iy February 26, 1927 WINNETKA TALK 39 GARDEN CLUBS SPONSOR BIG SHOW IN CHICAGO Local Group to Have Active Part in Arrangement of Exposi- tion March 7-12 Never have the garden suburbs which surround Chicago experienced keener rivalry than is being developed in the contests for garden clubs in the coming Chicago Garden and Flower Show, Hotel Sherman, March 7 to 12, it was stated this week. Thirty Garden clubs are entered, so far, and each has assigned its ablest decorators to the job of preparing ex- hibits for the two main competitions open to the clubs, which are the con- test in table decorations, and the con- test in floral arrangements. It is the first time since Garden clubs began to assume their present impor- tance in suburban life, that the suburbs in the Chicago metropolitan district have had an opportunity to compare skill in an exhibition of national scope. Local flower shows are annual events with most of the clubs, but it has been fifteen years since a great Chi- cago show was held, and that was before the day of garden clubs. In the last decade, the garden club has come to be the center of social life in each suburb. Lake Forest has set the example, with its exclusive or- ganization whose members own gar- dens of such extent and artistic merit that a graduate school of landscape architecture has been established there to enable the most promising of each year's crop of landscape art- ists to study the wonderful gardens to be found there. Start Chicago Movement It was from Mrs. Walter Brewster of Lake Forest, and Mrs. Frances King of Alma, Mich., who will prob- ably be conceded to be the leaders of the garden club movement in the United States, that the suggestions for the contest in the Chicago show came. : Mrs. Brewster and Mrs. King were members of the committee which planned the show. Coming in March, they faced the fact that only the owners of private conservatories would have flowers to show. With the extensive private and commerical greenhouses in and near Chicago, all of which will send their prize blos- soms to the exhibition, an ample sup- ply of flowers was assured, but both women were insistent that the gar- den club members be given an oppor- tunity to participate in some way. "Let them make table decorations," suggested Mrs. King. "And baskets, or bases," supplemented Mrs. Brew- ster. And so it was decided. At a meeting of club representatives in January, Mrs. Frederick Fisher of Glencoe was chosen secretary. And at subsequent meetings the details of the competition were worked out as follows : Table decorations--Each club en- tering this contest will become re- sponsible for two tables, one a formal dinner for six; the other a garden tea for two. Tables will be supplied by 'he show, uniform in size and shape. The club must provide the china, lin- en and decorations. No flat silver will be used. Both flowers and china may be obtained gratis from dealers on conditions which will be furnished on inquiry by the chairman. The flowers must be renewed if necessary to insure their good appearance throughout the show. Floral arrangements--FEach club en- tering this contest will provide a vase, basket or other receptacle containing a bouquet arranged for effect, which will be placed in a lighted shadow box, lined with black. These arrangements will be judged for the skill with which the flowers are combined with the con- tainer, and color balance as well as the composition in form. Color Important Factor Interest in floral arrangements has always been keen among the garden clubs. The modern garden, indeed, depends upon color for its chief at- traction. This is due to the teachings of Miss Gertrude Jekyll of England, whose lessons have been so ably spread in this country by Mrs. King and others. Both in the flower border and in the arrangement of flowers for the table, or the vase, the color scheme is studied expertly. Ladies of the gar- den clubs have attained such skill in flower arrangements, thanks to their annual shows held locally, that it is generally conceded they surpass the professional