Fitzgerald Museum Partners With Southern Living Plant Collection

The Fitzgerald Museum is growing – literally! The museum is kicking off the
new year with some exciting projects, including a partnership with the
Southern Living Plant Collection & Encore Azalea, a new community garden and
free libraries.

The community garden is the first step in encouraging Cloverdale residents and
locals to engage with the entirety of the space, outside of touring the
museum. A local Eagle Scout group has committed to installing four raised beds
on the back half of the property and two free libraries on each corner of the
grounds to make books available to the surrounding community, which breaks
ground on March 10th. Additionally, the museum will be partnering with local
downtown farm, EAT South, to coordinate on educational workshops, a cocktail
garden, history garden and so much more.

“We coordinated with the Cloverdale Community garden to pilot the project,
taking notes from the various challenges they faced during their inception,
and encouraging future neighborhood collaboration and connections. Coming from
the Montgomery Area Food Bank and serving on the board with EATSouth keeps me
connected to the food policy side of things. It was important to me to
continue outreach that gives the community access to free produce and food
assistance and C&S Wholesale kicked that off by funding the first phase of the
community garden. The museum is such a unique space in Cloverdale and I wanted
to utilize the amount of green space we have in the best ways possible.”

The museum is also pleased to announce their partnership with the Southern
Living Plant Collection and Encore Azalea, two distinctive leaders in southern
horticulture.

“Over the past week, we’ve planted a variety of selections from Encore and the
Collection – Rose & Bella Rouge camellias, Autumn Bonfire & Sunset azaleas,
ultra violet Buddleia (or butterfly bushes), and so many beautiful southern
varieties. The museum has been really blessed by their expertise, the plants
are innovative, designed to excel in tough Southern climates and to help solve
landscaping challenges, they bloom season after season (thus the name Encore)
and will be a fantastic addition to the property. We are going through
Zelda’s novel and documenting the various flora & fauna, so this is our
inaugural project to kickstart the development of the gardens.”

The focus is for residents of the neighborhood and guests to feel comfortable
to picnic on the lawn, soak up some sunshine or read their favorite Fitzgerald
novel.

“We want to encourage community, we want artists to come paint en plein air,
we want you to bring your family. This is such a unique and beautiful space
and it’s a shame not share it.”