Olivia White Hospice Home Garden Volunteers: September 2010

Gardens Founded in 2001 - Home in 2002

Echinacea - Photo by Laura Davis

The garden began in 2001 with the help of Norm Erickson, a Northland Hospice volunteer, at the corner of Switzer Canyon Drive and Turquoise. At that time the home had not been completed but a beautiful sign was placed on the corner. Norm continued to work on the beds on the east side of the sidewalk along Switzer Canyon Drive and in front of the home, until 2008. The rest of the gardens were developed by a core of Coconino County Master Gardeners initially led by Laura Davis and since 2007 by Loni Shapiro.

The garden crew is active from April-October and sometimes in November weather permitting. Work happens weekly throughout the garden season on Monday and Thursday mornings from 8:00 am-12:00 pm. It also is scheduled for one Saturday a month from April through October. Cancellations due to weather will be posted by 6:00 am of the workday on this blog. You must attend a spring orientation to the garden and Northland Hospice & Palliative Care in order to work. A summary of the work that has been done is included on the blog. Look for weekly postings on this blog during the garden season.

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Volunteering in the Garden

2015 Calendar

April 13, 11:30-1:30 Lunch and orientation for new volunteers at hospice and TB testing for all

April 16, 9:15-10 TB tests read and 10:00 garden orientation. First Thursday workday 9-12

April 20, First Monday workday 9-12

May 2, Saturday workday 9-12

If you are interested in volunteering, please email CrysWells@gmail.com.

Please note: TB testing is required annually for all garden volunteers.

If you have current TB results that were done by a physician or at a hospital, these may be submitted to Northland Hospice.

If you are unable to attend the meeting, please contact the volunteer coordinator Kathy Simmons (ksimmons@northlandhospice.org) to schedule a time for testing and orientation.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Garden Workday 9/30/10

2010 Garden Crew with Zane

Dave Hill, Nancy Palmer and Zane

It was another beautiful day in the garden, although quite chilly when I arrived before 8am. It is difficult to believe it will be October as the garden still looks like August. We had a large crew today because we were planning our annual Harvest Lunch. Carol Lease was the first to arrive and as usual she did a variety of things, feeding and watering the birds, making shrub labels, and putting away some pots for the winter. Cynthia and Al Katte, worked on chipping up material from the compost pile, getting ready for winter. Kay Balzer picked the last of the tomatoes and cleaned the pots and put them away, she also composted some more roses. David Hockman worked on cleaning up after Agassiz built a stone bench. He got rid of all the leftover concrete. Crys Wells and I watered the front and back gardens. Judith Chaddock and Julie Holmes pruned the roses. Marilynn VanWagner watered the sun porch plants. Susan and Joe Harte stopped by with some of their beautiful award winning sweet peas. Dave Hill and Zane also joined us for the lunch.

At 11:30 we broke for our harvest lunch. As usual the food was delicious - pulled pork sandwiches, German potato salad, kolrabi slaw, tomato salad, fruit salad, green salad, jello mold salad, corn and squash bake, hummingbird cake, banana bread, lavender brownies, and drinks. We were all stuffed after that meal, but took time to review some of the season, and give/receive thanks.

The husband of a recent resident stopped by with his son to donate a wind sculpture. It was placed in the Rose Garden and was moving in the wind immediately. It is a beautiful addition to the garden and visible from several benches.

Thank you:
To all who brought food for the lunch
Bob Smith for a beautiful wind sculpture for the rose garden

Plans for next week:
Water, weed, continue fall clean-up, begin spreading mulch and putting away some hardscape.

October happenings:
Bulb Planting - Saturday, October 23, 9am-12pm

"The man who has planted a garden feels that he has done something for the good of the world." Charles Dudley Warner
My Summer as a Gardener 1871

Thank you to all who helped and donated this year,

Loni

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Garden Workday 9/23/10

I arrived in the garden this am to very cool weather, and a rain guage that registered 1.75 inches from the storms on Wednesday. We had a large group today and our focus was on adding compost to the gardens, weeding, and continuing our fall clean-up (dead heading and cutting back irises). Kay Balzer, David Hockman, Marilynn VanWagner, and Becky Lewis all worked at adding compost to the east beds and the rose garden. Becky and Cynthia Katte also spent time cutting back and cleaning up iris which was finally finished today. It is hard to believe that all the iris we have came from an original group of about 30 donated from one person in 2004, and a few extras from Betty Marcus and by purshase. We probably gave away more than 200 this year and they grace almost every garden we have. Cynthia also did her usual work with the compost. Crys Wells and I weeded along Switzer Canyon Drive. Al Katte stopped by to look at repairing our standing bed for next year. Joe Harte pruned trees and gathered Mexican hat seed for our donation seed packets. Carol Lease returned from vacation and did many tasks - filling bird feeders, cleaning hummingbird feeders, repairing the drip system, and maintaining the fountain.

