Little Garden Club of Rye Holds Annual Daffodil Show

April showers may bring May flowers, but the month that T.S. Eliot called the cruelest takes on a very different meaning in Rye. That’s when the Little Garden Club of Rye (LGCR) stages its traditional Daffodil Show at

The free show will take place from 2 to 3:30 p.m. today.

It is the latest in a LGCR Daffodil Show tradition at the Osborn that dates back to 1991, according to co-chairs Robin Russell and LGCR president Chris Duncan.

And while the LGCR isn’t looking for anyone to throw verbal bouquets at its storied history and accomplishments in and around Rye, the Daffodil Show is just one instance of its focus on civic beautification, conservation and historic preservation.

Anne Bernstein and Fran Buckley helped start LGCR’s first Daffodil Show, according to Sarah Freimuth, a spokesperson for the organization.

Ms. Bernstein’s sister-in-law had started the Boston Daffodil Show and she shared her know-how with Berstein, who then started the Rye show, Freimuth said.

The LGCR’s first Daffodil Show was just a small in-club show in the beginning. But in the 1990s, members decided the show should gain American Daffodil Society (ADS) recognition under Ms. Buckley. She contacted ADS, which sent so much information that Buckley’s husband Jim’s computer crashed, according to Freimuth.

Fran next turned to the Greenwich Daffodil Society Show, which shared its time and expertise and showed the Rye group its gardens. The organization also shared gardening advice, including how to store daffodils in a refrigerator.

LGCR member Robin Russell teamed with Buckley around that time, and out went the salt and pepper pots used for display purposes when Russell’s husband, George, improved on the system. He built the wooden stands for the display vials, Freimuth said.

Russell assembled the information charts, books and daffodil identification in those early stages, and is still co-chair to this day, Freimuth said.

Now, the LGCR looks back on various milestones, from becoming involved with the Rye Free Reading Room plantings and their maintenance in the 1930s, to taking care of many sites around Rye today, including the Post Office, the Metro North train station, Rockridge Island, Knapp House (where the organization installed an educational herb garden) and more. The LGCR also raises funds for club activities, civic obligations and scholarships that are part of it close relationship with the Rye Nature Center.

The LGCR joined the Garden Club of America (GSA) in 1948 and by 1959 the club provided GCA with its first national officer: Mrs. Breck McAllister, who became Vice Chairman for National Parks.

As a member of the GCA, the LGCR stays in the loop on current conservation-related issues, regularly participates in Washington, D.C. and Albany education conferences in order to meet with legislative representatives to express its views on current environmental issues.

It also holds many flower shows open to the public as well as in-house flower shows available to members only. The LGCR’s next public flower show, Namaste, is scheduled for Sept. 22-23 at the .

The club has about 80 members, including active, affiliate, provisional and non-resident. And they take numerous field trips, from Wave Hill and the Brooklyn Botanical Garden to gardens in England and Italy.

The LGCR also stages an annual Holiday Boutique at the American Yacht Club in December, an event that helps kick off the Holiday decorating season in Rye.

“Our watchwords are ‘creativity and community,” Freimuth, said “and members enjoy each others company, serve the community generously, and are all proud to share the work of the GCA.”

For more information on the Little Garden Club of Rye: www.lgcofrye.org; on the Daffodil Show: 914-967-8044; rdhr@mindspring.com.