About Us
The Lenox Garden Club was founded in 1911, antedating the Garden Club of America by two years. We have accomplished much over the years. We sponsored the establishment of the Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, the Berkshire Garden Center (now the Berkshire Botanical Garden), and the purchase of Bartholomew’s Cobble.
Individual members of our club have won many GCA national and zone awards. To name just a few, Amy Bess Miller received the National Medal for Historic Preservation in recognition of her restoration of Hancock Shaker village. In 2016 MaryEllen O’Brien was awarded the Katherine Thomas Cary National Medal for outstanding achievement in floral design education.
The LGC has distinguished itself at many flower shows. At the International Flower Show in 1954 we won the Blue Ribbon for “Plymouth 1649”, a house and garden. Our Quito, Ecuador garden, in the 1987 Boston Flower Show, was awarded the Webster Cup and the Ames Cup. The Zone I Flower Show, held at Hancock Shaker Village in 1990, sponsored by the Lenox, Berkshire, and Bennington Garden Clubs won the GCA Small Flower Show Award.
Our community projects are many and varied. In 1991 we began the restoration of Lilac Park in Lenox. We planted and tended approximately 55 memorial lilacs. This project was funded from our Garden and House Tour, “Hidden Treasures of the Berkshires”, which was begun in 1991. Our 2011 Centennial Project was our most ambitious effort to date: we donated $100,000 to the Berkshire Botanical Garden for the construction of a dedicated classroom. This was a joint venture with trustee members of the Botanical Garden, who matched our contribution.
In 2015 we welcomed members of the former Berkshire Garden Club into our fold. It was the first time two GCA clubs had merged. Also of note: in 2017 we donated our collection of 69 glass lantern slides from the 1930’s and 14 120mm slides to the Smithsonian Archives of American Gardens.
The digitalization of over 100 years of LGC history began in 2017. The paper archive is housed at the Berkshire Botanical Garden. In 2019 we began the Native Pollinator Habitat installation at Parsons Marsh in Lenox. In September of 2019, our “Birds, Blossoms, and Brunch” celebrating the 90th anniversary of Pleasant Valley Sanctuary, raised $32,000. The funds will be the basis for a LGC endowment fund to support the Berkshire Environmental Literacy Program in Berkshire County schools.
We are proud of our engagement with the community over the years, and we will continue our commitment to civic beautification, gardening, conservation, and the environment.
Our Values:
RESPECT – Cordiality, Friendship, Trust
COMMITMENT – Action, Collaboration, Knowledge, Responsibility
A Chronology_1911-2023_and Contributions_1991-2023_