Gardeners share their passion
Helene Hondrum, president of the Cherokee Rose Garden Club, holds some of the plants the has for the Plant Exchange and Sale that the club will hold Saturday at Savannah Rapids Pavilion. This is the fourth year the garden club has played host to the event.
Photo by Jim Blaylock
Just as it might be hard for a Southerner to have a good meal without a glass of sweet iced tea, most gardeners say they find it difficult to let a visitor leave their garden without a plant.
"Gardeners are givers," said Dorothy Packard, of Evans, who is a master gardener and the president of the Cherokee Rose Garden Club.
On Saturday, the members of Packard's club will exemplify that sharing idea at the fifth annual Plant Exchange and Sale at Savannah Rapids Pavilion. The sale, which runs from 9 a.m. to noon, offers everyone from novice "black-thumbed" gardeners to the masters a chance to trade their plants for something new.
"Exchanging knowledge, that is really what the plant swap is,'' said event organizer Helene Hondrum, of Martinez, who got the idea for the plant swap from the annual swap and sale held at Pendleton King Park in Augusta each spring.
Hondrum already has several potted plants ready to trade, including bay leaf and cassia hidden around her garden. One highlight of Hondrum's yard is the majestic yellow Angel's Trumpet plant she received in a trade at the spring plant swap.
Evans resident Betty Crowther, a fellow club member and organizer of the even, said not everyone who participates is that organized. Many arrive and simply open their trunks, exposing a load of tradeable plants.
"I think people who are just starting out, if you don't have a lot of plants, it's a good way to get plants that aren't expensive," said Crowther, a master gardener.
Admission is free, and anyone is welcome to sell or trade plants or garden accessories. For more information, call Hondrum at 854-8215 or Crowther at 860-3696.