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Pope County Tribune - Starbuck Times
Written by Amy Chaffins - Pope County Tribune New Editor   
Friday, 09 July 2010 07:56

A little help in the garden


Across Glenwood, there are many yards adorned with lovely gardens to be envied - meaning there are certainly residents out there with a green thumb and interest in keeping things beautiful.

This story is for you - it's a plea from one gardener to another.

Anita Stone, of Glenwood, said there are two things she really enjoys - walking and gardening. The two came together about six years ago as she made her laps through Barsness Park.

In the spring of 2004, she was walking through the park and noticed there were two large wildflower garden areas full of weeds, grass and dead stalks still standing.

"At the time, Oscar Barsness was the head of the parks department, and I asked if I could cut the stalks down so that we could see the new flowers coming up," Anita explained. "He said, 'Sure, help yourself. We don't have anyone to help do that.'"

"So I took my snippers with me on my walk and I cut down the ugly dead stalks. I felt better about it; at least you could see the plants coming up," Anita said. "Then, I just kept going. I pulled grass and sorted out some things."

Now, six years of work later, if you walk through the park or drive by for a glimpse, the two wildflower gardens are bursting with blooms and greenery and birds - one of the gardens is located just east of the parking lot near the soccer fields and the other is along the parking lot and indoor picnic shelter near the southwest park entrance.

Anita said she worked about two hours per day weeding and re-planting, dead-heading flowers and mowing some of walkways that meander through the gardens.

However, at 86 years old, Anita said she's slowing down and it's becoming a bit much to keep up with her volunteer gardening efforts.

"I'm not going to be around many more years, and I'd really like to turn over the gardening," she said. "I'll pass it on now if someone comes along, and maybe they'll let me work with them once in a while."

City Parks employee Mike Skeates said Anita has done an exceptional job.

"From the city's point of view, she has been a joy to work with. She'd ask us for a little help, but not much," Skeates said. "She really takes care of the gardens herself."

In fact, when the little grass walking paths were incorporated into the gardens, Anita bought a mower, mowed the walkways herself and eventually donated the mower to the city. The city crew now takes care of cutting the walking path grass.

"We've heard so many compliments from people on her gardens - from the campers and people who walk through the park. What she's done is just wonderful," Skeates said.

Anita said, "I really don't think I'm doing anything special. I like to think I'm doing something for the community. In a community like this, there's not enough money to do everything, so people have to help out. People just like to look at pretty things."

Anita estimates there are about 40 different varieties of perennial flowers in the gardens - honeysuckle, jonquil, daffodils, daisies, wild blue phlox, sunflowers, coreopsis, coneflowers, hyssop and Anita's favorite, the cultured bell flower, plus so much more. She bought many of them.

As for recruiting another person to take over the wildflower garden maintenance, Anita said there must be someone out there who really enjoys gardening.

"You get sunshine, fresh air and it's something to do outdoors," Anita said. Plus, she's willing to train the new person.

Skeates said that the city staff would be grateful if another volunteer came froward to tend to the wildflowers. In the meantime, Skeates said he hopes to recruit local Boy Scouts to help out with the weeding.

If you're interested in volunteering your time to tend to the Barsness Park gardens, contact Anita Stone at 634-3901.