The Cherokee Rose Garden Club met last month at the Cedar Bluff Community Center after a scheduled tour of Sawyer's Nursery had to be postponed. President John Holbrook took the opportunity to sort through many agenda items that required attention in advance of the July officer's planning meeting.

Among the items was the discussion of new projects, including plans to beautify the Community Center where the meeting was held. An outside water source was recently added to the facility, which Holbrook told members will allow planters to be added to the front of the building.

The Club also plans to help the Cherokee County Forestry Commission “spruce up” the grounds around their building in Centre. The Commission already has been filling planters with top soil, and as soon as they are finished the Club will begin planting trees and bushes. The Club is grateful to the Forestry Commission for all it has done for them, and is using the project to return the favor.

As soon as repaving is finished at the Child Development Center in Cedar Bluff, the Club will implement a landscaping plan.

Holbrook also told members he has been approached by the Cedar Bluff Cemetery about enhancing a rock wall on the property. This may become another new project for the Club.

The Club will again consider the possibility of restarting a project to maintain the area around the Civil War Memorial on Highway 9 in Cedar Bluff. The main problem is lack of a source of water, which makes maintaining any plants at the site quite difficult.

Holbrook said other ongoing Club projects include the butterfly garden at Gaylesville High School, and planting projects at Ethel Morrison Park in Centre and the Cedar Bluff Town Park.

The Cherokee Rose Garden Club is committed to making our area a prettier place to live. Nearly 100 percent of our fundraising efforts go to buying plants, flowers, bushes and trees. Members spend many, many hours creating and maintaining the plants. Many of the plantings are grown at the member's homes and donated to the various projects.

The Club would like to announce that the June “Yard of the Month” recipient was the Gilbreath home, located opposite Cornwall Furnace on East Chattooga Drive near Cedar Bluff.

Anyone who would like to join this very community-oriented group you may attend a meeting, always held on the third Thursday of the month at 6 p.m. (summer months) at the Cedar Bluff Community Center. For more information call President John Holbrook at 256-779-6202.

The next regular meeting will be in August. The Cherokee Rose Garden Club is a member of the Federation of Garden Clubs of Northeast Alabama, and the Deep South Region of the National Garden Clubs, Inc.