Sarasota Garden Club lunches in Paradise

It was almost paradise at the Sarasota Garden Club, the garden gateway to the bay.

Bill Waddill, the managing director of The Bay redevelopment project, said without the Sarasota Garden Club, the project wouldn't be able to happen.

"The garden club is right at the front of the project," said Waddill. "It's going to become the centerpiece of an enlivened and enhanced historic section of the bayfront."

Waddill and about one hundred others gathered at the Sarasota Garden Club for lunch on March 16, pausing in their Gardens of Paradise tour. The tour, which includes six homes and the garden club itself, took attendees around to sample to the way people in southwest Florida make their gardens beautiful.