President's Welcome

President’s Message

Hello fellow gardeners!

It is with a deep sense of honor that I serve as the President of CFGC. This is a big job and I constantly strive to represent you well. I look forward to getting to know even more of our members and sharing gardening experiences and knowledge. I enjoy visiting CFGC Garden Clubs at their meetings and events. I love learning and sharing my knowledge of gardening, landscape design, floral design, and environmentally-friendly techniques. I love learning and teaching and I hope you share in my enthusiasm!

I grew up on the east coast where gardening is very different from Colorado! We moved around a lot, but my extended family is from West Virginia, where my love for gardening started when I was a child, helping my family in the garden growing food that helped feed our family. I loved being in the garden, planting seeds that would soon grow into plants that graced our table. After graduation, I joined the Army, traveled the world, and met my husband, a Marine. We have 3 daughters and sons-in-law, and 8 wonderful grandchildren. After my time in the military, I worked in many jobs related to training adults and implementing new technologies. I eventually started my own company of instructional designers, learning experience architects, software developers, and project/program managers, which I still run today. I enjoy learning new things, whether in the garden or on the computer.

I want to thank each member of CFGC, Inc. for the time, knowledge, and skills you have donated to your garden clubs. Many have taken it further and extended your volunteerism to taking on officer and/or chair positions within your club, district, state, region or national level. At any of these levels, I know it is often hard to carve out time from our busy schedules and I want you to know that I appreciate it! I always try to keep in mind that we are all volunteers. The officer and chair positions we fill are not jobs we are paid for with money. They are positions where volunteers graciously donate their time, knowledge, skills, and sometimes blood, sweat, and tears to help our organizations thrive! We could not do what we do without you. You are appreciated!

We had a big year last year as we hosted the National Garden Clubs, Inc.’s annual conference at the Westin in Broomfield, Colorado, the first week of June, 2024. This conference highlighted Colorado and the Colorado Federation of Garden Clubs members. I'm so proud of our members' hard work to create a wonderful NGC conference! 

 

It’s an exciting and busy time this year with members sharing their time, knowledge, and skills with the public at the Colorado Garden and Home Show while also helping plan our district annual meetings and our state convention in Vail. We are also going through a period of intense change as we sell our headquarters, Emerson House, and determine how to invest and use the profits of the invested funds to further the mission of our organization to include educating members and the public, while also improving benefits for our clubs and members. It has been a huge job, and was sometimes painful. But, we made it through with a lot of teamwork and perseverance. I'm proud of all of the hard work that many people put in to make this go as smoothly as possible and to keep the organization informed.

I appreciate those of you that volunteer your time and take on responsibilities in our organization. It takes all of us to make this organization thrive and grow. I look forward to working with you to help expand our knowledge and share that knowledge with our members and the public.

Thank you for your time, your energy, and your talents. I hope that your gardens grow bountiful harvests!

Sincerely,

Victoria

Victoria Schmidt, CFGC President 2023-2025
Colorado Federation of Garden Clubs, Inc.​

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