Joan Sampson keeps too many lilies to count - 160 varieties, in fact - and they mostly fend for themselves.
"I don't feed my lilies," she said. "I just get good dirt."
Sampson's Fulton home was the first stop Thursday morning on the Fulton Garden Club's annual tour. Several dozen members and their guests visited five gardens, ending with lunch at the last stop.
Juanita Vergiard's garden also wraps around her home, with some flower varieties covered in bees. It's not entirely filled with flowers; rather, it includes other green plants and some impressive hostas. One of her flower beds defies garden rule No. 1, she said.
"You will notice I've become adept at getting the tall things on the outside and short things on the inside," she said.
Longtime garden club member Wanda Wickel chaired the club's garden show for many years. At 93, she's not doing that anymore, but she still enjoys working in her own garden, which was a stop on the tour.
She said she loves her four crepe myrtles.
"The ones up front, they get up as tall as 13 to 15 feet," she told a visitor. "They start blooming in July, and they'll bloom til fall."
Alma Hoffman's garden also was featured on the tour. She has perennials and annuals, apple and peach trees, blackberry canes and blueberry bushes.
The tour ended at Diane Neterer's garden. Neterer is the current club president.
Her landscaping includes patios, walkways and a retaining wall, and she's been incorporating more native Missouri shrubs, grasses and flowers into her garden.
"You learn something new and different in each garden you go to," said Carole Van Vranken, of Jefferson City.
She said she is a judge and chair of the Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri for garden tours, and these gardens were, in fact, being judged. The final results will be announced later this year.
"June is the big month," Van Vranken said. "Everyone wants their garden judged."
The Fulton Garden Club is celebrating its 80th year. Many activities are planned.
From 6-7 p.m. July 7, Fran Leake and Linda Houston, a flower show judge, will lead a workshop on presenting floral designs. The workshop will be a hands-on demonstration at Callaway County Public Library, 710 Court St., Fulton.
On July 14, the club will have its annual Standard Flower Show at Callaway Electric Coop, 1313 Callaway Electric Cooperative Drive, Fulton. A nature photography workshop will be at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 11, also at the library in Fulton.
The club meets on the second Thursday of each month at 1:30 p.m. in the library's meeting room. Projects accomplished by the club include plantings around the Blue Star Memorials in Kingdom City and Fulton, Arbor Day projects and the garden in the center of the Fulton roundabout.
The Fulton Garden Club is a member of the Federated Garden Clubs of Missouri. For more information, contact Neterer at [email protected].