Pulling for Rutland
Resident single-handedly cleans up city gardens
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Declan Pemrick, 3, helps Elaine Mullan weed the flower bed near the Amtrak station in Rutland. ALBERT J. MARRO / RUTLAND HERALD |
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By STEPHANIE M. PETERS Herald Staff - Published: September 15, 2008
Just call her the phantom gardener.
Since early August, Rutland City resident Elaine Mullan has quietly weeded and tidied up overgrown landscaping downtown, cultivator in hand, broom and overflowing bag of weeds nearby.
She does this, unprompted, on nearly every day off she gets from her full-time job as a nurse at the hospital, and not because she's looking for recognition.
Mullan is just sick of seeing downtown so unsightly, and she knows the parks and recreation department, local businesses and the city's garden club might not be able to keep up with the tedious work by themselves.
She wouldn't even be talking about her work now, except that with fall quickly arriving she could use some help finishing before the ground freezes.
"Anybody that wants to volunteer, or even just give an hour, it would be a huge help," she said.
Her recurring presence, crouched over plots in front of city hall or the Amtrak station, has caught the attention of many downtown. Passersby stop to ask if she works for the city and remark on how nice the gardens look, while some city hall employees stop to chat or ask if she could weed another unruly spot.
Not knowing who to call for permission to weed, Mullan first contacted the parks and recreation department to make sure her volunteerism wasn't stepping on anyone's toes.
"God bless her, I must have told her that about four times," said Bob Peterson, director of maintenance for the parks and recreation department. "It's really refreshing and heartfelt (for) us to see any individual try to make things better. It certainly helps us feel better about what we do. Most of the time we're dealing with vandalism from people who are more interested in doing damage."
Mullan first got going on this pet project when her daughter remarked about the overgrown sitting area on the side of city hall, and facing the Rutland Shopping Plaza. When she pulled the weeds, including a 10-foot tall, wild mullein plant, Mullan discovered a flowering, pink rosebush.
From there, she moved to the police memorial at the corner of Merchants Row and Washington Street. In total, the two patches took her eight hours that first day.
Mullan has also worked on the gardens at the district courthouse, the Rutland Intermediate School, the Bardwell House, Citizens Bank, Strongs Avenue near Adirondack Tire, and the alleyway behind Camille's Clothing, which was overgrown with trees. She's also been back to city hall, where last week she weeded the mulch around a strip of bushes. There she ran into Patty Carbine, who works in the clerk's office.
"About two weeks ago I was sitting on the stoop and she stopped, smiled at me and said 'come look at the gardens,'" Carbine said. "I asked her if she worked for the city or the (Downtown Rutland) Partnership, and she said 'No, I just do this in my spare time because I care about the city and I want it to look good.' It's just great."
Although Mullan rattled off a laundry list of places she hoped to tackle before the end of last week, which was her vacation week, she added that anyone who'd like to help doesn't need her guidance. Just find a patch downtown, or in another neighborhood of the city, and get to work.
"I want to encourage volunteerism to better Rutland City," she said. "I'm so tired of hearing negativity about Rutland City. We have to not let that one percent who are the problem ruin it for the rest of us."
In some areas, she's planted hostas, leafy, quickly multiplying plants that require little care, from her daughter's garden. Saturday, she plans to pick up some day lily root plants from the Rutland Kiwanis Club giveaway, which will be held outside of Price Chopper, and plant those around the city as well.
Next on her to-do list: The borders of the Amtrak station, and an area on Evelyn Street, past the Walmart entrance and TD Banknorth, which she describes as a "disgusting mess" of weeds, trash, glass and shopping carriages from plaza stores.
Contact Stephanie M. Peters at stephanie.peters@rutlandherald.com.
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