I just accepted a chairman position in a garden club organization that has 43 standing committees, each with a chairman.

43. And this is not even at the state level.

I think you can imagine how unnecessary is most of the business conducted at their meetings. I did tell the incoming president that I wasn’t going to guarantee my presence at meetings. Fortunately they only have two business meetings a year, plus an annual long drawn out luncheon meeting that goes on and on forever. The luncheons were nice in the years they were held at a country club, but lately they’ve been held at a plain vanilla location.

And the HUGE irony is that the National GardenClub Headquarters building sits on a fabulous site with a wonderful and expensive mid century modern building and—WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE THAT BUILDING for most all garden club activities. No flower shows (perfect location!) no luncheons, no special events and only occasional club meetings which are blocked in Covid times.

Insane.

I call it “the palace of garden clubs” where no garden club members or gardeners are allowed to enter. The palace is a quiet, lovely building where no one ever goes except for the office staff.