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You Grow, Girls!
Written By: Wiley Sloan | Issue: 2017/07 - July
Since 2002 the Laurel Garden Club has been helping keep Highlands beautiful.
With proceeds from their kitchen tours and sales of their cookbook Celebrate Highlands, the club has contributed over $134,000 in grants to local organizations and businesses for improving their landscaping. Some of the 15 beneficiaries have been the Martin Lipscomb Performing Arts Center, the Highlands Historical Society, the Hudson Library, the Highlands Biological Center and even the Town of Highlands. Two examples of use of the funds are the benches added to the Highlands Plateau Greenway and the wetlands exhibit at the Highlands Biological Foundation.
One of the largest grant recipients has been the Peggy Crosby Center. Since 2013 the garden club has awarded the center a total of $21,200 to enhance its grounds. Folks may remember that the center located on South Fifth Street was previously the Highlands Hospital before being renovated to provide affordable office space to organizations serving the Highlands community.
Like most older properties, the center needed some serious “dressing up,” thus we applied for and received grants for landscaping all sides of their facility. And this year additional plants and flowers will be added to the center’s exit driveway. The purpose of the Laurel Garden Club is to aid in the protection and conservation of our natural resources, encourage civic beauty and roadside beautification, stimulate the fine art of gardening, and enable cooperation with other organizations furthering the interest of horticulture and conservation. Organizations wishing to receive a grant may apply in January and June of each year.
We encourage everyone to attend the club’s fourth Kitchen Tour – a personal look at some of Highlands’ finest kitchens. The tour is Saturday, August 19. Also, Thursday, August 17, there’s an Over the Moon party celebrating the tour and its patrons. More information is available at laurelgardenclubhighlands.com/kitchen-tour.html where you can also purchase tickets. Tickets will also be sold at Dry Sink.
Next time you’re downtown head over to South Fifth Street and peek at the Peggy Crosby Center’s new look. It’s a gem this community can cherish.
