The Diggers

We’re almost finished

Testing for rock ledges underground–Sarah, Connie Anne B. and DeeDee

The new planting area

Entrance Garden Completed 2011

The Grange workday project for May was a demanding one. Cathy Decker and DeeDee Heyward budgeted for the plants that they researched last fall and finally bought at the Yellow Springs Farm nursery. This is the second major planting for the Grange in the nearly 5 years that we have been there. The first major planting was the entrance garden that greets each visitor coming down the mansion path.

Water Wheel Garden

The first Tuesday in May was a perfect day for planting–cool and sunny and the soil giving in nicely to the new plants. Our club has worked on this new bed for a good year or longer—removing vines, old shrubs and pruning the surrounding trees. The group arrived prepared with gloves, spades, trowels and Japanese Hori Hori digging tool. We planted 3 Fothigella Gardenni, 3 Sikes dwarf hydrangea quercifolia, 3 Itea “Henry Garnet”, 3 Callicarpa “Duet”, 2 Geranimum sanguineum max frei, 3 Polemonium reptans “jacobs ladder – stairway to heaven”, 2 Zizia Aurea and 2 Amsonia hubrechtii, totaling 21 plants! Thank goodness for Roy, the Grange Treasurer, and unofficial manager of the grounds. When our spade struck a hidden length of that pesky Wisteria, Roy was there with his weapons and know-how to remove the invasive vine root.

Don’t miss an opportunity to get to the Grange for our workdays. We’ve been doing our civic work at the Grange every first Tuesday from April through November for 4 to 5 years. There is such a sense of beauty and peace in this 10-acre woodland. Working there is good for the body and good for the soul. Here are some photos of the May work day.