Can gardens benefit society?
Three community-built gardens prove the answer is “yes”!
PERHAPS one of the most satisfying “fringe benefits” of being a gardening writer is the mandatory requirement of having to visit many different gardens in a range of diverse locations, both to collect photos of plants, insects, animals and design ideas, and to collate information as to how the garden began, evolved and matured, including the many challenges and triumphs along the way.
Last week I was fortunate to visit three gardens in our region, all with a story to be told and a very good reason for existing.
I was shown these gardens by local horticultural business owner and Rotary Club of North Toowoomba member Steve Kite, who had an involvement in preparation and construction of all three sites.
Garden 1
The first garden we visited was in the grounds of the 71 bed Dr. EAF McDonald Nursing Home in Oakey, about a half hour west of Toowoomba.
Steve explained to me that the site had been inundated by the 2011 floods, with water rising to around the floorboards of the nursing home. After the floodwaters receded, and with the grounds in dire need of repair, Lynda White, the nursing home’s Recreation Officer, initiated a garden establishment project and soon had the Toowoomba North Rotary Club on board, with funding from the Rotary Flood Fund.
Working bees commenced in 2012. Labour for the project came mostly from the Rotary Club members, however many others contributed, including nursing home staff and residents, numerous local businesses, the Oakey Urban Landcare group, Oakey High School students, Lions Club members, and Oakey residents. (I was told the heart-warming story of a quite frail nursing home resident who was seen to pick up a small rock and place it along a garden edge, then return to her room, exhausted, but having contributed to the project!)
Local businesses also donated materials such as garden soil, basalt rock, plants, gravel etc.
The project was completed in 2013, but as gardeners know, there’s always room for improvement, as well as the everyday maintenance and planting to be done.
This daily care, organising of extra help, and sourcing of materials is currently being performed by tireless Oakey resident George Lipton, regarded as the garden’s unofficial “Mayor”.
The garden is planted amongst many mature eucalypts, with decomposed granite paths winding within a wide concrete walkway that encircles the area, and consists of different “rooms”, examples being a Native plant walk, rainforest corner, central rose gardens, citrus and fruit tree groves, and colourful scented garden.
Annuals have been carefully planted amongst existing trees and shrubs for a planned spring display. Many nursing home residents frequent the garden each day, enjoying a leafy walk or a quiet place to sit and contemplate.
A section winner in last year’s Chronicle Garden Competition, the garden has already hosted a May wedding, and is being prepared for a Spring Fair in September.
Garden 2
The second stop on my garden tour with Steve was Sunrise Way, a not-for-profit drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre in Tourist Road, Toowoomba. Whilst not yet completed, the garden has a number of mature camellias, maples, and native trees such as black bean and bunya pine, which provide a great framework around which to plant smaller shrubs and perennials. Steve was one of the original volunteers to help rehabilitate what was an overgrown thicket, with the centre being opened officially in 2014 after a long 13-year struggle by founder Doug Harland OAM. Many local businesses have donated materials such as soil and mulch, with local groups providing labour.
At the moment construction and planting is temporarily stalled, with the eventual plan being a Carnival-standard garden providing food, fruit and vegies for use by the centre, as well as for fundraising.
This indispensable community centre needs help to get their gardens up and running. Any local groups or businesses who can donate materials such as compost, irrigation lines and fittings, plants and labour will be contributing hugely to this vital service.
Garden 3
Our last stop on our garden tour was a quick visit to Endeavour Foundation’s Kearneys Spring Learning and Lifestyle centre in Stenner St, where a garden was established in 2015 with part funding from a grant and Steve’s Rotary Club of North Toowoomba, who also provided all the labour, with goods and materials generously donated from more than 30 Toowoomba businesses.
The garden, built from what was described as a “dust bowl”, runs the entire length of the building, with a decomposed granite bike track (the customers have been supplied 3-wheelers!) winding its way from one end to the other.
Plantings include fruit trees, ornamentals such as birches, magnolias, a range of native trees and shrubs, as well as fragrant plants such as lavender and gardenias, making for a great sensory experience.
Shade structures, sitting areas and swings are also provided, with a small vegetable planting area ready to start producing (when a few punnets might be donated?), for the customers to use when preparing meals.
Happily, the garden has been well-used by the customers, who rarely ventured outside beforehand.
The construction and upkeep of these gardens would not have been possible without the generous support of our region’s service clubs, local businesses, school students, and outstanding volunteers, all of whom are to be congratulated on their contribution to our community.
If you would like to contribute in any way to these worthwhile causes, please contact me and I will pass on your details. wellsleyhorticultural@gmail.com