By JENNIFER ANNIS
jannis@indexjournal.com

While flowers aren’t yet blooming, the new chairman and chairwoman for the annual South Carolina Festival of Flower’s garden tours are ready for the blossoms to begin.

Coleman Williamson and Mary O’Dell are co-chairing the tours, which are June 26-28 and will have six to seven gardens for visitors to view.

The gardens were chosen because of a unique trait or something that stands out, Williamson said.

Williamson was initially named the sole chair, but he asked O’Dell to join him when he realized how much responsibility the event would be.

Williamson’s gardening roots go back far.

“I’ve been a gardener, I think, since I was 11 years old,” he said. “I remember digging (plants) up and moving them for no particular reason.”

Williamson said he also worked on his grandfather’s farm during summers. He also journeyed to England and studied with John Brookes.

“At that time, (Brookes) was setting the woods on fire on both sides of the Atlantic,” said Williamson, who moved to Greenwood in 1993.

The Men’s Garden Club started with Williamson’s help. The club went on to work on the city garden, which contained more than 120 types of plants, he said.

It has since “fallen by the wayside,” although Williamson said he hopes to bring it back up to snuff.

Williamson’s own land is reminiscent of an English garden, he said. It has a perennial border, a greenhouse, a statuary and pond. It’ll be part of the garden tours in June.

He said gardening is a love/hate relationship. Right now, he said he’s frustrated because his roses have a “root canker.” However, he’s thrilled he just finished his 15-year work on his parterres, a formal garden construction.

O’Dell has been playing in the dirt for some time, as well.

O’Dell, who has flower and vegetable gardens, said she grew up in the country, “so I was familiar with farming and gardening.”

She recalls working in a peach orchard as a teen.

“Now all I do is garden,” said O’Dell, who was a French teacher for more than 30 years.

She said she used to work with plants during summer vacation.

“Mary really knows how to grow beautiful vegetables,” Williamson said, later adding that when she says she is about to plant a certain type of veggie, he runs to his own garden to plant the same.

The two met when they worked on a landscaping committee at their church, Hodges Presbyterian.

For information about the garden tours, call O’Dell at 229-0854.

THIS JUNE

The annual South Carolina Festival of Flowers returns to Greenwood this summer with activities and events for the while family.