A
changing of the guard took
place this summer when
the Rose Garden Club, a
group of women who for
many years have been turning
forgotten places on the
Qualla Boundary into beautiful,
well-tended gardens, helped
the Cooperative Extension
Service create and train
a 4-H Junior Master Gardeners
Club to step into their
gardening shoes. Due to
age and other factors,
the ladies of the Rose
Garden Club (all of whom
are sisters whose family
name is Rose) had decided
to hang up their trowels
at the end of the summer,
but not before they had
groomed the next generation
of gardeners to take their
place.
Sarah McClellan-Welch
and Heather James of the
Cooperative Extension Service
helped the Rose Garden
Club bring 15 budding young
gardeners into the new
group (ages five through
18) and then apply for
and receive a $7,140 grant
from the Cherokee Preservation
Foundation to pay for tools,
plants, club expenses,
and educational field trips.
First the
two generations of gardeners
turned their attention
to the new walking bridge
at the Oconaluftee Island
Park, which they felt was
much in need of trees and
flowers to help it blend
well with its natural surroundings
(Oconaluftee means “it
sits beside the water” in
the Cherokee language and
refers to the original
location of the Cherokee
village. The Cherokee words
actually sound like "e-kwoni
lodi.”) On Arbor
Day this past April, 32
gardeners of all ages convened
at the park and planted
trees in honor of former
chiefs and other elders,
and they also began to
plant the hanging baskets
and tubs that bloomed on
the bridge throughout the
summer.
Two weeks
later the rain came, followed
by more rain, and then
more rain after that. To
everyone’s dismay,
the island was flooded
and almost every new tree
was swept away. That’s
when the Junior Master
Gardeners learned a valuable
lesson about perseverance.
Two very
determined members of the
Rose Garden Club, Nancy
Long and Phyllis Coons,
refused to give up on those
trees. They went downstream
and found all of the trees
in the flood rubble. The
trees were brought back
and replanted, and all
but one have survived!
“If
the children are going
to learn, we have to teach
them,” said Nancy
Long, whose grandson, Steven,
is in the Junior Master
Gardeners Club, helped
by his Dad, Kenneth, who
is Nancy’s son.
“One
great outcome of the Junior
Master Gardeners is that
the club has created a
wonderful way for parents
to be involved with their
children’s activities,” said
Sarah McClellan-Welch of
the Cooperative Extension
Service. She credits Don
Long, Janice Juarez and
Dawn Arneach as parents
who have been particularly
instrumental in helping
the young gardeners’ efforts
take off.
As word has
spread about the Junior
Master Gardeners’ exploits,
they have been asked to
plant flowers and vegetables
in additional spots, and
others in the community
have made donations so
the club has had more to
plant. As the summer progressed,
the youngsters planted
flowers at the Cherokee
Youth Center (with the
help of member of the Teen
Center), the Cherokee Preservation
Foundation’s office,
and Tsali Manor. Some residents
of Tsali Manor helped them
plant and harvest at the
Manor, and one of the elders
who lives at the Manor
is going to teach the teens
how to make hominy.
“The
kids are learning a lot
about community service
and their pride in their
community just keeps growing,” said
McClellan–Welch. “The
grant that Cherokee Preservation
Foundation provided for
the Junior Master Gardeners’ activities
is the grant that never
quits. It has started something
that will carry on forever
on the Qualla Boundary.”
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