|
|
SOUTH CAROLINA
The Garden
Club of
South Carolina, Inc.
Theme -
"Pathways to Learning, Growing and Creating Beauty"
Marsha Alexander, President
The members of the Garden Club of South Carolina are busy with the
District Meetings in September and early October. This is a very
exciting time of the year, as Garden Club members get back to planning
the new Garden Club year with interesting programs and projects.
Visiting with our members throughout the State at the Fall Meetings and
reading the Yearbooks, our members are planning many activities that
will make a difference in their communities.
Growing our Membership is one of the challenges throughout the
State. Members are being encouraged to invite friends to Garden
Club Meetings and share the plans for the year…then invite them
again! Better public relations is always a challenge, but it’s
important to keep trying. Garden Tours in each District are being
encouraged during National Garden Week as a great way to interest new
members. Educational Opportunities sponsored by Garden Club
members is also being encouraged to interest new members.
The Garden Club of South Carolina members own a beautiful Garden in
Columbia, that was given in the 1940’s, as the first Memorial Garden in
the United States. Four years ago, a restoration project was
begun on the hardscaping in the Garden. This July we received the
new plans for landscaping the garden, a Cathedral Garden originally
designed by Loutrel Briggs. The new plan is designed, keeping the
integrity of the original plan. Members are excited about
restoring this lovely Garden to once again be used for garden parties,
weddings, Memorial Day celebrations, and the enjoyment of visitors.
To help our members accomplish the goal of our Regional Director and
the SAR Unified Project, GCSC is offering members a matching grant
opportunity known as Pathways to Beautification. This will be for
civic beautification projects, schoolyard gardens, healing gardens,
meditation gardens, and patriotic gardens. Members are also
being encouraged to apply for the NGC Principal Financial Grant
opportunity.
Another of the President’s projects is a Children’s Garden at the
Shriners Hospital in Greenville, South Carolina. Creating a
garden where children can watch butterflies as they flutter and find
pollen, watch birds as they land on a feeder or splatter in a water
feature, plant a perennial or annual to enjoy as they visit the garden
is planned. To accomplish some of these goals, GCSC members are
working on a Cookbook which will be for sale in the Spring.
Quoting from an article by a GCSC Board member, Bill Patterson, “Can
the old be new again? Perhaps in the sense of reflection one can dream
of the days of the old South, when roses and especially the Noisettes
filled the air with fragrance as they sprawled throughout the gardens
of South Carolina.” Members are being encouraged to plant these
roses, first discovered in Charleston in the 1700-1800’s. GCSC is
doing a Trial Garden with over fifty varieties of the Noisettes at the
Edisto Gardens in Orangeburg. Try planting one in your Garden!
The new GCSC website has been up since July. Please visit it and
learn about more exciting things happening in South Carolina at www.gardencentral.org/gcsc.
|
|