The Garden Club of Jackson Garden Tour 2020 – April 23-24, 2020
Eudora Welty, in addition to being one of Mississippi’s most prominent and award-winning literary talents, provided a perfect example of a dedicated Southern gardener who tended flowers in her Jackson, Mississippi garden alongside her mother. Similarly, two local daughters faithfully watched their mothers garden, which ultimately resulted in the young women becoming members of The Garden Club of Jackson. Margaret Scott and Margaret Palmer, daughters of Gail Doty and Sheila Palmer, respectively, are serving as chairs of the 11th biennial garden tour, scheduled for April 23 and 24, organized by The Garden Club of Jackson.
The two “Margarets” have been working for over a year to organize this highly anticipated garden tour which will give visitors a unique opportunity to see some of the same flowers that Eudora Welty described in her novels and short stories and actually grew in her Belhaven neighborhood garden. Five gardens will be on tour, as well as three of the homes. The Garden Club of Jackson will donate proceeds from the ticket sales of the garden tour to Jackson’s historic Greenwood Cemetery, located in downtown Jackson, where many prominent and notable Jacksonians, including our famed Eudora Welty, are buried, as well as many honored military veterans, Jackson mayors, and prominent Jackson families.
Since the tour’s inception in 1993, garden club members have generously donated the proceeds of each garden tour to various worthy causes in order to conserve, beautify, and enhance many of Jackson’s cherished landmarks and beautiful gardens. In part, the stated purpose of the Garden Club of Jackson, in keeping with its national organization, The Garden Club of America, which was founded in 1913, reads: “The purpose of The Garden Club of America is to stimulate the knowledge and love of gardening…” By giving back to the community, The Garden Club of Jackson remains an active participant in the future and sustainability of the greater Jackson, Mississippi area.
Because of Greenwood Cemetery’s centrally located position in the layout of Jackson, it has always been in a prominent position, as it sits at the northwest corner, just a stone’s throw from the state Capitol building. No other structure speaks to Jackson’s rich heritage like Greenwood, which was first laid out almost 200 years ago in 1823, by Jackson’s early founders. Numerous generations have visited and been taught the importance of heralding the memory of fallen Civil War, WW I, and WW II veterans. The proceeds from The Garden Club of Jackson’s garden tour will be used to maintain and care for the numerous cemetery trees which often pose a threat to the aging grave markers and headstones. Consistent trimming of limbs, and often necessary tree removal, keep the cemetery a viable and safe place, not only for the headstones, but also for the numerous family members and other visitors who stroll through the beautiful 22 acres each year, visiting their loved ones’ graves. The Garden Club of Jackson helps make the preservation of this renowned cemetery possible through garden tour funds. In 2014, garden tour funds were used to replace the chain link fence bordering Davis Street. Greenwood Cemetery will greatly benefit once again when The Garden Club of Jackson awards its 2020 garden tour funds to the beloved cemetery.
According to Garden Club of Jackson member Cecile Wardlaw, who is the secretary of the Greenwood Cemetery Association and an almost daily volunteer in the cemetery, “I believe that cemeteries are a reflection of their communities, and we show respect for our neighbors and our city by maintaining them. Greenwood is Jackson’s oldest landmark…” When worldwide visitors were coming for the 100th birthday celebration of Eudora Welty a few years ago, Cecile made sure that the writer’s headstone and surrounding area were in perfect condition.
In addition to Greenwood Cemetery, The Garden Club of Jackson’s garden tours have supported many gardens and historic sites for the past 16 years. The current Garden Club of Jackson president Lyn McMillin, notes, “To date, we have given almost $200,000 to the community in funding for historic restoration, beautification, and civic improvement.” In fact, The Garden Club of Jackson designated the funds from the 2004 garden tour to the Eudora Welty Garden. In addition, one of the previous projects of The Garden Club of Jackson was to furnish volunteers to work in the rose garden behind the Eudora Welty House, located on Pinehurst Street in Jackson. Other sites which have benefitted from proceeds of garden tours have been: Mynelle Gardens, Habitat for Humanity, The Oaks House Museum, The Cedars, Hinds Community College, The Mississippi Museum of Art, The Mississippi Children’s Museum, Stewpot Community Services, and The Lowry House. Additional garden club funds have also supported: Weed Wrangle; scholarships for landscape students at Hinds Community College and Mississippi State University; Dewitt Street beautification; and landscape learning seminars, which are open to commercial and residential lawn care professionals.
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