Master Gardeners, volunteers beautify community with new garden in Morsches Park
(Talk of the Town photo by Jennifer Zartman Romano) Above from left, Master Gardeners Dick Koch, Pam Koch and Carolyn McCrum study a plan for the new garden in Morsches Park, near the baseball diamonds and Splashpad. The three were among a large group of volunteers working on the new garden for visitors to enjoy.
By Jennifer Zartman Romano
What began as a grant from the Whitley County Community Foundation has blossomed into beautiful, bountiful gardens within Columbia City’s parks – all crafted at the hands of local Master Gardeners.
On Thursday, a large group of local Master Gardeners, as well as those with an interest in gardening, gathered to build their latest gardening masterpiece for the community to enjoy – a new garden near the concession stand and Splashpad in Morsches Park.
Master Gardener Aileen Meier shared that many of the plants used in the new garden were begat of plants purchased originally with the Community Foundation grant.
“Now we can divide those plants and use them in other gardens,” Meier said.
Nearby, the volunteers looked at a hand-drawn map outlining planting plans for the new garden. Others were already at work tilling the soil by hand, creating small mounds of earth and plunging new plants beneath the surface.
The garden was a project of the Beautify The Parks committee which is comprised of Meier, Dick Koch, Pam Koch, Carolyn McCrum and Carolyn Hughes. Meier is the committee’s chairman.
Meier said without this committee and the many volunteers locally with an interest in gardening, it wouldn’t be possible to add new gardens like they did last week or to maintain the existing ones.
“Beautiful park gardens don’t just happen,” said Meier. “People work on them, do the pruning, keep the weeds down. I can’t say enough about the people who do this.”
The design for the garden created Thursday, Meier said, was created by Dick and Pam Koch.
After the volunteers completed their work Thursday, a group of volunteers from Community of Hope church and Grace College came on Saturday to complete other gardening projects at Morsches Park, including adding mulch, working in the lily garden and doing some edging projects.
Meier said volunteers, ranging from those who are certified Master Gardeners to those who simply have an interest in gardening, are very much in need.
“We could certainly use extra people,” she said. “We need lots of people and extra hands.”
“Every year we try to improve the gardens and there is plenty of work to do every year,” added Meier.
For more information about volunteering to help maintain local gardens and to participate in scheduled Beautify The Parks work days, contact Aileen Meier at 248-8672. Please leave your name and phone number.
