Tryon approves granting $2K to Green Blades Garden Club 

 

TRYON—The Green Blades Garden Club plans to refurbish the park on Trade Street this spring, with the Tryon Town Council agreeing last week to grant the club $2,000 towards the effort.  

Tryon Town Council met last week and heard from the garden club about its plans.  

The Green Blades Garden Club to the responsibility 15 years ago to create the Park on Trade. At the time, it was an empty lot with overgrown weeds, located adjacent to Tryon Town Hall. The park includes a large grist mill stone fountain as the centerpiece with a pavestone walkway. The park also has a pergola with plants and shrubs, benches and an irrigation system. The garden club, with its approximate 30 members, maintains the park.  

“It remains as the first park a visitor sees and maybe the last impression that a person has when leaving Tryon,” said Green Blades Garden Club President Margie Pankey. “In the spring of 2019, GBGC will begin the effort of reinvigorating and refurbishing the entire park.”  

Pankey said new plants and sod will be placed, a shade garden will be created and a stone curb will be extended along Howard Street to protect the park from traffic.  

Other improvements will be repairs that need to be made, including to the brick pathway, which has sunken. The irrigation system will also be repaired with additional sprinkler heads and a new controller box. Some plants will be removed and given to the town to relocate, Pankey said. The club is also requesting an above-ground water spigot.  

After a bidding process, the club selected Raymond’s Landscaping out of Hendersonville to do the work.  

Pankey said the club anticipates the work will begin mid to late April.  

The budget for the project is $7,282, with the club already receiving $1,000 from the Polk County Appearance Commission, $2,000 from the town and $2,000 from the Rotary Club of Tryon. Other fundraising is being done.  

Commissioners approved the one-time allotment of $2,000. Tryon budgets $500 annually for each of its parks.