April garden tours bring May plant swaps

By Guest Columnist Jessica Stein

In early April, Canton Garden Club ventured to the big city to see the home and garden of esteemed author Eudora Welty. Welty’s father, Christian, built the house in 1925 in the style of Tudor Revival. Welty and her mother Chestina transformed the landscape over more than three decades. 

As one Garden Club member reminisced: “Visiting the Eudora Welty home was a step back into the past. The home is unchanged since the day she moved there with her parents as a sixteen-year-old girl. The occupants of the home now are the memories and the books she so loved.” 

After the official tour, members roamed the grounds, appreciating the phlox, clematis, iris, roses and many other blooms crowding the garden. Of particular historical note were the camellias and daylilies. We learn so much on our field trips and make new connections through shared joy. 

For club business, we traipsed across the street to an open room at Belhaven University and enjoyed refreshments provided by hostesses Mary Margaret Buchanan, Joy Foy and Wanda Baldwin. Canton Garden Club will complete more work towards finishing the pavilion space across from the Co-op, with a spring volunteer planting day. 

Many members also made it out to the Great Canton Cleanup, which had fifty or more participants! Keep your eyes peeled for ongoing information for Upstairs Downtown, a great event in the late fall to celebrate Canton and the Garden Club. Next month, we close out our annual meetings with the traditional plant swap at Patina Farm.