RALEIGH GARDENS

RALEIGH

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that the earth laughs in fl owers, and Francis Bacon called gardening “the purest of human pleasures.” Each spring, members of the Raleigh Garden Club open their carefully tended home plots to the public during the club’s annual garden tour.

RALEIGH gardens

GARDEN PARTY

“We celebrate gardening pleasures and treasures,” says president Joyce Moses. The group was organized in 1925 and is among the oldest garden clubs in the state. Its longevity is perhaps due in part to its diverse activities: beginner and master gardeners alike volunteer side-byside to plant flowers in city parks, lead garden tours, and host seasonal maintenance workshops. They also sponsor garden therapy programs in local prisons and rehab facilities.

And, of course, they tend to plots of their own. From the flourishing rose bushes in member Vicki Thompson’s garden to the sculpture-studded greenery at CJ Dyke’s, these backyards serve as reminders that gardens can take on any size, style, and design. The best way to begin, Joyce Moses says, is to simply dig in. “Gardening is for everybody.”

OPEN HOUSE

Clockwise from top left: Pat Grady’s greenhouse; One of many sculptures in CJ Dyke’s garden; A blushing rose in Vicki Thompson’s garden; Ferns and other shade plants in CJ Dyke’s garden.

Opposite: Pat Grady’s shade garden; Vicki Thompson’s roses.

Previous page: An arch of roses welcome visitors in Vicki Thompson’s garden.