The Winter Park Garden Club (WPGC) was founded in 1922 to promote gardening and beautify the City of Winter Park.  It is one of the four charter members of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs (FFGC), which was organized in 1924.  The National Garden Clubs, Inc., started in 1929 with thirteen members, has grown to include all fifty states plus international affiliates.  Being a member of the Winter Park Garden Club brings you into the largest volunteer gardening organization in the world.  Each level of the garden club is a not-for-profit educational organization which works to protect and conserve our natural resources, promote civic beautification, encourage the improvement of roadsides and parks, encourage the establishment of botanical gardens, arboreta, and horticultural centers, and assist deserving students through college scholarships in related science fields of study.  Through FFGC, programs such as Wekiva Youth Camp and SEEK instill in our youth the love of gardening and respect for and protection of the environment.  Also, the WPGC is part of the Deep South Region, which coordinates garden club efforts for our region of the U.S. 

The WPGC has been associated with Mead Garden for many years.  In 1937 Dr. Edwin Grover and John Connery started Mead Garden.  The garden club first started work in Mead Garden in 1938.  In 1956 the City gave the club the use of a lodge in Mead Garden.  In 1968 the City approved Garden Center plans for the site.  Funds for the Garden Center were raised by the WPGC.  After a groundbreaking ceremony in May of 1972, the Garden Center in Mead Garden was finally dedicated in 1973.

The Winter Park Garden Club’s objective is to further the education of members and the public in the fields of gardening, horticulture, botany, landscape design, conservation of natural resources, civic beautification, public sanitation, and nature studies.  We do this through monthly programs on these topics, field trips to related points of interest, workshops on horticulture and floral design, hands on gardening in the butterfly garden and grounds around our Garden Center, fundraising activities to fund scholarships at UCF and camperships to Wekiva Youth Camp, flower shows to highlight our horticultural and floral design skills, flower arrangements in mugs for Hospice patients, donations of art supplies to Winter Park Day Nursery, and evening programs to educate the public.  Along the way we promote friendships and share skills as we have fun with fellow gardeners.  Please join us!

Clubhouse photo by Aaron Harriss