Loveland Garden Club was founded on July 23, 1983 and admitted to the Garden Club of America in January 1997. The GCA is composed of 12 zones with 198 member clubs. We are in Zone XI, an 18 club group in the states of Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin. In 1984, Loveland Garden Club launched its first civic project, the renovation of the grounds and landscaping of the annual Omaha Symphony Designer Showhouse. Loveland Garden Club continued this project until 1994.

In the early years, Loveland Garden Club dedicated years to educational outreach (1985-86), established annual fundraising projects and goals (1986-87), environmental recycling (1988-89), implemented landscape design and maintenance at King Science Center (1989), Loveland Elementary School (1990-91), Sacred Heart School (1992), and many others. Additionally, Loveland Garden Club members visited Botanical Gardens all over the country, gave donations in support of local horticultural and gardening endeavors ranging from plants in the Lied Jungle at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo (1991) to donations for the Butterfly Garden at Garden Club of America’s Project 2000 located in Washington D.C. (2000).

After the turn of the century, Loveland Garden Club continued to gain traction in our mission of stimulating the love of garden through good horticultural and environmental practices at both the private and public level. The Horticulture Study group began in 2002, and in the same year, established a committee to focus on civic issues. The Club continued in their annual fundraising efforts, supporting many organizations gardening efforts through provisional projects, attending national and GCA Zone XI meetings. In 2004, Loveland Garden Club received a Horticulture Certificate of Merit at the national GCA Annual Meeting. In 2006, Loveland Garden Club established The Loveland Garden Club Lecture Series. This lecture series was established by Lauritzen Gardens to honor the Loveland Garden Club, for their past in sharing their vision, time and effort in establishing a botanical garden in Omaha, Nebraska.

The first annual endowed lecture was held on October 16, 2007. Holly Shimizu, Executive Director of the United States Botanic Garden, spoke on “The Garden as Sanctuary”. Zone XI Director, Mary Stanley and Zone XI Chairman, Alice Goltra attended the event. In 2007, Loveland Garden Club completed the payment of its initial club pledge of $25,000 to establish the lecture series. A yearly minimum of a $1500.00 contribution was approved by the membership after the initial start-up pledge was met.

Since then, the Horticulture committee has continued to host workshops on a myriad of topics ranging from vertical gardening to floral arranging, to Nebraska environmental needs. Loveland Garden Club has continued to sponsor their Endowed Lecture Series, hosting speakers ranging from the Executive Director of the United States Botanic Garden to the ‘Drunken Botonist’ in 2018. The club continues to support a vast array of gardening and environmental needs throughout the Omaha area, Zone XI, and nationally. We have committed an ongoing responsibility to our Lecture Series. In past years our club has made year-end contributions from $5,000-$10,000. This lecture series serves the purpose of providing an ongoing education program to the community at a minimal cost.

This was a big year for our club. Loveland Garden Club was honored to have been selected by the GCA to host the Annual Zone Meeting for our Zone, Zone XI. Because of the immense amount of preparation needed to do this job properly, our monthly meetings throughout the year were devoted to organizing and planning. President Babs Weinberg kept us on task throughout the year. For 3 days, May 21-23, 2013, members from 18 clubs in the states of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, and Wisconsin participated in this wonderful event. Numerous National and Zone officers attended, including the GCA President, Marian Hill. Co-chairs Kathy Gross, Julie Kenney, and Gail Klauschie had thought of everything and planned down to the last detail. The club received rave reviews for a truly special 3 days of tours, meetings and hospitality.

Our president for 2013-2014 was Anne Carter. This was the first year of her two-year term. We had a number of interesting programs this year including talks on rooftop gardening presented by Brian Kinghorn, Lauritzen Garden Conservation presented by Jim Locklear, Gardening in the Midwest presented by Jan Riggenbach, and “Omaha by Design” presented by Connie Spellman. In April we met at the Garden Gallery in Elkhorn where owner Michelle Minnick gave us a tour of her greenhouse, a viewing of new plants, and an optional potting party. The club’s annual fund-raiser was held at Omaha Country Club where Addie Kinghorn spoke on herb gardening. Each participant took home a basket in which she had planted a variety of herbs. At our annual meeting in May, we held a Non-Judged Flower Show.

