In the fall of 2004 the Adams/Brown Master Gardeners were asked to help save the Memorial Garden at the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy, IL. This large garden had originally been established to honor mothers and wives of veterans and those currently serving our country. But due to lack of funding and interest the garden had been neglected for several years. It had become extremely overgrown, weedy and an eyesore for the Home and the community.
Three Adams/Brown Master Gardeners, Roberta Wienhoff, Cathy Shanks and Janet Enroth, volunteered to take the lead on coordinating the effort to save and revitalize the garden. These three worked with staff from the home to develop a new garden design, acquire plants, organize volunteers, and do the work to bring the garden back to life.
The three project coordinators developed a garden plan that maintained the history of the garden as well as adding some new features. All three being nurses, they recognized the value of the garden to the residents of the Home and have worked to make the garden as accessible as possible to everyone.
Due to the large size of the garden, the coordinators of this project recruited several other Master Gardeners and community members to help with the work. Several old, large plants and shrubs had to be removed and many more pruned back to a suitable size. In the fall of 2005, a lengthy berm was built on the backside of the garden where several old shrubs had to be removed. This spring the berm has required thousands of new plants and truckloads of mulch. All of this work has been done by volunteers.
Weekly work days are held for volunteers to meet and work in the garden. In addition, many just show up during the week to weed, water, plant or whatever else is needed. The number of volunteer hours for the project is estimated to be in the thousands.
The majority of the plant materials have been donated by Master Gardeners, local businesses and other volunteers. Two Adams/Brown Master Gardeners, Barb and Gary Lawrence, donated over 400 plants that they started from seed this spring. At this point over 2000 bulbs and 4000 plants have been placed in the garden.
The Memorial Garden has certainly come back to life due to the hard work of the Adams/Brown Master Gardeners and is nowserving the residents of the Home not only as a beautiful spot to see but also a place to sit and talk to the many dedicated volunteers who work in the garden nearly everyday. Through the leadership and hard work of these committed Master Gardeners, the Memorial Garden is something the Illinois Veterans Home and the City of Quincy can once again be proud of. The garden and the volunteers have been featured in the local paper and area residents have enjoyed seeing this local treasure restored. The Memorial Garden was featured on the Master Gardener Tour held June 24, 2006.
The Memorial Garden will continue to grow and require a great deal of maintenance. The project coordinators and the rest of the Adams/Brown Master Gardeners are committed to ensuring the garden is continuously cared for and treated with the respect it deserves.
In September of 2006, the project received a State Teamwork Award at the Illinois State Master Gardener Conference. The state teamwork award was established to honor projects which have truly made a difference in the community. Criteria for the award include: Project should be innovative, focus on a team approach rather than individual efforts. Project educates others in a positive manner. Project has gone through these stages of Planning and goals, Implementation, Goals achieved, and Impact on Community and or to the Master Gardener program.
