Plantin' in the rain
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<div class="PlainText">It really was a miserable Saturday, gray and rainy most of the day with a bit of a breeze that just seemed to deepen the chill. But you wouldn't have known it at Du Quoin Plaza, where members of the local garden club were holding their annual plant sale.<br /> You would have seen plenty of slickers and rubber boots, but none of the grumbling that usually goes along with being out in the elements on such a damp day. That's because the ladies of the garden club were in their element, elbow deep in growing things.<br /> Jean Bullock, president of the Du Quoin Garden Club for her second year, was buzzing around the tables under the Shelter Insurance awning, fussing with a dozen pots of herbs.<br /> "It's a great day even it it is cold and rainy," Bullock said. "It's amazing how many gardeners came out to support us."<br /> "A lot of people come back year after year," club member Betty Eastman said.<br /> "That's because we have a good variety of good plants," said Joey Harsy, the club's vice president.<br /> Even before the sale was officially over, Peg Pursell, club secretary and chairman of the committee in charge of the sale, declared it a success.<br /> "We couldn't do it every year without a lot of help from our members," she said.<br /> The Du Quoin Garden Club will be 60 years old next year, and every year members hold a spring plant sale. They dig up perennials from their own gardens, add a few annuals from a local greenhouse and try to make a little money for the club.<br /> That money, Bullock explained, helps the club take care of the community gardens. Surely you've noticed them around town; maybe you've even stopped for a minute to enjoy them. Those green places include the garden in Keyes City Park, the mini-park by the gazebo on Main Street, the plants at the South Town Route 51 Welcome Site, and the flowers in the planters by the Du Quoin Post Office.<br /> Club members help provide those plants and maintain those gardens throughout the year. For all of them, it's all about gardens and growing things, a passion they embrace enthusiastically. But if you dig a little deeper, you know, down to the roots of the club, it's all about the friendship and camaraderie, and that's enough to get a dozen women up early on a cold and rainy Saturday.<br /> For more information on the club, call Bastien at 618-542-2700.</div>
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