Restrictions Of War Led To Formation Of Garden Club

The women of the South Walnut Garden Club love gardening so much that they meet regularly to talk of things garden-related.

The members all live on Walnut Street on the South Hill between 14th and 16th Avenues or on the immediate side streets.

Doris Nau, one of the group’s 17 members, was part of the club when it began in 1950. When she first moved onto the 1400 block of South Walnut in 1941, Nau said, it was the only house on the block. Then the war came and there was a greater need for housing, so building flourished. Nau said that no one could go anywhere because there was a gas shortage caused by the war, so close friendships began between the neighbors.

“I don’t know what prompted us, but we started a garden club,” she said. “Gardening was the one thing we all had in common.”

The club doesn’t always keep its focus on plants, however. Nau said she remembers a time when a nearby unpaved alley was full of garbage and needed to be cleaned and the whole neighborhood helped out.

Club members meet once a month September through June. The club officers serve for two years and are “anybody we can get to take the job,” Nau said. The current president, Marilyn Watson, is one of several members who have moved out of the neighborhood but who still come to events and meetings.

Members put on activities for the neighborhood, including an annual Christmas party and a summer picnic.

Putting up a neighborhood Christmas tree is one tradition that members discontinued for a couple of years when neighborhood children starting breaking the bulbs. But members switched to smaller bulbs and no longer have a problem.

“This is a great neighborhood,” Nau said.

, DataTimes MEMO: Clubs is a new feature that will appear occasionally about groups in the area.