Red Mountain Garden Club members gather in the Memorial Garden at the Birmingham Museum of Art.
By Sue Watkins
For 70 years, the Memorial Garden at the Birmingham Museum of Art has been one of the city’s most cherished spaces, a serene retreat where art and nature come together. What makes this garden special is not only its beauty but the fact that it has been cared for, invested in and sustained year after year by the women of the Red Mountain Garden Club, a member of the Garden Club of America. This has been their gift to Birmingham, quietly offered for seven decades, and it stands as a true community project.
The garden was first imagined in 1955 by club president Fariss Gambrill Lynn. She wanted to create a tribute to those who had enriched Birmingham through their gifts and service. The club worked with local landscape architect William Kessler to bring the vision to life, and members soon rolled up their sleeves. Mondays often found them with shovels, pruning shears and gardening gloves, doing the unglamorous work of planting and trimming. For decades, the Memorial Garden was maintained by the women themselves, giving the space the feel of a well-loved retreat for the entire city.
RMGC Members Cilie Cowin, Sumner Starling and D.A. Tynes
As the museum grew and changed, the garden grew with it. In the 1990s, a major museum expansion required a new vision for the Memorial Garden, and Red Mountain Garden Club member Carolyn Dixon Tynes spearheaded its sweeping redesign. She brought in artist Valerie Jaudon to create the garden’s most iconic feature: shimmering tile reflecting pools in deep, rich shades of blue. For her leadership, Caroline Tynes received the Merit Award from the American Society of Landscape Architects, putting Birmingham’s Memorial Garden on the national stage. At the same time, the scale of the project meant that the club could no longer rely solely on its members’ volunteer labor. Professional landscape services were brought in, and the club has funded those services ever since to ensure the garden remains at the highest standard.
If the pools added elegance by day, the lighting project of 2010 brought magic by night. The vision to illuminate the garden came from well-known Birmingham landscape architect Norman Kent Johnson, who introduced the idea of engaging Charles Stone, the acclaimed lighting designer best known for the “Towers of Light” at the 9/11 Memorial in New York. The project was made possible through the dedication of the Red Mountain Garden Club and the generous support of the Collat family and Mayer Electric. The lights transformed the Memorial Garden into an enchanting evening destination by creating a soft glow over the pools and greenery, making the garden a place for weddings, events and quiet nighttime reflection. In 2024, the club funded a complete lighting upgrade to keep the garden shining as brilliantly as the night the lights first came on.
For all its beauty, the Memorial Garden is not simply ornamental. It is a substantial, ongoing investment in Birmingham’s cultural life. Every project, every enhancement and every planting has been supported by the Red Mountain Garden Club through donations and the proceeds of its annual greenery sale.
Since 1982, members have gathered each December to create wreaths, arrangements and mailbox decorations. These look festive on Birmingham’s front doors, but their purpose is larger: every purchase helps sustain the Memorial Garden.
The impact has not gone unnoticed. In 2010, the American Planning Association named the Memorial Garden one of the “Top Ten Great Public Spaces in America.” Over the decades, it has welcomed schoolchildren learning about plants and art, couples exchanging vows and countless visitors pausing for a quiet moment of reflection.
Even with national recognition, the Red Mountain Garden Club has never sought the spotlight. Members say they prefer to work quietly year after year because it is the right thing to do for Birmingham. The garden, they say, speaks for itself.
Cilie Cowen, Co-Chair Greenery Sale, Sue Watkins, RMGC President, Dr. Graham Boettcher, museum director and Fluff Roberts, Chair Greenery Sale
As the Memorial Garden celebrates its 70th year, it offers Birmingham more than a place of beauty. It shows what a true community project looks like, something built not in a moment but over generations through stewardship, generosity and vision. “The Birmingham Museum of Art is greatly indebted to the Red Mountain Garden Club for its 70 years of dedication,” says Dr. Graham Boettcher, R.H. Hugh Daniel Director and CEO of the Birmingham Museum of Art. “The Memorial Garden has become a beloved oasis, a place where visitors and event guests alike can enjoy the beauty of nature and art in the heart of the city.”
And as December approaches, Birmingham residents can play a part in that legacy. Shopping at the annual greenery sale is more than a holiday tradition, it’s a way to give back, to be intentional, and to support a project that has been quietly given to the city for 70 years.
The Memorial Garden is not just a garden. It is a living legacy, and proof that even the quietest gifts can leave the deepest roots.
Red Mountain Garden Club’s 43rd Annual Greenery Sale
Online Store:
redmountaingardenclub.square.site
October 1-November 5
Pick Up:
Birmingham Botanical Gardens
Wednesday, December 3, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
In Person Sale:
Wednesday, December 3, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
Holiday Gifts ~ Kissing Balls ~Mailboxes
Holiday Arrangements ~Cut Greenery
Questions: [email protected]
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