The Garden Club of Irvington - Visual Language LLC

Greening the Hudson Valley—and Beyond

For nearly a century, this club, a member of the Garden Club of America (GCA), with its focus on horticulture, has beautified public and private spaces, supported national and local conservation efforts, and held major events like GCA Flower Shows and an annual Garden Fair and Plant Sale.

Every GCA event in the country has its own distinctive identity, to be approved by the national headquarters. In 2017 the Garden Club of Irvington hosted a flower show of professionally judged exhibits of flower arrangements and plants grown by members of GCA clubs. The materials featured the daffodils that multiply every spring on the hillside at Sunnyside Restoration in Irvington, home of Washington Irving, whose legacy the show celebrated.

The suite of materials included a “schedule” or timetable with descriptions of all the categories in the show, an invitation to the preview party, name tags for club members, posters, and signage. The logo was designed with custom typefaces reminiscent of those used in Washington Irving’s era (1783- 1859).

For a previous flower show at Lyndhurst, this award-winning logo is based on the Victorian design of the Lyndhurst greenhouses, rendered by Emily Shields.

Projects such as this allow plenty of room for creativity with pattern and color, such as on the many directional and informational signs inside the exhibition area and on the Lyndhurst grounds.

The website is the Garden Club’s public face, with information about events and civic projects, sections with horticulture tips for the community, and a tab featuring views of members’ gardens, some of the most beautiful in the region. I’m responsible for writing and most photography.

When I joined the Garden Club, it was time for a graphic refresh, including a pattern and mark, drawn by Sarai Bartels, based on the gazebo at the Lyndhurst Rose Garden. We also developed newsletters with gardening advice, which available for download at gcirvington.org under the Horticulture tab).

In June 2025, the club hosted a three-day event for GCA national leadership and representatives from all 23 garden clubs in New York State. Elements of the program included signage, a handbook, awards, gift bags, a show of cut stems from our members’ gardens, and an edition of our club cookbook. The color scheme and typography were designed to complement the “Growing Connections” theme oil painting by club member Renee Shamosh.

When it was felt that a logo based on the Lyndhurst Rose Garden was not in keeping with our broader agenda of climate change action, advocating for use of native plants in community and private landscapes, and involvement in conservation efforts, everyone immediately agreed on this new logo with its pollinating butterfly visiting a native echinacea,