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NATCHEZ — Miss-Lou gardeners ordered 16,000 caladium bulbs from Vidalia Garden Club members last year.

Mary Huhn, VGC member who has been in charge of the sale until giving up the reins to project chairman Angie Knapik this year, said the bulbs are popular in Miss-Lou gardens because they are beautiful and last all summer long.

“They offer so much beauty and have a long-lasting life,” Huhn said. “Some people even dig them up and use them the next year.”

She said the growing zone here doesn’t typically allow the bulbs to come back the following year, “though sometimes some will come back. I think that depends on the kind of winter we have. My sister lives on the Gulf Coast and hers come back, but they are in a different zone.”

The garden club will take orders through March 8 for five different bulb varieties of caladiums — Red Flash, Candidum, Carolyn Wharton, Aaron and White Queen. Each bulb sells for 85 cents.

Proceeds from the sale go to support the Vidalia Garden Club’s variety of community beautification projects, said Club President Cindy Galloway.

Among the VGC’s current community projects are the Vidalia Post Office Garden, the Blue Star Memorial in honor of our nation’s military, Arbor Day tree plantings surrounding the pond at the Dr. William T. Polk City Park, college scholarships, the city’s fountain garden near the Mississippi River Bridge, and the purchase and maintenance of the eight flags in front of the Old Parish Courthouse on Carter Street. The flags represent all those that have flown over the Town of Vidalia throughout its history, Galloway said

For more information, or to place an order, contact Knapik at 318-278-3340.

“The bulbs typically take two weeks to come in,” Knapik said. “We are working to nail down a place for those who order them to pick them up right now.”

Huhn said the club orders the bulbs each year from a company in Florida.