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Elora's Garden
By PAM BALES
There’s a very dedicated group of ladies that have been busying themselves at some of the community flowerbeds in town.
Port Lavaca Garden Club members have designed, and continue to maintain, a number of flowerbeds in our city. A cactus garden at the Calhoun County Museum, a native garden and trees at Little Chocolate Bayou Park and a flowerbed garden at the Senior Citizens’ Heritage Center in memory of Elora Rogers - these are just three gardens members maintain on a regular basis.
Elora Rogers was a dedicated and active member of the Port Lavaca Garden Club for 47 years. Her dedication and love for gardening inspired many of the members to share their gardening skills with the community. When Elora passed away last year, her family thought it would be nice to have memorial contributions donated to the Port Lavaca Garden Club.
With the memorial funds, the garden club was able to create a beautiful flowerbed at the Heritage Center as one of their beautification projects. The memory garden is loaded with flowers that were Elora’s favorites. There is a bench to enjoy the beauty of the garden and a plaque honoring Elora.
Elora served as president of the club in 1962 and 1963 and held several other offices during her long tenure. She loved to grow things, especially from seed, and was quite a plants-woman. Flowers of all kinds were adored by Elora, but she was partial to daylilies, pansies, sweet peas, cactus and wildflowers.
As horticulture chairman in the club for many years, Elora taught members the time to plant, how to prune, how to feed, and how to cut and condition flowers for flower shows. Her horticulture exhibits always won rosettes and blue ribbons at the Calhoun County Fair and the Garden Club’s flower shows. She was so knowledgeable that she even wrote a horticulture book. The book details activities for the garden in a month by month format making it a wonderful resource for any avid gardener.
Each spring, people would drive by Elora’s home to admire her yard. She would have a multitude of flowers blooming. She often shared her plants and seeds with the members of the Garden Club. This is a common practice in garden clubs. Admittedly they all have plants that have come from someone else’s yard. Not only do they have a beautiful plant in their garden, but they also have the memory of the person who gave it to them - that’s the great thing about gardening - lots of memories.
Elora was an avid daylily hybridizer. She developed a number of new varieties from her plants. She would name the new varieties after friends or universities. She developed a maroon variety she named after Texas A&M that she shared and is now growing in Susie Usoff’s garden.
Elora and her husband used to go to Ruidosa, New Mexico for vacation. She would always come back with a new cactus plant. She loved the desert flowers and plants and created several cactus beds in her own yard. She was instrumental in planning and planting the cactus bed on Ann Street by the Calhoun County Museum.
She worked in her own flowerbeds until her knees just wouldn’t allow her to get down anymore. She never wore gloves because she liked to feel the dirt in her hands.
With her great sense of humor and a keen eye for color and beauty she meant a lot to the members of the garden club. With that in mind, it is only fitting they honor her with a beautiful memory garden.
Thanks to Susie Usoff, Judy Melcher, Cecilia Dolezal, Helen Thomas and Betsy Wilson for serving on the committee to design and implement Elora’s Garden. They admit it couldn’t have been done though without the help of Jackie White, Cathy Hahn, Alberta Weaver, J. C. Melcher and Mike Usoff. Thanks also to all the other garden club members for providing plants and maintaining the other beds at Little Chocolate Bayou Park and the Calhoun County Museum.
Elora’s legacy is in each of the garden club members. They have not only learned how to beautify their own yards, but they also share their knowledge and talent with the community by beautifying Port Lavaca. Thanks for your hard work.
Port Lavaca Garden Club members have designed, and continue to maintain, a number of flowerbeds in our city. A cactus garden at the Calhoun County Museum, a native garden and trees at Little Chocolate Bayou Park and a flowerbed garden at the Senior Citizens’ Heritage Center in memory of Elora Rogers - these are just three gardens members maintain on a regular basis.
Elora Rogers was a dedicated and active member of the Port Lavaca Garden Club for 47 years. Her dedication and love for gardening inspired many of the members to share their gardening skills with the community. When Elora passed away last year, her family thought it would be nice to have memorial contributions donated to the Port Lavaca Garden Club.
With the memorial funds, the garden club was able to create a beautiful flowerbed at the Heritage Center as one of their beautification projects. The memory garden is loaded with flowers that were Elora’s favorites. There is a bench to enjoy the beauty of the garden and a plaque honoring Elora.
Elora served as president of the club in 1962 and 1963 and held several other offices during her long tenure. She loved to grow things, especially from seed, and was quite a plants-woman. Flowers of all kinds were adored by Elora, but she was partial to daylilies, pansies, sweet peas, cactus and wildflowers.
As horticulture chairman in the club for many years, Elora taught members the time to plant, how to prune, how to feed, and how to cut and condition flowers for flower shows. Her horticulture exhibits always won rosettes and blue ribbons at the Calhoun County Fair and the Garden Club’s flower shows. She was so knowledgeable that she even wrote a horticulture book. The book details activities for the garden in a month by month format making it a wonderful resource for any avid gardener.
Each spring, people would drive by Elora’s home to admire her yard. She would have a multitude of flowers blooming. She often shared her plants and seeds with the members of the Garden Club. This is a common practice in garden clubs. Admittedly they all have plants that have come from someone else’s yard. Not only do they have a beautiful plant in their garden, but they also have the memory of the person who gave it to them - that’s the great thing about gardening - lots of memories.
Elora was an avid daylily hybridizer. She developed a number of new varieties from her plants. She would name the new varieties after friends or universities. She developed a maroon variety she named after Texas A&M that she shared and is now growing in Susie Usoff’s garden.
Elora and her husband used to go to Ruidosa, New Mexico for vacation. She would always come back with a new cactus plant. She loved the desert flowers and plants and created several cactus beds in her own yard. She was instrumental in planning and planting the cactus bed on Ann Street by the Calhoun County Museum.
She worked in her own flowerbeds until her knees just wouldn’t allow her to get down anymore. She never wore gloves because she liked to feel the dirt in her hands.
With her great sense of humor and a keen eye for color and beauty she meant a lot to the members of the garden club. With that in mind, it is only fitting they honor her with a beautiful memory garden.
Thanks to Susie Usoff, Judy Melcher, Cecilia Dolezal, Helen Thomas and Betsy Wilson for serving on the committee to design and implement Elora’s Garden. They admit it couldn’t have been done though without the help of Jackie White, Cathy Hahn, Alberta Weaver, J. C. Melcher and Mike Usoff. Thanks also to all the other garden club members for providing plants and maintaining the other beds at Little Chocolate Bayou Park and the Calhoun County Museum.
Elora’s legacy is in each of the garden club members. They have not only learned how to beautify their own yards, but they also share their knowledge and talent with the community by beautifying Port Lavaca. Thanks for your hard work.
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| CCSO funds lost in trash |
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