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Autumn In Our Park It was 7:30 on a cool, cloudy Saturday morning, October 18, 2003, but that-ever-present band of three, the Katharine Hepburn Garden Committee, Millie Margiotta, Jerry Marks and Chairperson, Mary Beierle were there. The plants were coming and they eagerly awaited the arrival of almost 1000 plants from Bissett Nurseries on Long Island.† Duke Sofield of Cityscape and his crew of three were on hand to assist with the monumental task of "digging-in" the larger shrubs. There were aucuba, sweet spire, leucothoe, holly, euonymus and mountain laurel.† While Chairperson Mary selected the sites for planting, the men commenced digging. In response to a plea for assistance during "It's My Park Day", several volunteers from the community stood ready to plant hosta, fern, epimedium, liriope and the legendary daffodil bulbs.† The volunteers were Barbara Safranek, Mary Sanders, Jutta Goettocher, Bob Cowan, and Elizabeth and Kathleen Grossich.† Even Assemblyman Jonathan Bing and associates Jonathan Federico and Dan Garonick joined the team to "dig in."†† Fresh bagels, drinks and sandwiches from The Patio were available for the volunteers. Progress on the planting halted when NYC Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe and Manhattan Parks Commissioner William Castro surprised everyone with a visit.† They were accompanied by several Parks officials and members of Partnership for Parks, who sponsored the city-wide event.† After the illustrated photo shoot, everyone went right back to work. The Katharine Hepburn Garden Committee worked into the evening hours cleaning up from the undertaking and returned Sunday to spread 30 bags of shredded mulch around the newly planted perennials in the outer beds.† Two weeks later, 30 yards of composted mulch was blown into the garden to nurture and protect all the plants during the winter months.† Take a stroll through the garden sometime and reap the rewards of all the volunteers' labor. If you are interested in volunteering for work in our garden, please call 212.751.5465.
The Turtle Bay Association is a nonprofit (501c3) community organization.
224 East 47th Street, New York City 10017 |
