Wanted: Youth gardeners
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Kelsey Bauer (left), Heaven Neathawk and Amanda Sulham rake a load of top soil at the Godnick Adult Center in Rutland. The students are participating in Y.E.S. PLan activities. They attend Rutland High School at the Howe Center campus. Albert J. Marro / Rutland Herald |
Toolbox
By Cristina Kumka Staff Writer - Published: June 9, 2009
The city is their back yard and 18 plots of land within it are their flower beds.
Rutland Garden Club members have long been the invisible force behind the manicured blossoms and grasses at many of the city's small open spaces — from the garden bordering the Green Mountain Boys memorial to the Godnick Adult Center and Depot Park.
But their knees are getting weak, their patience is dwindling and recognition for their work is seldom had.
They don't need money but they do need help, longtime member Ester Swett said last Thursday outside the club's latest planting at the Godnick Adult Center.
New volunteers will breathe new life into the club and into city parks, according to members.
Some assistance came in the form of the Rutland Recreation & Parks Department, donor Pratico's Landscaping & Fence, and Rutland High School Year-End-Studies students, who along with teacher Bill Herrington and Dawn McCormack, dug, raked, tested the acidity of soil and planted seeds.
The seeds were also planted for change, according to three female students who said they have a newfound appreciation for city gardens and who really does all the work.
"They (the garden club) make Rutland look like a pretty place, a place rather than RutVegas where people don't appreciate other people and their effort," said 18-year-old Heaven Neathawk.
Student Kelsey Bauer said, "people don't realize the effort they put in for other people's benefit."
The students said they would think about volunteering with the club to maintain city parks and if they saw someone ripping flowers out or vandalizing the city's open spaces in any way, they would stop it.
That's one of the biggest problems the club faces, according to members, second to a lack of volunteers and community awareness.
Member Gwen Allard recently planted tulips at Depot Park.
Three hours later, she said, they were gone.
"The tulips were all picked off," she said.
Swett likened city park vandalism to the "shopping cart thing."
"If we make it (the city) pretty, people would want to come here and do business here," Swett said.
The garden club is responsible for the Main Street Park arboretum, planting trees citywide in memory of deceased residents and maintaining numerous gardens on city land.
Now, member Gwen Allard said the focus is on recruiting the next generation of green thumbs to fill in for current members when they are no longer able to get down in the dirt.
The club is asking for new young members to come forward for more than just planting – members say students can start there by building a career in landscaping, communication or biology through soil management.
"We need to spread the talent and make a flower city," Allard said.
Bob Peterson, director of parks for the Rutland Recreation & Parks Department said since he joined the city department in 1996, the partnership between the club and the city department has been the most successful.
"It's been the best since I've been here and it will be the best when I'm gone," he said.
"We need to be serious about protecting our parks … people don't realize who (the all-volunteer garden club) is doing this (beautifying the city)."
To join the Rutland Garden Club, call Ester Swett at 773-5430 or Patricia Kent at 775-7492.
cristina.kumka@rutlandherald.com
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