The Ribault Garden Club hosted its annual district flower show on April 25 and 26 and this year’s theme was “Monopoly.”
“Every year it’s a different theme, and it always brings out different design types,” show chairwoman Carolyn Stevens said. “For some reason Monopoly just seemed like a good fun theme. Thinking up a new way to fit that theme is part of the fun.”
The show has become a staple of the club, having been going on for decades.
There were several divisions that made up the show, including one that focused on design aspects that used flowers through placement as a form of artwork, while horticulture and youth were a couple of the other divisions on display with 48 designs featured in this year’s showcase.
According to Amy Wilson, the club’s horticulture chair, exploring the options and seeing the creativity that is used to match the theme is one of the things that always amazes her.
“Sometimes I think of something, and I think well everyone’s probably going to do that same thing, but then I’ll end up doing it and no one thought of it, so it just shows how everyone sees things differently,” Wilson said.
There were many clubs throughout the district and surrounding counties that had members who took part in the competition, including garden clubs from Gainesville, St. Augustine, Amelia Island, Green Cove Springs and Fleming Island. All of which are part of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs.
The Ribault Garden Club is a nonprofit educational organization that aims to kindle a passion for growing plants and flowers to people of any age.
As a result, the youth division is one of the aspects of the show the club is most proud of, as they understand how important a role introducing children to growing plants can play for them moving forward.
“You’d be surprised how many people getting started doing something like this as a youth end up being environmentalists,” Stevens said. “We sponsor a lot of environmental sponsorships, and the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs has a camp, which is the only one in the entire nation that’s held by garden clubs. It is a really great organization.”
