"You come to the garden, you expect it to be people gardening. And these people aren’t gardening. They’re having a party."

" I was elected to get rid of that and get things done."

April Ward, the  president  — arguably ousted — of the Roosevelt Island Garden Club, quoted in a NYT article by Vivian Yee that depicts the political microcosm of a garden club in hilarious, delightful detail.

“Since she came, oh my God, everybody’s fighting,” said Raphael Elbaz, a longtime garden member.... “It’s like the slave became the king.”...

“People start to be afraid of having a garden when you have a dictator like that,” Mr. Elbaz said.

The final straw for many came when Ms. Ward declared that the formerly neutral territory known as the border plots, which encircle the patchwork of individual gardens, would be divided up and given to anybody who wanted them, even associates, no waiting list necessary, so that the border could be maintained with the proper shrubbery and florals. It was, full members protested, a violation of the two most basic tenets of the garden club: that one must wait one’s turn for a plot, and thus full-member status (even if it might take three to six years), and that associates may help, but may not own (a longstanding class distinction).

A coup ensues... Read the whole thing. And I'm going to follow Vivian Yee on Twitter.

Love being told that "the lawyers just signed off on" one of my stories
— Vivian Yee (@VivianHYee) April 12, 2013