I believe it all started when I was introduced to the Garden Club of Indian River County. I had been invited as a guest of a friend to a monthly meeting of Allamanda Circle at the GCIRC headquarters on 17th Avenue. The building was impressive, the hospitality refreshing, and the people welcoming. I joined immediately! To my utter chagrin, here I was joining Allamanda Circle and I wasn't even sure what an Allamanda was or even looked like.

I learned that there were well over 200 members in the GCIRC in various other Circles as well as mine. They met on different days, at different times to suit almost anyone's schedule. They had familiar names like Hibiscus, Sunflower, Jasmine, Seagrape, Bougainvillea, and Poinsettia, but the names of Carissa and Allamanda escaped me. And so I started to ask questions, with one answer only leading to another question.

The Garden Club of Indian River County ( http://www.gardenclubofirc.org/ ) was a member of District X ( http://www.districtx.org/ ) of the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc. ( http://www.ffgc.org/ ) which in turn is a member of the National Garden Clubs ( http://www.gardenclub.org/ ) and the Deep South Region ( http://www.dsregion.org/ ).

The FFGC divides the various counties in Florida into districts. District X includes not only Indian River County, but also St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach, Glades, Hendry, and Okeechobee.

Gradually my circle of friends expanded to include these other counties as well. How fitting that the current FFGC motto is ' FOCUS on FLORIDA' and that our District X motto is 'FOCUS on FRIENDS'. No wonder that FFGC can also mean " Finest Friends God Created!"

We work on our own individual garden club projects here in Indian River County(Gardenfest, Flower Show, Youth projects, Community Service, Environmental issues, etc.) as well as projects together with other counties, such as National Garden Week, Habitat for Humanity, conferences, seminars, and even a summer camp called Camp Wekiva. Did you know that GCIRC provides scholarship funding for Camp Wekiva as well as volunteers for this summer program for those who have completed 3rd through 9th Grade. Go to http://www.ffgc.org/youth/camp_wekiva.html for additional information. This is one of the best kept secrets around for summer fun for kids!

This insatiable need to know, along with access to the cyber highway, has turned my Garden Club Membership into a wonderful, informative journey across the county, state and beyond, and I have made some wonderful new friends across the State of Florida. Why don't you consider coming along for the ride!

I strongly suggest that you check out some of these websites, and seriously take steps to join the Garden Club of Indian River County, or any one of the other garden clubs in the surrounding areas. Meetings will resume in September with some exciting programs, educational workshops,and numerous volunteer opportunities. Send your inquiries to info@gardenclubofirc.org and a Membership Brochure will be mailed out to you. If you already belong to a local community or condominium Garden Club you might think about joining the GCIRC and FFGC as another one of our Circles. It only takes a minimum of 10 members to qualify. Think what fun you would have coming up with a special name just for your Circle. Periwinkle anyone!

My curiosity continues, and I hope yours will as well.