Founder - Florence Machle:

Fifty years ago the women of Boca Raton interested in gardening were aware of the need for a garden club in this community, but it was not until Mrs. Willard (Florence) Machle came to Florida that action was taken to form a club.

At Mrs. Machle's invitation, on June 2, 1953, a group of 34 women met in her home and organized the Boca Raton Garden Club. The club soon became one of the fastest growing clubs in Florida and at the end of the first year had grown to 119 members. After the first two meetings in homes, the monthly meetings were held at the Lion's Club.

Donation from Mr. Butts:

In working on the beautification of Memorial Park (the area around the Community Center) the Club requested and received from the city a deep well pump to water plantings; a road to run north and south just west of the park boundary to eliminate traffic over and through park grounds; parking of all vehicles was prohibited within park grounds and a barrier was installed to help enforce this.

One Hundred Poiciana trees were donated by Mr. Butts and were planted in the park and on Palmetto Park Road. Someone was quoted as saying: "In the years to come this will add a great deal of beauty to our Town of Boca Raton."

In the Spirit of Christmas:

About 1954 the women started making articles of native material for sale at Christmastime. The first sale was held in an empty store in Royal Palm Plaza. This evolved into "Christmas House" where private homes were decorated by the club members and opened to the public and the hand crafted items were sold. Later the sale was renamed the "Holiday Bazaar" and became an ongoing event at the Boca Raton Garden Club.

Official Flowering Tree of Boca:

The Garden Club picked the Bauhinia Blakeana Orchid Tree (Hong Kong orchid) as the flowering tree to sell to the public to beautify Boca. The City Commission accepted the Hong Kong orchid as"the official flowering tree of Boca Raton.