By Genma Holmes

Seventy-four years ago this month, 23 Black women invited by educator Blanche Ennix and Ruth McAlpin, wife of Tennessee State University Agriculture professor Dr. Neal McAlphin, gathered in the home of the McAlpins for a garden club interest meeting. At the meeting, the women discussed forming a new garden club that would be inclusive of the Black community. During the 1940’s, after World War II, garden clubs were extremely popular throughout the country. But due to society norms of the time, Black women were excluded from participating in the established Nashville garden clubs.

The meeting at the McAlpins would not only challenge who participated in garden clubs, but the women became a powerful, nurturing force in Black Nashville, and later, Greater Nashville at large. Their garden club would go beyond the scope of gardening and beautification of the home; their club led many firsts in horticulture, civic engagement, and education in Nashville and around the country. 

From their first interest meeting in 1951, the women worked extremely hard learning about plants and flowers. At each meeting, the members brought in complete assignments on growing, arranging, and preserving flowers. According to their history compiled by charter member Dolores Crump, “They set up workshops, and clinics directed by flower arrangement designers, certified judges, and well-schooled gardeners who challenged them to use their imagination to create beauty from the simplest of household items, few flowers, and limited foliage.”

The newly found garden club was named The Ardent Gardeners Association by devoted gardener Ruth Grant’s husband, Dr. William H. Grant, a local physician. He was genuinely impressed with the club’s enthusiasm and desire to learn about the gardening industry. 

At every opportunity, members visited flower shows, participated in flower arranging clinics, and visited gardens throughout their first year. At the end of their hectic year of learning and growing in their gardening knowledge, Ruth McAlpin encouraged the members to share all their newly acquired skills with the community.

 

The Ardent Gardeners’ first flower show on July 11, 1952, at the Hadley Park Community Center (left to right): Henri Dixon, Rhea Tarleton, Ruth McAlpin, Ruth Grant, Dora McClelland, Hazel Burley, Rachel Lindsay, Arthurine Welch, Lillian Thomas, Mary Walker, Carrie Denney, Martha Allen, Mattie Claiborne, Kathleen Lawrence, Mattie Flowers, Alberta Bontemps, Elizabeth Petway Lowe, Eva Nash, Blanche Ennix, and Thelma Treherne. Ardent Gardeners Association Records, 1951-1998, Box 3, Folder 7

The Ardent Gardeners made their public debut on July 11, 1952. Club members invited Black Nashville to the first flower show presented by Black women to the Black community. The gala was held at the newly built Hadley Park Community Center because it was the only place outside the members’ homes, churches, and schools available for such an exhibition. According to Dolores Crump’s history notes, "After the success of their first show, members were encouraged through the counseling of Dr. Neal McAlpin, the club’s chief consultant in the areas of plant care, garden planning, and flower preservation, to incorporate specimens from their yards and gardens in their shows.

With his encouragement, the Ardent Gardeners continued to study, grow, improve, and learn. They invited certified judges to inspect and evaluate their flower exhibits. The ribbons earned by the members were valued treasure.

Meet Charter Member Mrs. Hazel Suggs Burley

Kicking off “Christmas in July” with Mrs. Burley in her home. 

Mrs. Hazel Suggs Burley, a charter member of Ardent Gardeners, is still with us at the tender age of 104. I had the fantastic opportunity to visit with Mrs. Burley to hear her many gardening stories and the importance of chartering the Ardent Gardeners Association in 1951. I reviewed her numerous newspaper clippings, gardening programs, and photos from yesteryear. I was in awe of the attention to detail that was evident among all the gardeners.

News article on Ardent Gardeners members with students.

Mrs. Burley shared with me the many impactful projects sponsored by the Ardent Gardeners Association over seven decades. They made floral arrangements for various organizations, including a girls’ home, veterans, Tennessee State University, Fisk University, Meharry College, and Hubbard Hospital, among others. Ardent Gardeners took students on field trips to visit gardens and exposed them to horticulture, art, and culture. 

I shared with Mrs. Burley photos from my garden with my grandchildren. I also gave her updates on the number of volunteers who want to help restore the Doris Campbell Busby Memorial Garden in the atrium at Nashville General Hospital. When I mentioned the garden, her eyes beamed with pride. She immediately started sharing about the challenges it took to get the Doris Campbell Busby Memorial Garden open and the significant role it played at Hubbard Hospital.

