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Local Garden Club Takes on a Beautification Project at Lander

Morning Glory Garden Club planning garden
Members of the Morning Glory Garden Club meet at Lander University with gardening and landscaping experts on the site of what will be a new shade garden that they have agreed to help plant and maintain.

An area described as a neglected patch of ground on the Lander University campus will be transformed into an attractive shade garden by members of the Morning Glory Garden Club of Greenwood and the university's Arboretum Committee and building and grounds employees.

Representatives of the three groups met recently to discuss options with Dee Stone, arboretum committee chair, and horticulturist John Elsley of Greenwood, who has cultivated an impressive shade garden at his home. He has agreed to serve as a consultant for the project.

Elsley will put a plan together and help the club select a variety of plants. He said the objective is to develop a garden that looks as natural as possible and to make it a campus focal point.

Four large trees ring the site, which is located in front of the Science Building, and their branches will provide a canopy to shelter the new shade garden. Lander's grounds employees will complete the preparation work, including grading, spreading woodchips and laying out pathways.

Club members would do some planting this fall and more next spring. Elsley estimated it would take about two years to complete the project.

The Morning Glory Garden Club has 29 members who have volunteered to assist with the planting and maintenance of the new shade garden. It is one of seven clubs that make up the Greenwood Council of Garden Clubs.