Crescent-News.com - Marlene Purdy wins gardening award

Winning the Ohio Association of Garden Clubs (OAGC) Region 1 Outstanding Amateur Gardening Award was Marlene Purdy, member of the La Fleur de Terre Garden Club, of Hicksville. Purdy was given the award at the recent regional meeting.

Requirements for the competition included Purdy's garden being judged by two judges, organizing a pictorial notebook, and writing a descriptive narrative. She described how she and her husband, in 2003, began to transform their new lot from brambles, wild roses, and weeds to its present beautiful landscaping with hundreds of plants.

Purdy's gardening routine begins in the winter by perusing catalogs. Springtime finds her visiting garden centers and home and garden shows and planting summer bulbs. Summer tasks include deadheading, weeding, watering, and planting many annuals. In the summer, Marlene cuts flowers for the many flower shows she enters. She is the winner of many ribbons from those shows. The fall season has her planting fall bulbs and digging bulbs that need stored.

Purdy noted that her gardens are open for tours, with various groups touring them this year. Labels on all the plants are of great assistance in helping visitors identify the plants.