Doris Campbell Busby Memorial Garden

The Doris Campbell Busby Memorial Garden, appropriately named after garden club member Doris Campbell Busby, had become one of the signature projects of the Ardent Gardener Association during the 70's and 80's. The club named it after Doris Campbell Busby, director of volunteer services at Hubbard Hospital, to honor her leadership that made the garden possible and her fierce devotion to volunteering and giving back to the Nashville community. Doris was known for "voluntelling" friends and family from various civic organizations and clubs to help lift the spirits of patients, families, staff, and faculty. In 1995, the hospital underwent expansion and renovation, resulting in the removal of the garden. In 2000, the garden was slightly smaller but restored along with the fountain to its former grandeur. 

MGofDC Crosspollinate with Ardent Gardeners

This year, several MGofDC members cross-pollinated their time and passion to help bring the Doris Campbell Busby Memorial Garden back to its former purpose. My involvement with both organizations started years before 2025.

In 2014, Ardent Gardner member Phyllis Cain asked me to be a speaker for her monthly meeting. Phyllis knew my family’s history and their love of gardening. She asked me to talk about my grandmother, mom, and a host of aunties who were known for their gardening skills. The women in my family were part of a garden club in Mississippi. Gardeners on steroids, their monthly meetings were legendary in our small town. Their meetings, the club’s mission, activities, and topics closely followed what I had read from the archives of Ardent Gardeners, Philadelphia’s Oasis Garden Club, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia Black Women Garden Clubs. The gardeners in my family, like many members of Ardent Gardeners, were educators who touched the lives of their students as well as the communities they resided in. 

When I became an MGofDC intern, I sought to engage with projects that would nourish my soul, support my Marine son's mental well-being, reconnect me with my family's gardening heritage, and foster connections among people from diverse backgrounds. After a few suggestions I made received no traction, I continued to look for gardening projects that would not pay homage to institutional strongholds of the past. Thankfully, with the MGofDC's flex hours, a few of the hours I am spending in the Busby Garden would help maintain my certification in MGofDC.

After the shutdowns, I accepted an invitation to become part of Ardent Gardeners by the immediate past president, Alyssa Peacock Leonard (‘16). She had a burning desire to bring back the Doris Campbell Busby Memorial Garden to its glory days. The Busby Garden Chairperson, Faye Weaver (’14), also had a fire inside of her to restore the garden after years of not being able to work in the garden like she had before COVID. She said once, “We are going to need help. It is going to be a huge undertaking. But I know we can get it done if we stay focused.”

Ask and The Doors Will Open

MGofDC Members, Genma  Holmes (’23), Alyssa Peacock Leonard (‘16), and Faye Weaver (’14) restoring the Doris Campbell Busby Memorial Garden.

Patsy Campbell Petway sitting under tree donated by the Ardent Gardeners members.

Ardent Gardeners’ names plaque Commemoration was dedicated in 1984. Two members, Hazel Suggs Burley and Pasty Campbell Petway, are still members of Ardent Gardeners. 

Pascha Sweat ('23) and Susanna Hadley ('23) were speakers at the Ardent Gardeners Women's History Month Luncheon at the meeting hosted by me.  Also in attendance were Master Gardeners Alyssa Peacock Leonard, Charity Bunyon (’24), and Gayle Akins (’23).

Faye’s determination to seek out volunteers paid off. After many walked by the unlocked doors to the atrium and witnessed MGofDCs volunteering, others were eager to play in the dirt in the garden. Doctors in white coats, nurses, hospital staff, college faculty, Greek organizations, and members from various garden clubs signed up to volunteer. 

Eleanor James (Intern ‘26) shared a wealth of information on keeping the plants healthy in an atrium, Susanna Hadley (’23), owner of Nashville Lawn Care & Landscaping Services, shared her expertise, and the next steps needed to open the garden to the public. 

Follow along each month as I share the journey to restoring the Doris Campbell Busby Memorial Garden. The Ardent Garden Association will celebrate its 75th Anniversary in 2026! Please join us as we share their history and contributions to the Greater Nashville Area!