as it represents strength, stability, and longevity. Her hope was that “membership would consist of clubs, not individuals” and that its goal would be to “increase our usefulness to the cause of good gardening.”
Upon her death in 1932, the Emergency Aid of PA wrote: “...Her boundless energy and her capacity for accomplishment were united in her character with the most extreme modesty...She brought into the lives of those about her and who were working with her, a vision and inspiration which can never be forgotten, and she was to each of her associates a generous and devoted friend."
As one of the “formidable women of Philadelphia” who loved gardening and gardens, Mrs. Martin co-founded the Garden Club of Philadelphia in 1904. She also served on the board of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, where she advocated for a “federation of Pennsylvania garden clubs,” which was the genesis of PCGCA. Mrs. Martin’s interests were wide and varied. An avid gardener, she studied horticulture and appreciated garden design. She was an early conservationist, championing the GCA’s fight against the proliferation of billboards and its bid to preserve forests and natural landscapes. In addition to her many activities surrounding gardening, Mrs. Martin was involved in many civic and political activities in Philadelphia. During World War I, she helped to organize emergency aid for allied countries. While not an active suffragist, she chaired many political committees and served as foreman of the Grand Jury investigation of the notorious Eastern Penitentiary. As chair of the Women’s Board for the Sesquicentennial in 1925, she led the effort to preserve Fairmount Park’s Strawberry Mansion. She chaired the Girl Scouts of Philadelphia and served on the Philadelphia Committee for Unemployment during the Depression. Needless to say, her work was tireless and far-reaching.
It is fitting that in 2024 The Garden Club of Wilmington honor Mrs. Martin with an annual speaker program named for her. Her varied interests, including Garden History and Design, Conservation and Preservation, and Horticulture, will be highlighted in an annual program by a speaker of note on one of these topics.