The Junior Ladies Garden Club Plants Trees in Memorial Park

By Ann Cabaniss

The Junior Ladies Garden Club has worked for the last several years to plan and complete a tree planting project in Athens. The 2013 project was Preserving the Past, Growing the Future with the theme “Trees , Our Living Legacy.” It was instigated by The Garden Club of America to celebrate their Centennial.

Elements of the project include education, conservation, propagation, public relations and the planting of trees. They are designed to promote natural beauty and native habitat, encourage conservation, improve the local environment and build community pride.

The project’s first phase involved plantings at Oconee Hill Cemetery to enhance the flag pole entry area. The second phase is a site in Memorial Park on South Lumpkin Street. The area was overgrown with invasive species that had decimated the existing native forest.

With the permission of the city of Athens, members of the club--helped by Celia Argabright and Hugo Verasco of Four leaf Clover--.spent many months clearing and preparing the area.

The club also expresses its grateful appreciation for members Natalie Sams and Lili Ouzts, as well as Andrew Saunders, then the ACC Community Forestry Coordinator, John McKinney, the Facility Supervisor at Memorial Park, Bo Thurston of Athena Lawn Care and Ed Smith of Southeastern Growers for their efforts in designing and completing all phases of the project. Fifty native trees have been planted with a long-term commitment by the club to insure the trees' survival.

Here are the trees that were planted: Nutall Oak/Quercus, White Oak/Q.alba, Scarlet Oak/Q.cocinea, Bosque Elm/Nyssa sylvatica ‘Wildfire’, Sycamore/Plantanus X acerifolia ‘Bloodgood”, Red Maple/Acer rubrum ‘Red Sunset’, Tulip Poplar/Liriodendrom tulipidera, Redbud/Cercis Canadensis, Dogwood/Cornus X Constellation, Serviceberrry/Amelanchier grandifolia ‘Autumn Brilliance’, Musclewood/Carpinus caroliniana.

Founded in 1940, The Junior Ladies Garden Club became a member of The Garden Club of America in 1958. All Garden Club of America member clubs will celebrate the Centennial by show casing their local area tree projects at the 2013 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia in April.