Garden Club hosts first meeting of the year

The Columbus Garden Club will begin a new club year on Wednesday, Sept. 11, at 9:30 a.m.

The club meets on the second Wednesday of each month from September through May at The Lighthouse at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Columbus. If you enjoy gardening of any kind, you will find a place in this group.

Some members enjoy landscaping and others love planting wherever there is a place to stick another plant, whether it is perennials, annuals, native plants, succulents, lilies, irises, whatever. Some members enjoy growing tomatoes, cucumbers, all kinds of beans, okra, or squash, and then can them afterwards to save them.

One thing all the members agree on is their love of the Columbus Community and not only promoting beautification through its many landscaping projects but also through its monthly Yard of the Month and Community Beautification Awards that encourage homeowners and businesses to help create A more beautiful community.

The club plants and maintains all of the planters around the courthouse square including the historic horse trough on the northwest corner and the Blue Star Memorial Garden area on the northeast corner. The gardens around the visitors’ center are planted and maintained by the club as well as the Court Oak Bed between the visitors’ center and the Courthouse.

Other areas they plant and maintain are in Midtown Park. One is on Live Oak Street in the park area. It has been planted with various kinds of roses. Around the corner from it is a nationally recognized butterfly garden that the club plants and maintains.

Regena Williamson, well known in our area for her gardening knowledge, will be presenting the program for the September 11 meeting. The subject will be night pollinators. This is another area of gardening that club members are interested in learning about. In fact, some members have had their personal gardens certified as a Monarch Way Station.

The meeting begins with coffee and refreshments at 9:30 a.m. at The Lighthouse at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 201 Veterans Drive. The program begins at 10:00 a.m.