In the 2nd year of Anne Carter’s presidency, club members enjoyed a nice variety of programs. Ann Hosford gave a talk entitled “All About Garden and Design” to start us off in September. In October, members met at the General Crook House and toured the Historical Gardens there. Ann Etienne of Voila showed us, at our November meeting, how to transition fall/Thanksgiving arrangements to holiday/winter arrangements. In January, club members toured the new conservatory at Lauritzen Gardens enjoying both the beautiful tropical plants and the warm temperatures inside! We learned about garden designing with native plants from Kathleen Cue of the Extension Office at our March meeting. Kyle Robino led our fund-raising workshop at Omaha Country Club where she discussed tables scapes.

Jane Hamer began serving the first year of her two-year term as President of LGC. The September meeting took place at Joslyn Castle where members were treated to a tour of the grounds and gardens of this Omaha treasure. In October, we went to Glacier Creek Preserve and learned about the history and evolution of the preserve which is being returned to its natural state as prairie lands. The walking tour we took, led by Dr. Tom Bragg and his wife Barbi Hayes, owner of the area, was informative and helped everyone appreciate the importance of the restoration work being done. The club has continued to take an interest in and to help with the preserve. Other programs dealt with learning to navigate the GCA website, a project called Edible Omaha, and beekeeping. This year’s Provisionals chose to help the National Park Service celebrate its 100th anniversary by preparing gift baskets for Park Service staff members. The club fundraiser took place at Omaha Country Club where Kyle Robino again led an informative workshop on flower arranging.

The September meeting was held at the Lauritzen Gardens Conservation Garden. After the business meeting, a tour of the Conservation Garden was conducted by Jim Locklear, Lauritzen Gardens Director of Conservation. Our October meeting took place at the National Parks Service Headquarters where Ryan Kephart, a Parks Service guide, gave an informative talk. LGC member Anne Hall spoke on bulb forcing in November, and in December the annual Christmas brunch was held at Julie Kenney’s home. January’s meeting at Mulhall’s featured a talk on attracting bird’s to one’s garden, and in February, the club met at the UNO Community Center to hear a panel discussion on community gardens presented by local experts. The following month Bob Henrickson spoke on making decorative arrangements with natural materials. April featured a presentation on “Composing Your Photos” with cell phone and/or digital cameras. The annual meeting took place at Lauritzen Gardens on May 23.

Carol Lynch began her term as club president. In September, the club was honored to host the GCA’s Annual Shirley Meniece Conference. The theme was “Jewels of the Plains.” This conference emphasizes horticulture and is attended by GCA members from all over the country. As was the case when LGC hosted the Annual Zone XI meeting in 2013, the club received rave notices from attendees for all the planning, side trips, meals, and hospitality. In October, Addie Kinghorn presented ideas on getting our gardens ready for winter. The group had many questions on this topic. November’s program was presented by Max Miller, an expert on Bonsai plants. He brought samples of plants he had worked on for many years. Our next program was in March as the January meeting was canceled due to weather and in February we had a business meeting only. Club member Meghan Schlattmann spoke about ergonomic gardening. In April, at Rockbrook Camera Center, Mark Graeve presented ideas on how to use cell phone cameras and small digital cameras more effectively. The annual meeting was held at Lauritzen Gardens.

The first 2 meetings of this year were primarily business meetings. In November, the club met at The Big Garden. Nathan Morgan gave an in-depth presentation on the mission of The Big Garden and the work being done there. Joanne and Jim Bemis hosted the Christmas luncheon at their home. Winter weather caused the cancelation of the January meeting. Our March meeting took place at the Security National Bank in One Pacific Place. The program dealt with flower arranging and was presented by Sheila Fitzgerald. In April, club members toured J.P. Lord, an OPS school for students with multiple special needs. Students there range in age from 5-21. The facility and the staff were amazing and everyone was impressed with the work being done. The club’s annual meeting was held at Happy Hollow Country Club.

Kara Walters began her term as club president in May, 2019.