New in the garden:
The beginnings of a new stone bench in the Michael Moore Garden

A clean garage
A clean, re-organized greenhouse
All iris trimmed and cleaned

October happenings:
Weekly workdays from 8-9 am-12pm
Saturday, October 23, 9am-12pm bulb plantign

Workdays will continue into November weather permitting to put hardscape away and coninute fall clean-up.

Plans for next week include spreading more compost, weeding, and dead heading, watering, spreading mulch if available, organizing the greenhouse for winter (pots that are outside), and our fall harvest lunch.
Cutleaf Staghorn Sumac with fall color. Photo by Loni Shapiro.

"In the garden, Autumn is, indeed the crowning glory of the year, bringing us the fruition of months of thought and care and toil.
And at no season, safe perhaps in Daffodil time, do we get such superb colour effects as from August to November."
- Rose G. Kingsley, The Autumn Garden, 1905

Thanks,
Loni

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Garden Workday 9/16/10

The warm dry weather continues, with the need to water frequently. We had a small crew in the garden today but managed to get many things done. Laura Davis spent some time with Dave Hill and the bench builders for the new garden. The malapai and sandstone bench will be built next week by Aggassiz Landscaping. She also helped David Hockman get a potted burning bush in the ground, repaired an old trellis and placed it in the ground. David had to do delicate surgery to get the applewood trellis back together before placing it.

Becky Lewis continued to cut iris, and helped Kay Balzer get some of our less frost tolerant plants in the sunroom (geraniums (regular and scented) and rosemary).

Kay and Becky. Photo by Loni Shapiro.

They also organized the room with a beautiful display for the winter. Cynthia Katte took care of the fountain and the compost, and then spent time deadheading. We had a new master gardener volunteer Shelomith Watson who spent her time weeding, and digging up some iris for her children's school garden. I spent my time weeding and feeding/watering the birds.

New in the garden:
Return of the applewood trellis
A burning bush
Many of our less frost tolerant plants moved into the sunroom inside the house.

September happenings:
Regular Thursday workdays from 8am-12pm
Fall Harvest Lunch - September 30th - 1130am/1pm

October happenings:
Annual bulb planting - Saturday, October 23, 9am-12pm

Plans for next week include weeding along Switzer Canyon Drive and adding some much needed compost to some of our first beds along the back of the house. We still have iris to thin and clean-up and deadheading. Last of all we will begin seed collection for our give-away seed packet.

From David Wann's the Zen of Gardening

"The knowledge you harvest from the garden is eventually stored in some root cellar or freezer in your brain, and as a garden writer, you pull it out when you need it. But the fact is, you first gather the information with your hands and your senses. Gardening, like sex, is hands-on."

Thanks,
Loni

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Garden Workday 9/9/10

New Willow Bench in the Faerie Garden. Photo by Loni Shapiro.

On another sunny cool morning we were able to get much accomplished in the garden. Laura Davis and Marcia Lamkin worked on placing the new willow bench. Appropiately it will reside in the Faerie Garden. It is not only beautiful , but fits into the whimsy of the garden. This bench has been on our wish list for several years and was donated earlier this summer by Susan Roe and family in memory of her father. It will be a special place to sit and enjoy the view of the canyon from the Faerie Garden.

David Hockman continued his digging ways - transpanting two large shrubs in our front north garden. We have been busy for several weeks moving plants to make this a smaller/more compact garden for more efficient watering. Kay Balzer transplanted some more day lilies and penstemon ,and I spent some time defining the end with malapais rock. Next week we will try to move one more shrub into the area - weather permitting.

Linda Guarino and Cynthia Katte worked on the compost. Cynthia brought her sifter from home and the resulting compost looked like black gold, ready for Home & Garden magazine.

Linda also worked on transplanting some Sneezeweed into the new Native Medicinal Garden and Cynthia began cleaning and cutting back the iris. Becky Lewis helped her do that and also deadheaded the roses. Marilynn V. returned from her busy life and watered the front gardens for us. Crys Wells stopped in and helped to deadhead and weed.

