WHITEHALL GARDEN CLUB


Karen Ranta, President (287-2212)
Vaia Errett, Secretary
Ann Palmer, Treasurer

The Whitehall Garden Club's goals are to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening, to share the advantages of membership by means of educational meetings and field trips, and to restore, improve, and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and action in the fields of conservation and civic improvements. Its aims and objectives are to:

  • encourage friendship through gardens
  • encourage civic beauty
  • study the fine art of gardening in all its' aspects
  • cooperate with other chapters furthering the interests of horticulture

The Whitehall Garden club offers a $250 scholarship to any Montana high school graduate majoring in a Horticulture field. Examples of that may include, but not be limited to: Horticulture, Floriculture, Landscape Design, Greenhouse or Nursery Management, or Plant Genetics.

The scholarship will be awarded to any Montana high school or homeschool graduate, who is a current college student with a class rating of second semester sophomore or higher. Students pursuing a correspondence course degree on the Internet through an accredited institution will be considered. The Garden Club wishes to award the scholarship to a student who is established in a Horticulture major. Funds will be sent directly to the attending school. Further criteria and an application form to download are viewable here. Applications are due by May 1. The Whitehall Garden Club reserves the right to approve or deny all applications. Call 406-287-3737 for more information.

The Whitehall Garden Club currently has 25 energetic members who serve on several committees: Communication, Community Service, Historical, Program, Sunshine and Welcome. Our meetings are held the first Wednesday of each month starting at about 9:30am and last until noon. The first hour is spent socializing with beverages and treats. We take turns meeting at the homes of our members. In the fall of each year we elect officers, establish committees and the program committee plans the programs for the coming year.


The danger of frost may have passed in Jefferson Valley's rural high desert, but the Whitehall Garden Club never waits to heat things up. We meet at 9:30 am on the first Wednesday of every month in a year packed with programs and field trips. We have grown to boast 27 energetic members serving on various committees. In March 2009 our coals were stoked when a fire that leveled a pivotal block of our historic downtown and threatened to devastate our community only redoubled our drive to pursue our aims, to encourage friendship through gardens, to encourage civic beauty, and to restore, improve, and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and actions in the fields of conservation and civic improvements.

Beginning in June and awarded every month through October to one Winner and two Honorable Mentions, our Golden Spade Award continues to honor achievements in beautification through the use of flowers, plants, and landscapes. Nomination forms are submitted by the public and reviewed by a committee of club members. A lavish and coveted Golden Spade is staked into the winner's front yard for all to see, accompanied by an article and photograph published in the Whitehall Ledger.

On our summer Garden Tour, now biannual, visitors discover the ingenuity and industry of green-thumbed neighbors in yards showcasing such features as cottage gardening, rock walls and terracing, natural landscaping, yard art, and unique flower and vegetable pairings.

Marching into the mid-summer festivities of Frontier Days, our club traditionally hosts an informal Flower Show comprising four categories - Children's, Single Flower, Potted Container, and Floral Arrangement -- all judged by popular vote. The newly introduced and highly successful Children's Workshop, in which club members assist youngsters in creating arrangements to enter in the flower Show, has induced a dramatic surge in the number of children's entries and promises to become a regular feature.

In answer to the call of our National Garden Clubs (NGC) President to "Plant Native," the Whitehall Garden Club has transformed a weed-infested hillside blighting the entrance to our town into a charming parkscape welcoming residents and visitors alike with walking trails and picnic tables. Partnering with our high school's Intaract Club, our town's Parks, Trees, and Cemeteries Board, and Rotary to rebuild our community pride, we secured a $500 grant through NGC to plant dozens of native grasses, trees, and shrubs in a central diamond. This summer, the second phase ramps up as we team with our Veterans group to extend the landscape and install our recently acquired Blue Star Memorial.

The talents of our members extend beyond the garden and into the holidays. At Christmas, we craft exquisite centerpeices, wreaths, and bookmakrks of pressed flowers and beads to sell during the Whitehall Christmas Stroll. Each year one or two of our wreaths are chosen by public vote to advance to the popular "Live Auction," the proceeds of which are awarded to the charity of our choice.

Whitehall may be small, but our Garden Club is mighty; we now have two clubs. An Evening Study Group opens the doors to those unable to participate with the daytime group. While the daytime club is active in community projects, the evening group focuses on educational programs. Members from each club can join the other club. The Evening Study Group meets the 4th Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm.

Growing our youth as we grow our gardens, we participated in January in our first Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl Poster Contest, submitting an impressive 111 entries from 8 classrooms in grades 1 through 5. For their support and contribution of prizes, we honored our local Forest Service with a framed photograph and published article congratulating our winners.




This spring as the soil began to warm, we threw ourselves anew into putting the polish back into our fire-ravaged downtown. During our week-long Spring Clean, we bagged trash, raked leaves, trimmed an extensive hedge, and loaded and unloaded horse trailers full of debris from behind the historic Borden's Hotel and Lounge, a landmark structure in the heritage of our valley.




We also formed a Sunflower Committee devoted to spreading "sunshine on a stem" -- planting sunflower hedges along the fences, brick walls, and back alleys of our neighborhoods. At Whitehall's annual Jefferson River Rally in April we distributed 180 baggies of free sunflower seeds to the public, and our task force of sunshine-spreaders has been busy sowing seeds. So far the sunshine is sprouting in front of the Two Bit Saloon, the library, the swimming pool, the MSU Extension Office, an antiques shop, a church, and front gates all through town.


Our area youth are never without encouragement in the way of gardens. Every May we offer a $250 scholarship to any Montana high school graduate majoring in a horticulture field. Last month a number of our members trained to become mentors to juvenile offenders through the Jefferson County Restorative Community Service Program, helping to heal both the offender and the community by working side-by-side toward responsible citizenship and civic beauty.



As always, we plant and maintain barrels that grace the Fire Station year round, transitioning from flowers through seasonal decor.


Call the Whitehall Garden Club president for our next meeting date and location -
We welcome your visit!