florists, and the contest of the garden clubs will bring out ex- amples of this art in its highest form, Each club is doing its best to pre- sent an unusual combination, and is | naturally keeping secret its exact plans. But it is rumored that treas- ured linens and highly valued vases and candle sticks from private homes will be used by most of them in order to obtain carefully studied effects. An interesting sidelight on the con- test is that State street stores have offered the clubs the loan of any- thing they have to be used in the contest; and the wholesale flower market has volunteered to supply the flowers. The exhibits will be staged on Monday, March 7 and judged at once by expert judges. They will be voted on during the week by show visitors. Many Clubs Enrolled The clubs which are participating, and the names of their delegates to the flower show committee are as follows: Lake Forest Garden club, Mrs. Roy E. Sturtevant; North Shore Garden club, Miss Amy Rothschild: Garden club of Oak Park and River Forest, Mrs. J. H. Heald, Jr.; Glencoe Garden club, Mrs. Frederick Fisher; 'Kenilworth Garden club, Mrs. R. B. Stolp; Lombard Garden club, Mrs. Nora Wagner; Garden club of Hinsdale, Mrs. J. F. Jones; West Chi- cago Garden club, Mrs. C. P. Flanders; Elgin Garden club, Mrs. Nelson Childs; Wilmette Garden club, Mrs. B. L. Davis; Wheaton Garden club, Mrs. W. H. Lie- fert ; St. Charles Garden club, Mrs. T. B. Gray; Evanston Garden club, Mrs. John Blunt, Jr.; Deerfield Garden club, Mrs. William W. Geary; Barrington Garden club, Mrs. G. R. Hammond ; La Grange Garden club, Mrs. W. E. Conrad; West- ern Springs Garden club, Mrs. Maxted ; Winnetka Garden club, Mrs. R. Strong; Beverly Hills Woman's club, Mrs. B. E. Buttles; Morgan Park Wom- an's club, Mrs. S. N. Murdoch; Garden club of Glen Ellyn, Mrs. G. M. Kendall ; De Kalb Garden club, Mrs. Thomas OIl- son; Park Ridge Improvement club, Mrs. H. B. MacCurdle; Riverside Garden club, Mrs. Ernest Hoefer; Freeport Garden club, president; Downers Grove Garden club, Mrs. H. B. Downes ; Glencoe Library ~lub, Mrs. Andrew McLeish: Crystal Take Garden club, Mrs. IL. H. Mason; Batavia Garden club, Mrs. Marcia Sterry. Patronesses of the Flower Show are: Mrs. Arthur Meeker, Mrs. Edith Rocke- feller McCormick, Mrs. Cyrus McCormick, Jr.,, Mrs. Robert R. McCormick, Mrs. T.awrence Viles, Mrs. Walter Brewster, Mrs. Frances King. Mrs. Arthur Ryer- son, Mrs. James Simpson, Mrs. Edward I. Cudahy, Mrs. Philip D. Armour, 3rd. Mrs. T. Philip Swift, Mrs. Edward Hines, Mrs. Samuel Insull, Mrs. Charles G. Dawes, Mrs. Waller Borden, Mrs. J. Harry Felz. N. T. Dean of Girls to Talk at Dallas Meeting Miss Elizabeth Packer, Dean of Girls at the New Trier High school, will address a joint meeting of the deans of women of high schools and universities, which will be held at the Baker hotel in Dallas, Texas, the last of this week. She will discuss the health program now in effect at the New Trier High school. The meeting, while not directly a part of the National Educational as- sociation program, will be held in connection with it and the people attending the deans' meeting will al-o attend some of the general sessions of AT THE EVANSTON THEATRES ARSIT SPRIDE THE NORTH SHORE FRIDAY 8 SATURDAY KEN MAYNARD "The Overland Stage" AS BIG AS THE HEART OF THE WEST! --ON THE STAGE-- SANTIAGO 8 ANGELINE Assisted by Mildred in I "Whirlwind and Interpretive Dancing" THE COLLEGIANS "Around The Bases" Varsity Concert Orchestra Giant Geneva Organ Louis Lohmann James Kozak, Director At the Console Mon., Feb. 28. Richard Dix 'Paradise For Two" Wed., Mar. 2. John Gilbert "'Bardley's the Magnificent" Fri., Mar. 4. "The Lunatic at Large" Leon Errol CONTINUOUS 2 TO 11:30 COME ANY TIME! the other program, it is said. @EvINSTON CLYDE ELLIOTT Presents THE MINTURN PLAYERS with Harry Minturn and Margery Williams in The Great Mystery Play "THE BAT" STARTING MON., FEB. 28 "THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING" Evening at 8:15. Prices 50c, 75¢ and $1.00 Matinee. Tues., Thurs. 8 Sat. 25¢, 50c¢ PHONE UNIVERSITY 8500