New in the garden:

Willow Bench in the Faerie Garden

A smaller north bed on Switzer Canyon Drive

Some of the first plants added to the Michael Moore Native Medicinal Garden

Plans for September:

Weeding Party this Saturday morning 9/11/10 from 9am-12pm

Regular Thursday workdays for the month from 8am-12pm

Plans for October:

Saturday 10/23/10 from 9am-12pm Bulb Planting

Next week our work on fall cleaning and some transplanting dependent on weather/forecast.

"Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, when Nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike." John Muir

Thanks,

Loni Shapiro

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Garden Workday 9/2/10

When I arrived in the garden early this am (730) I wished I had worn a coat. It was very cool, but by the end of the morning in the 80's. Fall is definitely arriving with wide ranges in temperatures. I had to attend a meeting first, but when I arrived people were already busy working. Al Katte had the new chipper out working on getting it ready for a demo/safety talk later in the morning.

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Al and Cynthia Katte and Linda Guarino working with the chipper. Photo by Loni Shapiro.

Linda Guarino was busy getting more of our iris thinned. Laura Davis and Nancy Palmer were watering and cleaning up the new garden area. Laura and Linda also helped me prepare fair entries for floriculture. Marcia Lamkin arrived later and began helping them as well as filling bird feeders and baths. Joe Harte and David Hockman worked on putting in a new fence in an area that could be dangerous, with some erosion. They cemented the posts in and set-up a split cedar fence that will serve as a warning and provide something for a vine to crawl up.

Switzer Canyon Drive fence. Photo by Loni Shapiro.

Cynthia Katte worked on the water feature, turning the compost, and planted some new iris. Kay Balzer continued to work on transplanting material in the far north Switzer bed. Much has been moved. We still have 2 shrubs that need to be moved (dogwood and juniper), but we are almost done with downsizing this part of the garden.

Happenings this month:
Coconino County Fair Sept. 4-7 (about 30 entries in floriculture/agriculture)
A display table was set up at the fair and we did 26 entries. The table was visited by many local and valley residents. We gave away fresh tomatoes, bearded iris, and hollyhock seeds to those who stopped by. We won 5 blue ribbons in agriculture, 5 in floricultue, 6 red in floriculture, and 1 white in agriculture and 4 in floriculture. The Juliet tomatoes won a special ribbon.

Weed Party Saturday, Sept. 11 - 9am/12pm
Regular Thursday workdays 8am-12pm

October happenings:
October 23, Saturday from 9am-12pm
Regular Thursday workdays 8am/12pm weather permitting

Come join us for our fall clean-up activities and planting/transplanting.

Thanks,
Loni Shapiro
cnslds@q.com
928-522-8635

Reporting OWHH Volunteer Hours

For the 2015 garden season all volunteers will report hours in the book on the back patio at the garden. If you are there on a scheduled workday the book will be on the table. If you come on a non-workday, maybe to water or complete something you wanted to finish, the keys and sign-in book will be inside the home in the table drawer to the left as you enter.

Please record all hours in the garden, at meetings, and for home activities.

At the end of each month the sign in sheets will be sent to the office so please get your hours in by the end of the month.

Wish List 2015

Wish list book is kept on the table in the lobby of the Olivia White Home. Check the book for further details. Contact one of the gardeners if you want to donate.

General plant related materials not available at Warners (where we have an account from a yearly fundraiser) – up to $250 (cash/gardeners will purchase as needed); includes special fertilizers, perlite, sand, soil, and other repair items. Purchase of unusual plants at other nurseries (Viola’s, NP & Seed & HCG).

Special feed for roses (we have 50) - $250 per season or what you want to donate. Gardeners will purchase.

4 Pruners/clippers - $10-40 (see book for ideas)

A variety of long/short handled, cut and hold, small and large diameter.

Craftsman Handi-cut for irrigation (see book for details)

4 Weeders – variety of long and short handled (see book for ideas)

4 Trowels – variety

Mud Gloves (8 Pair – 1 small-5 med-2 light weight) (see book for details).

Spray nozzles for hoses – prefer short handled with multiple settings.

Birdhouses for trellis (new or used in good condition).

Bat or butterfly house for grounds.

Hulled sunflower seed or chips for bird feeders ($28-85 depending on size).

We only use this type of seed, because of clean-up requirements for millet or black oiled sunflower. We also need niger seed (cost ?) for the goldfinches. This takes more than $500 out of our garden budget.

