West End Garden Club marks 90 years of beautifying Cook County

Chuck Olsen | October 31, 2025

What began in 1935 as a group of neighbors trading gardening tips has grown into one of Cook County’s longest-running community organizations. This year marks the 90th anniversary of the West End Garden Club, which has spent decades beautifying the North Shore and fostering friendship, creativity and civic pride.

“We have a record of forming in 1935 with the extension fellow that was named William Clinch,” said club historian Ginny Storlie. “He was the agricultural agent here in Cook County, so he helped them put things together. They sent a request to the state to become a garden club in 1937, but informally they had been meeting for a couple of years before that.”

Storlie said the club’s original purpose was to beautify the community’s cemeteries. “To go out in the spring and plant flowers, and make the cemetery look good for Memorial Weekend,” she said. “Then, as a course of looking at their flower beds, they’d say, ‘Your delphinium is so tall and beautiful, let’s put a few together and have a show.’ That became the annual flower show.”

Ginny Storlie at the 2025 West End Garden Club flower show

The West End Garden Club’s flower show, typically held every July, remains the highlight of the year. “They never had a theme until 1957,” Storlie said. “Otherwise it was just, ‘Bring your flowers on a certain day, tell the public about it, and we’ll serve tea and cookies.’”

Today, the show continues that blend of beauty and community spirit, featuring dozens of blooms displayed annually at Surfside on Lake Superior. Members choose a new theme each year.

“Next year our theme is America the Beautiful,” Storlie said. “We can go in many different directions with that, because America will be celebrating its 250th anniversary.”

Over the decades, the club’s members have seen their share of history. “One of the events was a Christmas tree in the National Forest here was selected to go to the White House,” Storlie said. “And one year we had a celebration with the Tofte Centennial.” Early meetings, she added, were social and meticulously documented. “They were very precise in keeping track of who came and if they paid their 25 cents.”

That social tradition continues. Membership dues are $35 a year, and the club remains a nonprofit organization, meeting monthly to share educational programs on gardening and nature. Members also volunteer to maintain public gardens in Schroeder, Tofte, and Lutsen.

For Linda Walker, the club’s outgoing president and a member for 25 years, the appeal lies in both the landscape and the people.

“We don’t have one town. We’re a string of little communities from Caribou River to past Lutsen,” she said. “And such a variety — folks on the lake, inland, deep in the woods. When I first joined, I thought it seemed like a lot of old ladies, of which I am now! But they were so welcoming, and they were the anchors of the community.”

Jane Johnson at the 2025 West End Garden Club flower show

For Jane Johnson of Tofte, those friendships and the club’s educational mission go hand in hand.

“It’s not easy to garden up here on the North Shore,” Johnson said. “Having any information I could get was really important to me, how on earth to have a garden up here.”

She said guest programs have included talks on wild orchids, moths, beekeeping and soil health. “We have extremely informal winter meetings called garden chats. Anybody can come and we just share ideas. Like, ‘This variety of seed worked really well for me,’ or, ‘Black bags worked for potatoes.’”

Johnson added that the club now welcomes men as well. “For so long we were all women, it felt like it was invitation-only. It’s not. Please let people know they can come to any of our meetings, and we could use some men to help with the work!” she said, laughing.

Beverly Flood, one of the club’s newer members, joined after a friend invited her to a garden tour. A microbiologist who has a cabin in Lutsen, Flood said she was quickly drawn in by the camaraderie.

“The best part is the social connection, meeting people from all walks of life and learning from them,” she said. “Most of these ladies are in their seventies or eighties, hauling bags of mulch. They show you that you can stay active well into your eighties.”

Flood runs the club’s Facebook page and encourages newcomers to get involved. “We want more young people, more working people,” she said. “We want a club that represents everyone on the North Shore.”

Find photos from club events and history scrapbooks, and full interview audio, below.