Taylor Twins Garden in Jackson dedicated

The Taylor Twins Memorial Garden at 201 W. Main St. in uptown Jackson was dedicated Saturday.

Property owners Steve and Sherri Ford, their daughter and other family members were present for the dedication, as were friends, city officials, citizens, volunteers, members of Uptown Jackson Revitalization Organization and others, according to a news release from Janet Sanders, Jackson building superintendent and member of UJRO.

A reception at the Cape Girardeau County History Center followed the dedication ceremony in the garden.

Cassi Bock Landscape and Flower Gardens designed the garden with Steve Ford’s specification it contain only plants native to the United States.

The garden itself honors the Taylor twins — Steve’s mother, Dorothy Lucille, and her fraternal twin sister, Catherine Louise. The sisters were born in 1923 in Jackson, the youngest of four children of Vera Gale “V.G.” and Zelma Catherine Talley Taylor. V.G. Taylor was a plumber who owned and operated his plumbing shop in the building formerly on the Taylor Twins garden site, which also once housed the Wagner Bakery.

As a reflection of the twins’ lives, the design of the garden features two divergent but intertwining paths made of differing materials, flagstone and mulch, according to the news release.

Stones from the former building’s foundation were excavated and feature prominently in the garden’s landscape. Custom Cut Fabrication of Jackson created the entrance gate, and the garden was financed and named by Ford.

More than 1,700 native plants are installed and maintained by Cassi Bock Landscaping and Flower Gardens with the volunteer help of her family and friends, the horticulture classes of Jackson High School and members of the Uptown Jackson Revitalization Organization.

A detailed guide to the Garden soon will be available at uptownjackson.org.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address:

201 W. Main St., Jackson, Mo.