Replacement wheelbarrows-prefer metal with no-flat wheels. (1 needed)

Welcome to the Gardens at Olivia White Hospice Home

The gardens surrounding the home were created for all who find themselves here. The history below reflects the many hands that have worked in the gardens. The volunteer gardeners have worked to create a quiet, peaceful place to experience alone or with those you love. The garden design enhances the sensory experience. You can hear zipping hummingbirds, water fountains, and the sound of wind chimes. It is a place to stop and smell the roses or the soothing fragrance of lavender. The many vegetables and herbs grown allow residents and staff to taste the gifts of nature. You can feel the gentle embrace of the wind and touch the soft leaves of lamb’s ear or bunny tail grass along with other more prickly plants in a ‘touch pot’. Another design consideration was providing universal access to all visitors and special beds/pots that allow interested residents to participate in gardening. Sitting and standing raised beds, and ‘sensory pots’ accessible to wheelchairs are enjoyed by many residents.
Peace to all who enter…

History
The gardens were started by Norm Erickson, a hospice volunteer, before the home was built in 2001, on the corner of Switzer Canyon and Turquoise where the Olivia White sign is found. Norm also created the gardens directly in front of the home. In 2001 Laura Davis, a master gardener began designing and planning for the gardens that surround the home. Loni Shapiro assumed responsibility for garden coordination and planning in 2007. The first project in 2002 was to lay the cement pathway which was done by NAU’s Construction Management class led by Dave Grider. A flagstone patio was created east of the home by Joanie Abbott of Foxglove Gardening with the help of Heber Trunnel. The first two plantings by the master gardeners included an Inferno Strip on Switzer Canyon led by Terra Crampton, and a Rose Garden led by Hattie Braun with a large donation of roses by Bill Brechan. Coconino County Park and Recreation at Fort Tuthill donated many truckloads of compost, and Bill Eichinger used his bobcat to help edge with rocks the gardens you see today. In 2004 a core of master gardeners and hospice volunteers (Loni Shapiro, Karen Kent, Cynthia Katte, David Hockman and Nancy Palmer) joined Laura and began creating the many gardens here today. Today we have a regular crew of master gardeners and hospice volunteers, with two workdays each week throughout each spring and summer. They are supported by many other church groups, scout troops, AmeriCorp, college - high school - middle school groups, Coconino County Adult Probation Community Service, Upward Bound, and businesses throughout Flagstaff. Warner’s Landscape and Nursery needs to be singled out for their continuing support for the gardens since their inception with yearly fundraisers and discounts on plant and hardscape materials. In 2006 the gazebo designed by Jill Morris was completed with the help of Terry Payne and John Adams, from Christ’s Church, and Loven Contracting. John Adams along with the help of the Sunshine Lion’s Club finished it with a brick pathway. Foxglove Gardening installed the drip system over three years from 2008-10. Most of their time was donated. From 2010-2012 we received grants from the Bountiful Alliance to create a Native Medicinal Garden in honor of Michael Moore, writer and naturalist. The work on that garden continues along Switzer Canyon Drive. The garden was dedicated by a Navajo elder in 2012. A small garden was dedicated in 2011 to our long time therapy dog “Zane” Hill. Plans for 2013 include continued revamping of some front gardens, work on the corner of Turquoise with the installation of the FUTS trail, and landscaping our new shed area.

The gardens continue to evolve each year. Some have already been altered from the original plan, such as the Rose Garden, east front and ½ Circle gardens, and north Switzer Canyon beds. In addition, many other trees, shrubs, plants and hardscape items have been donated. A list of donors is located in the library of the Olivia White Home. The library also includes a binder of all the roses found in our garden (over 40). A map of the garden was completed under the direction of Cynthia Katte and Kathy Pate that includes the location of most of the gardens and the special features. This will be updated in 2013 to include the changes along Turquoise and Switzer Canyon. A copy of the current map is included with this handout and can also be found in the Rose binder.

Donations/Volunteering
A “Wish List” for donations is provided in the home that includes yearly needs as well as special projects. Our main fundraisers to help pay for materials and water are memorial bricks (brochures available in the home), an annual 10% of proceeds day at Warner's Nursery, and a summer Plant & Garden Sale at the home. In addition, we sell note cards made from original paintings of the garden, photo note cards, and earrings made from Job’s Tear seeds grown in the garden. All can be found on the table in the entry of the home. We are always looking for new volunteers to help in the garden. Our weekly garden activities during the year can be found on the Volunteer Blog (owhospicegardenvolunteers.blogspot.com) or by contacting,Sierra Gadsberry, Volunteer Cordinator at sgadsberry@northlandhospice.org.

Revised 11/12