The Pell City Garden Club Inc., a decades-old club in Pell City, has had to make a number of tough decisions for their plans for 2021 as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

A group that usually meets on a regular basis has seen their meetings cut down significantly in order to be responsible amidst spreading the virus. Field trips taken to see their gardens are still not happening.

President Cathy Hudson says that they have made the decision to cancel their annual Spring plant sale fundraiser that takes place in April.

There are multiple virus-related reasons that factored into this decision, including the stress caused by last year’s plant sale as well as a desire to be thoughtful of the community dealing with a global pandemic.

“With the public in mind, we believe we have made a responsible decision,” Hudson said. “We may just have to wait until 2022.”

In 2020, right at the beginning of the pandemic, the garden club found themselves in a tough situation: their inventory for the plant sale had already been purchased, but a last-second change of venue due to pandemic-related cancellations made them scramble to salvage the event. Hudson described the situation as a “mess” due to the virus.

This year, it simply did not make sense to go through that again. Hudson believes it would be a bad look to put people at risk for the plant sale. However, she hinted at the possibility of a Fall plant sale, which would be the first of its kind for the group.

The Pell City Garden Club Inc. is dedicated to the education of their community about gardening, nature and native plants. They have memorial gardens at places such as Lakeside Park. For more information, visit their Facebook page.