Work begins on garden at Northland Public Library

After more than two years of fundraising, construction has begun on The Learning Garden at Northland Public Library in McCandless.

Library officials said in 2016 that they wanted to raise at least half of the $ 250,000 estimated cost before beginning construction. The Northland Public Library Foundation has raised more than $ 150,000 to date, said Amy Steele, library executive director.

The hardscapes – the grading, walkways and pavilion – are in the current construction phase, which officials hope is done in September.

The Learning Garden will be in front of the library off the Cumberland Road entrance.

It will be fenced and contain raised beds that could be changed with the seasons, walking paths and a covered pavilion and seating.

There also will be “sensory nooks,” or areas with benches that are made private by landscaping. The nooks “will assist those with sensory challenges,” Ms. Steele said.

The nooks will have herbs for smelling, colors for seeing and textures for feeling. A “sensory advisory committee” is helping them design the nooks, and some Eagle Scout candidates have stepped forward to build them.

“It was a unique twist that we put on this,” Ms. Steele said. “You can be outside in these little nooks and be comfortable.”

The idea for the nooks came from parents and others who work with special needs children, especially those with autism, said Valerie Golik, director of the Northland Public Library Foundation.

An advisory committee consisting of parents and a local principal helped them design it.

“This is an idea that we want to promote to other libraries, schools and municipalities ,” Ms. Go li ks aid .“It’ s really something that we are really excited about.”

The foundation recently kicked off a gift card drive for local garden centers and nurseries. Residents of the five municipalities served by the library — Bradford Woods, Franklin Park, Marshall, McCandless and Ross — can donate gift cards to local garden centers so they can buy plants for the garden.

There also will be opportunities to purchase personalized bricks and other naming opportunities, she added.

Ms. Golik said The Learning Garden is “primarily an educational space” with outdoor programming for adults and children.

Ms. Steele said some ideas are programs on sustainable living, native plants and “food to table.”

“We’ve had a little bit of time to be thinking of those things so we are kind of anxious to get started,” she said.