Interesting! Kinda makes me happy I have my own little piece of land to garden, lol.

Thanks for sharing this! Passed it along to some fellow gardeners.

Dee

Enjoyed reading this but it reminded me why I don't "join" garden clubs. A friend belongs to a riding club and her tales of horror/strife/conflict are more than adequate to prevent any urge to contact my local garden club.

Stuff like this makes me want to become a hermit when it comes to gardening endeavors. Although it didn't escalate to this level, I walked away from a community garden I helped to co-found when massive egos, power and control became the dominating themes. Putting up with that stuff just ain't worth it.

Kevin

And people wonder why politicians are so bad. Amazing what a little bit of power will do to some one. I think it's tragic. People who have to live in New York should have access to a peaceful spot to get their finger dirty and grow some delicious vegetables. So sad.

Martha

True that power can corrupt in politics or in organizations, so I'm kind of in the camp that has "walked away" from such ego-infested groups. For some reason, garden clubs are often at the heap o' the pile when it comes to intrigues and fights. As Kevin, Gardenweed and others indicated, these do-good ordinations often end up doing-so-bad.

This article was doubly funny, to me, because my grandson attends a school on Roosevelt Island and I go there often. RI is a beautiful oasis in the center of the East River. I've been to that garden many times as I've taken walks before school let out. Who knew there was so much going on there? Next time I'll have to listen for illicit rustlings ;)
Molie

I got a laugh out of it but it does seem to be the way of clubs... I've seen my favorite local non profit go down the toilet as someone with the big bucks has donated his way towards getting his daughter a job there. It's a shame to see a good thing polluted like that but you know how power goes! Needless to say I'm done volunteering there.

I got a chuckle out of it but I hardly think it typifies all clubs. I have been a member of our local garden club for about 18 years. In that time we've had one person drop out because of differences (we didn't plan enough fun entertainment) and we've lost some who have moved from the area, a couple who were dealing with health issues of their own or a family members. Maybe it's been sheer good luck but though we are not a huge club, it has been in existence for 73 continuous years. I understand that 3 or 4 dropped out before I joined due to changes in the meeting time ( going from daytime meetings to evenings) That's the only old guard vs new friction I'm aware of. That's not to say everyone always agrees with everyone else but to date we've manged to find compromises that everyone can live with. Of course we are NOT dealing with power over who gets what plot of ground. Here, pretty much everyone has their own gardens but give a fair amount of time to planting and maintaining a large bed at the county fairgrounds, beds at the local post office, and a large boulevard bed as well as pitching in to do things like help with moving or installing beds at a couple of senior living complexes, helping at the local hospice house and other things. It may be that the purpose the club has helps facilitate us in working towards compromise when needed.

Ho yes indeed - so very, very familiar.
Gardening on a public allotment (there are 300,000 such plots in the UK), this sort of behaviour is dreadfully common....which is why our site has forgone any association membership, leadership (presidential or otherwise) but just pays rent to the local council which has zero interest in allotment spats and disagreements . Afraid there have been a couple of Ms Ward's (we all know the type - those who crave power are the ones who should not be allowed to have it!) but they have been rudely ousted by a general air of anarchy. We do our own thing here (although other sites in the city have far different methods of interacting). Gardening raises high passions in the UK - we have had murders over hedges, giant vegetables, compost defilement, clematis wars, pumpkin stealing....but mostly, interlopers who start throwing their weight around. I expect Ms Ward will have a brief tenure since gardeners are nothing if not patient, cunning and tenacious.

This is really scary....I was considering joining a local garden club, but now i'm not so sure :( Although, I doubt anything this severe happens, since they just manage about 10 acres and no one in particular owns any of it.