BY JOHN MCCANN :
The Herald-Sun
jmccann@heraldsun.com
Jan 21, 2007 : 9:05 pm ET
In Your Neighborhood: Gardeners spread roots:
Members of the La Petite Garden Club and La Petite Youth Club, including garden club President Henrietta Jones (front left) and Zelma Head (front right), planted pansies and other flowers at the Stanford L. Warren Branch Library on Fayetteville Street.
With assistance from a natural resources specialist at N.C.
"It has added a lot to the library," said Brenda Watson Hall, who
runs the recently renovated library. The garden club's work was like the icing
on a cake. "It's been really, really wonderful," she said.
The garden club has planted at the library in the past. The group holds its
meetings there, Hall said. Amid the renovations, a special spot was preserved
just for the garden club's future offerings, she said.
Head said the idea was to beautify
The group also has planted in the West End community at
Whether it's monkey grass or cactuses or pansies or
knockout roses, garden club members just go about their work as artists,
putting a little touch here, accenting something else needing some sprucing
there.
Several groups operate under the auspices of an umbrella organization called
Garden Clubs of Durham. They are: La Petite Garden Club; Better Homes and
Garden Club; Little Garden Club; Lyon Park Rose Garden Club; and Year Round
Garden Club.
And the kids dig it, too: La Petite Youth Club; Lyon Park Rose Youth Club; and
Buds of Promise.
"These young people learn how to plant, how deep to plant the plants,
whether it's a shady or sunny area, whether it's a perennial or annual,"
said Head, 62.
See, a lot of kids these days aren't growing up next to nature like their
parents, who often have little collard patches and tomato vines in their back
yards. So youth involvement in the garden clubs is a good thing, allowing them
"to see the beautification of what they've done," Head explained.
"It's something that their hands participated in."
There are no grown men toiling in the soil with the garden clubs right now,
Head said. One of her goals is to start a men's group.
"In Your Neighborhood" appears every Monday. If you know of
someone or something interesting in your neighborhood, call (919) 419-6630 or
e-mail news@heraldsun.com.