Thanks to the Polk County Community Foundation, the Tryon Garden Club has been able to make some improvements to its Tryon Depot Garden, including the installation of a new split rail fence between the train track and the garden.

The town of Tryon also contributed $500 toward the new fence. The foundation helped pay for plants and shrubs, plant labels, fertilizer, and new hedge clippers for the club to use for the garden.

The Kirby Endowment Fund also supported the club’s effort in obtaining a Monarch Waystation designation.

Katherine Kirby was one of the members of the Kirby Family who established the fund to support organizations in Tryon and surrounding areas. Kirby headed the Tryon Garden Club Civic Beautification for many years in the 1970s and 1980s, and oversaw the Depot Garden.

There is another tie between the Tryon Depot Garden and the Kirby Grants, as the club bought its annual bedding plants from the Polk County High School agriculture students, who raised them in their greenhouse with ag teacher Chauncey Barber’s guidance.

When the perennial beds are thinned, the surplus plants are taken to PCHS for the students to plant and study. Polk County Community Foundation supported the garden club in this interaction.

The Tryon Garden Club civic beautification committee is headed by Denise Barthold, with workers Linda Lovelace, Jackie Burke, Jane Darby, Jack Carlock and Carroll Rush.

The Tryon Garden Club will celebrate its 90th anniversary on Oct. 24 with a free day at Pearson’s Falls.

The club’s mission is to preserve, protect and treasure Pearson’s Falls; contribute to the beautification of Tryon; educate members and the community; and collaborate with others.

For information on upcoming events, people may visit pearsonsfalls.org. The Tryon Garden Club is a 501(c)(3) organization.

– Submitted by Lucy Brannon