Enjoy The Earth

originally published April 19, 2006

Garden Tour

If "garden club" makes you think of dowagers showing flowers grown by their yardmen, you’d be pleasantly surprised by the Piedmont Gardeners, who don't even call themselves a club. These are hands-on planters and pluckers who work right alongside their yardmen - if they even have them - and take as much delight in the cultivation of their yards and gardens as in the results. Moreover, they graciously spotlight the efforts of other gardeners in the 14th Annual Piedmont Gardeners' Garden Tour of Athens, which this year is Saturday, Apr. 22 - rain or shine (plants like moisture).

Each year, the Gardeners put a lot of thought into which gardens to showcase, aiming for a variety of terrain and flora. As a result, the Tour is a serendipitous peregrination at whatever pace suits the viewer, with each stop providing a glimpse into the vision and work of people who love to coax beauty from the earth.

There's no escaping that this tour requires driving - or at least cycling - to hit all the stops, but it can be taken in any order, visiting all or just some of the gardens. (Come to think of it, the three in Five Points are all within an easy stroll.) To get the full effect, you'll want to see all the gardens: in fact, the progression from place to place on a beautiful Georgia spring Saturday will make you want to continue garden-hopping for days.

This year’s lineup is typically diverse, including Charlotte Moore’s (a Piedmont member) woodland garden at 165 Beaver Trail (off Red Fox Run, off Barnett Shoals Rd.); Jean Colquitt’s whimsical trails and bog garden (395 Sandstone Dr. in Cedar Creek); Becky and David Matheny’s house garden started by Ann and Harvey Cabiness (200 Mount Vernon Pl., between Springdale and Rutherford); Wilma Minix’s finely landscaped 1.5 acre plot (555 Milledge Cir.) started by the Creagh family and Ruthann and Joe Larisey’s lush perennial plantings at 180 Plum Nelly Rd.

Athens itself, in many areas, is a garden - as our recent long run of flowering trees reminds us - and our private gardens add to the public beauty, glimpsed from the street or enjoyed by those invited in. This Garden Tour of Athens is a rare opportunity to enter into a well chosen few of these sanctuaries which have not previously been on public display.

The facts: the Tour takes place on Saturday, Apr. 22 and runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Advance tickets are $10 at Cofer’s, Charmar or the Garden Gate. On the day of the tour, tickets are $15, and you just go to one of the gardens, buy the ticket and start the tour. The Piedmont Gardeners use the ticket money to provide scholarships for students in fields like horticulture and landscape design, thus helping to perpetuate their stewardship of the earth.

For more information, contact Peggy Cole at 706-549-9767 or peggycole12@charter.net.

Spring Festival

Meanwhile, over on the east of Athens, the Classic City Spring Festival will also be in full swing on Saturday, Apr. 22, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Here’s a chance to see what’s going on around the Miriam Moore Community Service Center, including the new East Athens Dance Center. This is a family festival with a lot going on for everybody, including tours of the dance center, health screenings, Athens Tutorial Program registration, seminars in financial literacy, starting a small business and homebuyer education; food vendors, resource and information tables, basketball, a clown, steppers and other entertainment including the Splitz Band. The Festival is presented by Athens-Clarke County Leisure Services and the East Athens Development Corporation, Inc. and sponsored by Athens Neighborhood Health Center, Clarke County Health Department, East Athens Dance Center, the Athens Tutorial Program and the Athens Housing Authority. It’s all happening at 410 McKinley Drive off Peter St., just off the bypass. For more information, call 706-208-0048.

Earth Awareness

The day before the Tour and the Festival, Students for Environmental Awareness will be celebrating Earth Day a day early on Friday, Apr. 21 from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Herty Field on north campus. They’ll be joined by other groups, including Athens Grow Green, the LeConte Group of the Sierra Club, Students and Educators for Ecological Design and Sustainability (SEEDS), Locally Grown and the Environmental Law Association.

Come get reminded of what you can do to help protect the environment. This year’s emphasis is on energy efficiency and the benefits of biodiesel fuel (which UGA is about ready to start using in its bus fleet). The Student Government Association co-hosts the event. For more information, contact Addie Watts at 770-363-4061 or ads3184@uga.edu.

Awards

On Friday evening, Apr. 21, beginning at 5:30 p.m. with a reception catered by Donderos' Kitchen, community environmental groups will gather at the Lyndon House Arts Center for the Second Annual Greenfest Environmental Awards presentations.

Pete McCommons, Editor & Publisher editor@flagpole.com

Pete McCommons, Editor & Publisher

editor@flagpole.com