“It’s peaceful,” Lilly Carman said to me as we sat at the raised chairs in Modero coffee shop. Carman is the president of Union’s gardening club, one of the university’s newest student organizations. You’ve probably seen their vibrant flyers on bulletin boards around campus. Also, she wasn’t referring to the coffee shop, which was full of people—she was answering one of my interview questions: “What do you like about gardening?”
“It’s peaceful.”
Carman told me how she transferred to Union last year. Before that, she attended college in New York City. When I asked what would make someone move from New York City to Jackson Tennessee, she answered with several reasons, one of them being nature. She loves plants, nature and the peace she finds in them, and as she puts it, “There’s not a lot of nature in Manhattan.”
Now at Union, this was one of Carman’s major motivators for forming the gardening club. “I wanted people to have a place on campus where they could just come and garden and weed and be peaceful,” Carman said. It certainly seems she’s not the only person on campus who feels this way.
The club held one of its first events on Saturday, Sept. 11, where they added a daffodil garden to their allocated plot of land beside the Hope Quad.
The turnout was better than Carman expected. “I think we had around 13 people show up,” she said.
Katie Richards, one of the club’s members, said “I arrived at the gardening plot only three minutes after the event started, and there were already 10 other girls there ready to start planting. Many of us had never planted daffodils and had no clue what we were doing, but it was exciting to come together and learn about something we’re all interested in, which is flowers!”
The event was a success for those involved, but it hasn’t been smooth sailing the whole way. “It was quite a process, honestly,” said Carman. “Initially, I contacted Bo Mantooth to understand what I needed to do in order to start a club.”
As she would come to find out, Union had previously had a Gardening Club on campus, located off Luther Hall. It was Carman’s plan to resurrect the pre-existing club, but the garden which had been allocated for the old club had been given to the EDGE program. “After I learned that, I almost gave up because I’d have to start from scratch with a new plot.” Carman said.
But she didn’t give up. She reached out to Facilities for help locating and clearing a new plot for a garden, which would ultimately be located to the side of Hope 3. According to Carman, the plot “can be seen by students and faculty and has access to water.”
I asked Carman if she would show me the garden that the club has been working on. There was a light drizzle falling outside, but she agreed to walk with me despite the weather. Even on a rainy day, the humble garden didn’t disappoint. It features planting boxes filled with flowers and peppers and a resolute blueberry bush that stands in the middle of the foliage. Then there’s the club’s most recent addition, the daffodils. Stark white ankle-high fencing sets an area of dirt apart from the rest of the garden.
Inside the fence? Well, it’s pretty sparse right now, but it’s what you don’t see that matters here. Right now, the daffodils are just bulbs in the ground, but now that they’re planted, they’ll sprout and come back every year. As Carman told me, this is what the club is all about—making an impact and bringing nature to campus in a way that can be enjoyed for years to come.
“Not much grows in winter,” Carman said when I brought up what the club’s plans for the future. “In terms of the technicalities of starting a club, I had to find ways to get the material for the garden. Pretty much everything was given by donation, which entailed writing formal letters requesting materials for the club.
“It was time consuming,” said Carman, but that doesn’t mean she’s slowing down. She has big plans for the future—more flowers, vegetables, fruit trees and an ultimate vision to bring lasting peace and beauty to campus.
A vision like this may seem daunting, as the club will continue to need materials and student gardeners, but Carman seems optimistic. Like the plants in the garden, the club flourishes through the hard work of its members.
With a club full of green thumbs and some time, we could see the impacts of the garden on Union’s campus for years to come. If you’re looking for somewhere on campus to garden and weed, or if a little bit of nature sounds like a peaceful proposition to you, then Union’s gardening club offers a lot to look forward to.