[Note: Here is a first hand account of how our Triangle Park became a U City in Bloom garden by Bunny Drain (7530 Cornell). The photo is of three watering cans decoupaged by Bunny and her friends as items for UCity in Bloom's plant sales]
In the thrilling days of yesteryear before the onset of YouTube and text messaging, multitudes of neighborhood children cavorted outdoors in all kinds of weather. Street ball [players] tended to angle to the north side of Stanford to avoid busy traffic on Cornell but no matter what pandemonium ensued, “the island” was always home base.
Consisting of grass, weeds, scrubby bushes, a frequently flickering street light and the present evergreen tree, it was the anchor of Gannondale mayhem. But in the mid-70s, after the horde have moved to high school and REAL LIFE, it lay sad and fallow, a landscape eyesore waiting for redemption.
So it arrived in 1985 that three civic-minded ladies, armed with a $25 donation, gained permission from City Hall to plant a few spring bulbs on an island at the intersection of Jackson and Pershing. When Susan Hopper, Jane Schaefer and Mary Ann Shaw had earlier approached officials about the idea, the response was not encouraging. Told that the flowers would get in the way of mowers and that a lack of volunteers would cause abandoned garden plots across town, they nonetheless persisted and drew myriad interested gardeners to the cause.
I was delighted to serve on the first UCity in Bloom (UCB) board and well remember the Saturday spent at Holy Communion Church where we worked on our mission statement under the nifty direction of Board Chair Bob Lewis. There were hours of discussion interrupted by liberal doses of soup, salad, and luscious desserts and the results said it all: “Volunteers sharing a vision of Community through public gardening projects in University City”.
Among other early ventures around town, our particular island was cleared of its mess, tilled, mulched, planted with spring bulbs, covered with bright summer annuals and watered faithfully by the Drain family hose. Which brings to mind the time that [the hose] was stretched across Cornell happily doing its thing when a street sweeping truck rumbled by. Upon hearing the noise I happened to glance out the window only to see the excess hose neatly disappearing into a tight loop beneath the truck’s wheels while the driver was evidently humming to himself, unawares. Launched like a missile, I beat on his door to halt the proceedings, barely saving the hose from being yanked from the wall. Try to explain THAT to one’s husband. “Golly, dear, you won’t believe what happened…” Which is how we learned to never water on trash pick-up days, i.e. “never on a Wednesday”. Those trucks are heavy!
The island was lovely in spring and summer, albeit flat. It needed height, as did all our projects. Mary Ann saw to it that grass perennials of varying sizes became the mainstay of garden design with annuals mixed in during the growing season. Well! What a difference! It was Sondra Ellis who came up with the idea of a perennial sale. Before moving to St. Louis she had participated in such an event in Iowa City where gardeners dug up their perennials in the spring, divided them, potted the plant sections and offered them for sale to fellow gardeners. Because the plants were acclimated to the vagaries of the weather, it was not only a win-win situation but a marvelous money maker. UCity in Bloom’s perennial sale has grown to enormous proportions since then and now takes place on the last weekend in April at the Heman Community Center with Gannondale’s very own Linda Fried at the helm. See you gardeners there!
While the yearly fund raising letter and other activities help to pay for the upkeep of UCB’s 200+ public gardens, they fail to cover all of the expenses. Neighborhood Associations are billed annually and while some pay part or all of the invoice, like others Gannondale has not done so in the past. Perhaps, as other associations do, ours should seek its own fund raising to meet the cost.
It’s been fascinating to follow the development of the island garden as well as a deal of fun to work in it. I’m enthralled to see it’s garden bench and bright colors each day from our north windows and to know how integral it has become to our neighborhood ambiance. Enjoy!
